THE COUNTRY BOY 97 



above the roar of the mountain torrent a grunt, 

 then a sickening kind of a splash, and it was 

 just after the spL^sh that I felt dreadful and 

 blamed John Wolfard. The dark night then 

 frightened me and I ran into the warm store, 

 and as I approached the stove I said to the 

 projDrietor who was there alone, "Open some 

 sardines and dig out some crackers and put in 

 a few sweet ones for such a job as this." 



"Now, remember," said Wolfard, "I don't 

 want to know what's happened." He opened 

 some old sardines. I never have seen the same 

 pictures on cans since, and he brought cheese 

 as well as crackers, and while I ate we listened 

 to the pattering rain. A stranger or two from 

 the streets came and all commented on the high 

 way I was living. John was smoking extra 

 heavy and the whole back part of the store was 

 so thick with smoke that you had to shove it 

 away to get room to breathe. I had been eat- 

 ing about fifteen minutes when I heard a lick- 

 ing sound on the floor by my chair. Looking 

 down I saw old Bob there licking himself dry. 

 We all saw it at the same time, and the first 

 thought that struck me was to quicken the pace 

 of eating so fast that when John wanted an 



