102 THE fo(tY days and NOW ; 



that old carcass hitched out there, up to old Jake Frederick's, and 

 tell him he sent her to him to have and to keep as a present 

 with a right to all her emoluments, and issue forever ; then 

 turned on his heel and left me without another word. 



I was greatly shocked at my fathers impatient and reckless 

 manner, but was not set back in my judgment in the least, feel- 

 ing calmly confident that time, which rights all things, would 

 yet justify me in this horse trade. Yes, I felt as confident of a 

 glorious victory over my parent, as I afterward did in Charles- 

 ton on the great evening of secession, when I blew my old 

 hunting horn down the streets, that it would be but a break- 

 fast spell to wipe out the yankees. 



I made the trip every day up to old man Frederick's. One 

 morning I met the old man at the bars, with a broad grin on 

 his face, and I knew something had happened. My heart 

 fluttered with excitement, as I cried out, all right Uncle Jake ? 

 He answered, come and see. I rushed forward with the latin 

 words on my lips, "vem, vidi^ vici^'' and sure enough, there it 

 was': a little, weazelly, mud-colored, sway-backed, crooked- 

 shanked, long-eared m-u-l-e. 



I collapsed, telescoped, wilted, and wept for shame. That 

 was the straw that broke the camels back; disgraced, defrauded, 

 heart-broken. This story also got out in the settlement, and to 

 the present day, I have never completely regained my former 

 self confidence in a horse trade. 



" 0, some power the gift to gie us, 

 To see ourselves as ithers see us." 



