"Well, I swan, I never see sech a lot of dunceheels! I never hear sech fool talk since I's born. They ain't one on ye thet's got enny sense." "Waal, haow much hev _yeu_ gut?" asked the narrator of the dead-horse story, testily. "_Yeu_ never see a har snake in yer life, and wouldn't know one from a side o' sole-leather er a waxed-end ef it wuz laid in yer lap." "Not know 'em? I guess not," replied Amos. "I know more about 'em than the hull lot o' ye put together. Not know 'em! Law! hain't I seen 'em flyin' over the meddy by the hundreds in hayin'-time!" A loud and long-continued guffaw concert greeted this surprising statement, a result which the shrewd cobbler had anticipated. "We give in," remarked one sarcastic snake expert, when the laughter had subsided. "We give in. We don't enny on us know _thet_ much," followed by another burst of derisive laughter. "Thet's becuz yeu ornery critters hain't gut no sense," replied Amos, with warmth. "Ye beleve jest wut ennybody tells ye, or jest wut yer gran'ther beleved before ye, ez though _yeur_ gran'ther knowed any more'n a hedge fence jest becuz he hed the misfortoon to be _yeur_ gran'ther. _My_ gran'ther sed so tew. But what on't? He warn't to blame. He didn't know no better. I _do_. Yeu say them snakes come from hoss-har. Like nuff they ain't one o' ye but b'leeves fer a fac' thet ef yer old har-cloth sofy wuz put to soak it wou'd all squirm off overnight. Ye see these ar har snakes in the hoss-trawf, and thet's _enuff_ fer ye. Immejetly yeu hev yer 'hoss-har snake,' 'n' you're so sot they ain't no livin' with ye." And so he went on, with occasional exclamatory or chaffing interruptions. "Oh yis! Yeu know all about 'em, jest becuz ye hed a gran'ther who wuz a dunceheels. Nobody kin teech ye nothin', but _I'll_ tek a leetle o' the conceit out o' ye afore I'm done with ye. Wut I know I _know_, 'n' wut I say I kin prove. 'N' if none o' yeu idjits hain't seen them har snakes a-flyin' over the meddy ez I sed, then ye _don't know nothin' about 'em_. I tell ye I've seen 'em 'n' caught 'em!" "Say, Amos," slyly asked a jibing neighbor at his elbow, "wut did ye hev in the hayin'-pail that day?"