He saw his advantage, and was thankful for the mud,—the one thing that without an effort restored the easy relations between himself and his protégé.
Ostensibly these relations were reversed, and Elias went out with the preacher as a guardian and protector. But the minister was laying his nets. It was on one of these rambles that he broached to ’Lias a subject which he had been considering for some time.
“Look here, ’Lias,” he said, “what are you going to do with that big back yard of yours?”
“Oh, nothin’. ’Tain’t no ’count to raise nothin’ in.”
“It may not be fit for vegetables, but it will raise something.”
“What?”
“Chickens. That’s what.”
Elias laughed sympathetically.
“I’d lak to eat de chickens I raise. I wouldn’t want to be feedin’ de neighbourhood.”
“Plenty of boards, slats, wire, and a good lock and key would fix that all right.”