“Never mind, we will lighten his load for him before we return. I am starved.”
“Who is it that is hungry?”
“Me, me!” from so many mouths that the educating spinsters’ precise “I, I,” was lost in the avalanche of me’s.
Those worthy ladies were in a seventh heaven of bliss. They had found many botanical specimens which they pounced upon for future analysis, and their little hammers were going whack! whack! at every boulder that poor Josephus stumbled over. They were really very nice and kind, and as for their backbones, it was not their fault that they had pokers instead of vertebrae.
The Devil’s Gorge was worth the long walk, even to those who had no hammers. Great rocks were piled high on top of one another and all down the mountain side was an enormous crack in solid rock.
“Geewhiz! Something must have been doing here once to make such a mess,” declared Lewis Somerville.
“Just look at that great rock balanced there on that little one! It would take just a push to send it clattering down. To think that one great heave of Mother Earth must have sent it up, and there it has been just as it is for centuries!” said Douglas.
“Well, we uns bets Mr. Bill could send it over with one er his side splitters.” And with that from Josh, Bill gave a sample of his laugh that did not dislodge the great boulder but made Tillie Wingo stop talking for a whole minute.
“You uns ain’t lowing to eat here, is you uns?” asked Josh rather plaintively.