Part 37 (2/2)
”Evenin', Miz' Day,” observed Walky, eyeing Aunt 'Mira and her niece askance. ”Naow say it!”
”Say what, Mr. Dexter?” asked Mrs. Day puzzled.
”Why, I been gittin' of it all over taown,” groaned the expressman.
”Sarves me right, I s'pose. I see the reedic'lous side o' most things that happen ter other folks--an' they gotter right ter laff at me.”
”Why, what's happened ye?” asked Aunt 'Mira.
”Jefers-pelters!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Walky. ”Ain't Janice tol' ye?”
”Nothin' about you,” Mrs. Day a.s.sured him.
”She'd be a good 'un ter tell secrets to, wouldn't she?” the expressman said, with a queer twist of his face. ”Ain't ye heard how I dumped m'
load--an' Josephus--inter the lake?” and he proceeded to recount the accident with great relish and good humor.
Marty and his father, bringing in the milk, stopped to listen and laugh. At the conclusion of the story, as Marty was pumping a pail of water for the kitchen shelf, Walky said:
”Gimme a dipper o' that, boy. My mouth's so dry I can't speak the trewth. That's it--thanky!”
”Ye oughtn't to be dry, Walky--comin' right past Lem Parraday's _ho_-tel,” remarked Mr. Day, with a chuckle.
”Wal, naow! that's what I was goin' ter speak abeout,” said Walky, with sudden vigor. ”Janice, here, an' me hev been havin' an argyment right along about that rum sellin' business----”
”About the _drinking_, at any rate, Walky,” interposed Janice, gently.
”Wal--ahem!--ya-as. About the drinkin' of it, I s'pose. Yeou said, Janice, that my takin' a snifter now and then was an injury to other critters as well as to m'self.”
”And I repeat it,” said the girl confidently.
”D'ye know,” jerked out Walky, with his head on one side and his eyes screwed up, ”that I b'lieve Josephus agrees with ye?”
”Ho! ho!” laughed Marty. ”Was you fresh from Lem Parraday's bar when you backed the old feller over the dock?”
”Wal, I'd had a snifter,” drawled Walky, his eyes twinkling. ”Anyhow, I'm free ter confess that I don't see how I could ha' done sech a fullish thing if I hadn't been drinkin'--it's a fac'! I never did b'lieve what little I took would ever hurt anybody. But poor ol'
Josephus! He might ha' been drowned.”
”Oh, Walky!” cried Janice. ”Do you see that?”
”I see the light at last, Janice,” solemnly said the expressman. ”I guess I'd better let the stuff alone. I dunno when I'd git a hoss as good as Josephus----”
”No nearer'n the boneyard,” put in Marty, _sotto voce_.
”Anyhow, I see my failin' sure enough. Never was so reckless b'fore in all my life,” pursued Walky. ”Mebbe, if I kep' on drinkin' that stuff they sell daown ter the _ho_-tel, I'd drown both m' hosses--havin'
drowned m' own brains--like twin kittens, in ha'f an inch o' alcohol!
Haw! haw! haw!”
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