"Oh, Jiminy!" said Poke.
"I don't believe it!" said both together.
"It's true, I tell you!" Perce insisted. "My father has seen him; and my father wouldn't lie."
"He must have had some disease," said Moke.
"He's what they call a leopard," said Poke.
"You mean a leper?" laughed Perce. "No; he isn't a leper, nor an albino. Why, boys! didn't you ever hear of such a case? It's quite common, and it's easily explained."
"I give it up! How do you explain it?" said the twins.
"Simply enough!" exclaimed Perce. "The other side of his face is black too." And he keeled over backward on the hay.
It was an old joke which he had indeed heard his father tell; but it was new to the twins, who were completely taken in by it.
"Throw him out of the cart!" shrieked Poke, half smothered with laughter, at the same time seizing hold of Perce as if to execute his own order.