t I were gwine to make money
cuttin' grass, 'specially after yo' done fixed mah moah. But 'peared
laik nobody wanted any grass cut. I trabeled all ober, an' I
couldn't git no jobs. Now me an' Boomerang has to eat, no mattah ef
he is contrary, so I had t' look fo' some new wuk. I traded dat
lawn-moah off fo' a cross-cut saw, but dat was such hard wuk dat I
gib it up. Den I got a chance to buy dis yeah outfit cheap, an' I
bought it."

Eradicate then went on to tell how he had purchased the portable
sawmill from a man who had no further use for it, and how he had
managed to transport it from a distant village to the spot where Tom
had met him. There he had secured permission to work a piece of
woodland on shares, sawing up the smaller trees into cord wood. He
had started in well enough, cutting down considerable timber, for
the colored man was a willing worker, but when he tried to start his
mill he met with trouble.

"I counted on Boomerang helpin' me," he said to Tom. "All he has to
do is walk on dat tread mill, an' keep goin'. Dat makes de saw go
'round, an' I saws de wood. But de trouble am dat I can't git
Boomerang to move. I done tried ebery means I knows on, an' he won't
go. I talked kind to him, an' I talked harsh. I done beat him wif a
club, an' I rub his ears soft laik, an' he allers did laik dat, but
he won't go. I fed him on carrots an' I gib him sugar, an' I eben
starve him, but he won't go. Heah I been tryin' fo' three days now
t' git him started, an' not a stick hab I sawed. De man what I'm
wukin' wif on shares he git mad, an' he say ef I doan't saw wood
pretty soon he gwine t' git annuder mill heah. Now I axes yo' fair,
Mistah Swift, ain't I got lots ob trouble?"

"You certainly seem to have," agreed Tom "But why is Boomerang so
obstinate? Usually on a treadmill a horse or a mule has to work
whether they like it or not. If they don't keep moving the platform
slides out from under them, and they come up against the back bar."

"Dat's what done happened to Boomerang," declared Eradicate. "He
done back up against de bar, an' dere he stay."

Tom went over and looked at the mill. The outfit was an old one, and
had seen much service, but the trained eye of the young inventor saw
that it could still be used effectively. Boomerang watched Tom, as
though aware that something unusual was about to happen.

"Heah I done gone an' 'vested mah money in dis yeah mill,"
complained Eradicate, "an' I ain't sawed up a