WHERE GRASS IS GREEN. 161 



didn't know as she was watchin' me. I got over 

 it all right with old Flint, but I paid her out. I 

 ketched the biggest frog-mouthed eel as ever you 

 see, an' I kept him in the well o' the punt a while 

 o' purpose for her. 



" She was feedin' her bantams one mornin' at the 

 back o' the house, an' I see the winder o' her best 

 bedroom up a bit at the bottom. So I goes quick 

 to the punt, gits the eel, slips up the garden path, 

 drops him in the room, and slips out again quick. 

 It waun't long afore I heard her givin' tongue, 

 full clapper. She'd gone into the room an' found 

 that 'ere eel tangled up in her long white winder 

 curtains. She got him out of that somehow, and 

 then he crawled all over her carpet an' twisted 

 hisself round the legs o' her table what she rubs with 

 a old silk han'kercher. 



"Then the old gal throwed up the winder an' 

 hollered as if the house was afire. Old Flint was 

 comin' down for the night's ketch. She called 

 him in, an' he ketched the eel for her an' brought 

 him out. He give him to me, and she see him 

 do it, for her garden-hedge jines the boat-house. 

 She said I'd put the eel in, but he told her 'twas 



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