Читать книгу Camping in the Winter Woods: Adventures of Two Boys in the Maine Woods онлайн

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After much hard work everything was in readiness for an attempt at moving the wagon. Ben ordered the boys forward to guide the team, and cautioned them not to start the horses until he gave the word. Then, using the ax for a shovel, he dug the earth away from before the forward wheels. He placed the spruce pole between the pile of rocks and one of the forward hubs, to serve as a lever or prop.

Ben gave the word to start and, as the boys urged the ponies forward, threw his weight on the end of the pole. The wheels came up, lurched forward upon the bridge of poles, and the wagon bumped its way safely along to solid ground, where it was repacked.

Tired, but elated at the thought that they had been of actual use in their first real difficulty, the boys resumed their places with much satisfaction. They blushed with pride when Ben turned and complimented them on their behavior.

Several times they flushed grouse, which rose with a great roar of wings and thundered away between the tree-trunks. George declared they looked like chickens. To which Ben added, “And taste better.”