telescope 'round with me.' 'Well,' sez I, thinkin' I'd fool him, 'let's
see which one of us has got the best eyesight.' I pointed up to the
ridgepole of the house, which was 'bout a hundred feet off from where we
stood, and sez I to Abel, 'Can you see that fly walkin' along on the
ridgepole near the chimney? I ken.' Abel put his hand up back of his
ear, and sez he, 'No, I can't see him, but I can hear him walkin'
'round.'"

As Robert concluded, a loud shout of laughter went up from the table.
Quincy had no desire to be considered "stuck up," so he joined in the
laugh, although he had heard the story in a different form before.

So had the Professor, and he never allowed an old story to be told in
his presence without working in two lines of doggerel which he had
composed, and of which he was very proud. So, turning to Robert Wood he
said patronizingly, "That was very well told, Robert. The story is an
old one, but you worked it up very nicely; but," continued the
Professor, "as I have often remarked on similar occasions:

It makes no difference whether a story's new or old,
Everything depends on the way it's told."

Turning quickly to Quincy he said, "No doubt Mr. Sawyer can favor us
with a story that we've never heard before."

Quincy was a little taken aback, for the appeal was unexpected, but he
quickly recovered his self-possession and said in a low but pleasant
voice, "I am afraid that my story will have to depend on the way it is
told rather than upon its novelty." He wondered if his hearers were
acquainted with the travels of Baron Munchausen, but decided to try the
experiment. "About a year ago," resumed Quincy, "I went down to Maine on
some law business. I transacted it, but had to travel some ten miles to
the county town to record my papers. I had a four-wheeled buggy, and a
strong, heavily-built horse. It began to snow very fast after I started,
but I knew the road and drove steadily on. As I approached the county
town I noticed that the snow was deeper than the highest building in the
town, in fact, none of the town was visible, excepting about three feet
of the spire of the tallest church in the place."

Quincy stopped and glanced about the table. Every eye was fastened upon
him, and all, including the Professor and Stiles particularly, were
listening intently. Quincy continued his story:

"I was well supplied with buffalo robes, so after tying my horse firmly
to the weather vane on the spir