David Harum | Page 9

looked up at me, an' I won't say he was the maddest man I ever see, but
he was long ways the maddest-lookin' man, an' he shook his fist at me
jest like one o' the unregen'rit. 'Consarn ye, Dave Harum!' he says, 'I'll
hev the law on ye fer this.' 'What fer?' I says. 'I didn't make it come on
to rain, did I?' I says. 'You know mighty well what fer,' he says. 'You
sold me this damned beast,' he says, 'an' he's balked with me nine times
this afternoon, an' I'll fix ye for 't,' he says. 'Wa'al, deakin,' I says, 'I'm
'fraid the squire's office 'll be shut up 'fore you git there, but I'll take any
word you'd like to send. You know I told ye,' I says, 'that he'd stand
'ithout hitchin'.' An' at that he only jest kind o' choked an' sputtered. He
was so mad he couldn't say nothin', an' on I drove, an' when I got about
forty rod or so I looked back, an' there was the deakin a-comin' along
the road with as much of his shoulders as he could git under his hat an'
leadin' his new hoss. He, he, he, he! Oh, my stars an' garters! Say, Polly,
it paid me fer bein' born into this vale o' tears. It did, I declare for't!"
Aunt Polly wiped her eyes on her apron.
"But, Dave," she said, "did the deakin really say--that word?"
"Wa'al," he replied, "if 'twa'n't that it was the puttiest imitation on't that
ever I heard."
"David," she continued, "don't you think it putty mean to badger the
deakin so't he swore, an' then laugh 'bout it? An' I s'pose you've told the
story all over."
"Mis' Bixbee," said David emphatically, "if I'd paid good money to see

a funny show I'd be a blamed fool if I didn't laugh, wouldn't I? That
specticle of the deakin cost me consid'able, but it was more'n wuth it.
But," he added, "I guess, the way the thing stands now, I ain't so much
out on the hull."
Mrs. Bixbee looked at him inquiringly.
"Of course, you know Dick Larrabee?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Wa'al, three four days after the shower, an' the story 'd got aroun'
some--as you say, the deakin is consid'able of a talker--I got holt of
Dick--I've done him some favors an' he natur'ly expects more--an' I
says to him: 'Dick,' I says, 'I hear 't Deakin Perkins has got a hoss that
don't jest suit him--hain't got knee-action enough at times,' I says, 'an'
mebbe he'll sell him reasonable.' 'I've heerd somethin' about it,' says
Dick, laughin'. 'One of them kind o' hosses 't you don't like to git
ketched out in the rain with,' he says. 'Jes' so,' I says. 'Now,' I says, 'I've
got a notion 't I'd like to own that hoss at a price, an' that mebbe I c'd git
him home even if it did rain. Here's a hunderd an' ten,' I says, 'an' I
want you to see how fur it'll go to buyin' him. If you git me the hoss
you needn't bring none on't back. Want to try?' I says. 'All right,' he
says, an' took the money. 'But,' he says, 'won't the deakin suspicion that
it comes from you?' 'Wa'al,' I says, 'my portrit ain't on none o' the bills,
an' I reckon you won't tell him so, out an' out,' an' off he went. Yistidy
he come in, an' I says, 'Wa'al, done anythin'?' 'The hoss is in your barn,'
he says. 'Good fer you!' I says. 'Did you make anythin'?' 'I'm satisfied,'
he says. 'I made a ten-dollar note.' An' that's the net results on't,"
concluded David, "that I've got the hoss, an' he's cost me jest thirty-five
dollars."
CHAPTER III.
Master Jacky Carling was a very nice boy, but not at that time in his
career the safest person to whom to intrust a missive in case its sure and
speedy delivery were a matter of importance. But he protested with so
much earnestness and good will that it should be put into the very first

post-box he came to on his way to school, and that nothing could
induce him to forget it, that Mary Blake, his aunt, confidante and not
unfrequently counsel and advocate, gave it him to post, and dismissed
the matter from her mind. Unfortunately the weather, which had been
very frosty, had changed in the night to a summer-like mildness. As
Jacky opened the door, three or four of his school-fellows were passing.
He felt the softness of the spring morning, and to their injunction to
"Hurry up and come along!" replied with an entreaty to "Wait a minute
till he left his overcoat" (all boys hate an