Bull, who had been deprived of his spectacles in his desperate encounter with Bear, was nearly blind, and going into the wrong room had approached the bed. Tom was snoring. Bull felt his pulse. "Symptoms of apoplexy!" exclaimed Bull. "A decided change for the worse! He must be immediately depleted or the attack may be fatal!" Bull got a basin, rolled up Tom's sleeve, took out a lancet and sprung it. The blood spirted, and Tom jumped up and knocked Bull down. All this was explained after Tom's arm had been bound up by the Professor; Bull being too much disabled by the blow and his fall to render any assistance. "The doctor has amply apologized," said Toney. "By Jove! does such an outrage admit of an apology?" said Tom, looking at Bull with savage ferocity. "My dear sir, it was a mistake! I thought it was Jones!" said the doctor, making for the door. "Good-by, doctor!" said Toney. "You have let the bad blood out of him, and he will soon be in a better disposition." Bull hastily departed with both eyes in a damaged condition. "He has had my blood and I would like to have his," said Tom. "Mr. Seddon, you should cultivate a more benign disposition," said the Professor. "Bull practiced phlebotomy on you with the best intentions." "And now, Tom, I must leave you," said Toney, as Cæsar and Hannibal entered the room to carry his trunks to the railway. "Are you going?" said Tom. "Must go," said Toney. "I have to prepare for the great case of Simon Rump vs. The Salt-Water Canal Company. I leave Charley with you, who will attend to your wound, and when it has healed you and he come to Mapleton and hear the argument of my distinguished adversary M. T. Pate." Both promised to do so; and shaking hands with his two friends, Toney went out and closed the door, but immediately opened it again and said,-- "Tom, when you take another siesta, remember to bolt the door and keep Bull out. Good-by!" CHAPTER XXIV. "Simon, my love," said Mrs. Rump, as she handed her affectionate spouse a cup of coffee at breakfast, "what lawyer have you got to speak to the jury in our great case against the Canal Company?" "Why, my angel," said Simon, "I have got Mr. Pate, the great lawyer in Mapleton." "Is Mr. Pate the bald-headed man who sometimes reads the prayers in church?" asked the angel. "He is the man," said Simon. "He must be a very good man," said the mother of the seven sweet little cherubs. "He is," said the lord of the mansion; "and he is also a very learned man. He has more than a dozen books in his office as big as the Bible, and he reads in them every day." "Oh, my!" said Simon's angel. "No wonder he is bald! Reads all those big books! What a heap he must know!" "Indeed, he does," said Simon. "And he has promised to make a great speech against the Canal Company, and get us a power of damages." "How much?" inquired the angel. "Thirty thousand dollars--not a cent less."