you a word of advice, although
you don't really deserve it. Beware,' he says, 'of the constable in the
village beyond. You'll recognize him by his whiskers,' he says.
'Alongside of him, I look like an onion in the face. Ten years ago,' he
says, 'that constable swore a solemn oath not never to shave until he'd
locked up a thousand bums, and,' he says, 'he's now on his last lap.
Keep moving,' he says, 'till you feel like stopping, and then don't
stop.'

"Them edifying smells has made me desperate. Besides, not counting the
Chink, who don't count we outnumbers him two to one.

"'We don't go,' I says, 'until we gets a bite.'

"'Oh! I'll see that you get a bite,' he says. 'Sato,' he says, calling
off-stage, 'kindly unchain Ophelia and Ralph Waldo. Ophelia,' he says,
turning to us, 'is a lady Great Dane, standing four feet high at the
shoulder and very morose in disposition. But Ralph Waldo is a
crossbreed--part Boston bull and part snapping turtle. Sometimes I think
they don't neither one of them care much for strangers. Here they come
now! Sick 'em, pups!'

"Sweet Caps starts first but I beats him to the gate by half a length,
Ophelia and Ralph Waldo finishing third and fourth, respectively. We
fades away down the big road, and the last thing we sees as we turns a
wistful farewell look over our shoulders is them two man-eaters raging
back and forth inside the fence trying to gnaw down the palings, and the
old guy standing on the steps laughing.

"So we pikes along, me frequently reproaching Sweet Caps for his
precipitancy in spilling the beans. We passes through the village of
Plentiful Valley without stopping and walks on and on and on some more,
until we observes a large, prosperous-looking building of red brick,
like a summer hotel with a lawn in front and a high stone wall in front
of that. A large number of persons of both sexes, but mainly females, is
wandering about over the front yard dressed in peculiar styles. Leaning
over the gates is a thickset man gazing with repugnance upon a lettuce
leaf which he is holding in his right hand. He sees us and his face
lights up some, but not much.

"'What ho, comrades!' he says; 'what's the latest and newest in the
great world beyond?'

"'Mister,' I says, disregarding these pleasantries, 'how's the prospects
for a pair of footsore travelers to get a free snack of vittles here?'

"'Poor,' he says, 'very poor. Even the pay-patients, one or two of whom
I am which, don't