"You don't expect me to pay you, I hope?"
"Of course I do. Didn't you tell me to put those rods on your house?"
"My house!" shouted Potts. "Thunder and lightning! I never ordered you to put those rods up. It would have been ridiculous. Why, man, this is the court-house, and I'm here waiting for the court to assemble. I'm on the jury. You seemed to be anxious to rush out your rods; and as it was none of my business, I let you go on. Pay for it! Come, now, that's pretty good."
The people who were present say that the manner in which that lightning-rod man tore around and swore was fearful. But when he got his rods off of the court-house, he left permanently. He don't fancy the place.
Keyser had lightning-rods placed upon his barn three or four years ago; but during last summer the building was struck by lightning and burned. When he got the new barn done, a man came around with a red wagon and wanted to sell him a set of Bolt & Burnam's patent lightning-rods.
"I believe not," said Keyser; "I had rods on the barn at the time of the—"
"I know," exclaimed the agent—"I know you had; and very likely that's the reason you were struck. Nothin's more likely to attract lightnin' than worthless rods."
"How do you know they were worthless?"
"Why, I was drivin' by yer in the spring, and I seen them rods, and I says to myself, 'That barn'll be struck some time, but there's no use in tryin' to convince Mr. Keyser;' so I didn't call. I knowed it, because they had iron tips. A rod with iron tips is no better'n a clothes-prop to ward off lightnin'."
"The man who sold them to me said they had platinum tips," remarked
Keyser.