"Stealing chickens."
Jeff looked unbelieving and the jailer's face became less gentle. For a moment he was almost stern.
"That's serious. It isn't a light matter."
"I know."
"Then why did you look so doubtful?"
"It seems a few chickens are hardly worth a jail sentence."
"They're not, and neither is anything else, but some people never learn that. It just happens those boys weren't satisfied with one chicken. They got three thousand that anybody knows about."
"Whew!"
"They'll pay for it. Now, Jeff, I'll have to take your dog."
Jeff sparred for time. He had known other people in similar circumstances whose dog had been taken away, and half the time they'd simply disappeared. That they'd sickened and died was the usual story, but actually they'd been destroyed because it was too much trouble to take care of them. Outwardly, Jeff affected an air of supreme indifference.