d heave a sigh an' lay down alongside o' me; but in
about fifteen minutes he'd jump out o' bed, sayin', "That's good!
That's great! I mustn't lose that!" an' he'd get out a book an' write
something into it. Sometimes he'd laugh over it an' sometimes he'd cry.

The Kid'd never had no experiences with geniuses before, an' at first
he feared that he might get violent durin' the night, so he took his
gun to bed with him, but I knowed the' wasn't a mite o' danger in him.
When breakfast was ready we purt' nigh had to get a hoss to pull him
out o' bed.

I was interested in his tales of foreign countries, an' he used to tell
me all about the castles he had been to. One day I happened to think of
the letter what the drug clerk at Slocum's Luck had wrote us, an' I
asked Bill what kind of a lookin' place Clarenden Castle was.
"Clarenden Castle?" sez Bill. "Where the deuce did you ever hear of
Clarenden Castle?"

"Well, I might have heard of it from the younger son," sez I. "He came
over to this country, you know."

"Where is he now?" sez Bill, mighty interested.

"Minin' law is, that the first feller what stakes out a claim gets it,"
sez I. "Now my question staked out the first claim. You answer my
questions an' then we'll be ready for yours."

"Humph," sez Bill.

"Where is St. James Court, Bill?" sez I.

"Well, I never expected you to know anything about such things!" sez
Bill.

"'Tis wonderful how intelligent some trained animals are, ain't it?"
sez I, sarcastic. "But you must remember, little one, that I've been
livin' right in the house with folks a good part of my life. Now if
you'll just answer my questions the same as if I was human, I'll sit up
an' beg, jump over a stick, an' do all my other tricks for you."

Bill would allus tumble if you hit him hard enough, so after a bit he
grinned an' said, "Well, Clarenden Castle is one o' the seats of the
Cleighton family--"

"Seat?" sez I. "I allus thought it was a house."

"You see, over in England they call--" Bill began to explain it to me
an' then he saw me grinnin' an' he broke off short. "I know what a seat
is, Bill," sez I. "They have country seats an' town seats; but some o'
you fellers pout when you're obliged to live up to the rules, an' I
wanted to see if you was square enough to own up after you'd been
shown--the's lots o' fellers, not as well edicated as you, who can't do
it without groanin'."

Bill studied out this last remark before he answered, an'