Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1889-01-26
UP HILL AND DOWN HILL
Suspicious Liveryman and a Frolicsom.
Horse.
BY J. e. MILLER,

tiiP' fecollect, &. think IL
was In February, 1S75-at lest it was
winter-it had been very cold, and
about the 10th of February a rain and
what promised to be general thaw
e' H. No Ice moved out of the ,ivers
'.hu cree AS, and the wagon roads be-
came almost impossible with mud-a
So Gus matter in those days.
L arrived at Dubuque, at which place
/ expected to get letters from the
house. The only thing / got ives a
telegram, short and to the point. 1t
sad: go to McGregcr for mail"
bhe next day found me in McGregor,
and there l found letter from the
mnancler of the house that ordered me
ITO Waucoma, small interior village,
twenty miles from any railway.
The letter said: Your friend Viii
iklns" Il call the merchant Wilkins; of
course that was not his name) In
"aucoma does not answer letters, and
drafts made ON him all come lack I'M
pald. Go there and stay there until
you collect your friends account in
full"
The order was peremptory. I could
not escape. l must go.
made inquiries as to the best wav
OF getting to Waucoma. | found after
little trouble In It the nearest railroad
town was Calmar. so to that village
l took the next train. / arrived IN
'Calmar at about . IA. III. February r.
found there was n small livery stable
IN the town, and to it | Immediately
went. And to the man of spawned
horses and buggses | told by business;
told HIM waDted team and where
| wanted to go.
The first Ting he said to me was,
no do You know here?"
told MIN that l was profoundly
happy y state that L had no acquain-
lance IN the bailiwick
Well, them" he said, "in that case
yop will have to put up for the rig"
asked him to explain.
Well" he said, 1T is Just like this,
the last drummer that got rig from
me, about n month ago, has not come
back yet IN fact, he stole the outfit.
He was a chap like You, he knew no.
body here, and | made up my mind
that strangers must put up the cash for
the zig, or no rig of mine can they
drive"
oulu W llllH, MY lIltlu,
Il am not the proprietor Of
the great mercantile house |
represent. l am simply travelling
salesman, and | never carry over $50
with me. When you ask me to deposit
the value of the rig, You ask an i'm
possibility"
Well, to make long story short, we
argued the matter in all its bearings,
and finally convinced him that horse
and buggy would be safe in my hands
The way he expressed it was this:
I'll be id if | don't try a
stranger once more. Harness Black
hlly'"
The horse-a large, rather good
looking beast. was hitched to an ordi-
mary buggy, and L jumped in. After l
had got INTO the buggy, the livery man
became communicative, and gave me
full instructions as to the route, say
ing
Il do not think you'll get over the
creek at the Fort. If you cannot get
across, of course you can come back;
IL Is but six miles to the creek and
twelve miles from the creek at Fort At
Ajnson to Waucoma"
In the midst of drizzling rain, |
started. / had proceeded, l think,
about hundred feet, when the livery
man called out:
Hello. stranger!'
Hello! What do you want ?" re-
piled. stopping Black Billy.
LIT that boss go down hill his own
way, or else you will have trouble"
els he balky?"l
mo, but he goes down hill his own
way, and IT he does not have his own
way he will kick thunder out of the
whole outfit"
"Does he run away?"
No; he only gallops down hill"
Are there many hills?"
You bet-lots of them"
l deEberated. l took out the tinan-
'cier's letter, read it over once more,
looked at "Black Billy" and then drove
on. l heard the livery man and a few
of his cronies laughing, and L feared
for the outcome of the trip.
soon reached the brow of hill.
probably three hundred yards, and
about the same distance to ascend if [
ever got to the bottom alive. Billy
assumed the style and appearance of
war horse on parade when he COM
'menced the descent, and | do him the
credit to say that he went down that
muddy hill like racahorse when ne
compenced to gallop. l was good
deal scared, but after he had made two
Or three jumps ] got over my tremor,
and / got mad. / seized the whip, re-
solved that in climbing tie hill
would bo master of ceremonies.
We reached the bottom in safety.
and Billy commenced lazilv to climb
CD the other side. | took tight
hold of the reins and laid the
whip upon his back as soundly as if I
owed him a grudSe Of long standing.
Billy gallopped up the hill to please
me. A few hundred yards further
along the same thing occurred again
Black Billy" went down the hill like
"A racer, and with the help of my whip
he went up the hill at the same speed.
by this time we We're both tired and
Black Billy was broke.
He went slowly down declivities
after that. If that was my wish he
evidently was tired galloping up hill.
One hour after left Calmar L came
to the creek at the Fort.
The creek was ordinarily about ten
feet wide, Now it was about sixty, and
runninp like n -oill-rara