well satisfied
with the operation. We had many a hearty laugh over the ridiculous
manner in which the ten dollars was obtained.

We continued to peddle around over the country, taking in small inland
towns.

The old horse was an elephant on my hands, but he was all I possessed in
the world; and being unable to find a buyer, I could do no better than
to stick by him unless I chose to give him away, which I hardly
considered business-like. But I would have made money and saved trouble
had I done so, for he was the means of getting me into two or three
little fights. One in particular I will relate.

Doctor Frank and myself were driving into New Baltimore one Saturday
evening, and as the old horse went heaving and crippling along we seemed
to be the attraction for every one on the street. Suddenly a young man
who was sitting out in front of a store on the cross-railing between
two hitching posts cried out at the very top of his voice:

"Whoa!"

The old nag, as usual, came to a sudden halt, and every one of a large
crowd of men standing near by began to laugh.

I realized that if their risibilities were so easily aroused at seeing
him stop, it would be a regular circus for them to see me get him in
motion again; so I coolly handed the lines to Doctor Frank, and said:

"Here, hold these, and I'll make believe I have business in that store;
and after this crowd has dispersed, I'll come out and we'll try and make
another start."

I climbed out and walked toward the store. As I got even with the young
chap who had stopped us, and noticed him still sitting there, with his
feet swinging backward and forward and a look of triumph on his face, I
suddenly changed my course, and stepping up to him, quickly dealt him a
right-hander straight from the shoulder. He received the blow directly
under the chin, and it set him spinning around the rail like a trapeze
performer on a horizontal bar. I then returned to the wagon, climbed
in, picked up my club and made preparations for another move.

Before making the start we had the pleasure of witnessing several
revolutions by the young gentleman, after which he was helped to the
ground by some friends; and as we were moving away, under the strong
pressure of my club and the hard pushing of the lines by Doctor Frank,
our smart youth looked more silly and terror-stricken than he did gay
and frisky a few moments before, when the laugh was all on his side.

As we passed along down stre