n a man commit a more heinous offence
against another than to frighten him? Ah! by my soul, it is a most
unpardonable breach of something.

Straw Hat.--Breach of something! Ay, ay; but is't a breach of the
peace? I have no acquaintance with this man. I never saw him
before in my life.

Sandy Beard.--That's no argument at all; he has the less right to
take such a liberty.

Straw Hat.--Gad, that's true. I grow full of anger, Sir Sandy!
fire ahead! Odds, writs and warrants! I find a man may have a good
deal of valor in him, and not know it! But couldn't I contrive to
have a little right on my side?

Sandy Beard.--What the devil signifies right when your courage is
concerned. Do you think Verges, or my little Dogberry ever
inquired where the right lay? No, by my soul; they drew their
writs, and left the lazy justice of the peace to settle the right
of it.

Straw Hat.--Your words are a grenadier's march to my heart! I
believe courage must be catching! I certainly do feel a kind of
valor rising as it were,--a kind of courage, as I may say. Odds,
writs and warrants! I'll complain directly.

(With apologies to Sheridan.)

And the pair went off to make their complaint.

Suppose each had been given then and there the sixty cents he
afterwards received and duly receipted for, would it have saved
time and trouble? Who knows? but the diversion of the afternoon
would have been lost.

In a few moments an officer quite courteously--refreshing
contrast--notified me that complaint was in process of making.

I found the chief of police with a copy of the city ordinance
trying to draw some sort of a complaint that would fit the
extraordinary case, for the charge was not the usual one, that the
machine was going at an unlawful speed, but that a lawyer had been
frightened; to find the punishment that would fit that crime was
no easy task.

The ordinance is liberal,--ten miles an hour; and the young man
and his mentor had not said the speed of the automobile was
greater than the law allowed, hence the dilemma of the chief; but
we discussed a clause which provided that vehicles should not be
driven through the streets in a manner so as to endanger public
travel, and he thought the complaint would rest on that provision.

However lacking the bar of Pittsfield may be in the amenities of
life, the bench is courtesy itself. There was no court until next
day; but calling at the judge's very delightful home, which
happens to be on