NABOTH'S VINEYARD 289 



" It ought to mean a closer quarantine on this 

 side of the ridge," said I, " and you must fumi- 

 gate your clothes before you appear before your 

 swine, Jackson. It's more likely to be swine 

 plague than cholera at this time of the year, but 

 it's just as bad; one can hardly tell the differ- 

 ence, and we must look sharp." 



" How does the contagion travel, Doctor ? " 



" On horseback, when such chumps as you can 

 be found. You probably have some millions of 

 germs up your sleeve now, or, more likely, on 

 your back, and I wouldn't let you go into my 

 hog pen for a $2000 note. I'm so well quar- 

 antined that I don't much fear contagion ; but 

 there's always danger from infected dust. The 

 wind blows it about, and any mote may be an 

 automobile for a whole colony of bacteria, which 

 may decide to picnic in my piggery. This dry 

 weather is bad for us, and if we get heavy winds 

 from off the ridge, I'm going to whistle for rain." 



" I say, Williams, when you came out here I 

 thought you a tenderfoot, sure enough, who was 

 likely to pay money for experience ; but, by the 

 jumping Jews ! you've given us natives cards and 

 spades." 



" I was a tenderfoot so far as practical experi- 

 ence goes, but I tried to use the everyday sense 

 which God gave me, and I find that's about all a 

 man needs to run a business like this." 



"You run it all right, for returns, and that's 

 what we are after ; and I'm beginning to catch 



