ong, selected oxen, yoked two and two
to a mighty chain with which they can drag forth the largest pines that
are saved for masts. Jim's too-agile mind noted the several components
of a new and delightful exploit: a crowd of noisy teamsters in a log
house bar-room, a team of twelve huge, well-trained oxen on a chain, the
long, loose end of which lay near him on the ground. It was the work of
a minute to hook the chain around a projecting log of the house. A
moment more and he had the oxen on the go. Beginning with the foremost
pair, he rushed down the line, and the great, heaving, hulking
shoulders, two and two, bent and heaved their bulk against the strain.
The chain had scarcely time to tighten; no house could stand against
that power. The huge pine log was switched out at one end as a man might
jerk a corn cob from its crib. The other end, still wedged in its place,
held for a moment; but the oxen moved slowly on like a landslide. The
log was wrenched entirely away and the upper part of the building
dropped with a sullen "chock" to rest a little lower. There was a wild
uproar inside, a shouting of men, a clatter of glass, and out rushed the
flushed-faced rabble, astonished, frightened, furious to see the twelve
great oxen solemnly marching down the street, trailing the missing log,
the fragment of their house, while beside them, running, laughing,
hooting, was a long-legged boy.

Jim's intention had been to clear out, but the trick proved so
screamingly funny that he stood for a minute to enjoy the scene. Shelves
had fallen and glasses had broken, but no person had been hurt. There
was a moment's uncertainty; then with an angry shout the enraged patrons
of the Dummer House swept forward. Jim discreetly fled. In the centre of
the town friends appeared and in the street he turned to face his
pursuers. Jim had already proved himself one of "the best men in Links"
and it was with a new burst of hilarity that he wheeled about among his
backers to give them "all they wanted." Instead of the expected general
onslaught, a method new to Jim was adopted. The teamsters of the Dummer
House held back and from their ranks there issued a square-jawed,
bow-legged man, whose eye was cold, whose step was long and quick. With
the utmost deliberation he measured Jim with his eye. Then he growled:

"Come on, ye ill-born pup. Now ye'll get what ye desarve."

The sporting instinct was strong in the crowd and the two were left
alone to fi