106 THE COUNTRY BOY 



and we again started on a trot. Finally as we 

 struck another rock, the horse bolted and 

 between his snorts we thought we heard a flut- 

 tering. I finally got him stopped and I put my 

 arm around Nettie before I thought to see if 

 her cloak w^as in the wheel, but it wasn't. 

 Again I went over the harness and felt to see 

 if the crooper was all right. We couldn't 

 account for it; the only evidence we had was 

 that the horse never started until we ran over 

 a rock or some rough object. So we started 

 again and a few yards when we struck a chuck 

 hole away went the horse and I hung onto the 

 lines ; then we discovered what we had done and 

 it was amusing, as chickens always had queered 

 me. Father had compelled m-e some weeks 

 before to clip my game chickens' wings so they 

 couldn't roost on the back of the buggy seat. 

 In my joy at leaving the barn I had forgotten 

 that my chickens did roost on the hind axle of 

 the buggy, and as we drove out we took the 

 hen roost also, so that naturally when we went 

 over a rock or rough place with the hind 

 wheel, we dislodged all or most of the chickens 

 and they would catch by their necks and flutter 

 back on the axle ; thus they frightened the horse 



