"Which I should allers have played the Colonel for dead, if it ain't
that years later he one day comes wanderin' into Wolfville. He ain't
tender now; he's as hard as moss-agates, an' as worthless.
"I renews my acquaintance with him, an' he tells how he gets outen
the Canadian that day; but beyond that we consoomes a drink or two
together, I rather passes him up. Thar's a heap about him I don't
take to.
"The Colonel lays 'round Wolfville mebby it's a week, peerin' an'
spyin' about. He says he's lookin' for an openin'. An' I reckons he
is, for at the end of a week he slaps up a joint outen tent-cloth
an' fence-boards, an' opens a dance-hall squar' ag'inst Jim
Hamilton's which is already thar.
"This yere alone is likely to brood an' hatch trouble; but, as if
takin' a straight header into Hamilton's game ain't enough, this
Colonel of mine don't get no pianer; don't round-up no music of his
own; but stands pat an' pulls off reels, an' quadrilles, an' green-
corn dances to Hamilton's music goin' on next door.
"I'm through the Lincoln County war, an' has been romancin' about
the frontier for years; but I never tracks up on no sech outrage in
my life as this disgraceful Colonel openin' a hurdy-gurdy ag'in
Hamilton's, an' maverickin' his music that a-way, an' dancin'
tharunto.
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