232 A SHOUT THAT KILLED AN OX 



loud. The strange thing about it was that, though 

 deep, it had a tremendous carrying power, so that 

 when he let himself go and talked to his man or boy 

 out of doors, or got into a dispute with his wife, his 

 neighbours, a quarter of a mile or further away, 

 would listen to his words, and on the next occasion 

 of meeting him would ask him how the great question 

 had been settled; had the turkey's nest been found? 

 was the pig going to be killed on Saturday next ? had 

 they got the garlic for the sausages? and was he 

 convinced that his wife really wanted a new dress? 

 and so on and so forth. This would make Bias 

 very angry, and he would refuse to believe they had 

 heard him from their own houses; he would say that 

 some little spying sneak of a boy had been hiding 

 behind the wood pile listening, and [had reported 

 what he had heard. 



One day Bias was ploughing, and one of his couple 

 of oxen refused to work properly; the beast kept 

 turning round, kicking at and getting entangled in 

 the traces, and Bias at length losing all patience let 

 his voice out to its full strength in a mad yell, and 

 the ox dropped down stone-dead in the furrow, to 

 his amazement and dismay. 



I dare say this will seem a tall story to some of 

 my uninformed readers too tall to be within reach 

 of their believing capacity; nevertheless it is true, 

 and when I related it to a scientific friend who is 

 deep in physiology and pathology, he said that he 

 did not doubt it for a moment, but that the cause of 

 the bullock's sudden death was heart disease, and 



