Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1859-10-22
WARDS1 Try.
From Porer's Spirit of tho Times.
How Capt. John Duncan Got That Dent
in his Head


How Capt John Duncan Got That Dent
in his Head.
Iou want to know how Capt. John Dun
can got that dent in his head very we'll
I'll tell you oil know about it.
] met him at Bucnos Ayrcs, South
America, in the year 1S55-not long aeo
you see he was in command of a tidy
little Scotch brig, called the "Sandy.".
Now, John was on old trader at the port,
and well posted up N the various means of
amusement, the greatest of which was
horseback riding [ am by no means an
indifferent horscman-l rather pride my
self on my skill So John and were to
be seen nearly every day galloping off to-
wards the open country. III also prided
himself considerably on his horscmanship,
and an innocent way he had of showing it :;
tor whenever he met a goucho, he would
sit bolt upright in his saddle, as if he had
been suddenly attacked with stiff back
But when he CHANGED to pass fair seigno-
rita, 1T was really refreshing to see him.
Then he would twist his hat iauntly on
one side, twirl his huge mustachios, and by
dextcrously reining in on the curb bit, and
prlcklng slightly with the spurrcd heel
the animal on which he rode would curvet
in most royal style and then to see his
melting glances-but [ forget what YOU
want to know is how Captain John Duncan
got that dent. Well, III tell YOU. OF
course, you understand by this time that
he had dent Now, I'll tell you whore
the dent was. 1t was in his head, on the
right or left tcmplc-I don't distinctly re-
member which, but luckily it's a point of
small consequence.
The reason | saw the dent at all, was.
suppose, that it was impossible to look at
his face, without seeing it, Nv curiosity
was early excited to know how he came by
such a strange misfortune, and made up
my mind to find it out, sooner or later, by
hook or crook. How to do it, was the next
thing; but here circumstance favored what
philosophy could not devise.
The dent was of very curious look
how to describe it, don't know. Some
times it looked as if some one had shot n
pea at him, out of a patent pop gun, and
had thus driven flesh and all right into his
right or left temple, forget which. 1t
looked as though some one had punched
his head. But keep forgetting; what
you want to hear about is, how Capt John
Duncan 6ot that dent in his head.
You must bear in mind that this curious
dent was a source of earnest speculation
TO mo; that [ was forever, that Is, /. was
nevcr-in short it puzzled me. OF course
I was delighted when the mystery was at
last solved. The way it came about was
something like this Captain John Dun
can said 20 me, says he, Mr.. Jones" he
always called me by uncommon and start
ling names" are you dry?' Now, as it
hadn't been raining and as hadn't wet
myself in any way, said, "Captain John
Duncan, am dry" In few more min
utes we were quietly seated at little table,
in quiet saloon, doing our very best to
quench our thirst and moisten our throats.
The more we drank, the thirstier we got
at last he turned to me, and says he, /" Mr..
Jones-Mr. Jones'"
Says /, What~
Says he, I'm very dry" and immedi-
atcly hp commenced to drink again.
What with wit and wine, an hour was
not long IN passing. At the end of an
hour my eyes were as good as all the other
senses, mixed up in meal bag and shook
together; if they were not, why then they
must have deceived me. At any rate, /
happened to look at Captain John Duncan,
after ] had taken good many tumbers of
wine, and instead of one dent, saw six or
seven. This rather puzzled me so just
eteodied my head with my two hands and
brought my Dyes to bear upon his right, or
lcft, tcmple-1 forget whieh. 7 then tried
to perform an abstruse mathematical oalcu-
htion; but twist and turn it as l woaid,
couldn't deduct seven from six to save
myself; and what's more, have never
found any calculous deep enough to do it
for me.
While | was twisting and turning it,
(not my head, you know, the calculation, J
Captain John Duncan caught sight of my
two eyes looking at bis six Og soyop Gopts,