"We'll go back and get Splash!" decided Mr. Brown.
He and the children walked slowly back. Splash kept on barking.
"You seem to have something in that little house which excites our dog,"
said Mr. Brown.
"It doesn't take much to get some dogs excited," answered the farmer.
He did not seem to care much about it, one way or the other.
"What sort of house is that?" asked Mr. Brown. He looked at it closely.
The little house had no windows, and only one door. And there was a
queer smell about it, as though it had once been on fire.
"That's a smoke-house," said Mr. Trimble. "It's where I smoke my hams
and bacon. I hang them up in there, build a fire of corn-cobs and
hickory wood chips, and make a thick smoke. The smoke dries the ham and
bacon so it will keep all winter."
"What a funny house!" said Sue.
"It hasn't any windows," observed Bunny.
"We have to have smoke-houses tight and without windows," explained Mr.
Trimble, "so the smoke won't all get out."
"Are there any hams or bacon in there now?" asked Mr. Brown.
"No, we don't do any smoking until fall, when we kill the pigs."
"Well, there's _something_ in there that bothers our dog," went on the
children's father.
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