“But she passed through that bank of dirt in no time, and all the fellows that was asking, ‘Where’s he gone?’ found out. They got the last of the bank. Men could show you dents where pebbles no bigger’n buckshot had been blown into them. “The old monitor got real gay, and thought she was a Fourth of July pin-wheel, and after that there was nothing but water-works on the whole cussed creek. She took from one side to the other in quick swings. Billy, the cook, said he saw a block of boards take wings and sail right over Hooker’s Mountain. “I was dumbfuzzled and geewhizzled, till my head was full of curled hair and insect powder. I hung on with all hands and feet by instinct, like an insect, until finally we steadied down and played in the same place for half a minute, and I brushed some of the water out of my eyes. “Beside me was Hank, looking reproachful, as much as to say, ‘I _thought_ you knew your limit, Hy--but you must have stayed in town _too_ long last time.’ “Then the next thing that appeared was that darned little black-and-tan dog that had caused the whole trouble, followed by our friend, the rancher. I pined to wash his whiskers. But it was not to be. The monitor had jacked all her levers and cogs by knocking around. “‘Come on,’ I yelped to the crowd--‘Come on, you flapjack faces! Help me hold this critter down.’ “They got a move on. We tied the monitor and sent word to shut off the water. Whilst we was all stepping on each other’s feet, I thought I heard a mixture of sounds like small roars and large ‘Ki-yi’s,’ but the farmer, he was very busy, thinking we might catch on to who did all this, and come down to his cabin some night and take his whiskers as a momentum. “I had been pounded enough, so one of the lads took my place. I stepped out. There was a battle going on. That cussed little black-and-tan terrier was snapping and flying around poor old Hohankton, that had never received anything but kind treatment in his life, and scarcely knew what to make of this. I hate a black-and-tan dog, anyway. I like to see a dog with legs big enough and long enough to support his body, and with a body hefty enough to give the legs something to do. This yapping little devil didn’t have none of my sympathies. When I looked at the miserable beast I felt something _had_ to happen to him. “Just then he made a quick jump and nailed old Hank by the nose, and at the very same minute somebody hollered for me to come and fix something. “After I pounded my thumb and wrenched my wrist getting the lever back in some shape again, they stopped the water off, and the country was saved!