AND OTHER SKETCHES 65 



of smart boys to play the act out. It cost the couple 

 many a dollar to drown out the recollection of that fire, 

 as the kidders were as numerous in those days as now, 

 and one posting another a never-ending procession of 

 enquirers were going up all afternoon at the track and 

 asking for information as to the extent of the disaster. 

 In those days the ordinary cost of setting them up in the 

 country was four for a Yorker (twelve cents) and the 

 whole bar for a quarter, and even with a due regard for 

 the truth, I 'm forced to express the opinion that if all the 

 people my two friends treated that day had been drawn 

 up in line, they would have made a procession many lea- 

 gues in length. 



