They then descended, and Fritz and I attacked the stem. As the easiest
and most speedy method we used a saw, such as is employed by sawyers in
a saw-pit and, Fritz taking one end and I the other, the tree was soon
cut half through. We then adjusted ropes that we might guide its fall,
and again began to cut. It was labourious work, but when I considered
that the cut was sufficiently deep we took the ropes and pulled with
our united strength. The trunk cracked, swayed, tottered, and fell with
a crash.
The boughs were speedily lopped off, and the trunk sawed into blocks
four feet long. To cut down and divide this tree had taken us a couple
of days, and on the third we carted home four large and two small
blocks, and with the vertebrae joints of the whale I, in a very short
time, completed my machine.
While engaged on this undertaking I had paid little attention to our
fields of grain, and, accordingly, great was my surprise when one
evening the fowls returned, showing most evident indifference to their
evening meal, and with their crops perfectly full. It suddenly struck
me that these birds had come from the direction of our cornfield. I
hurried off to see what damage they had done, and then found to my
great joy that the grain was perfectly ripe.
The amount of work before us startled my wife.
Pages:
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426