I enjoyed the hour I spent here with a deep, heart enjoyment, and so did Josiah. Or, that is, I guess he did, though he whispered to me from time to time, or even oftener, as we went through the buildin’, that we wuz a devourin’ time that we might be spendin’ at the Roller Coaster.
Wall, at last, greatly to my pardner’s satisfaction, we sot out for the place where he fain would be. On our way there we roamed through another Indian Encampment, a smaller one than that where we had the fearful incident of the Mermaid and Sarah.
No, it wuzn’t so big, but it had many innocent diversions and a photograph gallery, and other things for its comfert. And a standin’ up a leanin’ aginst a tree, by one of the little houses stood a Injun. He wuz one of the last left of his tribe. He seemed to be a lookin’ pensively on—and seein’ how the land that had belonged to ’em, the happy huntin’-grounds, the springs they believed the Great Spirit had gin to ’em, had all passed away into the bands of another race.
I wuz sorry for that Injun, real sorry. And thinkses I to myself, we feel considerable pert now, and lively, but who knows in another three or four hundred years, but what one of the last of our race, may be a leanin’ up aginst some new tree, right in the same spot, a watchin’ the old places passed away into other hands, mebby black hands, or some other colored ones; mebby yellow ones, who knows? I don’t, nor Josiah don’t. But my pardner wuz a hurryin’ me on, so I dropped my revery and my umberell in my haste to foller on after his footsteps.
Josiah picked up my umberell, but he couldn’t pick up my soarin’ emotions for me. No, he haint never been able, to get holt of ’em. But suffice it to say, that soon, preceded by my companion, I found myself a mountin’ the nearly precipitus stairs, that led to the Roller Coaster.
And havin’ reached the spot, who should we find there but Ardelia Tutt and Bial Flamburg. They had been on the Roller Coaster seven times in succession, and the car. And they wuz now a sittin’ down to recooperate their energies, and collect their scattered wits together. The Roller Coaster is very scatterin’ to wits that are not collected firm and sound, and cemented by strong common sense.
The reason why the Roller Coaster don’t scatter such folkses wits is supposed to be because, they don’t go on to it. Ardelia looked as if her idees wuz scattered to the four pints of the compass. As for Bial, it seemed to me, as if he never had none to scatter. But he spoke out to once, and said, he didn’t care to ride on ’em. (Bial Flamburg’s strong pint, is his truthfulness, I can’t deny that.)
Ardelia wouldn’t own up but what she enjoyed it dretfully. You know folks are most always so. If they partake of a pleasure and recreation that is doubtful in its effects, they will always say, what a high extreme of enjoyment they enjoyed a partakin’ of it. Curius, haint it? Wall, Josiah had been anticipatin’ so much enjoyment from the exercise, that I didn’t make no move to prevent him from embarkin’ on it—though it looked hazardous and dangerous in the extreme.
I looked down on the long valleys, and precipitous heights of the assents and desents, in which my pardner wuz so soon to be assentin’ and desentin’ and I trembled, and wuz jest about to urge him to forego his diversion, for the sake of his pardner’s happiness, but as I turned to expostulate with him, I see the beautiful, joyous, hopeful look on his liniment, and the words fell almost dead on my tongue. I felt that I had ruther suffer in silence than to say one word to mar that bliss.