To him she said simply, "Show the stranger whar to stake out his mule, 'Dolphus," and disappeared in the "extension" without another word.

I followed my little guide, who was perhaps more actively curious, but equally unresponsive.

To my various questions he simply returned a smile of exasperating vacuity.

But he never took his eager eyes from me, and I was satisfied that not a detail of my appearance escaped him.

Leading the way behind the house to a little wood, whose only "clearing" had been effected by decay or storm, he stood silently apart while I picketed Chu Chu, neither offering to assist me nor opposing any interruption to my survey of the locality.