How it ended, I don't know; am certain that I did not feel interested enough in them to care. We called for dinner, when a great, tall slab of a girl came in to knew what we would have, whether meat zcittals, or bread and milk. We replied, " beef steak, if you have it, or a piece of ham." After waitng a long time, Dolly informed us that our dinner was ready in the next room; and true enough, it was a dinner. Here was a large pudding dish, with meat enough for ten hungry men, and the meat fairly swimming with melted grease; then there were two large pies, a loaf of bread, a plate of butter, a piece of cheese, a dish of potatoes, and a saucer of pickles.
Now Dolly knew we were hungry, and governed herself accordingly. She waited upon us very attentively, and seemed much afraid that we had not made a dinner, because we left more than half she had placed before us. Oar bill for this dinner was twenty-five cents each. We started in good spirits for Skowhegan, and arrived there about sundown, on Saturday. Next morning, at Sunday School time, I took a walk towards the meeting-house, and must say that in no country town have I ever seen a prettier company of young ladies and children, nor those that were more fashionably dressed. The town is prettily situated, containing some fine farms and a beautiful waterfall in the centre. We were out early on Monday morning, as the stage left at nine o'clock, for Augusta.
I saw no more of the shinglemachine fellow, although there were a number of lowers hanging round for their morning dram, which consists of New England rum and half a pint of molasses. I entered into a joking conversation with some of them, while on the piazza. Said I: " You appear to be a hard set of fellows here." " Yes, sir; they '11 take your eyeteeth out, unless you look sharp, and keep your mouth shut." " How do they dispose of log-stealers here? " " How do they dispose of them? Why, they must ketch 'em first. There are fellows here that will steal a log directly before your eyes, and you won't know it.
There 's Ned Sprowl; he 's the slickest thief in the whole State of Maine. I'll tell you what he did. "One of our lumber dealers had over a thousand loo-s in the booms, waiting a chance to get 'em over. Every morning he missed a number of his logs, and was determined to watch 'em himself. He put on his big coat, took his gun, well loaded with duck shot, a bottle of stuff, and straddled a big log. It was a bright moonlight night; after a while he gave a look round, took a swig from the bottle, and fell asleep. In the morning he awoke, and found himself astride the bark. Ned Sprowl had been there and hauled the looout from the bark, and never waked the fellow." The stage being ready, we jumped in, and were soon safe and sound in Boston.
Perhaps the reader would like to know what disposition we made of our property. I gave our kind host a power of attorney to sell mine for one cent an acre; and if he could not obtain that, give it to somebody, and pay them something for owning it. My comrade did the same, and if it is true, as some geologists say, that stones grow, Ben must have a powerful crop by this time.