one of Herb's home-made
jokes. But on the other hand, some of them aren't so awfully bad. If you
took one and polished it up a bit here and there and changed it around a
little, it might be good enough to raise a laugh in an insane asylum."

"It seems to me I remember once, a long time ago, when he made a joke
that was so funny that we all laughed at it," said Joe. "It hardly seems
possible, but I'm almost sure I remember it."

"Oh, you're all bugs, anyway, so that doesn't prove anything," said Herb,
calmly finishing the last of his pie. "But some day, when I become a
world-famous humorist, you'll realize how dumb you were not to appreciate
my jokes. Now you get them free, but then it will cost you money to hear
them."

"It will never cost me any money," said Bob, with conviction. "I wouldn't
give a plugged nickel for a book full of them."

"Neither will anybody else," said Joe. "If you have any idea of ever
making a living that way, Herb, you'd better forget it. You'd starve to
death, sure."

"Well, it's a cinch I won't have to starve to death right now, anyway, so
quit your croaking," retorted the much abused Herb. "Whoever told you
fellows that you were judges of humor, anyway?"

"A person doesn't have to be an expert to judge your jokes," came back
Joe. "If he knows anything at all, he can tell that they're rotten."

"All your friends seem to have very decided views on the question,
Herbert," laughed Frank Brandon. "The popular vote seems to be heavily
against you."

"Oh, their opinions aren't worth worrying about," said Herb, complacently.
"As long as I know my jokes are good, I don't care what they say."

"That's the spirit," encouraged Brandon. "Remember, all great men have had
to fight an uphill battle against criticism."

"That's true," said Herb, with a melancholy sigh. "And what's more, if you
can judge by the amount of criticism, I must be going to be extra great.
Still, that's likely enough, I suppose."

"Don't stop him, fellows," said Bob, with a mischievous grin. "Let him
rave on. If he enjoys kidding himself that way, why should we wake him
up?"

"Aw, you fellows who think you're so smart are probably kidding
yourselves," said Herb. "Nobody could really be as smart as you Indians
think you are and live to tell the story."

"That's one of the failings of human nature to rate ourselves too highly,"
interposed Dr. Dale, with a smile. "But now, how would you all like to go
in and hear the res