52 A YELLOW 190a.

his temporary master was invisible. “ The old man must have an awful jag 0n to-day,” was casually remarked when an extra flufli- ness a11d imbecility was noticeable in the passing Bones. At first it was believed that he drank also, but when careful investigar tion proved this hypothesis untenable, he was freely called a “derned time-servin’, yaller hypocrite.” Not a few advanced the opin- ion that if Bones did not actually lead Uncle Billy astray, he at least “ slavered him over and coddled. him until the old man got con= ceited in his wickedness.” This undoubtedly led to a compulsory divorce between them, and Uncle Billy was happily despatched to a neighboring town and a doctor.

Bones seemed to miss him greatly, ran away for two days, and was supposed to have visited him, to have been shocked at his convalescence, and to have been “cut” by Uncle Billy in his reformed character; and he returned to his old active life again, and buried his past with his forgotten bones. It was said that he was afterwards detected in trying to lead an intoxicated tramp into camp after the methods employed by a blind man’s dog, but was discovered in time by the — of course -uncorroborated narrator.