“So lookin’ at the matter in all its bearins, I cum to the conclusion that I’d better let somebody know whar I was. So I gin a yell louder than a locomotive whistle, and it warn’t long before I seed the Deacon’s two dogs a comin’ down like as if they war seein’ which could get thar fust.
“I know’d who they war arter—they’d jine the bull agin me, I war sartin, for they war awful wenimous, and had a spite agin me.
“ ‘So,’ ses I, ‘old Brindle, as ridin’ is as cheap as walkin’ on this rout, if you’ve no objections, I’ll jest take a deck passage on that ar back o’ your’n.’
“So I wasn’t long gettin’ astride of him, and then if you’d been thar, you’d ’ave sworn thar warn’t nothin’ human in that ar mix; the sile flew so orrfully as the critter and I rolled round the field—one dog on one side and one on t’other, tryin’ to clinch my feet!
“I pray’d and cuss’d, and cuss’d and pray’d, until I couldn’t tell which I did last—and neither warn’t of any use, they war so orrfully mix’d up.
“Well, I reckon I rid about an hour this way, when old Brindle thought it war time to stop and take in a supply of wind and cool off a little! So when we got round to a tree that stood thar, he nat’rally halted!
“ ‘Now,’ ses I, ‘old boy, you’ll lose one passenger sartin!’
“So I just clum upon a branch, kalkelating to roost thar till I starved, afore I’d be rid round that ar way any more.
“I war makin’ tracks for the top of the tree, when I heard suthin’ a makin’ an orful buzzin’ over head, I kinder looked up, and if thar warn’t—well thar’s no use swearin’ now, but it war the biggest hornet’s nest ever built!
“You’ll gin in now, I reckon, Mike, case thar’s no help for you! But an idea struck me, then, that I’d stand a heap better chance a ridin’ the old bull than where I war. Ses I, ‘Old feller, if you’ll hold on, I’ll ride to the next station any how, let that be whar it will!’