A FRIENDLY WAGER

From: Murder Incorporated - In a Keg

by Harold J. Treherne

long long time ago two of my brothers and a brother-in-law, Sam, a genial and hearty fellow, were enjoying a short holiday on the sea front. Sam, often a target but always a sport, accepted a friendly bet, just before dinner, that he could, in five minutes, post a letter and be back in time for the midday meal. They shook hands on it and - "Good as done" was Sam's parting shot as he started out.

On his return, glancing at his watch, jauntily he bounced up the steps, through the front door, quickly down the hall and announced to all and sundry, "Tha's lost th' bet" as he flung open the dining-room door, "I've - " Here he abruptly ended.

One startled glance and he beat a hasty retreat, slamming the front door behind him. Standing outside on the steps a moment his equanimity returned.

One look behind, then casually he entered the house next door, in a row of identical houses, where, subsiding on the nearest chair, uncontrollable laughter overtook him, as he slapped his knees in delirious enjoyment.

Disjointedly, between mirthshaking spasms he explained his mistake but still claimed the wager. Sam possessed a boisterous cackle of a laugh and between the three of them the uproar was long and tremendous, Sam himself enjoying the lion's share of the joke.