Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-04-22

I'VE LOOKED AT EACH OTHER.
had marked 'em down and would be
back some night arter honey. 1t wasn't
an hour befo' 1 moved them hives out
of his reach and replaced 'em with two
hives filed with straw. l shet the old
dog up in the house that night. and
long bout midnight lie begun to whine
and growl. 1 jest got to the winder
when the bar showed up. He was
arter that honey. and he hadn't no
time to waste. One hive wasn't huff
fur him, and he knocked both over as
soon as he got within reach and then
made ready fur feast. When he
found them hives hard packed with
straw, he knowed it was a joke, and
he sot up and looked so sbeepish and
mean over it that 1 laughed fur half
an hour. That bar went away feelin
hurt in his feelin's, but L was suah
he'd come back ag'in some other night
and try to pay me off.
Il had jest penned up a likely pig,
and that bar was bound to hev pig
meat if he couldn't hev honey. He
was suah to be back the next night,
and so l spent two hours greasin the
roof of the pen with soft soap. When
l was through, it was so slippery that
even claws wouldn't take hold. On
the second night, bout IL o'clock, the
bar showed up ag'in. He had. bin
thinkin of fresh pork all the afternoon
and had got hungry over it, and arter
one look around he climbed upon the
roof of the pen. 1t had a steep pitch to
it, and it dropped off into a gully, and
that bar had skassly got up before he
was slidin down like n log of wood.
He shot off the roof into the gully like
a big ball, and me and the old woman
laughed till the tears came. Three
times the bar tried it, and three times
he was dumped. 1 yelled at him and
called him names, and his feelin's was
hurt ag'In. He was so 'shamed bout
things that he wouldn't even fight the
dog.
81 knowed the varmint wouldn't gin
up that way, but would keep comm
back till he got sunthin. 1t struck me
that he'd go fur the chickens next, and
so 1 had a trap all ready fur him. He
was too cute to step into it, and arter
roamin around fur awhile he went off.
/ laughed at him and called him
mighty pore bar. and he appeared so
lonesome over it that i almost pitied
him. He didn't come back the next
night or the next, but on the third
night he showed up ag'in, and l had
another joke ready fur him. l had
headed the old dawg up in stout bar'l
and then wrapped the bar'l around
with barbed wire. 1 used up 200 feet
of wire around that bar'l, and the
barbs stuck out like quilts of a porcu-
pine. AS soon as the bar appeared the
old dawg begun TO bark and raise a
fuss. 1 don't reckon that varmint had
ever heard of a dawg in a bar'l befo'.
and I'm suah he hadn't never met with
no barbed wire. He jest walked around
to make sartin of things and then
jumped in.
"Lemme tell yo' that thar was mo-
fun in the next ten minits than most
bars and dawgs and folks hev in a hull
var. Bruin started in to bust that
bar'l by huggin, but he soon gin it up.
Then he rolled it bout, but every time
he struck it he got prick. Sometimes
he'd chase It, and sometimes he'd run
away from it, and he did hate to gin
up beat. 1t wasn't no use I'm him fight
in that bar'l. though. and he finally let
it go aud sorter cried over it. He went
off with his head down and a homesick
shambIe. and the old woman turns to
me and asks:
"'Zeb, what'll that b'arskin be with
when snow fiies?'
"''Bout S1O,' says I.
Then yo' air SO out of pocket.