"Why that?" he inquired.
"Because it seems to be my bent. My name is Luke Belding. I'm an orphan. Been brought up on a stock farm, and know all about horses. And say," added the speaker with intense eagerness, "if they'll take me on I'll throw in a great curiosity."
He held out what looked like a wooden cage covered with a piece of water-proof cloth.
"Got it in there, have you?" asked Andy.
"Yes. I've trained it, and it's cute. Honest, it's better as a curiosity, and to make people laugh, than a lot of the novelties they have in the side, tents."
"Why," said Andy, with increasing interest, "what may it be, now?"
"Well," answered Luke, "it's a chicken."
"Oh. Two-headed, three-legged, I suppose, or something of that sort?"
"Not at all. No," said Luke Belding, "this is something you never saw before. It's a chicken that walks backward."