Watching the smoke rising from Rufus's arctics and speculating as to what might be the composition of his soles that he could endure so much heat without discomfort, Wallie inquired politely:
Mr. Reed's tone became impressive:
"I am—a water witch."
Wallie looked puzzled.
"Some call it magic, but the fact is, I am able to locate water with a forked willer and you can call it anything you want to."
Wallie regarded the worker of miracles with fresh attention. His belief in his own powers was evidently so sincere that even a skeptic could not fail to be impressed by him.
He continued:
"With my divinin' rod I have flew in the faces of the biggest geologists in the country and found water where they said there wasn't any."
"Will the divining rod tell you how far you must dig for it?"