62 FARMING IT 



And now for a while the affairs of the partner- 

 ship flourished. The chickens throve, Nick 

 throve, and the venture seemed in a fair way to be 

 remunerative in the extreme. To be sure we lost 

 a few chicks by the incursions of an immense 

 gray rat, which Nick caught red-handed and 

 stamped into a furry flapjack. Certain other 

 animals in the neighborhood also disappeared, 

 leaving no trace of their whereabouts. 



"Johnny say, it do beat 'ell wheer th' owd 

 tomcat 'a' gone," said Nick one day; '" but 

 'Enry," and here Nick lowered his voice, 

 glanced apprehensively around, and whispered 

 hoarsely, "Nick could tell tha summat about it." 



Frequent visits of my partner at my house and 

 office kept me posted in the progress of partner- 

 ship affairs. These visits were at times a trifle 

 inopportune, as when on one occasion we were 

 entertaining the good pastor of the church at 

 tea, Nick suddenly appeared at the dining- 

 room door with the astonishing information that 

 a "blawsted mink 'ad killed five cheeks, hand 

 th' owd yeller 'en 'ad killed three, like a dash 

 dashed owd fu'." 



On another occasion Nick bolted into my 

 court in great excitement, and disturbed my 

 judicial poise by loudly informing me that 

 " Johnny 'ad fun' out aboot th' owd tomcat an* 

 was a raisin' 'ell." 



