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.