"DON'T look like that!" snapped Captain Sam. "Come out of it! Wake up! It always gives me the fidgets to see you settin' gapin' at nothin'. What are you daydreamin' about now, eh?"
Jed turned and gazed over his spectacles.
"I was thinkin'," he observed, "that most likely that dog himself was crazy. If he wasn't he wouldn't have got into the manger. I never saw a dog that wanted to climb into a manger, did you, Sam?"
"Oh, confound the manger and the dog, too! Look here, Jed; if I found you a good tenant would you rent 'em that house of yours?"
Jed looked more troubled than ever.
"Sam," he began, "you know I'd do 'most anything to oblige you, but—"
"Oblige me! This ain't to oblige me. It's to oblige you."
"Oh, then I won't do it."
"Well, then, 'tis to oblige me. It'll oblige me to have you show some sense. Come on, Jed. These people I've got in mind are nice people. They want to find a little house and they've come to me at the bank for advice about findin' it. It's a chance for you, a real chance."
Jed rocked back and forth. He looked genuinely worried.