ied: "Got it all
right, and it's a buster."

"Now for the other forty-nine!" shouted Jimmy, straining into his coat.

"Come on, boys, we must secure a coon for every one," cried the Thread
Man, heartily as any member of the party might have said it. But the
rest of the boys suddenly grew tired. They did not want any coons, and
after some persuasion the party agreed to go back to Casey's to warm
up. The Thread Man got into his scorched, besooted, oil-smeared coat,
and the overcoat which had been loaned him, and shouldered the gun.
Jimmy hesitated. But Dannie came up to the Boston man and said:
"There's a place in my shoulder that gun juist fits, and it's lonesome
without it. Pass it over." Only the sorely bruised and strained Thread
Man knew how glad he was to let it go.

It was Dannie, too, who whispered to the Thread Man to keep close
behind him; and when the party trudged back to Casey's it was so
surprising how much better he knew the way going back than Jimmy had
known it coming out, that the Thread Man did remark about it. But Jimmy
explained that after one had been out a few hours their eyes became
accustomed to the darkness and they could see better. That was
reasonable, for the Thread Man knew it was true in his own experience.

So they got back to Casey's, and found a long table set, and a steaming
big oyster supper ready for them; and that explained the Thread Man's
conference with Mrs. Casey. He took the head of the table, with his
back to the wall, and placed Jimmy on his right and Dannie on his left.
Mrs. Casey had furnished soap and towels, and at least part of the
Boston man's face was clean. The oysters were fine, and well cooked.
The Thread Man recited more of the wonderful poem for Dannie's benefit,
and told jokes and stories. They laughed until they were so weak they
could only pound the table to indicate how funny it was. And at the
close, just as they were making a movement to rise, Casey proposed that
he bring in the coon, and let all of them get a good look at their
night's work. The Thread Man applauded, and Casey brought in the bag
and shook it bottom up over the floor. Therefrom there issued a poor,
frightened, maltreated little pet coon of Mrs. Casey's, and it
dexterously ran up Casey's trouser leg and hid its nose in his collar,
its chain dragging behind. And that was so funny the boys doubled over
the table, and laughed and screamed until a sudden movement brought
them to their senses.