310 OLD BILL. 



and take a little himself," and after it had been re- 

 peated a few times, he remarked that he had come to 

 make the bet. "Oh, you have, have you," said Pierce. 

 "Well, I reckon you have taken plenty of time to think 

 it over. But I'll go you. An offer's an offer at the 

 Corners since I have been here." 



From the conversation that followed I learned that 

 about six months prior to this visit a few of the neigh- 

 bors met at Pierce's on their way home from a bee, 

 and among other things began boasting of the pulling 

 qualities of their horses. Carey was there, but did 

 not say much until all of them had reached what he 

 termed a "betting pint." He then offered to pull any 

 two horses in the shed, but as they had an idea as to 

 what Old Bill could do, there were no takers. At last 

 someone stumped Carey to hitch to a sill in the long 

 shed and pull it out. This plate, or sill, was a long 

 piece of timber standing on three large boulders, and 

 was the bottom log in the back of the shed. With it 

 out the building would either settle or tumble over ; 

 but the loss would fall on Pierce, and as he did not 

 have much use for it, no one thought he would object, 

 and so it proved. The bet was a keg of "proof," and 

 win or lose Pierce would get the money. 



W r ord was sent around to the neighbors that Carey 

 had come down with Old Bill to make the bet, and by 

 sundown ten or a dozen sunburnt men had put in an 

 appearance. During the interval ' Carey had been 

 having what he called "a time," and when the crowd 

 gathered there was no end to his enthusiasm. Before 

 the pull, I found on examining the shed that a section 

 of it had fallen or had been taken down and about ten 

 feet of the sill of that section still projected beyond 



