human
W,
gpt
And what's the blame' boy up to now?
human
Oh, here, mister! said the boy, without looking up;
gpt
What you got there, I tell you! continued the smiling Mr. Judkins, in a still gruffer tone, relinquishing the boy's ear, and gazing down upon the fluffy towhead with more than ordinary admiration.
human
What you got there?
gpt
Bugs, said the boy--
human
Dead, are they?
gpt
Some of 'em's dead, said the boy, carefully running a needle through the back of a large bumblebee.
human
All these uns is, you kin bet! You don't think a feller 'ud try to string a live bumblebee, I reckon?
gpt
Well, no, 'Squire, said Mr. Judkins, airily, addressing the boy by one of the dozen nicknames he had given him;
human
Got a live snake-feeder, said the boy, ignoring the parental inquiry.
gpt
See him down there in the bottom, 'ith all th' other uns on top of him. Thist watch him now, an' you kin see him pant. I kin. Yes, an' I got a beetle 'at's purt' nigh alive, too--on'y he can't pull in his other wings. See 'em? continued the boy, with growing enthusiasm, twirling the big-mouthed bottle like a kaleidoscope.
human
Hate beetles! 'cause they allus act so big, an' make s'much fuss about theirselves, an' don't know nothin' neither! Bet ef I had as many wings as a beetle I wouldn't let no boy my size knock the stuffin' out o' me with no bunch o' weeds, like I done him!
gpt
Howd'ye know you wouldn't?
human
W'y, I know I wouldn't, said the boy,
gpt
said Mr. Judkins suggestively.
human
Snake-feeders has got about enough wings to suit you, ef you want more'n one pair, and ever' day's a picnic with a snake-feeder, you know. Nothin' to do but jes' loaf up and down the crick, and roost on reeds and cat-tails, er fool around a feller's fish-line and light on the cork and bob up and down with it till she goes clean under, don't you know?
gpt
Don't want to be no snake-feeder, neither, said the boy,
human
continued the boy, drawing an extra quinine-bottle from another pocket, and holding it up admiringly before his father's eyes:
gpt
There's the feller in there ut I'd ruther be than have a pony!
human
W'y, it's a nasty p'izen spider! exclaimed Mr. Judkins, pushing back the bottle with affected abhorrence,
gpt
You bet he's alive! said the boy,
human
and as the little fellow spoke his face glowed with positive affection, and the twinkle of his eyes, as he continued, seemed wonderfully like his father's own.
gpt
Tell you, I like spiders! Spiders is awful fat--all but their head--and that's level, you kin bet! Flies hain't got no business with a spider. Ef a spider ever reaches fer a fly, he's his meat! The spider, he likes to loaf an' lay around in the shade an' wait fer flies an' bugs an' things to come a-foolin' round his place. He lays back in the hole in the corner of his web, an' waits till somepin' lights on it an' nen when he hears 'em buzzin', he thist crawls out an' fixes 'em so's they can't buzz, an' he's got the truck to do it with! I bet ef you'd unwind all the web-stuff out of thist one little spider not bigger'n a pill, it 'ud be long enough fer a kite-string! Onc't they wuz one in our wood-house, an' a taterbug got stuck in his web, an' the spider worked purt' nigh two days 'fore he got him so's he couldn't move. Nen he couldn't eat him neither--'cause they's shells on 'em, you know, an' the spider didn't know how to hull him. Ever' time I'd go there the spider, he'd be a-wrappin' more stuff around th' ole bug, an' stoopin' down like he wuz a-whisperin' to him. An' one day I went in ag'in, an' he was a-hangin', alas an' cold in death! An' I poked him with a splinter an' his web broke off--'spect he'd used it all up on the wicked bug--an' it killed him; an' I buried him in a' ink-bottle an' mashed the old bug 'ith a chip!
human
Yes, said Judkins, in a horrified tone, turning away to conceal the real zest and enjoyment his face must have betrayed;
gpt
And as the eccentric Mr. Judkins whirled around the corner of the porch he heard the boy murmur in his low, absent-minded way,
human
Yes, you will!
gpt
human
Talk about this boy-naturalist out here at Indianapolis, says Judkins,--
gpt
says Judkins:
human
He's a good one!--only, he added,
gpt
I wouldn't have the _boy_ think so fer the world!