Cinder Path Tales

CINDER-PATH TALES stood between me and Duffy, with one hand on the handle, set up such an infernal din that Eraser immediately consented, and I handed him the hammer. At this Duffy changed his tune, and proposed to withdraw, saying he would not have any dirtyEnglish­ man nor sneaking Scotchman doubt his word. He shook his huge fist in Eraser's face and demanded the immediate return of his property. In this hemade a mistake,for the judge wasas full of fire as a little Scotch terrier, and he promptly walked to the scales and laid the hammer on them. Then there wasa dead silence. MacLeod came tomy side, for the lad had not spoken a word since the row began; not that he lacked pluck, but he had a mortal antipathy to a windy dispute, and knew I was fully competent to protect his interests. The weight was on the seventeen-pound mark, but the hammer did not lift it, and I saw by the eager faces that the crowd was becoming suspicious. The little judge pushed the weight to sixteen pounds, and still the beam hung; and only at fifteen-eight did it rise. Everybody looked at Duffy's flushed face, and Eraser demanded an explanation, though there did not seem to be much that could be said. The tall Irishman hemmed and hawed a bit, and then said huskily, "Faith, I think it