n I was a youngster that if ever I got where I c'd have
all the custard pie I c'd eat that'd be all 't I'd ask fer. I used to
imagine bein' baked into one an' eatin' my way out. Nowdays the's a good
many things I'd sooner have than custard pie, though," he said with a
wink, "I gen'ally do eat two pieces jest to please Polly."

John laughed. "What was the other thing?" he asked.

"Other thing I once bought?" queried David. "Oh, yes, it was the fust
hoss I ever owned. I give fifteen dollars fer him, an' if he wa'n't a
dandy you needn't pay me a cent. Crowbait wa'n't no name fer him. He was
stun blind on the off side, an' couldn't see anythin' in pertic'ler on
the nigh side--couldn't get nigh 'nough, I reckon--an' had most
ev'rythin' wrong with him that c'd ail a hoss; but I thought he was a
thoroughbred. I was 'bout seventeen year old then, an' was helpin'
lock-tender on the Erie Canal, an' when the' wa'n't no boat goin'
through I put in most o' my time cleanin' that hoss. If he got through
'th less 'n six times a day he got off cheap, an' once I got up an' give
him a little attention at night. Yes, sir, if I got big money's wuth out
o' that box it was mostly a matter of feelin'; but as fur 's that old
plugamore of a hoss was concerned, I got it both ways, for I got my
fust real start out of his old carkiss."

"Yes?" said John encouragingly.

"Yes, sir," affirmed David, "I cleaned him up, an' fed him up, an'
almost got 'im so'st he c'd see enough out of his left eye to shy at a
load of hay close by; an' fin'ly traded him off fer another
record-breaker an' fifteen dollars to boot."

"Were you as enthusiastic over the next one as the first?" asked John,
laughing.

"Wa'al," replied David, relighting his temporarily abandoned cigar
against a protest and proffer of a fresh one--"wa'al, he didn't lay holt
on my affections to quite the same extent. I done my duty by him, but I
didn't set up with him nights. You see," he added with a grin, "I'd got
some used to bein' a hoss owner, an' the edge had wore off some." He
smoked for a minute or two in silence, with as much apparent relish as
if the cigar had not been stale.

"Aren't you going on?" asked John at last

"Wa'al," he replied, pleased with his audience, "I c'd go on, I s'pose,
fast enough an' fur enough, but I don't want to tire ye out. I reckon
you never had much to do with canals?"

"No," said John, smiling, "I can't say that I have, but I know something
about t