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Hot-Foot Hannibal        201

de mare stop'. G' 'long dere, Lucy! W'at you mean by dis foolis'ness?"
    Julius jerked the reins and applied the whip lightly, but the mare did not stir.
    "Perhaps you had better get down and lead her," I suggested. "If you get her started, you can cross on the log and keep your feet dry."
    Julius alighted, took hold of the bridle, and vainly essayed to make the mare move. She planted her feet with even more evident obstinancy.
    "I don't know what to make of this," I said. "I have never known her to balk before. Have you, Julius?"
    "No, suh," replied the old man, "I neber has. It's a cu'ous thing ter me, suh."
    "What's the best way to make her go?"
    "I 'spec's, suh, dat ef I'd tu'n her 'roun', she'd go de udder way."
    "But we want her to go this way."