something when he
talks, but he's always talking. I will put him against any man in the
world for a talking match. But the other day I wanted to catch a goose
to get a quill, and--"

"Oh, that reminds me," broke in Dic, "my Uncle Joe Bright is coming to
visit us soon. Talk about talkers! He is a Seventh Day Adventist
preacher, and his conversation--no, I'll say his talk, for that's all it
is--reminds me of time."

"How is that?" queried Rita.

"It's made up of small particles, goes on forever, and is all seconds.
He says nothing first hand. His talk is all borrowed."

Rita laughed and tried again. "Well, I wanted to catch--"

"You just spoke of a talking match," said Dic. "I have an idea. Let us
bring Billy Little and my uncle together for a talking match."

"Very well," replied Rita, laughing heartily. "I'll stake my money on
Billy Little. But I was saying, the other day I--"

"I'll put mine on Uncle Joe," cried Dic. "Billy Little is a 'still Bill'
compared with him."

Rita was provoked, and I think with good reason; but after a pause she
concluded to try once more.

"The other day I wanted a quill for a pen, and when I tried to catch a
goose I thought their noise would alarm the whole settlement."

"Geese awakened Rome," said Dic. "If they should awaken Blue River, it,
also, might become famous. The geese episode is the best known fact
concerning the Eternal City--unless perhaps it is her howling."

"Rome had a right to howl," said Rita, anxious to show that she
remembered his teaching. "She was founded by the children of a wolf."

Dic was pleased and laughingly replied: "That ponderous historical
epigram is good enough to have come from Billy Little himself. When you
learn a fact, it immediately grows luminous."

The girl looked quickly up to satisfy herself that he was in earnest.
Being satisfied, she moved an inch or two nearer him on the log, and
began again:--

"I wanted to catch the goose--" but she stopped and concluded to try the
Billy Little road. "Dear old Billy Little," she said, "isn't he good?
The other day he said he'd trust me for the whole store, if I wanted to
buy it. I had no money and I wanted to buy--"

"Why should he not trust you for all you would buy?" asked Dic. "He
knows he would get his money."

The Billy Little route also seemed hilly. She concluded to try another,
and again made a slight movement toward Dic on the log.

"I went from your house this afternoon over to Su