“I suppose I should. But Miss Brook has just told us that these snakes are harmless. And I am not a boy. I’m only a woman, you know.”
“That’s so. Wull—I—I s’pose I will. I said I would, an’ I ain’t a goin’ to lie, nohow.”
“That is right! That is fine!” cried Miss Joanna, impulsively. “A little lad who has a love of the truth so strong that it will overcome personal fear is the sort of boy for me!” Then she went on to explain so clearly to the child all the habits of the hated reptiles now lying dead in the yard of Robert’s “own poultry-house” that he became intensely interested.
“Wull, if a snake, just a nasty black snake, has got such a lot of int’rusting things about it, I s’pose rabbits an’ such fellers must have a heap more. Don’t they?”
“I should say they did! And you must ask my brother all about any sort of living creature you wish to become acquainted with, and he will be delighted to tell you. He is a very wise man, for all he is so quiet about it.”
“Does he know ’bout hens?”
“Everything, I fancy, though he likes snakes better. Wild things are more to his notion than tame ones. Now I am ready to tell your big brother just what must be done here, and if he can manage to get the place fixed to-day you can begin your poultry business to-morrow. Now is just the time to make a pleasant and profitable commencement.”
“Why?”
“Because it is ‘sitting time.’ Every mother biddy in the flock, or nearly every one, is now thinking about her coming family, and wanting to ‘sit.’”
“Does hens think?”