Part 3 (1/2)
”I know,” he shouted; ”dance! Horatio! dance!”
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”DANCE! HORATIO, DANCE!”]
Horatio still had his fiddle under his arm. He threw it into position and ran the bow over the strings. In a second more he was playing and dancing, and Bo was singing as though it were a matter of life and death, which indeed it was:--
[Ill.u.s.tration: Music]
”Oh, there was a fine man and a mighty fine gun And a Bear that played the fiddle and a boy that couldn't run,
[Ill.u.s.tration: Music]
And the boy was named Bosephus and Horatio the Bear, And they couldn't find a bite to eat for breakfast anywhere.”
The Todd family stood still at this unexpected performance and stared at the two musicians. Old man Todd leaned his gun against a tree.
”Now they couldn't buy their breakfast for their money all was spent, So they dropped into a cornfield to collect a little rent; But they only took a melon and an ear of corn or so, And were going off to eat them where the b.u.t.ter blossoms grow.”
The Todd family were falling into the swing of the music. Old Mis' Todd and the girls were swaying back and forth and the men were beating time with their feet. Suddenly Bosephus changed to the second part of the tune.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Music]
”But the old man got up early with a temper rather surly, And he chased them with his rifle and to catch them he was bound;
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Till he heard the ridy-diddle of Horatio and his fiddle, Then he shouted, 'Hallelujah, girls, and all--hands--'round!'”
The first line of this had started the Todd family. Old Zack swung old Mis' Todd, and Jim swung the girls. Then all joined hands and circled to the left. They circled around Bosephus and Horatio, who kept on with the music, faster and faster. Then there was a grand right and left and balance all--every one for himself--until they were breathless and could dance no more. Horatio stopped fiddling and when old man Todd could catch his breath he said to Bo:--
”Look a-here; that Bear of yours is a whole show by himself, and you're another. Anybody that can play and sing like that can have anything I've got. There's my house and there's my cornfield; help yourselves.”
Bo thanked him and said that the corn and the melon already selected would do for the time. To oblige them, however, he would take up a modest collection. He pa.s.sed his hat and received a silver twenty-five cent piece, a spool of thread with a needle in it, a one-bladed jack-knife and two candy hearts with mottoes on them--these last being from the girls, who blushed and giggled as they contributed. Then he said good-by, and the Todd family showed them a gate that led into the thick woods. As the friends pa.s.sed out of sight and hearing Bosephus paused and waved his handkerchief to the girls. A little later Horatio turned to him and said, impressively:--
”That is what I call conquering the world, Bosephus. We began a little sooner and more abruptly than I had expected, but it was not badly done, and, all things considered, you did your part very well, Bosephus; very well indeed.”
CHAPTER III
HORATIO AND THE DOGS
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”Blossom on the bough and bird on the limb-- Old Black Bear sits a-grinning at him;
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Sawing on his fiddle and a-grinning at the jay-- Grinning as he saws the only tune that he can play.”