touch of the whip on the shoulder alwus fetched him. I alwus carried
them straps, though, till the last two or three times."

"Wa'al, what's the deakin kickin' about, then?" asked Aunt Polly.
"You're jest sayin' you broke him of balkin'."

"Wa'al," said David slowly, "some hosses will balk with some folks an'
not with others. You can't most alwus gen'ally tell."

"Didn't the deakin have a chance to try him?"

"He had all the chance he ast fer," replied David. "Fact is, he done
most of the sellin', as well 's the buyin', himself."

"How's that?"

"Wa'al," said David, "it come about like this: After I'd got the hoss
where I c'd handle him I begun to think I'd had some int'restin' an'
valu'ble experience, an' it wa'n't scurcely fair to keep it all to
myself. I didn't want no patent on't, an' I was willin' to let some
other feller git a piece. So one mornin', week before last--let's see,
week ago Tuesday it was, an' a mighty nice mornin' it was, too--one o'
them days that kind o' lib'ral up your mind--I allowed to hitch an'
drive up past the deakin's an' back, an' mebbe git somethin' to
strengthen my faith, et cetery, in case I run acrost him. Wa'al, 's I
come along I seen the deakin putterin' 'round, an' I waved my hand to
him an' went by a-kitin'. I went up the road a ways an' killed a little
time, an' when I come back there was the deakin, as I expected. He was
leanin' over the fence, an' as I jogged up he hailed me, an' I pulled
up.