The Port Gibson herald, and correspondent., 1850-11-08


boat whar we had to cross the river Sool
as we got thar, Arch he hoped down Off
his ole boss, an commence shuckin' hi
self for er fight, an I jumped down too
| see the devil was in him as big as e.
bull, so | begin griten my teeth, an lookin
at him as spunky as Dominicker rooster
an now, sez |, Mister Arch Coony, SEQ
I'd make you see sites, an the fust thing
you know I'll show um to you! Then
pulled off my ole Sunday -go-to-meetin'
coat, an slammed it down on er stump
an, sez |, lay thar ole Methodist, till ]
learn this coon some sense!
| | soon see thar was gwine to be the bus
finest fight that ever was; so | rolled up
my sleeves, an Arch rolled up his'n, and
we was gwine at it reg'lar.
Now, sez he ole pra'r meetin', jist pitch
| in!
Well, | begin sidelin' up and he begin
sidelin' up, an soon as got close 'nuf
to him, so as could hit him a io-darter
sez he, hole on er minit-this grounds
too Iooty-wail till I clear the sticks away
from here, so as l can have far chance
to give it to you good!
Don't holler till you're out'n the woods,
sez I-p'raps when I'm done with you,
you wont say my preachin' amt nuthin
but loud hollerin', | 'speci
When he'd done scrapin' off the groun', /,
it looked jist like two bulls had bin thar,
PAWN up the dirt-I give you my word
it did.
Well, as I sed before, he sided up and
| sidled up, an now sez [, look out for
your bread-basket, ole studd, fur ef hap
pen to give you jolt thar, p'raps it'll turn
your stomach. !,
So thar we stood, head and tale up, Jest
like two chicken cocks in layin' time; an
sez | to him, Arch, I'm gwine to maui
you till you wont know yerself!
Soon as we got close 'nuf, an I see he
was erbout to make er lunge at me, sez 1,
hole on, dod drot you! wait tell unbutton
my gallowses, an may-bo-so, then I'll
show you them sites what we was talkin
bout!
Well all the fellers was stanin' roun'
ready to take sides in the fight, an toreck-
ly the chap what KEEP, the ferry, he gin
to git tired Of keepin' the ferry-boat wait
in, an sez he, cuss your picurs, I'm not
gwine to keep this here boat waitin' no
longer, an people on t'other side waitin'
to get over; so, eff you wants to fight, you
come over on tother side and fight thar!
Good as ole wheat sez [; emmy thing to
keep peace away-ef you say so, let's
get in the boat and settle it over :har.
Well they all agreed to that without sayin
er word, an Arch he got into the ferry
boat, an all the fellers they follered.
When the boat was bout pushin' off
jumped into the eend of it, an was
gwine to lead my hoss on, too, but the
alfred crittur was skeer'd to jump onto it,
an sez | to the man what KEEP the ferry,
sez l, why in the h-ll don't you wait tell
| gifts this burned four-legged crittur into
the boat? He didn't wait to say er word,
but KEEP shown the boat out and toreclly
my boss begin pullin' back with the bri-
die an er holein on to it, an the fust
thing knowed down went, kerwash in
to the drink! So you see in about er mint
thar was |, on this side of the river an
thar was Arch on tother side, an no
chance for me to git at him. / tell you
what | was hot then!-an' what was wor-
ser, Arch, he holere'd out an sed he
b'leived I'd sheer'd the hoss an made
him pull back, on purpose to git out'n the
scrape, When hern him say that, | was
so mad fairly billed!
Hows'ever, soon see 'twarnt no use
raisin' er racket bout what couldn't be
helped, so | cluded I'd have my satisfac-
tion out'n him emmy way, an l begin sha-
kim my fist at him, an er cussin him.
Sez I, eternal. yaller-faced, pisen-mouthed,
suck egg son of er-! what is it you
amt mean 'nuf' for me to call you? l tell
you what, IAN hope to be forgive for
swarin') | cussed him blue!
Well, | was so outdone, | didn't wait
for the boat to come back, for it was gittin'
most night, an too late for bar huntin' that
day-'sides, my wife she would be e'spectln
me at the house, an might raise pertickler
h-H if | didn't git thar in time; so jum-
ped on my ole hoss an put for home.
But the way I cussed an 'bused Arch
when | got on that hoss, was er Sin!-an'
the further got away from him the loud
er I hollered! | pledge you my word,
you might er hern me er mile!
To make a long story short, the last
word sed to him, sez | Arch, you've
escaped me this time by er axldent, but
the next time you cross my path, I'll lar
rup you worse nor the devil beatin' tan
bark!-I will, by hokey!
Whew! whistled Mick, drawin long
breath, II tell you what, come the near
est wollopin' that feller, not to do it, that
ever you saw!"
At this point, Mick donned his coon
skin cap, and giving it terrific slam,.that
brought it over his eyes, vanished!
A vagabond looking fellow, but with
I e,