272 FIVE ACKES TOO MUCH. 



tion in the shape of another storm came upon me in 

 the night, and the following morning found my la 

 bors again stretched upon the ground. 



This proved too much for me, and, giving in at 

 once, I called Patrick to do what he could under the 

 circumstances. He straightway sunk two stout posts 

 and braced them with guys in every direction, and 

 then we let the Clubs of which these certainly seem 

 ed to be the kings follow their own fancy and grow 

 till they should be tired. Being in a conspicuous 

 part of the garden in fact, pretty thoroughly hiding 

 the smaller flowers our friends had been deeply in 

 terested, and, never having seen the vine before, won 

 dered what kind of fruit it bore. It had produced 

 abundance of white flowers, in shape somew^hat like 

 the yellow blossoms of the squash, but they fell off, 

 &quot; leaving not a wrack behind,&quot; nor any fruit. I could 

 not find that Jonah s gourd, or the beanstalk of my 

 friend Jack, had produced fruit or left seed, and be 

 gan to think that mine was an exceptional produc 

 tion of a similar character, that could only be raised 

 by those who were great on gourds, or, as the Vul 

 gate hath it, &quot; some pumpkins.&quot; If Jack s stalk had 

 produced beans, we should have known those beans ; 

 if Jonah s gourd had borne seed, we should have 

 found them at the seed-stores to this day. 



