k
from Red Dog, with the result, as I says, that he onloads his
findin's, that a-way, on a dead kyard. Not that this yere public
inattention preys on Boggs. He keeps on drinkin' an' talkin', same as
though, all y'ears like a field of wheat, we ain't doin' a thing but
listen.

"'Also,' he observes, as he tells Black Jack to rebusy himse'f,
meanwhile p'intin' up to the poster which shows how the devil is
holdin' Professor Pratt in his lap an' laborin' for that hypnotist's
instruction; 'I shall think out a few tests which oughter get the
measure of that mountebank. He won't find this outfit so easy as them
Red Dog boneheads.'

"Professor Pratt has a one-day wait in Wolfville, not bein' able that
evenin' to get the Bird Cage Op'ry House, the same bein' engaged by a
company of histrions called the Red Stocking Blonds. Havin' nothin'
else to do, the Professor wanders yere an' thar, now in the Red
Light, now at the Noo York store, but showin' up at the O. K.
Restauraw at chuck time both rav'nous an' reg'lar. Missis Rucker
allows she never does feed a gent who puts himse'f outside of so much
grub for the money, an' hazards the belief it's because of a loss of
nervous force through them hypnotizin's he pulls off. Not that she's
findin' fault, for the Professor, havin' staked her to a free ticket,
has her on his staff in the shakin' of a dice-box.

"The Professor don't come bulgin' among us, garroolous an' friendly,
but holds himse'f aloof a heap, clingin' to the feelin' mebby that to
preeserve a distance is likely to swell reesults at the Bird Cage
door. Boggs, however, ain't to be stood off by no coldness, carin' no
more for a gent's bein' haughty that a-way than a cow does for a
cobweb. Which you bet it'll take somethin' more'n mere airs to hold
Boggs in check.

"It's in the O. K. Restauraw, followin' our evenin' _frijoles_, that
Boggs breaks the ice an' declar's for some exper'ments.

"'Which you claims,' says he, appealin' to the Professor, 'to make the
deef hear and the blind see. Onforchoonately we're out of deef folks
at this writin', an' thar's nothin' approachin' blindness in this neck
of woods which don't arise from licker. But aside from cures thus
rendered impossible for want of el'gible invalids, thar's still this
yere hypnotic bluff you puts up. What Wolfville hankers for is tests,
tests about the legit'macy of which thar's no openin' for dispoote.
Wharfore I yereby makes offer of myse'f to become your onmur