Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1907-03-20

me fur half an hour or so befo' they
had had huff of play. By that time |
was in rags and jest as sober as you
are now. | have thought some of
takin' out a patent on that adventure
of mine. That drunk orter have lasted
me the best part of three days, but the
bars cured me of 1t in about forty
minits. Seem the old woman would
do nothin', my line was to play dead
n hope the varmints would git tired
and go away. They got tired of the
play. but they wasn't through with me
then. They began to growl and show
sign of madness, and | called out to
the old woman:
MARY, can't you see that they all
are dun gittin' mad?'
~ kim she said, speakin' fur the
first time and speakin' mighty keer-
lessly at that.
"'They all will begin to bite and
claw in airnest now
"'They will fur shore
"'Hain't yo' gwine to do anything to
help me?'
"'Nothin' tall, Zeb. A mar who
can't stay sober had better be dead.
and 1t don't make no difference wheth-
err he falls from a tree or gifts clawed
up by bars
but yo' wouldn't see yo' OWL hus-
band perish befo' you eyes. l take itg'
Jpn think it over. If yo' are gwine
to live on, yo' got to keep sober arter
this. 1t will be well fer yo' to have
some scars to pint to. AFTER yo' have
been half killed mebbe I'll do sun
thin, but it does seem pizen mean to
drive the bars away when they're hav-
in so much fun
"Jest then the old he bar took a long
look into my face and then uttered a
growl that made chills shake me all
over. He knowed me, and ! knowed
him. He was a bar I had hunted fer
three years. and he had three of my
bullets in his body at that very min
nit. Yes, sub. that critter knowed me
fer Eel White, the man who eve yit
had mercy on a bar, and he seen that
his time had come to git even. He
hauled off and gin me a swat that al
most stove in my ribs and then bit
me twice. His mate pitched in, and
fur the next two minnits l was mauled
about between 'em like a rag doll. 1t
was no use of my tryin' to make n
fight fur it. They was all over me all
the time, and even If | had a knife it
wouldn't have helped me out.
"What sent the pesky critters off at
last was the old woman shootin' down
the he bar, but / was left in a power
full sad state. | had skeercely a stitch
of clothes left on me, and | was II
mass of bites and claw marks. : l had
to be dragged into the house and boost
ed irto bed, and | didn't tech toe to
the floor fer three weeks to come. l
hadn't any bones broke, but the claw
marks and bites of a bar don't heal
fur a long time. Durin' all the time 1
was in bed and sufferin' the old wom-
IN kept whisky under my nose. l had
the scent of 1t until I positively hated
1t and begged her to take it away.
The hull thing taken together worked
a cure 30 thorough tfnt,- though | run
q moonshine still fur three years, l
never tasted a drop of the stuff"
"Did Mrs. White have anything to
say to you after you got betterY I
asked.
"Never n word" he answered. "What
was the use? If all that bar play
wouldn't stop a man from maxim a
fool of himself ag'in, then words
would be thrown away. No, sub, she
never done said a word, and that's
why | reckon she's jest the incest and
best wife In this yere state of Tennes-
see." NJ. QUAD.
Two of a Kind.