I tell you I know something of these matters--"
"I thought you'd passed your days privateerin'," put in Jim Lewarne, who
was the only hostile listener, perhaps because he saw no chance of
sharing in the promised wealth.
"Jim, hold your tongue!" snapped Ruby.
"I ask you," went on the stranger, without deigning to answer, "I ask
you if it does not look like Providence? Here have you been for years,
dwelling amid wealth of which you never dreamed. A ship is wrecked
close to your doors, and of all her crew the one man saved is, perhaps,
the one man who could enlighten you. You feed him, clothe him, nurse
him. As soon as he can crawl about, he picks a walking-stick out of
half-a-dozen or more in the hall, and goes out with you to take a look
at the farm. On his way he notes many things. He sees (you'll excuse
me, Farmer, but I can't help it) that you're all behind the world, and
the land is yielding less than half of what it ought. Have you ever
seen a book by Lord Dundonald on the connection between Agriculture and
Chemistry? No? I thought not. Do you know of any manure better than
the ore-weed you gather down at the Cove? Or the plan of malting grain
to feed your cattle on through the winter? Or the respective merits of
oxen and horses as beasts of draught? But these matters, though the
life and soul of modern husbandry, are as nothing to this lump in my
hand.
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