CHAPTER VIIJ 



WE PLAT THE FARM 



ON Monday I was out by ten o'clock, armed 

 with a surveyor's chain. Thompson had pro- 

 vided a lot of stakes, and we ran the lines, more 

 or less straight, in general accord with my sketch 

 plan. We walked, measured, estimated, and 

 drove stakes until noon. At one o'clock we 

 were at it again, and by four I was fit to drop 

 from fatigue. Farm work was new to me, and 

 I was soft as soft. I had, however, got the 

 general lay of the land, and could, by the help 

 of the plan, talk of its future subdivisions 

 by numerals, an arrangement that afterward 

 proved definite and convenient. We adjourned 

 to the shade of the big black oak on the knoll, 

 and discussed the work in hand. 



" You cannot finish the cellar before to-morrow 

 night," I said, "because it grows slower as it 

 grows deeper; but that will be doing well 

 enough. I want you to start two teams plough- 

 ing Wednesday morning, and keep them going 

 every day until the frost stops them. Let Sam 

 take the plough, and have young Thompson 

 follow with the subsoiler. Have them stick to 



B 49 



