exclaimed Mrs. Gratz without emotion. "With the fedders
and the bones, too?"

"Sure," said the thin Santa Claus. "Why, them toober-chlosis bugs is
perfectly ravenous. Once they git started they eat feathers and bones
and feet and all--a chicken hasn't no chance at all. That's why the
Mayor sent me up here. He heard all your chickens was gone, and gone
quick, and he says to me, 'Toober-chlosis bugs!' That's what he says,
and he says, 'You ain't doing your duty. You ain't inspected Mrs.
Gratz's chicken coop. You go and do it, or you're fired, see?' He says
that, and he says, 'You inspect Mrs. Gratz's coop, and you kill off
them bugs before they git into her house and eat her all up--bones and
all.'"

"And fedders?" asked Mrs. Gratz calmly.

"No, he didn't say feathers. This ain't nothing to fool about. It's
serious. So I'll go right out and have a look--"

"I guess such bugs ain't been in _my_ coop last night," said Mrs.
Gratz carelessly. "I aint afraid of such bugs in winter time."

"Well, that's where you make your mistake," said the thin Santa Claus.
"Winter is just the bad time for them bugs. The more a toober-chlosis
bug freezes up the more dangerous it is. In summer they ain't so
bad--they're soft like and squash up when a chicken gits them, but in
winter they freeze up hard and git brittle. Then a chicken comes along
and grabs one, and it busts into a thousand pieces, and each piece
turns into a new toober-chlosis bug and busts into a thousand pieces,
and so on, and the chicken gits all filled full of toober-chlosis
bugs before it knows it. When a chicken snaps up one toober-chlosis
bug it has a million in it inside of half an hour and that chicken
don't last long, and when the bugs make for the house--What's that on
your dress there now?"

Mrs. Gratz looked at her arm indifferently.

"Nothing," she said.

"I thought mebby it was a toober-chlosis bug had got on you already,"
said the thin Santa Claus. "If it was you would be all eat up inside
of half an hour. Them bugs is awful rapacious."

"Yes?" inquired Mrs. Gratz with interest. "Such strong bugs, too, is
it not?"

"You bet they are strong--" began the stranger.

"I should think so," interrupted Mrs. Gratz, "to smash up padlocks on
such chicken houses. You make me afraid of such bugs. I don't dare let
you go out there to get your bones and feet all eat up by them. I
guess not!"

"Well, you see--you see--" said the thin Santa Claus, puzzled, and