"We can't get any other name than Joseph, and the boys here call him Crazy Joe."
"His malady may be curable; have you consulted a physician about it?" inquired the Californian, who was very much interested in the strange case.
"Yes, sir; a doctor from the State Lunatic Asylum was here day before yesterday, but he pronounced him incurable."
"Could not the doctor tell how long he had been in this condition?" asked Mr. Tompkins.
"Not with certainty, but thought it only a few weeks or months. He said he had probably escaped from his guard and ran away."
At this moment the subject of conversation rose from the low stool and looked about with a vacant stare.
"Do you want to go home to your parents?" Mr. Tompkins asked.
"When the famine is sore in the land they will come for me."
"Why did you run away?"