"Curses upon thee, thou base and treacherous mule!" he murmured, brokenly. "By my beard, thou hast poorly repaid me for my unremitting kindness to thee. Ah, alack, alack, alack—"
He was just about to alack some more, when a mellow, girlish voice came floating down the gulch and fell in large fragments near where he lay.
He gathered up some of the chunks of melody to see what the song might be. It was that wonderful masterpiece of Mozart's, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
Then he swooned.
The gurgling brook still continued to gurg. We will let it gurg.
CHAPTER II.—GERALDINE CARBOLINE O'TOOLE.
The melodious voice referred to in the preceding chapter was owned and operated by Geraldine Carboline O'Toole, the heroine of this classic tale.
Anon she came down the valley like a thing of life.