“Well, then, you play careful an’ we’ll provide you with the cards,” sez I. “Eugene has some guinea-pigs, an’ he is plannin’ to string you on a bet. You come right along just as though you was as ignorant as you look, have a day fixed to decide the bet, let us know, an’ for the small sum of fifty dollars we’ll provide you with a guinea-pig which has a tail.”
“I’ll make a pauper out of him,” sez the ol’ man. “I haven’t had a chance to get a bet on Columbus since I owned him.”
“You just land Eugene,” sez I, “an’ that’ll be sport enough for one while.”
“I got shaved twice to-day,” sez the ol’ man feelin’ his chin, “’cause we got into a discussion about comets; but I reckon I can stand another to-morrow.”
The next day the old man asked Eugene what all kind o’ game grew in Africa. “Elephants, hippopotamusses an’ guinea-pigs,” sez Eugene.
“Guinea-pigs?” sez the ol’ man.
“Yes, they’re the most curious animals the’ is in existence,” sez Eugene.
“How big are they?” asked ol’ man Dort. He hadn’t an idea in the world, an’ was beginnin’ to think that if they sized up with elephants an’ hippopotamusses, he didn’t want to have to lift one by the tail to win his bet.
“They ain’t any bigger ’n young rabbits,” sez Eugene, stroppin’ his razor; “but the curious part of ’em is that if you hold up one by the tail, his eyes’ll drop out.”
“I’ll bet a hundred dollars they wouldn’t do it,” sez the ol’ man.