THE TRANSPORT RIDER. 301 



easily discouraged working animal on earth. If 

 the first three couples begin to haul before the 

 others have aroused to their effort, they will not 

 succeed in budging the wagon an inch, but after a 

 moment's struggle will give up completely. By 

 that time the leaders respond to the command 

 and throw themselves forward in the yoke. In 

 vain. They cannot pull the wagon and their 

 wheel comrades too. Therefore they give up. 

 By this time, perhaps, the lash has aroused the 

 first lot to another effort. And so they go, pull- 

 ing and hauling against each other, getting no- 

 where, until the end is an exhausted team, a 

 driver half insane, and a great necessity for un- 

 loading. 



A good driver, on the other hand, shrieks a few 

 premonitory Dutch words and then ! I sup- 

 pose inside those bovine heads the effect is some- 

 what that of a violent electric explosion. At 

 any rate it hits them all at once, and all to- 

 gether, in response, they surge against their yokes. 

 The heavily laden wagon creaks, groans, moves 

 forward. The hurricane of Dutch and the volleys 

 of whip crackings rise to a crescendo. We are 

 off! 



To perform just this little simple trick of get- 

 ting the thing started requires not only a peculiar 



