And as Joe picked them up one by one, and
handed them to the old jolly-jist, it did Joe's heart good to see
how pleased he looked. He wiped them on his coat-cuff, and wet
them, and glowered at them through his spectacles, as if they were
something good to eat, and he was very hungry; and then he packed
them away into the bags till they were both chock full again.
Well, the bargain was, that Joe should carry them back to
Skeal-Hill; so back they put, the jolly-jist watching his bags all
the way, as if they were full of golden guineas, and our Joe a
thief. When they got there, he made Joe take them right into the
parlor; and the first thing he did was to call for some red wax and
a light, and he clapped a great splatch of a seal on either bag;
and then he looked at Joe, and gave a little grunt of a laugh, and
a smartish wag of the head, as much as to say, "Do it again, Joe,
if you can." But after that he said, "Here, Joe, is five shillings
for restoring my speciments, and here is another five shillings for
showing me a speciment of human nature that I did not believe in
until this day." [This story is told of Professor Sedgwick in broad
_patois_ by Alexander Craig Gibson, F.S.A.]
"That is good," cried the squire, clapping his knee emphatically. "It
was like the professor, and it was like Joe Bulteel.
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