rain I started jest after sundown for home. But it came ter blow,
an' ter pour cats and dogs, an' I was nigh washed out o' the buggy,
besides losin' my way and gettin' inter ditches and puddles, and I
hed to stop at Staples' Half-Way House and put up for the night.
In the mornin' I riz up early and goes into the stable yard, and
the first thing I sees was the 'ostler. 'I hope ye giv' my hoss a
good scrub down,' I sez, 'as I told ye, for his color is that
delicate the smallest spot shows. It's a very rare color for a
hoss.' 'I was hopin' it might be,' sez he. I was a little huffed
at that, and I sez: 'It's considered a very beautiful color.'
'Mebbe it is,' sez he, 'but I never cared much for fireworks.'
'What yer mean?' sez I. 'Look here, Squire!' sez he; 'I don't mind
scourin' and rubbin' down a hoss that will stay the same color
TWICE, but when he gets to playin' a kaladeoskope on me, I kick!'
'Trot him out,' sez I, beginnin' to feel queer. With that he
fetched out the hoss! For a minit I hed to ketch on to the fence
to keep myself from fallin'. I swonny! ef he didn't look like a
case of measles on top o' yaller fever--'cept where the harness had
touched him, and that was kinder stenciled out all over him. Thar
was places whar the 'ostler had washed down to the foundation
color, a kind o' chewed licorice! Then I knew that somebody had
bin sold terrible, and I reckoned it might be me! But I said
nothin' to the 'ostler, and waited until dark, when I drove him
over here, and put him in the stables, lettin' no one see him. In
the mornin' Lummox comes to me, and sez he: 'I'm glad to see you
back,' sez he, 'for my conscience is troublin' me about that hoss
agreement; it looks too much like a hoss trade,' sez he, 'and I'm
goin' to send the hoss back.' 'Mebbe your conscience,' sez I, 'may
trouble you a little more ef you'll step this way;' and with that I
takes his arm and leads him round to the stable and brings out the