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<--[ _Takes aim
at bird; it flashes in the pan._]--Another miss! Oh, curse the misses and
the missusses! hang me if I can get a single shot at the sky-flyers.
[Wish](110) I had one of de German guns which Knickerbocker talks so
much about--one dat fires round(111) corners: la! how I'd bring dem down!
bring dem down! were I to wing as many daily as would fill a dearborn,
Dame wouldn't be satisfied--not that she's avaricious--but den she must
have something or somebody to snarl at, and I'm the unlucky dog at whom
she always lets fly. Now, she got at me mit de broomstick so soon as I
got back again; if I go home again, she will break my back. Tunner
wasser! how sleepy I am--I can't go home, she will break my back--so I
will sleep in de mountain to-night, and to-morrow I turn over a new leaf
and drink no more liquor.(112)
VOICE.
[_Outside:_] Rip Van Winkle.
_A dead pause ensues.--Suddenly a noise like the rolling of cannonballs is
heard--then a discordant shout of laughter._--RIP _wakes and sits up
astonished._
RIP.
What [the deuce](113) is that? [my wife] at mine elbow? Oh, no, nothing
of the kind: I must have been dreaming; so I'll contrive to nap, since
I'm far enough from her din. [_Reclines and sleeps._(114)
VOICE
[_Outside._] Rip Van Winkle. [_The laugh being repeated_, RIP _again
awakes._(115)
RIP.
I can't be mistaken dis time. Plague on't, I've got among the spirits of
the mountains, metinks,]]>
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