Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1894 — He Bit. [ARTICLE]

He Bit.

Harper’s Magazine. The old doctor and the old captain were fast friends, both inveterate jokers, and both, despite their aggregate six-score years, rabid sportsmen. The doctor’s frightful stammer did not seem to impede the flow of a joke, nor did the captain’s equatorial girth lessen his agility. One afternoon the old men set out on a rabbit hunt. As they passed through an orchard something scurried into a burrow. “Ar-r—wist—rabbit!" shouted the doctor. “L I —let’s p—pull him out.” And kneeling at the’hole he thrust his arm in up to the shoulder. “S-s —say,”Mie remarked, after a “sc-c —wist — can’t q-quite get him. Y-y—wh—-you try it, John; y-y —wh —your arm’s l-longer than m-m—wist — mine.” The captain knelt and thrust his arm down. In an instant he was executing awar dance around a tree, waving a bloody finger. “Blankety—blank—blank! That’s no rabbit; it’s aground hog.” “D—d—wist—did he bite you, J-J-John?” queried the doctor, anxiously. “Bite? Blankety—blank! Don’t you see he took off the whole end of my little finger.” “Wh —wh —wh—why, that’s t-too b-bad,” said the doctor, taking his own hand from behind him and showing a sadly lacerated thumb. “H-he b-b—wist —bit me, too!"