Why" (with the air of a man announcing an astounding discovery), "that lunatic didn't have his right senses! He wouldn't eat, till me and Snyder got him down on the shavings and made him eat." Snyder was a huge, happy-go-lucky, kind-hearted Pennsylvania Dutchman, and was Bill Jones's chief deputy.

Bill continued: "You know, Snyder's soft-hearted, he is.

Well, he'd think that lunatic looked peaked, and he'd take him out for an airing.

Then the boys would get joshing him as to how much start he could give him over the prairie and catch him again." Apparently the amount of the start given the lunatic depended upon the amount of the bet to which the joshing led up.

I asked Bill what he would have done if Snyder hadn't caught the lunatic.