long walk, and I was pretty tired, but I was also in a great hurry to
begin making marbles, so I walked as fast as I could. After a little
time I began to be sensible of a disagreeable feeling of stickiness
about my waist, and a slight trickling sensation in the region of the
knees.

A cloud not bigger than a man's hand flitted across my horizon,--perhaps
coal-tar _might_ melt?

I resolved to ascertain; and, like the famous old woman with her "yard
of black pudding," I very soon found it was much easier to obtain what I
wanted, than to know what to do with it when I had it. A very slight
inspection of my pockets satisfied me that coal-tar was capable of
becoming liquid, and, if I needed further evidence, the sable rivulets
that began to meander down the sides of my face gave ample corroboration
of the fact. I tried to take off my hat, but it would not come.

I looked down at my new trousers with feelings of dismay. Ominous spots
of a dismal hue were certainly growing larger. I tried to get the tar
out of my pockets, but only succeeded in covering my hands with the
black, unmanageable stuff, which at that moment I regarded as one of
those inventions of the devil, to entrap little boys, of which I had
often been warned, but to which I had given no heed. If it was a trap, I
was certainly _caught_; there was no doubt of that. But I was not
without some pluck, and in my case, as in that of many another brave, my
courage in facing the present calamity was aided by my fear of another
still more to be dreaded.

[Illustration: "I LOOKED DOWN AT MY NEW TROUSERS WITH DISMAY."]

That I should get a whipping for spoiling my new suit, if I could not
manage to get the tar off, I was quite certain, and I had had no
permission to go from home, and on the whole the outlook was not
cheerful in that direction. Quite driven to desperation, I seated myself
on the ground, and tried to scrape off the black spots, which had now
extended to formidable dimensions; while I could feel small streams
coming down inside of the collar of my shirt, and causing rather
singular suggestions of a rope around my neck. My labor was all in vain.
I got a good deal off, but there seemed to be an inexhaustible quantity
_on_. I gave it up in despair, and burst into uncontrollable sobs. The
flow of tears thinned the lava-like fluid, and it now resembled ink,
which covered my face like a veil; but in the extremity of my anguish a
hope dawned upon me. I found t