“Why, you said you’d go see when the lawyer would see me. Now you say he’ll see me in five minutes. You may be one of them new-fangled mind-readers I’ve heard tell about, but I don’t believe it. I don’t take no stock in it. Now you go find out when the lawyer will see me. My time’s valuable, for I’ve got a lot of work to do, out at the farm.”
“I did find out, Mr. Kendall. Mr. Boise will see you in five minutes.”
“Hold on thar!” exclaimed the farmer. “You can’t fool me. I’ve watched you every minute, an’ you ain’t left your chair sence I come in. All you’ve been doin’ is play with them there cords. Now you git right up an’ find out when Mr. Boise will see me! I ain’t so green as I look.”
“Oh, I see!” exclaimed Tom, comprehending. “You see, I telephoned to him.”
“Telephoned to him? You can’t fool me that way. I know what a telephone is. We’ve got ’em out our way, an’ a bell rings when you telephone. Besides, there ain’t no telephone here, and who ever heard of telephonin’ from one room to another?”
“But you see this is a private exchange switchboard,” explained Tom, and he told how it was possible to speak to a lawyer in the next room, without leaving his seat. He made it quite clear to the farmer.
“Oh, I understand,” said Mr. Kendall. “I’m sorry I made such a fuss about it, ’specially when you ain’t well. Did you see a doctor about it?”
“About what?” asked the boy, wondering what new notion the farmer had.
“About your ear ache. I see you have to wear some instrument on yer head. I had a nephew once that had ear ache dreadful bad. We done everything for him, blew smoke into it, put bags of hot pepper in, but it didn’t do no good. Then I poured some hot sweet oil in, and that worked fine. Ever try it?”
“But I have no ear ache.”