Show THE DARKY DUCKED IN TIME It Was a Trick He Learned Daring the War and It Served Him Well from where we sat on tho tavern veranda tro could look right across the Mississippi river although at the edge of the river on our side there was a bluff 40 feet high with a strong current below All along this bluff were commons and we had an unobstructed view We were talking and smoking when a goat came around the corner of an old abandoned warehouse and began to feed toward us Fivo minutes later an old white hooded darky using a cano to help him along came out from behind the same warehouse ware-house and stood almost on tho edge of tho bluff and appeared to gaze across the river What a fat take that goat has got if he only knew itl whispered ono of the party What a fool of a nigger to take such a riskl growled a second We ought to have warned tin old man who seemed totally unsuspicious of danger but wo didnt Human nature is just that way He had been there two or three minutes c min-utes when the goat observed him and began to twitch his tail It was none of his business busi-ness that the man was there and no law compelled com-pelled him to kick up a fuss but wo all saw that ho meant to do it As he gathered for a run every man rose up to warn the victim but no warning was uttered It was human nature to want to see the fun Tho goat shot away like a flash and as be drew near ho made a long jump to give full force to the intended in-tended blow Neat instant both had disappeared disap-peared and wo ran down expecting to see them struggling in the muddy waters As we reached tho bluffs the old man rose up from a pit dug within two feet of the edge and grinned and lifted his hat and said Mawnin1 gemlen Spected to find me down dar I reckon He pointed to the goat which was swim mind wildly about as the current carried it down and one of the party replied Yes we certainly thought you were a goner You dropped in there eh 1 You must havo been pretty quick about it Wall sorter but dat was no trick at all Doorin do wah when de Yankee gunboats lay ober dar an frowed shot at de guns up heab I war one of de culld gemlen who handled de shovel an de sand bags Dats whar Yarned to duck Dem Yankees didnt know me an dey kept tryin1 to kill mo an I had to duck an dodge so often dat actor de wait cloecd I nebber got straightened up agin Izo bin layin fur dat goat moron two weeks ail1 now hes dun gone an wont bodder nobody no-body no mo I used to cuss dat wah when it I was goin but now I see what a blessin it was Whar would do ole man be now if de Yankees had not frowed ten tons of cannonballs cannon-balls at him an Yarned him to ducklKew York Sun |