66 EYE SPY 



parties seemed to agree. For some moments it 

 consisted of anecdotes bearing on the subject, and 

 each of the group had furnished his item of inter- 

 est supporting the accepted theory of the horse- 

 hair origin of the snake. Only one member of 

 the company remained to be heard from, Amos 

 Shoopegg, the village cobbler, who had kept silent, 

 with somewhat sinister expression on his counte- 

 nance as he listened with a sort of superior dis- 

 dain to the various wonder- 

 ful accounts, until at length, 

 upon the recital of the story 

 of the dead horse in the 

 pond, he could contain him- 

 self no longer, and blurted out: 

 " Well, I swan, I never see 

 sech a lot of dunceheels ! I 



never hear sech fool talk since Fs born. They 

 ain't one on ye thet's got enny sense." 



" Waal, haow much hev yen gut ?" asked the 

 narrator of the dead -horse story, testily. "Yeu 

 never see a har snake in yer life, and wouldn't 

 know one from a side o' sole-leather er a waxed- 

 end ef it wuz laid in yer lap." 



" Not know 'em ? I guess not," replied Amos. 

 " I know more about 'em than the hull lot o' ye 

 put together. Not know 'em ! Law ! hain't I 

 seen 'em flyin' over the meddy by the hundreds 

 in hayin'-time !" 



