Bunch blinked his eyes solemnly, but when I told him all about thetrouble his telegram had caused he simply rose up on his hind legsand laughed me to a sit down.

"Well," he gasped after a long fit of cackling; "sister did intwelvedgoing out to Jiggersville and the only way I could stop her was tosuddenly discover that her health wasn't any too good, so I chasedher off to Virginia Hot Springs for a couple of fortnights."

After all, Bunch had his blackeeming qualities.