“‘It’s Hank,’ says Bud.
“‘Is he hurt?’ says she.
“‘Oh, no,’ says Bud. ‘That is to say, they ain’t any bones broke. He’s been a-fightin’ ‘round promiscuous, but he’s got no hurts to call for anybody to fetch him home. Fact is I saw a advertisement offerin’ a reward for Hank, and I just discovered him, and rescued him, and fetched him home.’
“‘Didn’t the advertisement say to return him in good order?’ says Tildy.
“‘I b’leeve it did,’ says Bud, ‘but I couldn’t p’form no miracle for four dollars, so I jest fetched him as I found him.’
“‘And didn’t it say bring him securely tied?’ says Tildy.
“Bud was set back considerable at that. ‘That’s a fact,’ says he, ‘and I jest plum overlooked it. It didn’t appear to me to be of no consequence, nohow.’
“‘Well, it’s mighty important to me,’ says Tildy. ‘If he wakes up in a tantrum, and untied, he might be troublesome.’
“‘That’s so,’ says Devil Bill, thinking of the lump on his own head.
“‘So it is,’ says Eli Scoggins, solemnly.