rzilla. "Course, Cap'n
Jonadab was perfectly sat on spiritu'lism and signs and omens and such
after that. He's had his fortune told no less'n eight times sence, and,
nigh's I can find out, each time it's different. The amount of blondes
and brunettes and widows and old maids that he's slated to marry,
accordin' to them fortune tellers, is perfectly scandalous. If he lives
up to the prophecies, Brigham Young wouldn't be a twospot 'longside of
him."

"It's funny about dreams," mused Captain Hiram. "Folks are always
tellin' about their comin' true, but none of mine ever did. I used to
dream I was goin' to be drowned, but I ain't been yet."

The depot master laughed. "Well," he observed, "once, when I was a
youngster, I dreamed two nights runnin' that I was bein' hung. I asked
my Sunday school teacher if he believed dreams come true, and he said
yes, sometimes. Then I told him my dream, and he said he believed in
that one. I judged that any other finish for me would have surprised
him. But, somehow or other, they haven't hung me yet."

"There was a hired girl over at the Old Home House who was sat on
fortune tellin'," said Wingate. "Her name was Effie, and--"

"Look here!" broke in Captain Bailey Stitt, righteous indignation in his
tone, "I've started no less than nineteen different times to tell you
about how I went sailin' in an automobile. Now do you want to hear it,
or don't you?"

"How you went SAILIN' in an auto?" repeated Barzilla. "Went ridin', you
mean."

"I mean sailin'. I went ridin', too, but--"

"You'll have to excuse me, Bailey," interrupted Captain Hiram, rising
and looking at his watch. "I've stayed here a good deal longer'n I
ought to, already. I must be gettin' on home to see how poor little
Dusenberry, my boy, is feelin'. I do hope he's better by now. I wish Dr.
Parker hadn't gone out of town."

The depot master rose also. "And I'll have to be excused, too," he
declared. "It's most time for the up train. Good-by, Hiram. Give my
regards to Sophrony, and if there's anything I can do to help, in case
your baby should be sick, just sing out, won't you?"

"But I want to tell about this automobilin' scrape," protested Captain
Bailey. "It was one of them things that don't happen every day."

"So was that fortune business of Effie's," declared Wingate. "Honest,
the way it worked out was queer enough."

But the train whistled just then and the group broke up. Captain Sol
went out to the platform, whe