"'Hello!' says he. 'Was'er matter?'
"Jim saw he wasn't more than half awake yet, so he says, 'Why, I was up on the bluff there, Scotty, and seeing it was such a short distance I thought I'd drop in!'
"'Aw ri',' grunted Scotty. 'Make y'self t' home,' and with that he rolls over.
"Jim couldn't wait for morning, and though his leg was pretty badly sprained, he made the trip all the way round the trail and woke us up to tell us how he'd gone through Ferguson's roof and the old man asked him to make himself at home. Next morning there was Scotty out in front of his cabin, his thumbs in his vest holes, looking up.
"'What's the matter, Scotty?' says I.
"'Well, I wisht you'd tell me what in the name of God went through that roof!' says he.
"I swallered a laugh cross-ways and put on a serious face. 'Must have been a rock,' says I.
"'Rock nothin'!' says he. 'If it had been a rock 'twould have stayed in the cabin, wouldn't it! Well, there ain't the first blasted thing of any shape nor description in there but the hole—you can go in and look for yourself.'
"It cost Scotty one case of rye to make us forget those circumstances."
"I should have thought the man would be killed, striking on the roof that way," said Miss Mattie.