It's down and
off in a jiffy, like a gall's finger on a piano when she is doin'
chromatic runs. Fact is, if I am walking out, and see a critter with
it, I have to stop and stare; and, Doctor, I will tell you a queer
thing. Halt and look at a splendid movin' hoss, and the rider is
pleased; he thinks half the admiration is for him, as rider and owner,
and t'other half for his trotter. The gony's delighted, chirups his
beast, gives him a sly touch up with the off heel, and shows him off
to advantage. But stop and look at a woman, and she is as mad as a
hatter. She don't care how much you look at her, as long as you don't
stand still or turn your head round. She wouldn't mind slackin' her
pace if you only attended to that.
"Now the fox has that special springy movement I speak of, and he puts
his foot down flat, he bends the grass rather to him, than from him,
if anything, but most commonly crumples it flat; but you never see it
inclinin' in the line of the course he is runnin'--never. Fact is,
they never get a hoist, and that is a very curious word, it has a very
different meanin' at sea from what it has on land. In one case it
means to haul up, in the other to fall down. The term 'look out' is
just the same.
"A canal boat was once passing through a narrow lock on the Erie line,
and the captain hailed the passengers and said, 'Look out.' Well, a
Frenchman thinking something strange was to be seen, popt his head
out, and it was cut off in a minute.
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