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Show Page 3 "Dough" his adult life in the West, never lost his down east twang. Herrick met Gridiey on election day in front of Gridiey's store and though the storekeeper was standing on the foot-high boardwalk,, his eyes were still an inch below Herrick's. "Grid," Herrick said with a grin, "why don't you Johnny Rebs lay down an die; you ain't a-goin' ta win no how." Quivering with fury, Gridiey replied, "We'll see about that, and, just to make things interesting, I'll cover any bet that you care to make." "Good," Herrick replied as he straightened up and eyed the oval stomach of the other man. "Ah proposes that the loser has to carry a fifty-pound sack of flour to upper Austin and back here. If I lose, the band can play Dixie, and if you lose, the band can play John Brown's Body." Gridiey blanched and was whisker close to refusing the bet. Upper Austin was three miles away and decidedly uphill, and he didn't know if he were capable of carrying a fifty-pound load fifty feet on a downhill pull. Then his fierce rebel pride got the best of him and with a wealth of misgivings and misguided faith, he agreed to the terras. Cockily, he even offered Herrick |
