Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/150

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146
JOE WAYRING AT HOME.

"I wish you could give us the same assurance in regard to the archery club," said Tom.

"So do I, but I can't," answered Joe; and then, as if that were a subject that he could not talk about just at that time, he hastened to add: "I can soon tell you what a greasy pole walk is. Did you notice that high derrick built on the end of our pier? Well, a long, stout spar is run out from that derrick, and after being braced and guyed so securely that it will not sway about under any reasonable weight, it is thickly covered with slush to make it slippery. There is a prize of some sort at the outer end of it, and the boy who can walk along the pole and capture that prize before he falls off into the water, is the best fellow."

"What is the prize?" inquired Ralph.

"Last year there were so many lucky fellows that we had to provide several of them," was the reply. "The one that created the most fun was a pig in a bag. Noble captured that, and I tell you he had a time of it. You see, the pig was greased as well as the pole, and the bag was tied in such a way that when