Old Fee A Salt 
wuunlie he said, “Boys, I reckon he’s 
gone—two o’ his legs is bruk an’ his 
skull fractioned; ’sides dat his insides 
is all turned upside down.’ Joe Ben- 
son keered mo’ fur his ole yaller cur 
Enaaune “did) fo. pore: Jack, an arter 
rubbin’ hima spell, got ’im so’s he could 
walk, an’ we all started fur home. I 
got Jack 
limber as a rag. When we got home 
de folkses was all in bed, and I hed to 
wake em up. De ole misses—Jack’s 
mammy—kim down fust; when she seed 
Jack she guv a scream an’ fainted. 
Dat fotched de ole man down stairs. 
When he seed Jack he tuk to cussin’ 
and fotched me a lick side 0’ my jaw 
dat made me see stars. ‘Go fura doc- 
tei o black debil, says he, ‘or I'll 
skin’ de hide atin ye. I got Jack's 
colt (Brown Dick), an’ bridled ‘im, an’ 
’thout any saddle rid over, an’ fotched 
Dr. Harris. He ’xamined Jack and said 
no bones was bruk, but he was badly 
shuk up, an’ would hev to be kep 
mighty quiet. In ’bout fo’ weeks he 
got well, an’ de ole man sent him to 
Newark to school; he wanted to make a 
doctor out’n him, butt’wantno go. He 
tried him at everything, but he was so 
ornery that at last he hed to make a 
lawyer out’n him, an’ dat jest suited 
him ’xactly, fur he could outlie de Jews.” 
‘ls he alive yet?” 1 inquired. 
Taye! Lawd bress ye, why he 
went out West an’ got married, an’ 
was ‘lected to Congress. Why, he’s 
one o’ de biggest liars in Washington.” 
Herc resumed his fishing, and, as the 
fish bit freely, he had no further occa- 
sion to fool them. 
The wind had freshened up a little, 
and our boat pitched on the swells, 
on my back, and he was 

Water Fisher 129 
which caused the water bottles to roll 
from side to side and make a peculiar 
gurgling sound. 
‘What's dat—what’s dat? Didn't ye 
year sumpfin? By golly, dat’s a drum- 
fish, an’ I’se gwine to go fur him.” 
He baited each of his hooks with a 
whole clam, and lowering down the 
line carefully, said: 
‘‘Now, genelmen, jest keep quiet an’ 
I'll show ye some fun.” 
The boat ceased pitching, and the 
bottles remained stationary, when Herc 
said: ‘‘Hish! He’s gwine down arter 
my bait,” and he took a firm hold on 
his line, and, with set teeth, looked the 
picture of determination. Bright and 
I knew it was a false alarm: 
Pisin ) sles) “comin, lp, 
Golly! He’s jest rubbed ‘gainst my 
line. My Lawd, what a rouser! Ef 
he'd on’y jest nibble at dat bait one 
little mite I’d hev ’1m.” 
Whether it was only imagination or 
a trout had struck at his bait, Herc be- 
lieved it was a drum, and, with one 
tremendous jerk, which caused the boat 
to careen over to her gunwale, he 
snatched in the line: 
‘¢Bress de Lawd! Inever felt sicha 
bite in all my born days, but he lef’ go.” 
We roared with laughter; the water 
bottles rolled from under the stern, and - 
Herc saw in an instant that he had 
been fooled, and for about a minute he 
let out some of the tallest ‘‘cussing”’ I 
ever listened to, which he rounded up 
with: 
‘Gosh amighty, genelmen, I’m git- 
tin’ dry. Let’s all take one, but fur de 
Lawd’s sake don’t tell Hobson "bout dis 
drum. Ef ye do, I’ll never year de last 
Of it.” 

now. 
