Page:The food of the gods, and how it came to earth.djvu/42

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I thought I noticed the bones of a rabbit scattered about the far corner of the run--"

But when they came to look at them they found they were the larger bones of a cat picked very clean and dry.


III.

"_That's_ no chick," said Mr. Bensington's cousin Jane.

"Well, I should _think_ I knew a chick when I saw it," said Mr. Bensington's cousin Jane hotly.

"It's too big for a chick, for one thing, and besides you can _see_ perfectly well it isn't a chick.

"It's more like a bustard than a chick."

"For my part," said Redwood, reluctantly allowing Bensington to drag him into the argument, "I must confess that, considering all the evidence--"

"Oh I if you do _that_," said Mr. Bensington's cousin Jane, "instead of using your eyes like a sensible person--"

"Well, but really, Miss Bensington--!"

"Oh! Go _on!_" said Cousin Jane. "You men are all alike."

"Considering all the evidence, this certainly falls within the definition--no doubt it's abnormal and hypertrophied, but still--especially since it was hatched from the egg of a normal hen--Yes, I think, Miss Bensington, I must admit--this, so far as one can call it anything, is a sort of chick."

"You mean it's a chick?" said cousin Jane.

"I _think_ it's a chick," said Redwood.

"What NONSENSE!" said Mr. Bensington's