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144
THE COUNTRY BOY

company to refund the money, as we paid them for the special and it was their fault the blizzard struck us;” and besides it wouldn’t be fair, as he says he told them most of us were newspaper men. It was like another blizzard striking me, as I was in the act of asking Vice for a quarter to get something to eat, but $22 put me on Canal Street right, mingling with the sports from every town in the Union. I hadn’t gone far when I heard the cluck of a chicken. I turned quickly and saw a nigger with two sacks, one in each hand. I overtook him and asked him if they were game chickens; he said they were. I then made known to him that I was the greatest game chicken fancier that ever set a hen, and it was my intention to purchase a choice lot before returning to Oregon, which was to be in two or three days. He took me to his home, where I examined several. I asked him his price and it appears he saw me counting my money, as he told me that being I was a visitor to New Orleans, I could have the two roosters for $22. After a sigh, I accepted. I took one under each arm and proceeded to the St. Charles.