human
Has the cow ever been lost before?
gpt
Niver that I knows of, and I would know the same if she had been lost; we're onaisy about the cow, for you see that if this kaaps on and she doesn't come back I'll have to live on something else than bread and milk and praties.
human
Our cow came back just at sunset last night.
gpt
And so did them all, exciptin' our own, which makes me more onwillin' to accipt any excuse she may have to give.
human
Let me see, Terry; Brindle wore a bell round her neck, didn't she?
gpt
That she did, and she seemed quite proud of the same.
human
Did you make hunt for her last night?
gpt
I hunted as long as I could see to hunt; she wasn't missed, that is till after they got home. Whin I found that I didn't find her I started to find her; but I hadn't time to hunt very long whin it got dark and I had to give it up.
human
And didn't you hear any thing of the bell?
gpt
Do ye think that if I heard the bell I wouldn't have found the cow? Why was the bell put round her neck if it wasn't to guide friends? I listened many a time after it got dark, but niver a tinkle did I hear.
human
That is queer, said Fred half to himself;
gpt
I've thought of that, and said to meself that it might be also that she had become lost herself in trying to find it.
human
She hardly knows enough for _that_; and, if she found the bell she wouldn't know what to do with it; but if that leathern string around her neck had broken, it may be that she is close by. A cow after losing one milking is apt to feel so uncomfortable that she hurries home to be relieved; but what's the use of talking? added Fred, throwing up his head and stepping off at a more lively pace;