the fabulist with a wink aside for Jeff's benefit. "I
am indeed delighted to make the acquaintance of one thus gifted, even
under the present informal circumstances. In what way, if any, may I be
of service to you, Judge Priest's Jeff?"

"That air thing you named the whiffletit--near ez I made out you said,
boss, that fust you tolled him up to whar you wanted him wid cheese an'
'en you jest natchelly laffed him to death?"

"Such are the correct facts accurately repeated, Judge Priest's Jeff,"
gravely assented this affable faunalist.

"Yas, suh," said Jeff. "D'ye s'pose now, boss, it would he'p any ef
they wuz a whole passel of folks to do the laffin' 'stid of jes' one?"

"Beyond the peradventure of a doubt. Concerted action on the part of
many, guffawing merrily in chorus, assuredly would hasten the death of
the ill-starred victim, if you get what I mean, Judge Priest's most
estimable Jeff?"

"Yas, suh," said Jeff. "Thanky, suh." He did not exactly smile his
thanks, but the mask of his melancholy crinkled round the edges and
raised slightly. One who knew Jeff, and more particularly one who had
been cognizant of his depressed state during the past fortnight, would
have said that a heartening thought suddenly had come to him, lightening
and lifting in ever so small a degree the funereal mantlings. He made as
though to withdraw from sight. A gesture from the visiting naturalist
detained him.

"One moment," said Uncle Dwight. "Might I, a comparative stranger, be
pardoned for inquiring into the motives underlying the interest you have
evinced in my perhaps poorly expressed but veracious narration?"

The wraith of Jeff's grin took on flesh visibly. It was a pleasure--even
to one beset by grievous perplexities--it was a pleasure to hear such
noble big words fall thus trippingly from human lips. His answer, tho,
was in a measure evasive, not to say cryptic.

"I wuz jes' stedyin', tha's all, suh," he fenced. He ducked from view,
then bobbed his head up again.

"'Scuse me, suh, but they is one mo' thing I craves to ast you."

"Proceed, I pray you. Our aim is to please and instruct."

"Well, suh, I jes' wanted to ast you ef you ever run acrost one of these
yere whiffletits w'ich played on the jazzin'-valve?"

"Prithee?"

"Naw, suh, not the prith--prith--whut you jes' said. I mentioned the
jazzin'-valve--whut some folks calls the saxophone. D'ye reckin they
mout' 'a' been a whiffletit onct 'at played on one?"

"Oh