I had played truant one afternoon, and
concluded to have a little fun with the steers, as my parents were away
from home that day. We yoked them together, and I thought it a clever
idea to hitch them to a large gate post which divided the lane and
barn-yard, and see them pull. From this post Mr. Keefer had just
completed the building of a fence, running to the barn, and had nailed
the rails at one end, to this large post and had likewise fastened the
ends of all the rails together, by standing small posts up where the
ends met, and nailing them together, which made a straight fence of
about four or five rods, all quite securely fastened together.

I hitched the steers to it, stepped back, swung my whip, and yelled,
"Gee there," and they did "gee." Away they went, gate post and fence
following after. I ran after them, yelling "whoa," at the top of my
voice, but they didn't "whoa," and seemed bent on scattering fence-rails
over the whole farm. One after another dropped off as they ran several
rods down the lane, before I was able to overtake and stop them.
Realizing that we were liable to be caught in the act, we unhitched
them on the spot, and after carrying the yoke back to the barn, went
immediately to school so as to be able to divert suspicion from
ourselves.

On the arrival home of my folks, which occurred just as school was out,
Mr. Keefer drove to the barn, and at once discovered that his new fence
had been moved and scattered down the lane--which was the most
mysterious of anything that had ever occurred in our family. He looked
the ground all over, but as we had left no clue he failed to suspect me.

The case was argued by all members of the family and many theories
advanced, and even some of the neighbors showed their usual interest in
trying to solve the mystery.

Of course it was the generally accepted belief that it was the
spite-work of some one, but who could it be, and how on earth could
anyone have done such a dare-devil thing in broad day light, when from
every appearance it was no small task to perform, was the wonder of all.
The more curious they became the more fear I had of exposure.

A few days later while Mr. Keefer and I were in the barn, he remarked,
that he would like to know who tore that fence down.

I then acknowledged to him that I knew who did it, and if he would agree
to buy me a "fiddle," I would tell him all about it. He had for years
refused to allow the "noisy thing in the hous