about it, so you could sort of
exercise your mind on it, so I jest dropped up----"

"Colonel," said Toole, "this is a very serious case." He put his hand
over his mouth to hide the smile he could not prevent from coming to his
lips.

"You don't mean to tell me!" exclaimed the Colonel. "I was afraid there
might be somethin' wrong about it somewheres. But I ain't goin' to go to
no expense about it. It ain't my box----"

"I would not take a case like this for money," said the attorney,
turning suddenly and facing the Colonel with a seriousness that
frightened that cautious soul. "I would not take a case involving a
medium-sized, medium-heavy box; a box left for board by a man from parts
unknown, now departed to parts unknown; a box that may contain stolen
property; I would not take such a case for money, Colonel. But I'll
undertake it for friendship. For friendship only. You ARE my friend,
aren't you, Colonel?"

"Surely! Surely!" exclaimed the Colonel eagerly.

"A medium-sized box," said Toole, turning his head to hide his smile,
"should be opened only in the presence of an attorney-at-law. That is
legal advice and worth five dollars, but I charge you nothing for it,
you being my friend. Consider it a gift from me to you."

"I'm much obliged," said the Colonel gruffly.

"And now," said the attorney briskly, "for the MODUS OPERANDI, as we
lawyers say. Has the client, the lady in the case, a hatchet?"

The Colonel thought.

"I ain't right sure," he said at length, after he had searched his
brain; "seems like she ought to have, but I've got one, an' I'll loan it
to her."

"Good!" exclaimed Toole briskly. "That is better yet. A medium-sized box
left by a transient in payment of default of a board bill should
always be opened, if possible, with a hatchet not the property of the
plaintiff. Chitty says that. It was so ruled in the case of MUGGINS vs.
MUGGINS."

He took from his desk a bulky volume, and ran over the pages rapidly.

"Box," he said, "small box-medium box. Here it is. Humph!"

The Colonel leaned over the book, but the attorney closed it quickly.

"Bring an ax," he said. "A hatchet would do, but an ax is more legal.
Hatchets for small boxes, axes for medium boxes. There is a later case
than MUGGINS vs. MUGGINS."

"I'll fetch the ax," agreed the Colonel.

"Can you be at the house in half an hour?" asked the attorney.

The Colonel could.

"You're right sure there ain't goin' to be no charges to th