But the Colonel didn't look up till the Boy got quite near, chanting in his tuneless voice:
"'Grasshoppah sett'n on a swee' p'tater vine,
Swee' p'tater vine, swee' p'tater vine—'"
"What's the matter, hey, Colonel? Sorry as all that to see me back?"
"Reckon it's the kind o' sorrah I can bear," said the Colonel. "We thought you were dead."
"You ought t' known me better. Were you just sendin' out a rescue-party of one?"
The Colonel nodded. "That party would have started before, but I cut my foot with the axe the day you left. Where have you been, in the name o' the nation?"
"Pymeut an' Holy Cross."
"Holy Cross? Holy Moses! You?"
"Yes; and do you know, one thing I saw there gave me a serious nervous shock."
"That don't surprise me. What was it?"