ze which, on my honor, was
scarcely inferior in loudness to a pistol shot! The horses started
almost off the road, I jumped about half a foot off my seat, and
positively without exaggeration, Timothy tumbled slap out of the wagon
into the road, and lay there sprawling in the dust, while Mac sat
perfectly unmoved, without a smile upon his face, looking straight
before him, exactly as if nothing had happened."

"Nonsense, Harry," exclaimed I; "that positively won't go down."

"That's an etarnal lie, now, Archer!" Tom chimed in; "leastwise I don't
know why I should say so neither, for I never saw no deviltry goin' on
yet, that didn't come as nat'ral to McTavish, as lying to a minister,
or..."

"Rum to Tom Draw!" responded Harry. "But it's as true as the gospel, ask
Timothy there!"

"Nay it's all true; only it's scarce so bad i' t' story, as it was i'
right airnest! Ay cooped oot o' t' drag--loike ivry thing--my hinder
eend was sair a moanth and better!"

"Now then," said I, "it's Tom's turn; let us hear about the bull."

"Oh, the bull!" answered Tom. "Well you see, Archer there, and little
Waxskin--you know little Waxskin, I guess, Mister Forester--and old
McTavish, had gone down to shoot to Hellhole--where we was yesterday,
you see!--well now! it was hot--hot, worst kind; I tell you--and I was
sort o' tired out--so Waxskin, in he goes into the thick, and Archer
arter him, and up the old crick side--thinkin, you see, that we was goin
up, where you and I walked yesterday--but not a bit of it; we never
thought of no such thing, not we! We sot ourselves down underneath the
haystacks, and made ourselves two good stiff horns of toddy; and cooled
off there, all in the shade, as slick as silk.

"Well, arter we'd been there quite a piece, bang! we hears, in the very
thick of the swamp--bang! bang!--and then I heerd Harry Archer roar out
'mark! mark!--Tom, mark!--you old fat rascal,'--and sure enough, right
where I should have been, if I'd been a doin right, out came two
woodcock--big ones--they looked like hens, and I kind o' thought it was
a shame, so I got up to go to them, and called McTavish to go with me;
but torights, jest as he was a gitting up, a heap of critters comes all
chasin up, scart by a dog, I reckon, kickin their darned heels up, and
bellowin like mad--and there was one young bull amongst them, quite a
lump of a bull now I tell you; and the bull he came up pretty nigh to
us, and stood, and stawmped, and so