ack.

Selecting the choicest one with great gravity and care, Mr. Silas Fox
peeled it and prepared for the great test. The driver leaned forward
interestedly; the two in khaki gathered close behind; the large young
man chuckled as he watched; the horse poked forward his nose gingerly,
then sniffed--then turned slowly away!

Mr. Fox was shocked. He caught that horse gently by the opposite jaw,
and drew the head toward him. This time the horse did not even sniff.
It shook its head, and, being further urged, jerked away so decidedly
that it drew its tormentor off the curb, and he would have fallen had
not Wallingford caught him by the arm.

"I win," declared the driver with relief, gathering up his lines.

"Not yet," denied Mr. Fox, and stepping forward he put his arm around
the horse's neck and tried to force the banana into its mouth.

This time the horse was so vigorous in its objection that the man came
near being trampled underfoot, and it was only on the unanimous vote
of the big man and the two in khaki that he profanely gave up the
attempt.

"Not that I mind losing the bet," announced Mr. Fox in apology, "but
I'm disappointed in the be damned horse. That horse loves bananas and
I know it, but he's just stubborn. Here's your money," and he gave the
driver his five-fifty; "and here's the rest of the bananas. When you
get back to the barn you try that horse and see if he won't eat 'em,
after he's cooled down and in his stall."

"All right," laughed the driver, and started away.

As he turned the corner he was peeling one of the bananas. The loser
looked after the horse reluctantly, and sighed in finality.

"Come on, young man, let's go get that drink," he said.

Delighted to have found company of happy spirit, Wallingford promptly
turned with the colonel into the hotel bar.

"Can you beat it?" asked one big soldier of the other as both looked
after the departing couple in pleased wonder.

At about the same second the new combination was falling eagerly and
vigorously into conversation upon twelve topics at once.

"You can't do anything without you have a pull," was Silas Fox's
fallacious theory of life, as summed up in the intimate friendship of
the second bottle. "That's why I left New Jersey. I had a National
Building and Loan Association organized down there that would have
been a public benefactor and a private joy; in business less than six
months, and already nine hundred honest working-men paying