“Lemme think,” says the man. “Now, did I see them men or did I jest imagine I seen ’em? If my dawg ’d ’a’ been here he’d ’a’ barked at anybody that went by. But he didn’t bark. That hain’t anythin’ to go by, though, ’cause he run off last spring.” He stopped again and made like he was studying hard.
“Supposin’ they’d stopped and asked me had I seen a couple of boys, one fat and one lean? Would that ’a’ been them?”
“I guess it would,” says Mark; and you could see he was tickled to death with the man.
“Then,” says he, “there can’t be no doubt I seen ’em.”
“How l-long ago?” asked Mark.
“A perty good-sized nap,” says he.
Mark didn’t understand any more than I did. “What’s that?” he cried.
“Just my way of tellin’ time,” says the man. “Day’s divided into naps. I snooze and wake and snooze and wake. I know how long ago a thing happened by countin’ back how many times I been asleep.”
“How l-long is a perty good-sized nap?”
“More’n twice as long as a skimpy nap.”