uster.

"Do you need any assistance?" called Mrs. Vernon, anxiously.

"Not ef I kin git him to plant his feet on arth agin. He ain't got no
spunk left to run away, 'cause he's ben out plowing all day, and it w'ar
a shame to drive him to the store. But it hed to be, 'cuz the ole man
tuk t'other hoss to go to a meetin'."

As the unusual character talked, she tugged at the bridle until she
finally had the horse quieted down again. Then he allowed his long ears
to droop lazily, his spine to sag in the middle, and his erstwhile
springy legs to bend as if he felt too weary to stand up.

The woman with the weather-beaten face and toughened hands was a fluent
speaker, even though she paid little attention to the latest style in
dress for women. She leaned against the shaft of the wagon and plied her
questions to the tourists as freely as she had plied the hickory stick
to the horse.

"Be you-all out fer a lark?" asked she, eyeing the number of girls in
both cars.

Jim thought to move his car gradually along the road so the scouts in
his charge could join in the conversation with the woman. But the moment
the horse saw the automobile crawling towards him, he jumped aside. The
wagon-wheel turned suddenly and the unexpected happened; the woman who
had been leaning heavily on the wheel was unceremoniously dropped to a
sitting posture in the dusty road.

Several of the scouts had to smother with handkerchiefs, a keen desire
to laugh, but the owner of the horse seemed to take the situation
good-naturedly.

"Wal, ef that ain't jus' like Samson! He does the mos' onexpected
tricks, so's that he keeps us guessin' what next."

Jim sprang out of the car when he saw the result of his innocent action
with the engine, but the agile woman was up before he could reach her
side. She brushed the dust from her long coat and chuckled aloud: "I
allus said that animal oughter be called Delilah 'cuz _she_ was so sly,
but my ole man says 'Samson' was close enough to that critter, and this
animal hez such long hair that it suits with the name."

"You've just had him clipped, I see," ventured Mrs. Vernon.

"Not clipped, Captain--but shorn of his locks like Samson," laughed
Julie.

"Maybe that's why he feels so tired," added Joan, quickly.

Every one but the farmer's wife laughed. She seemed very serious over
the conversation, and nodded her head affirmatively.

"Well, we have to drive on, madam, but we're sorry to have frightened
Samson