282 Sporting Sketches 



truthful tape made the distance exactly forty-six 

 yards four inches ! 



Never had I beheld three such faces of mystified 

 wonder, but the Boss was the worst. He finally 

 gasped out " Wuh wuh wull it's one 

 on me! But I'll be chucked if I see how it 

 came about ! " 



Some time later he shook hands with us and said 

 he hoped we'd come again soon, but his eyes had a 

 far-away look and his voice lacked its customary 

 ring. The guide, however, kept grunting to himself, 

 and at the station he finally said : 



" I don't just savvy that there betting proposition 

 yet. There's something awful funny about it. He 

 feels mighty sick back there 'bout something. 

 Mebbe he knowed that there board had been moved 

 and mebbe he didn't." We were guiltily looking 

 various ways. " You see them whiskey-signs is 

 also half-mile posts. They're placed by the firm 

 along the main roads, and the pesky boys here- 

 'bouts thinks its mighty smart to keep a-shiftin' of 

 'em. Dunno why, but they do it. Fact is I'm paid 

 a little by the agent to set up them signs and sorter 

 look after 'em and keep 'em somewhere near their 

 proper places. I've put yonder one back a dozen 

 times. I found she was away out this mornin' as I 

 came in, so I set her back." 



For a long time we smoked and chatted in com- 

 fort, but at last my parson glanced quizzically from 

 one to the other, and said what I knew he would 

 say before we parted. He told of the little joke he 

 had planned, and how, of course, he had intended 

 to reimburse the loser after the joke had gone far 



