Like as not she had left poor old Reginald with that idiotic ostrich feller to sell to strangers that didn't know his disposition.

Or mebby by now Reginald was turned loose in the open country to shift fur himself, among wild snakes that never had no human education nor experience; and what chancet would a friendly snake like Reginald have in a gang like that?
Some women has jest simply got no conscience at all about their husbands and famblies, and that there Mrs.Ostrich was one of 'em.
Well, a feller can be a derned fool sometimes.

Fur all my looking around I wasted a lot of time before I thought of going to the one natcheral place--the freight depot of the road them bottles had been shipped by.
I had lost a week coming down.

But freight often loses more time than that.

And it was at the freight depot that I found him.
Tickled?
Well, yes! Both of us.
"Well, by George," says he, "you're good for sore eyes." Before he told me how he happened not to of drownded or blowed away or anything he says we better fix up a bit.