hat ye kin
do."

"I'll work a week with you for board and lodging. That will give you
time to try me out, and then you will know what I am worth. I'll bet
almost anything, though, that I am just as good a man as you are."

"Ho, ho," Jake laughed. "As good a man as I am! Ye don't know what
ye're sayin'. Would ye like to try a back-hold with me? There isn't a
man in the whole parish of Rixton who has been able to put me down yit,
though many of 'em have tried."

As a lad at school, and also while at college, Douglas had excelled in
wrestling, but for several years he had not engaged in the sport, and
was not in proper condition. He knew that if it came to the matter of
physical endurance he would have little chance against this sturdy
farmer. But it was necessary for him to do something of a worthy
nature at the outset of his career in this parish.

"So you think you can put me down, do you?" he asked, as he stepped
from the barn out upon the grass. "Well, then, here's your
opportunity."

Nothing loath, Jake accepted the challenge, and in a trice the two were
locked together in a friendly yet desperate encounter. Douglas soon
found that Jake was depending mostly upon his great strength of body to
win, and that he was acquainted with hardly any of the tricks of the
game. He, therefore, watched his opportunity, at the same time being
careful not to allow his opponent to make use of his bear-like crushing
grip. This was what Jake was striving for, and he was much worried
when he found that he could not carry out the plan which had always
proved so effective in the past. He became puzzled, and so confused
that ere long he allowed himself to be caught off guard, with the
result that his feet went suddenly from under him and he came to the
ground upon his hack with a thud. The shock affected his pride more
than it did his body, especially when his opponent sat upon him and
smiled calmly down into his face.

"Are you satisfied now?" Douglas asked. "You may get up if you are."

"Great punkins!" Jake exclaimed, as he scrambled to his feet. "How in
the world did ye do it? Ye're the first one who ever put me down,
blister me shins if ye ain't."

"Oh, you are an easy mark," Douglas replied. "Why, I didn't half try."

"Ye didn't!" and Jake's eyes and mouth opened wide in amazement. "What
could ye have done if ye really tried?"

Douglas was amused at Jake's astonishment.

"Are you willing to hire me now