pals that's the trouble with Dave,'
declar's Boggs, plenty stubborn an' while the rest of us don't yoonite
with him, we receives his view serious an' respectful so's not to jolt
Boggs's feelin's.

"Goin' back, however, to when Dave sets up the warble of 'Bye O baby!'
that a-way, we-all, followin' Enright's s'licitation for our thoughts,
abides a heap still an' makes no response. Enright asks ag'in: 'What
do you-all think?'

"At last Boggs, who as I sets forth frequent is a nervous gent, an' one
on whom silence soon begins to prey, ag'in speaks up. Bein' doubtful
an' mindful of Enright's argyment ag'in his opal bluff, however, Boggs
don't advance his concloosions this time at all emphatic. In a tone
like he's out ridin' for information himse'f, Boggs says:

"'Mebby, if it ain't opals, it's a case of straight loco.'

"'While I wouldn't want to readily think Dave locoed,' says Enright,
'seein' he's oncommon firm on his mental feet, still he's shore got
something on his mind. An' bein' it is something, it's possible as you
says that Dave's intellects is onhossed.'

"'Whatever for a play would it be,' says Cherokee, 'to go an' ask Dave
himse'f right now?'

"'I'd be some slow about propoundin' sech surmises to Dave,' says
Boggs. 'He might get hostile; you can put a wager on it, he'd turn out
disagree'ble to a degree, if he did. No, you-all has got to handle a
loonatic with gloves. I knows a gent who entangles himse'f with a
loonatic, askin' questions, an' he gets all shot up.'

"'I reckons, however,' says Cherokee, 'that I'll assoome the resk.
Dave an' me's friends; an' I allows if I goes after him in ways both
soft an' careless, so as not to call forth no suspicions, he'll take it
good-humoured even if he is locoed.'

"We-all sets breathless while Cherokee sa'nters down to where Dave's
still wropped in them melodies.

"'Whatever be you hummin' toones for, Dave?' asks Cherokee all
accidental like.

"'Which I'm rehearsin',' says Dave, an' he shows he's made impatient.
'Don't come infringin' about me with no questions,' goes on Dave. 'I'm
like the ancient Romans, I've got troubles of my own; an' no sport who
calls himse'f my friend will go aggravatin' me with ontimely
inquis'tiveness.' Then Dave gets up an' pulls his freight an' leaves
us more onsettled than at first.

"For a full hour, we does nothin' but canvass this yere question of
Dave's aberrations. At last a idee seizes us. Thar's times when
Dav