hinks I; but, faix,
it looked as if I was wrong, for he tried it again. Another shock he
got, burst himself a'most wid a most fearful yell, an' bolted. His
brothers didn't seem to understand it quite. They looked after him in
surprise. Then the biggest wan gave a wriggle of his curly tail, an'
wint to the post as if to inquire what was the matter. When _he_ got it
on the nose the effect was surprisin'. The curl of his tail came
straight out, an' it quivered for a minute all over, wid its mouth wide
open. The screech had stuck in his throat, but it came out at last so
fierce that the other pigs had to join in self-defence. I stuck my
fingers in my ears and shut me eyes. When I opened them again the pigs
were gone. It's my opinion they were all dissolved, like the zinc
plates in a used-up battery; but I can't prove that. Well, while I was
cogitatin' on the result of my little invintion, what should walk out o'
the woods but a man! At first I tuk him for a big monkey, for the light
wasn't very good, but he had a gun on his shoulder, an' some bits o'
clothes on, so I knew him for a human. Like the rest o' them, he wint
up to the post an' looked at it, but didn't touch it. Then he came to
the pool an' tuk a dhrink, an' spread out his blanket, an' began to
arrange matters for spendin' the rest o' the night there. Av coorse he
pulled out his axe, for he couldn't do widout fire to kape the wild
bastes off. An' what does he do but go straight up to my post an' lift
his axe for a good cut. Hallo! says I, pretty loud, for I was a'most
too late. Whew! What a jump he gave--six futt if it was an inch. Whin
he came down he staggered with his back agin the post. That was enough.
The jump he tuk before was nothin' to what he did after. I all but
lost sight of him among the branches. When he returned to the ground it
was flat on his face he fell, an', rowlin' over his head, came up on his
knees with a roar that putt the tigers and pigs to shame. Sarves you
right, says I, steppin' out of my hole. Av coorse he thought I was a
divil of some sort, for he turned as white in the face as a brown man
could, an' bolted without so much as sayin' farewell. The way that
nigger laid his legs along the ground was a caution. Ostriches are a
joke to it. I picked up his blanket an' fetched it home as a keepsake,
an' from that day to this the telegraph-posts have been held sacred by
man an' baste all over that part of the country