ugh; but he came when the police called him.

"You Marshal's little boy? You look just like your father," said the
midget.

"That voice, I should know that voice even if it's cracked to pieces.
That has to be Manuel's voice."

"Sure, I'm Manuel. Just like I left, thirty-five years ago."

"You can't be Manuel, shrunk three feet and two hundred pounds and aged
a million."

"You look here at my census slip. It says I'm Manuel. And here are nine
more of the regular people, and one million of the little people. I
couldn't get them on the right forms, though. I had to steal their
list."

"You can't be Manuel," said Marshal.

"He can't be Manuel," said the big policemen and the little policeman.

"Maybe not, then," the dwarf conceded. "I thought I was, but I wasn't
sure. Who am I then? Let's look at the other papers and see which one I
am."

"No, you can't be any of them either, Manuel. And you surely can't be
Manuel."

"Give him a name anyhow and get him counted. We got to get to that ten
thousand mark."

"Tell us what happened, Manuel--if you are. Which you aren't. But tell
us."

"After I counted the regular people I went to count the little people. I
took a spade and spaded off the top of their town to get in. But they
put an _encanto_ on me, and made me and Mula run a treadmill for
thirty-five years."

"Where was this?"

"At the little people town. Nuevo Danae. But after thirty-five years the
_encanto_ wore off and Mula and I stole the list of names and ran away."

"But where did you really get this list of so many names written so
small?"

"Suffering saddle sores, Marshal, don't ask the little bug so many
questions. You got a million names in your hand. Certify them! Send them
in! There's enough of us here right now. We declare that place annexed
forthwith. This will make High Plains the biggest town in the whole
state of Texas."

So Marshal certified them and sent them into Washington. This gave High
Plains the largest percentage increase of any city in the nation, but it
was challenged. There were some soreheads in Houston who said that it
wasn't possible. They said High Plains had nowhere near that many people
and there must have been a miscount.

And in the days that the argument was going on, they cleaned up and fed
Manuel, if it were he, and tried to get from him a cogent story.

"How do you know it was thirty-five years you were on the treadmill,
Manuel?"

"Well, it seemed like thirty