cking, and so things went on for the space of about
half an hour.

I wondered what time it was. Just then the moon began to rise, from
which I knew it was about 9 o'clock. My physical exertion began to tell
on me and I hungered. Oh, how I hungered for a piece of that watermelon!
And I hit the mule an extra blow as a result of those longings.

I was now desperate. I sat down on the side of the road and groaned;
that groan came from the depths of my soul, and I know that I presented
a perfect picture of despair. However, I determined to gather all my
remaining strength for one final effort; so I caressed him up and down
the backbone two or three times as a sort of persuader, then grasping
the bridle with both hands, I began to pull, pull as I had never pulled
before and as I never hope to pull again. And he began to back. I
continued to pull and he continued to back.

How long this order of things might have gone on I do not know, but
just then a brilliant idea struck me so forcibly as to come near
knocking me down. I took the mule out, and by various tying, buckling
and tangling, I hitched him up again, upside down, or wrong side out,
or, well, I can't exactly explain, but anyhow when I got through his
tail pointed in the direction I wanted him to go. Then I got back in the
buggy and taking hold of the bridle began to pull, and he began to back;
and I continued to pull, and he continued to back; and will you believe
me, that mule backed all the way home! It is true we did not travel very
fast but every time he would slow down, I would put a little extra force
into my pull and he would put a little extra speed into his back. Ever
and anon he would glance at me with that mischievous, malicious twinkle,
which seemed to say "I've got you tonight," and I would smile back a
quiet, self-satisfied smile and give an extra pull.

But when we got home, that mischievous, malicious twinkle changed, and
he looked at me in a dazed sort of way and I smiled back quite audibly.
And do you know, that mule has been in a dark brown study ever since. He
is trying to get through his slow brain how I managed to make him pull
me home that night.

As I jumped out of the buggy the clock struck twelve. And there at that
solemn hour of the night, as the pale moon shed her silvery beams all
around and as the bright stars peeped down upon me from the ethereal
blue, and the gentle zephyrs wafted to me the odor of a hog-pen in the
near distance, I