CHAPTER XXV

TOUCHETH UPON THE COLD REASON OF ONE JEDIDIAH A sharp stabbing pain in the back of his hand roused him from a refreshing, dreamless sleep, and glancing down he beheld the cause of this so sudden awaking to be the obtrusive beak of Catherine, that one-eyed, scrawny, limping hen. “Why old lady, so there you are—eh?” said Dallas cheerily. “And here am I back again and mighty glad to be! Glad? Well, I should say! And—listen, Kate! She loves me—me, mind you! In spite of everything! And it’s no pipe-dream, old lady, she …