Dreaming Bob 137 



" Did you dig round there ?" I asked. 



" Only a little ; and I say the ground ain't 

 right. It's no use, and I guess the dream's 

 devil's work just to fool me. Seems a pity 

 he can't let me alone on airth, seein' he's 

 got a mortgage on me due when I slip up." 



"Don't get discouraged yet a bit," I 

 replied : " go on looking for turtles, and to- 

 morrow I'll come see you." 



" What for ?" he asked, with a strange 

 look, as if he was both glad and sorry. 



" Because I'd like the fun of looking for 

 the chest you dream about, and I'll look 

 over some documents in the mean time and 

 see when the big woods were cut off, and so 

 on. I'll come about noon, and we'll talk it 

 over again." I said this in a way to show 

 that I meant it, and hoped he would cheer 

 up a little, for I was now thoroughly inter- 

 ested, even if the old man was slightly de- 

 mented, which I did not think. 



"And I'll go back to my shanty and 

 dream it all over again, and that's what it'll 

 all amount to," he said, shaking his head. 



Leaving the old man to resume his turtle- 

 hunting, I went home, with no other thoughts 

 than of what I had been told, and all that 



