92
jest as she was ready to go she had
some propputty left heh. She was
goin* to stay an' fix things up, when
Tex writes down that he wants heh,
foh his sistah is sick oah in some trou-
ble. Mis' Tex she jes' brings theyah
two-year-old boy to my wife, an' says
she, *Keep him till we come back.' An'
to me she says, 'Judge, I leave the
propputty in youah hands, I know I
couldn't leave in bettah.' Them was
her very wohds, gennelmen. They
brought the sistah back with 'em, and
though she seemed kind o' droopy foh
a month oah two. Mis' Bahdwell jest
petted the roses back into heh face
again. Theyah goin' to have a mighty
fine weddin foh heh when she an' the
Lieutenant hit it off."
When I left Ed he was a-settin on
the ground, a-sayin, "Hoodooed? Well. I guess so." And after I'd gone to work for Tex again I ventured to ask how Mrs. Bardwell worked it.
"Oh, 'twas simple," says he. **She had a hypodermic syringe filled with atropine, and filled the mare's eyes. It's quicker'n belladonna, an' she done it while I was fixin' a strap that had nothin' the matter with it. A trick? Yes, and a dirty one. But if Helver had been true to Flossie it could never have been worked, for she would have died rather than do him, and he never would let any one near a horse of his before a race. My takin' the mare right away kept him from noticin' her eyes, an' they were all right in a day or two."
"Miss Flossie a-driz-in' slo-w with
a voiing off-ovJcave na-.al officer." C^ r^r^t^Ai^
