y away I'd be able to hold him right where he war.
I had to keep goin' right straight ahead. 'Cos w'y: if I'd 'a' put the
helm hard over fur to turn a corner, I'd 'a' rolled the deck-house
right off'n my red hooker. Waal, a leetle furder up the street we comes
to Peanut Brewer, with his black horse a-standin' dead still. He'd
balked, an' Peanut war sittin' on top o' a load o' hay a-sayin' bad
words at him. Mrs. Mehitabel Saggs's little boy come out with a big
fire-cracker to set off under the hoss an' make him start. At that werry
minute Pete Maguff's bar'l o' maple syrup on my waggin' give a jounce,
and went by the board over the port rail. That there bar'l rolled right
under Peanut's hoss jes as the fire-cracker busted. It sot fire to the
bar'l, an' she blazed right up. 'Now,' sez Peanut, 'my ole black hoss'll
start,' sez he. An' so he did. He started an' went jes fur enough to
pull the waggin' right over the fire, an' then he stopped. Waal, sir,
Peanut had to jump fur his life, fur that load o' hay blazed up in half
a second. The fire company war on the dead run fur home w'en they seed
the blaze, an' down they come at their finest gait, with Jeremiah Boggs
an' his gang astarn o' them, keepin' up a permiskious fire o' stones,
sticks, an' termatter cans an' sich things. Jes then Jeremiah's dog come
around the corner with forty boys a-chasin' him an' yellin' 'Mad dog.'
He run right under Peanut Brewer's black hoss, an' that started him.
Yaas, sir, he got right up onto his hind legs, an' away he went down the
street licketty-split, pullin' a load o' hay on fire. By that time
everybody in town were putty nigh crazy, an' the President o' the
village had telegraphed fur the militia to come."

[Illustration: "ALL THE TIME THE BULL WERE ATTENDIN' STRICTLY TO
BIZNESS."]

"All the time the bull were attendin' strickly to bizness. The colt war
all covered with foam, an' I made up my mind that afore long he war
a-goin' fur to give out, an' me an' the bull would have to settle the
question atween ourselves, in w'ich case the bettin' would all 'a' bin
in favor o' the bull. So I kinder considers a little, an' all on a
suddint I recommembered them heggs. I yanked the top off'n the box, an'
diskivered that most o' the heggs was scrambled--raw--but still
scrambled. Howsumever, there was a few that wasn't. So I took one o'
them an' hove it at the bull. It hit him smack on the middle o' the
forehead. Waal, if he'd been mad afore, he war