n one of the corners of Main Street stood the Kilo Hotel, and before it
Eliph' checked the slow gait of Irontail.

Jim Wilkins, the landlord, tipped his chair forward, and got out of it
with a grunt of laziness.

"Hotel running?" asked Eliph' Hewlitt briskly.

"You might call it runnin' if you wasn't dictionary--particular what you
called it," said the landlord. "If you had to keep it you'd more likely
say it was tryin' to learn to walk. But it's open for business. Want
your rig put up?"

"Yes," admitted Eliph'. "I've had my supper."

"That's all right," said the landlord cheerfully. "I'm sort of glad of
it; save the old lady gittin' up a meal. I was just tellin' Pap Briggs
here that I figgered Kilo had the hottest mean summer temperature, and
the meanest hot summer temperature on earth, and it's hotter over a
kitchen stove than anywheres else. We generally have cold suppers in
this here hotel, unless some guest happens in. Hey, S. Potts! Come here
and git this feller's horse!"

The livery stable was convenient, just around the corner on Cross
Street, and S. Potts came lankly and lazily around the corner. He stood
and looked at Irontail a minute critically, and then felt the horse's
hocks and shook his head at the result of his investigation. Then he
opened Irontail's mouth and looked at his teeth.

"Well, I'll be hanged!" he said, and he called around the corner, "Hey,
Daniel!" and from the livery stable came a very old man.

"Look at this," said S. Potts, opening Irontail's mouth again, and
Daniel looked and shook his head, as S. Potts had done.

"And feel this," said S. Potts, putting his hand on Irontail's hock
again. Daniel felt as he was told, and again shook his head.

"Now, what do you make of that?" asked S. Potts triumphantly.

"I dunno what to make of it, S. Potts," said the old man, shaking his
head. "What do you make of it?"

The landlord broke in upon the conversation with sudden energy.

"Look here," he said, "you git that horse around to the stable, and shut
up," and S. Potts and Daniel hastily clambered into the buggy and drove
around the corner.

"I wonder if anything's the mater with my horse?" said Eliph'.

"Matter?" laughed Jim Wilkins. "That's just S. Potts tryin' to show off
before strangers, like he always does. He don't mean no harm, but he
can't be satisfied to just come around and git a horse and lead it to
the stable. He's got to draw attention to hisself or he ain't happy.