'I've only seen one in two months, and that's the feller who sold me the dog here.'
As they were talking about the man, I asked Fred if he knew him. They might have met at the public-house, when the man was buying me from the boss.
'You would like him,' I said. 'I wish you could have met.'
They both looked at me.
'What's he growling at?' asked Fred. 'Think he heard something?'
The old man laughed.
'He wasn't growling. He was talking in his sleep. You're nervous, Fred. It comes of living in the city.'
'Well, I am. I like this place in the daytime, but it gives me the pip at night. It's so quiet. How you can stand it here all the time, I can't understand. Two nights of it would have me seeing things.'
His father laughed.
'If you feel like that, Fred, you had better take the gun to bed with you. I shall be quite happy without it.'