“‘"No,” I replies, wavin’ him off some haughty, for that bag of doubloons has done puffed me up.  “No, I don’t take no interest in the moon.”

“‘As I’m comin’ back, mebby it’s a hour later, this astronomer is still swingin’ an’ rattlin’ with the queen of night.  He pitches his lariat ag’in an’ now he fastens.

“‘"You-all better take a look; they’re havin’ the time of their c’reers up thar.”

“’"Whatever be they doin’?”

“‘"Tellin’ wouldn’t do no good,” says the savant; “it’s one of them rackets a gent has to see to savey.”

“’"What’s the ante?” I asks, for the fires of my cur’osity begins to burn.

“‘"Four bits!  An’ considerin’ the onusual doin’s goin’ for’ard, it’s cheaper than corn whiskey.”

“‘No; I don’t stand dallyin’ ‘round, tryin’ to beat this philosopher down in his price.  That ain’t my style.  When I’m ready to commit myse’f to a enterprise, I butts my way in, makes good the tariff, an’ no delays.  Tharfore, when this gent names four bits, I onpouches the dinero an’ prepares to take a astronomic peek.

“‘"How long do I gaze for four bits?” I asks, battin’ my right eye to get it into piercin’ shape.

“’"Go as far as you likes,” retorts the philosopher; “thar’s no limit.”

“‘Gents,’ says the Colonel, pausin’ to renoo his Valley Tan, while Dan an’ Texas an’ even Old Man Enright hitches their cha’rs a bit nearer, the interest is that intense; ’gents, you-all should have took a squint with me through them lenses.  Which if you enjoys said privilege, you can gamble Dan an’ Texas wouldn’t be camped ’round yere none tonight, exposin’ their ignorance an’ lettin’ fly croode views concernin’ astronomy.  That telescope actooally brings the moon plumb into Kaintucky;—­brings her within the reach of all.  You could stretch to her with your hand, she’s that clost.’

“‘But is thar folks thar?’ says Dan, who’s excited by the Colonel’s disclosures.  ‘Board the kyard, Colonel, an’ don’t hold us in suspense.”

“‘Folks!’ returns the Colonel.  ’I wishes I has two-bit pieces for every one of ’em!  The face of that orb is simply festered with folks!  She teems with life; ant-hills on election day means desertion by compar’son.  Thar’s thousands an’ thousands of people, mobbin’ about indiscrim’nate; I sees ’em as near an’ plain as I sees Dan.’

“‘An’ whatever be they doin’?’ asks Dan.

“‘They’re pullin’ off a hoss race,’ says the Colonel, lookin’ steady in Dan’s eye.  ‘An’ you hears me!  I never sees sech bettin’ in my life.’

“Nacherally we-all feels refreshed with these experiences of Colonel Sterett’s, for as Enright observes, it’s by virchoo of sech casooal chunks of information that a party rounds out a eddication.

“‘It ain’t what a gent learns in schools,’ says Enright, ’that broadens him an’ stiffens his mental grip; it’s knowledge like this yere moon story from trustworthy sources that augments him an’ fills him full.  Go on, Colonel, an’ onload another marvel or two.  You-all must shore have witnessed a heap!’