Following them were
Jane and Bill Jackson, with Jane's slender mare looking absolutely
delicate beside the big brown gelding that carried Jackson's 190 pounds
with ease. The horses all looked as if there had been "something doing,"
and they were hurried to the stables. The ladies laughed and screamed
for a season, as seems necessary for young ladies, and then departed,
leaving us in peace. Jackson filled his pipe before remarking:--
"I've been over the ridge into the Dunkard settlement, and they have the
cholera there to beat the band. Joe Siegel lost sixty hogs in three
days, and there are not ten well hogs in two miles. What do you think of
that?"
"That means a hard 'fight mit Siegel,'" said Kyrle.
"It ought to mean a closer quarantine on this side of the ridge," said
I, "and you must fumigate your clothes before you appear before your
swine, Jackson. It's more likely to be swine plague than cholera at this
time of the year, but it's just as bad; one can hardly tell the
difference, and we must look sharp."
"How does the contagion travel, Doctor?"
"On horseback, when such chumps as you can be found.
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