enin' to the birds. The animals
remember a lot o' things as we've forgotten. I dare say you know it as
well as I do. Now, there's the nightingale--_that's_ the bird for
recollectin' and makin' you recollect; and you might say dogs and 'osses
too. You can see the memory in the dog's eyes and in the 'oss's face.
But you can _hear_ it in the bird's voice--and hearin' and smellin' is
better nor seein' when it comes to a matter o' rememberin.'

"Yes, and it's my opinion as animals, takin' 'em all round, are wiser
nor men--that is, they've got more sense. You let your line out far
enough, and I tell you there's some animals as can make you find a lot
o' things as you've forgotten. That's what the bird does. When I
listens, I seems to be rememberin' all sorts o' things, only I can't
tell nobody what they are.

"Yes, but you ought to ha' been here that night when Mrs. Abel give that
piece! Why, bless you, she'd got the nightingale to a T, especially the
rememberin'. Eh, my word, but it were a staggerer! I _wish_ you'd been
there--a rememberin' gentleman like you! You get her to give you that
piece when you goes home, and it'll make you reel your line out to the
very end."

Some of those allusions, I imagine, were lost on Chandrapal. But once
more he showed that he caught the "sense."

"In my country," he said, "religion forbids us to take the lives of
animals."

"That's a good sort o' religion," said Snarley. "There's some sense in
that! Them as holds with it must ha' let their line out pretty far. Now,
it wouldn't surprise me to hear as folks in your country are good at
rememberin' things as other folks have forgotten."

"Yes, some of us think we can remember many things." And, after a pause,
"I thought just now that I remembered you."

"And me you!" said Snarley, "blessed if I didn't. The minute you said
them funny words, danged if I didn't feel as though I'd knowed you all
my life! It was just like when I'm listenin' to the bird--all sorts o'
things comes tumblin' back. Same with them words o' yours. It seemed as
though somebody as I knowed were a-callin' of me. I must ha' travelled
millions o' miles, same as when you lets your line out to the stars. And
all the time I were sure that I knowed the voice, though I couldn't
understand the meanin'. I tell you, it were _just_ like listenin' to the
bird."

Chandrapal now turned and said something to Mrs. Abel. She promptly
slipped out of the shed, giving me a sign to fol