M6 FIVE ACKES TOO MUCH. 



tainly never could have done him any injury it is, 

 except as a vehicle of slander, so perfectly harmless 

 but he seemed to hold it in abject terror. This 

 idiosyncracy was well known to me, but, unfortunate 

 ly, my mind was so occupied with the effect I was 

 producing that I did not notice the exciting cause. 

 To aggravate the difficulty, just as we approached 

 the objectionable article, and when my peculiar ani 

 mal might have consented to pass by with a reason 

 able amount of self-restraint, a sudden gust blew it 

 directly under his feet. If paper was his detestation, 

 moving paper was a monstrosity magnified fifty fold ; 

 he reared up on his hind legs, made one bound side 

 ways full thirty feet, and then, stopping suddenly, 

 slipped on the pavement, and fell flat on his side. 



Exactly what happened to me I never could de 

 termine. I seemed to be flying; next I beheld a 

 splendid coruscation of fire - works ; and then I 

 awoke to find myself stretched at full length in the 

 street, with a bloody nose and a scarcity of front 

 teeth. Dandy Jim regained his feet more quickly 

 than myself, ran away, smashed the wagon, as was 

 his wont, and w r ound up by getting shut in by stages 

 and carts, when he was ignominiously led away cap 

 tive by a stalwart policeman. I gathered myself up 

 as well as I could, and went home in a dilapidated 



