Walky ran off the dock and along the rocky sh.o.r.e to head the old horse off and catch him.

But Josephus had no intention of being so easily caught. Either he had lost confidence in his owner, or some escapade of his colthood had come to his memory. He splashed ash.o.r.e, dodged the eager hand of Walky, and with tail up, nostrils expanded, mane ruffled, and dripping water as he ran, Josephus galloped up the hillside and into the open lots behind Polktown.

Walky Dexter, with very serious mien, came slowly back to the dock.

Janice and Frank Bowman, as well as the freight agent, had been held spellbound by these exciting incidents. Frank and the agent were now convulsed with laughter; but Janice sympathized with the woeful expressman.

The latter halted on the edge of the dock, gazing from the shafts of his wagon sticking upright out of the lake to the snorting old horse up on the hill. Then he scratched his bare, bald crown, sighed, and muttered quite loud enough for Janice to hear:

"Jefers-pelters! I reckon old Josephus hez come out for prohibition, an' no mistake!"

CHAPTER XXIV

ANOTHER GOLD PIECE

Fortunately for Walky Dexter, the freight that he had backed into the lake was not perishable. It could not be greatly injured by water.

With the help of neighbors and loiterers and a team of horses, the two sections of the unhung wagon and the crates of agricultural tools were hauled out of the lake.

"There, Walky," said the freight agent, wiping his perspiring brow when the work was completed--for this happened on a warm day in early June.

"I hope ter goodness you look where you air backin' to, nex' time."

"Perhaps it will be just as well if he _backs_ where he's _looking_,"

suggested the young engineer, having removed his coat and aided very practically in the straightening out of Walky's affairs. This greatly pleased Janice, who had remained to watch proceedings.

"Come, naow, tell the truth, Walky Dexter," drawled another of the expressman's helpers. "Was ye seein' double when ye did that trick?"

There was a general laugh at this question. Walky Dexter, for once, had no ready reply. Indeed, he had been particularly serious all through the work of re-establishing his wagon on the dock.

"Well, Walky, ye oughter stand treat on this, I vum!" said the freight agent. "Suthin' long, an' cool, would go mighty nice."

"Isuckles is aout o' season--he! he!" chuckled another, frankly doubtful of Walky's generosity.

"Lock up your freight house, Sam, and ye shall have it," declared Walky, with sudden briskness.

"That's the ticket!" exclaimed the Doubting Thomas, with a quick change of tone. "Spoke like a soldier, Walky. I hope Joe's jest tapped a fresh kaig."

Walky halted and scratched his head as he looked from one to another of the expectant group. "Why, ter tell the trewth," he jerked out, "I'm feelin' more like some o' thet thar acid phosphate Ma.s.sey sells out'n his sody-fountain. Le's go up there."

"Jest as yeou say, Walky. You're the doctor," said the freight agent, though somewhat crestfallen, as were the others, at this suggestion.

"Don't count me in, Walky--though I'm obliged to you," laughed Bowman, who was getting into his coat.

"Jest the same we'll paternize the drug store for this once," said the expressman, stoutly, and with gravity he led the way up the hill.

Later Walky went across into the fields and tried to catch Josephus; but that wise old creature seemed suddenly to have lost confidence in his master, and refused to be won by his tones, or even the shaking of an empty oat-measure. So Walky was obliged to go home and bring down Josephus' mate to draw the freight to its destination.

Janice parted from the young engineer and walked up Hillside Avenue, intending to take supper at home and afterward return to the Drugg place to spend another night or two with the storekeeper's lonely wife.

She was sitting with Aunt 'Mira on the side porch before supper, while the "short bread" was baking and Uncle Jason and Marty were at the ch.o.r.es, when Walky Dexter drew near with his now all but empty wagon, and stopped in the lane to bring in a new cultivator Uncle Jason had sent for.

"Evenin', Miz' Day," observed Walky, eyeing Aunt 'Mira and her niece askance. "Naow say it!"

"Say what, Mr. Dexter?" asked Mrs. Day puzzled.

"Why, I been gittin' of it all over taown," groaned the expressman.

"Sarves me right, I s'pose. I see the reedic'lous side o' most things that happen ter other folks--an' they gotter right ter laff at me."

"Why, what's happened ye?" asked Aunt 'Mira.

"Jefers-pelters!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Walky. "Ain't Janice tol' ye?"

"Nothin' about you," Mrs. Day a.s.sured him.

"She'd be a good 'un ter tell secrets to, wouldn't she?" the expressman said, with a queer twist of his face. "Ain't ye heard how I dumped m'

load--an' Josephus--inter the lake?" and he proceeded to recount the accident with great relish and good humor.

Marty and his father, bringing in the milk, stopped to listen and laugh. At the conclusion of the story, as Marty was pumping a pail of water for the kitchen shelf, Walky said:

"Gimme a dipper o' that, boy. My mouth's so dry I can't speak the trewth. That's it--thanky!"

"Ye oughtn't to be dry, Walky--comin' right past Lem Parraday's _ho_-tel," remarked Mr. Day, with a chuckle.

"Wal, naow! that's what I was goin' ter speak abeout," said Walky, with sudden vigor. "Janice, here, an' me hev been havin' an argyment right along about that rum sellin' business----"

"About the _drinking_, at any rate, Walky," interposed Janice, gently.

"Wal--ahem!--ya-as. About the drinkin' of it, I s'pose. Yeou said, Janice, that my takin' a snifter now and then was an injury to other critters as well as to m'self."

"And I repeat it," said the girl confidently.

"D'ye know," jerked out Walky, with his head on one side and his eyes screwed up, "that I b'lieve Josephus agrees with ye?"

"Ho! ho!" laughed Marty. "Was you fresh from Lem Parraday's bar when you backed the old feller over the dock?"

"Wal, I'd had a snifter," drawled Walky, his eyes twinkling. "Anyhow, I'm free ter confess that I don't see how I could ha' done sech a fullish thing if I hadn't been drinkin'--it's a fac'! I never did b'lieve what little I took would ever hurt anybody. But poor ol'

Josephus! He might ha' been drowned."

"Oh, Walky!" cried Janice. "Do you see that?"

"I see the light at last, Janice," solemnly said the expressman. "I guess I'd better let the stuff alone. I dunno when I'd git a hoss as good as Josephus----"

"No nearer'n the boneyard," put in Marty, _sotto voce_.

"Anyhow, I see my failin' sure enough. Never was so reckless b'fore in all my life," pursued Walky. "Mebbe, if I kep' on drinkin' that stuff they sell daown ter the _ho_-tel, I'd drown both m' hosses--havin'

drowned m' own brains--like twin kittens, in ha'f an inch o' alcohol!

Haw! haw! haw!"