"This woman,
Miriam, was your mother."
V
BUMBLEPUPPY
Bumblepuppy is a synonym of whist played in defiance of certain time-
honoured conventions and principles. Ajax said with reason that
Johnnie Kapus, the nephew of our neighbour, old man Kapus, played the
game of life in such a sorry, blundering fashion that he marvelled why
his uncle gave him house-room. Ajax christened Johnnie--Bumble-puppy.
Once we hired Johnnie to work for us at the rate of half-a-dollar a
day. A heavy rain-storm had just taken place, and my brother insisted
that Johnnie was the right man to fill up the "wash-outs" in and about
the corrals. He was strong, big, docile as a cow, and he lived within
a few hundred yards of the ranch-house.
Johnnie was provided with a spade and a wheelbarrow, and led to a
gaping hole beneath the barn. I explained that the rain had washed
away the soil and made the hole, which must be filled up before more
rain should fall.
"Wheer shall I git the dirt from?" Johnnie demanded.
"From the most convenient place," said I. Ajax and I returned to the
barn an hour later. The hole was filled; but another hole, from which
Johnnie had taken the dirt, as large as the first, seriously
threatened the under-pinning of the building.
Pages:
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95