orning?" Mrs. Jukes enquired.

"Yep, an' he put me down," her husband explained. "Ye should have seen
the way he did it, Susie. I struck the ground kerflop, right on my
shoulders, an' they are sore yit from the thump."

No one noticed the look of wonder mingled with admiration upon Empty's
face as Jake uttered these words. He forgot to eat, as he watched
Douglas across the table. Any one who could put down the champion of
Rixton was a marvel in Empty's eyes, and worthy of more than a passing
notice. He had not forgotten how this stranger had taken his part down
by the big elm, and would not let Jake hit him the second time.

Mrs. Jukes was almost as much surprised as Empty. Though she could
handle her husband and make him do what she wished, she, nevertheless,
had a great admiration for his prowess as a wrestler, and was proud of
his standing in the community. It was his local renown which had
appealed to her when she was teaching school in Rixton, and had enabled
Jake to capture her from his rivals, for Susie Perkins had been greatly
admired and sought after by the young men of the place.

"Do you know anything about farm work?" she asked.

"I was brought up on a farm, and should know something about it,"
Douglas replied.

"But you haven't done any hard work of late, have you?"

"How do you know that?"

"Oh, I can tell by your hands. They are not hard and rough like
Jake's, for instance, and your face is not burnt as if you had been out
working in the sun."

Douglas smiled, and held up his hands for inspection.

"Please do not judge by these," he replied, "but rather by my brain,
heart and feet. They are all pretty well worn. A week or so in the
field will remedy the defects of my face and hands, and make them more
like your husband's."

"I'm goin' to try ye out fer a week," Jake remarked, "an' if ye
understand hayin' as well as ye do wrestlin' ye're the man fer me."

"Just for my board and lodging," Douglas added.

"Well, that's fer you to say."

"I prefer it that way."

"It's settled, then," and Jake pushed back his chair and rose from the
table. "We must do the milkin', and then git into the field. There's
a heap of hay to come in to-day, an' we can't dilly-dally."

Douglas soon proved that he was no novice at farm work, and he won
Jake's approval by the quick and efficient way he was able to milk.
But it was when once out in the field he showed what he could do.
Though not hardened t