St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-12-26
FEB WAS IN A HOLE.
Copyright, 1000, BY Q. B. Lewis.l

dDOuI ny DuSu0S. AfleE INC huiShy
had staid thar over two years it wa;
planned fur me to take it out and sci
it and divide up the money. The ole
woman knew of the plant but l WASH
goin to say nuthin bout my gettin the
kegs out. She was reckonin all along
that some one else would do that One
AFTERNOON l driv the mule and cart as
nigh the place as | could, and along
bout two hours arter nightfall l says
to the old woman:
eff yo' don't consider to object,
reckon III go over and see Dan Skin
ner this evenin. Dan is feelin peekish
and lonesome, and likely We'll hev a
game of checkers to brighten him up
but do object she says. I was
Feckonln to sing some hymns tonight
while yo' played the fiddle. 1 also
want to talk to yo' bout Noer and his
ark
GIVE got a sore thumb and can't
! fiddle, and, as fur Noer, he will keep
till some other time. Nuthin rushin
bout Noer'
with that she turns on me and
looks me squar in the face, and arter
a mint she says:
"'Zeb White, don't 20 go to foolin
with NOer and his ark or sunthin pow
erful bad will come out of it. Dan
Skinner may feel peekish, or he may
be dyin, but what we wants to know is
how all them critters found their way
into the ark. How did it happen that
the hens didn't eat up the later bugs
while they was walkin togetherP
"'Dunno.'
"'Why didn't the foxes eat all the
hens?
Dunno
"'Why didn't the bars eat the pigsY
Dunno
"'Of co'se yo' don't and that's why
l want yo' to squat right down yere
with me and try and fgger it out. 1
shan't never be satisfied to die till
find out how the elephants and bosses
and cattle managed to git into that ark
without treadin on the sarpints and
bugs
81 seen that her jaw was sot fur a
row." continued Zeb "but l had sold
that whisky and must git it out that
night, and so l told her I'd go along
over to SINNERS and put in the next
two nights with her on Noer She
looked at me ag'in, but didn't say
nuthin till was on the doahstep. Then
she p'inted her finger at me and said;
eco right along, Zeb White, but if
the Lawd don't dun git yo' into a
heap of trubble over it then l don't
know chestnuts from punkinsp
Il hurried off without sayin anything
back and half an hour later was bring
In up the kegs. 1t was dod rotted biz
ness. had to slide down a rope, hitch
on to a keg and then climb up and
pull the key arter me. Ought to had
niger to help me, but thar wasn't
one around to trust. I'd got up TO-
kegs all right and was comm up to
pull the fifth one up when sunthin
happened. Jest as l was nearin the
top of the hole heard a growl and
'whoof' and big bar made a stroke
at my head with his paw. was that
durn skeered that | jest let go and
drapped to the bottom of the shaft and
got jar that made my bones ache fur
a week
what they calls the situashun was
this: was down in a hole and a bar
was waitin fur me to come up and do
bizness with him. Yo' kin see that the
pesky varmint had all the advantage.
He could smash my skull with one
blow Of his paw as my head come
within reach. yelled and hollered at
him, thinkin to skeer him away, but he
looked over the edge of the hole at me
and growled and shifted and seemed
minded to fall on top Of me. 1t wasn't
five minits befo' wished | was home
talkin bout Noer, but wishin was no
good. kept quiet fur two or three
hours and then started to climb up.
The bar was thar. He was thar at
midnight and sunrise, and Pm tellin
20 that he was thar at noon and at TO-
o'clock in the AFTERNOON. The shaft
was as dry as bone and l was thirsty
huff to drink swamp water. The
way things was fixed that bar could
keep me down thar till | persisted,
and when he appeared as if he was
like to do it | felt that | hadn't used
my old woman right and wanted to
ask her to furgive me. Bout TO o'clock,
while | was keepin mighty quiet |
hears rifle shot above, and directly
arterward q human face looks down
on me. 1t was the OLD woman's She
drawed the rope up beyand my reach
and then called down:
is anybody down thar visitin Dan
Skinner who feels peekish and wants
to play checkers?
eff Won femme up, I'll ak yo'r par
don,' says 1.
'Mebbe that voice belongs to Zeb
Winter
"'She do
"'And mebbe his sore thumb has got
well so that he kin fiddle?
She has
"Then We'll hev some fiddlin and
singin.'
And with that she lowers the fiddle
by string, and as soon as got tuned
up she began singin and kept it up fur
an hour. Then she calls down:
"'Leb, what about Noer and his ark 2
I'm willin to talk says l.