Yet Harry seemed to catch it, for he,
too, began to laugh with the fortunate "Colonel."
"You see," said the latter, as, with great difficulty, he restrained
himself for half a moment, "this is my busy day."
Again he roared and shook in a fit of ungovernable mirth. In the midst of
it Mrs. Lukins arrived.
"Don't pay no 'tention to him," she said. "The 'Colonel' is wearin'
himself out restin'. He's kep' his head bobbin' all day like a
woodpecker's. Jest laughs till he's sick every time he an' ol' John gits
together. It's plum ridic'lous."
The "Colonel" turned serious long enough to give him time to explain in a
quivering, joyous tone: "0l' John, he just sets beside me and says the
gol' darndest funniest things!"
He could get no further. His last words were blown out in a gale of
laughter. Mrs. Lukins had sat down with her knitting.
"Ol' John Barleycorn will leave to-night, an' to-morrow the 'Colonel'
will be the soberest critter in Illinois--kind o' lonesome like an'
blubberin' to himself," she explained.
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