HIS LAST PULL. 313 



budged. At the first strain the projecting end of the 

 beam trembled, but that was all. Carey saw that it 

 was a hard one, but instead of using up his horse in 

 one effort, he spoke to him and finally backed him. 



The neighbors were good judges of such matters 

 and they were sure that Old Bill was "stumped," as 

 they termed it. Carey did not think so, as after un- 

 hitching the horse and walking him down the road a 

 bit to get the numbness out of his legs, he came back 

 for another pull. The rules at the Corners in matters 

 of this kind permitted three trials. This was to be the 

 second one. Before hitching, Carey moved the chain, 

 pulling it further around and in so doing added to the 

 purchase of the rolling hitch. I knew enough about 

 such matters to see that he now hoped to twist it out, 

 as the first trial showed that it could not be pulled 

 out by straight work. In a hitch of this kind quick 

 work is required, as Carey had learned in the shanties. 

 Backing Old Bill up to the wall, Carey spoke to him 

 sharp, and at the same time stepped forward quickly. 

 Quick as he was, Bill was quicker, and as the chain 

 scrunched when the links slid into place, I saw the 

 shed heave, while a grinding sort of noise came from 

 the lower end. There is not speed enough in words 

 to tell you what happened in the next few seconds. 



I saw it all, and when the dust cleared away the 

 shed was down and Old Bill was under it. Later on it 

 was found that the sill at the end of the shed was rot- 

 ten, for that matter the whole end. When Old Bill 

 put the strain on with a snap, the sill broke loose and 

 swung around. This, with the rolling hitch on the 

 log, twisted the partially flattened plate so that it 

 rolled off the stone behind the horse and caused the 



