IN A TIGHT PLACE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1343, 25 August 1877, Page 21

IN A TIGHT PLACE.

• s!pr 23 yearsy^dfd -Jack' Willard has .cultivated the floijnin^ Baldwin county, and-drawn ,the»^r'pm a ; ~-stipj)o*rt -f or himself and wife" ; sn^&^iildless. Not long ago Jack left his ftouse in search "of a missing cow. His route led him through an old-worn out pieces of clay land of about six acres in extent, in the centre of which was a well — about 25 Q£ 5.3s .30 ] feet deep, that at some time probably' had furnished inmates of • a delapidated house nearby with' water. In passing the spot, an ill w,ind drifted Jack's, hat from his head ' and maliciously -wafted it to the edge of .the well, and in it tumbled. Now, Jack had always practiced the virtue of economy, and he iram^diately set about lecovering his' hafc. He ran to the, .well, i and finding it was dry, at the bottom, he uncoiled the rope which he had brought for the purpose of capturing the cow, and .after several attempts to vcatch^ihe hat with a nouse, he concluded to save time by going down into the well himself.." To „ accomplish . this. he-. made fast one end of the rope to a stump hard by and was soon on his way down the .well.- ./,.„- '."•;,,■ ■• • . It was a fact — which to Jack was 1e33 ob^iouSi .than jto., the reader hereof — that a mischievous fellow named JSeal Willis was in the old building, and saw Jack go down into the well, and it so happened thai Jack's ;old, blind -fhorse was nearby with a bell on his neck. The devil himself, or some other wicked spirit, put it into Neal's head to have a little fun ; so he slipped up to the old horse,' unbuckled the strap and approached the well with bell in-hand, ting-a-ling. Jack thought the old horse was coming, and said in a audible tone, " Hang the old blind horse, he's coming this way sure, and he ain't got no more sense than to fall inhere on me; wo, Ball." But the sound of the bell came closer, and Jack was resting , at the bottom of the well. " Great Jerusalem !" said Jack, "the old blind fool will be right on top of me in a minit,\ wo, Ball ! wo ; haw, Ball ! " Just then Neal got close to the well and kicked a little dirt on Jack's head. Jac]c thought Ball, was about to come, ana 'got 1 up close 3 to the side of the well and began to pjcay. His prayers were int-erspersed'with shouts to the horse to " wo, ho, and jee. , t .^^Ajtexira. Jarge.dj?sej}L.eai'ife£. at. ..length , •coming-do^n.- tho>»nfoi' tunate njan-.gavo , df uptfdr; lolt, tmlcUcri^d^ut* I ,**' Wo, 5 WLmoVM^wdiMwim- :<.,«* Jx. •. Neal could, hoM in no longer, and showed h!nVslH.,'amhai£fi) l iju?of the vj.dtf with;, a big horse laugh, which might have b'ee'rtTieard tw^o* .miles. This wasvmore thaii' Jack- could b§aT,,.arid he started up^ #ie r'6pe,,lifeK > a,-topiikey': ' " Darn'yourpicture, I'll givey on fits ;j I'll mak^yoiir. ears'.'ring' f wors'an taat belt - ! ; v . ■'' f -Neal took tp. his heiala-'and ranflike a quarter horsef,and Uie-las^hat,, j \viss'se i en. of^hufl^he wa3 ■halfla-*in'ilfi J i fi?om'tlie\weir with two big dogs grabbing at his coattail, i J.a,c^wa^'chpgejbehiM, y^ng;' -at-the-dogs* 11 — — _~ 1~~~. „,„ „„.,