"you whispered to him, when he was half a mile
away, but did not yell for help. Oh, you're a mark, trying to make
believe you are young enough to enjoy sport. Say, you ought to have a
shawl strap on you, so your rescuer can have something to take hold of;
and if I were in your place, I would get the dimensions of Noah's ark,
and have one made to fit me. You better buy your ducks, and stay on
land. But now that the Prodigal Uncle has got back, I am going out to
kill a fatted calf, and we will have a calf banquet. Say, Uncle Ike,
did you ever read about the Prodigal Son? We had it in our Sunday-school
lesson last Sunday. They didn't do a thing to him, did they?"

"Yes, I have read about the Prodigal Son, and I give it to you
straight--he was the greatest chump mentioned in the Bible, and
sometimes I think you are a dead ringer for him!" and the old man laughed
at the boy.

"Oh, I don't know," said the boy, as he poured some water out of Uncle
Ike's rubber boots, that hung on the fence; "you and Noah size up about
right. If you had been running that ark, you would have spilled the
whole outfit, and nobody ever would have got ashore. But that Prodigal
Son makes me tired. He was a regular jay. He run away from home, and got
in with a terrible crowd, and they pulled his leg for all the money
he had. They steered him up against barrel houses, and filled him with
liquor that would burn a hole in a copper kettle, got him mixed up with
queer women, and he painted the towns red; and when his money was all
gone, they kicked him out with a case of indigestion and a head on him
that hurt so he could not wink without thinking there was an earthquake.
Say, Uncle Ike, do you know that fellow had some sense after all? When
he found that all his new-found friends wanted was his money, and to
help him spend it, and that they shook him when it was gone, he had a
right to be disgusted with the world; and if he had been like some of
our present day prodigals, he would have turned tramp, or held up
a train, or stolen a horse and been lynched; but he just tumbled to
himself and took the first job that came along, herding hogs, but he
didn't live high. He worked for his board and furnished his own husks.
Do you know, I can't help thinking the man that hired Prod. to drive
hogs was in a trust, and made all the money there was in the deal. But
he was repaid for all his suffering. When he thought of the old folks at
home, and drew his wages and st