304 OLD 



to ask her, but she did it, and I'm glad she did." 

 With that he lapsed into silence and blew up such a 

 cloud of smoke that I began to think he was on fire. 



When Mandy returned, Carey proposed that we 

 could "make a day of it." By that he meant, as I 

 learned later, a trip to the Corners, and as Mandy 

 was as anxious that we should go as Carey was to 

 take me, I had no objections to offer, so Old Bill was 

 hooked to the single wagon and we started, Mandy 

 waving her sunbonnet at us as we passed out of the 

 clearing. 



"Now," said Carey, as we jolted over the roots and 

 through the ruts of the bush road, "put your eye on 

 that horse. I'll admit he is not much to look at, as he 

 has, like myself, roughed it in the bush, but he can 

 outpull any horse in these parts, and there are some 

 people with two horses that cannot hold a candle to 

 him. It would do your heart good to see him brace 

 himself and take a pull on a stump. Somehow he 

 takes to it natural like; just slips up into the collar 

 kind of easy, then bears away until everything is tight. 

 Not a tug or a strain, mind you, but just a steady, long 

 pull, until the chain snaps or whatever he is hooked 

 to begins to come. Then Old Bill wakes up and 

 marches. Curious, ain't it," said Carey, and I had to 

 admit it was. But that did not satisfy him, so he 

 stopped and insisted that I get out and take a closer 

 look at Old Bill, as he termed it, "make his acquaint- 

 ance." 



Old Bill, to be candid with you, was a peculiar 

 kind of a horse. When getting into the wagon I had 

 scarcely looked at him, but now, with Carey as exhib- 

 itor, I had an ample opportunity, under the direction 



