158 THE COUNTRY BOY 



she began to cough so that the people Hviiig 

 in the outskirts of the city Hfted up the win- 

 dows and Ustened. We all thought it was a 

 joke at first, until we saw she was black in the 

 face. The strongest men in the crowd were 

 beating her on the back and rather luckily for 

 her, though unluckily for me, she finally 

 coughed up the feather, which hit and broke 

 one of the biggest window panes in town, so 

 great was the velocity with which she let go of 

 it. She didn't skate that afternoon any more ; 

 she was big and stout when she got hold of the 

 feather, but after she had wrestled with it for 

 five seconds, it took a blacksmith on each side 

 of her to steady her while they got her out of 

 the building. It was a good thing, in a way, 

 as it acted as a warning, so that those who 

 still skated kept one hand over their noses and 

 mouths; but the proprietor of the rink was 

 afraid they might break more window panes, 

 so he declared a recess of ten minutes while 

 they swept out the hall, and at this point came 

 another big laugh, as after three men had been 

 sweeping twenty minutes they hadn't got over 

 three feathers out into the street, while a 

 wagon load remained in the hall. Some fel- 



