146 THE COUNTRY BOY 



I finally grabbed and held one rooster, 

 while the other one treed me on the bed. 

 I was in the most awful position a fellow could 

 be placed in in a strange hotel, with a Spanish 

 gamecock in my arm treed on top of the bed, 

 with the other rooster strutting around over 

 the broken pitcher, just dying to get a bill hold 

 of my bare shins. I pressed the button and 

 soon the bellboy came, but he couldn't get in 

 as I had left the key in the door on the inside. 

 I tried to explain my position over the tran- 

 som. After shivering about for an hour, I 

 thought of the only scheme of letting them 

 fight until I dressed. Then I took them to a 

 back street and there proceeded to hold them 

 until the afternoon, when hunger drove me 

 back to the hotel. The colored chambermaid 

 found a bucket and a tub and I put one under 

 each and never felt such relief in my life. 



I was getting pretty hungry and I was com- 

 pletely broke save for twenty cents which I 

 invested where it would mean the most in 

 oyster soup. All at once it dawned upon me 

 that I was five hundred miles from where my 

 railroad transportation was available, and that 

 I had a hotel bill yet to pay, and like a fool 



