Evening journal., 1908-08-25

side walk but to the contrary and TO
my surprise and displeasure too she
took hold of the tail of the wagon
and started to run behind which hold
concluded to break by hurrying the
old horse. Picking up the lines
brought him sharp rap across the
back and he made one of his unn- rel
ful Jumps and I heard a sqeel from
the baby who with the mother was
lying PROSTATE in the road behind and
looking back was startled at what had
happened and yelled whoa" and the
stop was shorter than mothers pie
crust and when / turned my head from
the woman and baby to the front of
the wagon the captain was in the act
of going head foremost over the horse.
Now. you see the situation / had
with the assistance of the tricks OF
that old horse without form or cere-
mony or even intuition unloaded my
passengers, two In the rear and one
In front. l never saw anything like
IL before. nor since I caught the cap
tain by the lapel of his coat and as
sisted him into the wagon and asked
the woman 10 resume her seat and the
captain and l moved on again.
After going only a short distance to
Mathews Corners and the fork of the
road the captain got out and went
down towards Bishop Scott's and 1
down into Thoroughbred Neck to
distribute my wool sacks. To the best
Of my recollection I don't think there
was any conversation between the
captain and me from the time he got
straightened upon the seat again still
he left me. for the captain was tlSind
a dunibfounded at the occurrence aud
had nothing TO say and as it developed
IL appears that we were both i'm
pressed with the uncommon occur
renee for when he got back to town
ahead of me that afternoon he could
not restrain himself from telling II
Notwithstanding the bulk of the joke
was on him.
And he halted before the Beaston
and Watkins store and told II to Mr..
Beaston who replied, "Well, George,
/ don't know about that; we will
have to hear Hukill on that" for the
captain had a reputation for telling a
good story and Mr.. Beaston thought II
sounded a little fishy. / thought a
good deal about the fool thing that
afternoon and concluded l could make
a good story out Of IL that would
Ifasten the joke on the captain, thing
that would please all his friends In
town together with myself for he was
a good hand at having fun at other
peoples expense. Though hardly be-
lieved / could compete with him in
that line I concluded to risk my repu-
tation once, anyhow and await an op-
portunity when the company suited.
1 had not seen the captain or heard
anything of the affair till about the
third day when / was going down
through town on an errand. When
got near the post Office there stood
Uncle Tommy Enos. Squire Baker and
the captain, Just the kind of company
Il had wished for, and strange to say
I had the thing in my mind then anc
, was ready to go on the job and the
captain, / think, threw up his hanc
} to halt me and I pulled in towards
them. The captain started immedi-
} ately by saying, "Hukill, / undertook
to tell some Of these people about tha
/ funny thing that happened to us thu
} other day going down 10 Apoquini
. mink. and they won't believe me; 81
> now 1 want you TO tell IT," and / SAT-
/ would. He could not have played Z
my hand better and started by say
ing, 'T'll tell how IL was. | was golnl
into Appointments the other day ar'
1 overlook the captain and woman
{ a walking. asked the captain to rid
and the woman she wanted TO rid
, and after we went a short distanc
j the woman got cut very unexpected,
s and when l looked around the captaii
was getting out too. and the womsl
j., wasn't white either" BY that tim
! the other two of his friends were con
! vulsed in laughter and the captain
q was saying. why, why, why" and wa
trying to utter an expression whicl
sounded something like, you oner
: skunk" and 1 drove off leaving tn
e captain in his bewilderment. But tn
next time he saw me he told me h
would tell the story himself the mex
time for he would not have know
{ that tale anywhere. II got noise
, around town that George Naudain ha
= found his match at last and had Z
: tell about the thing several times I'll
G they all got satisfied.
William Andrew Hukill.