n the operation, his new hands
would know how. The yoke was a sort of collar, and when the hitching was
done the bull stood in the shafts of the cart just as a horse would.
Instead of a bridle and reins a heavy iron chain with links an inch and
a half long was passed around the base of the animal's horns. The driver
held the end of the chain and managed the animal by giving it tremendous
jerks, which never failed to thrill the bull with agony, if one might
judge from the expression of his countenance and the eagerness with
which he rammed his horns into pine-trees, or anything near, whenever
he felt the shock. The soldiers constantly marveled that his horns did
not drop off. But they were not familiar with country life, and
especially ignorant of the art of driving an ox-cart.

[Illustration: Bull Team]

After breakfast the younger of the two survivors was told to take the
cart, drawn by the animal already described, and go down into the woods
after a load of cord-wood for the kitchen fire. The trip _to_ the woods
was comparatively easy. The wood was soon loaded on the cart, and the
journey home commenced. After going a few yards the animal concluded to
stop. His driver, finding that coaxing would not induce him to start,
slacked the chain, gave it a quick, strong jerk, and started him. He
went off at a fearful rate, with his nose on the ground and his tail
flying like a banner in the air. In a moment he managed to hang a
sapling which halted him, but summoning all his strength for a great
effort, he bent himself to the yoke, the sapling slowly bent forward,
and the axle mounted it. In another moment the sapling had righted
itself, but the cart was turned over completely, and the wood on the
ground. There were a great many mosquitoes, gnats, and flies in those
woods, and they were biting furiously. Possibly that may account for the
exasperated condition of the driver and his use of strong expressions
there.

The cart was righted, the wood piled on again, and, strange to say, got
out of the woods without further mishap. But in order to reach the house
it was necessary to drive up the slope of a hill-side, with here and
there a stump. On the way up the driver saw a stump ahead and determined
to avoid it. So he gave the chain a shake. But the animal preferred to
"straddle" the stump, and would have succeeded but for the fact that it
was too high to pass beneath the axle. As soon as he felt the resistance
of the stump ag