THE COUNTRY BOY 27 



evidence they had were the HHes and scum 

 from some pond, but the next morning they 

 found he had been in mud up to his barrel; 

 then they solved the problem. They had sent 

 him avt'^ay from Salem without water; the 

 horse, knowing of Lake Labish on the lower 

 road, eight miles out of his ,way, went there ; 

 its banks are steep and the bottom is very 

 muddy, so the weight of the buggy on the 

 sli^Dpery banks pushed him in when he went 

 to drink. So he swam in a half circle to get 

 back out, the 

 floor of the 

 buggy picking 

 up the J) o n d 

 lilies on the 

 swim. 



He was a 

 smart old fel- 

 low; in fact, he 

 and Father 

 were the thinkers of the place; it was on 

 him I learned a lot, and between him and 

 the ground I learned a lot more. I remember 

 one awfully dark night I grew more than at- 

 tached to him; it was m}^ duty to get up the 



