“Here’s the ax—see those trees growing so closely together over there?”
Ruth took the ax and signified by a nod that she saw the clump referred to.
“Start to cut down several of them, but do not chop too low or too high from the base. I mean, you ought to cut about eighteen inches above ground. When you have chopped through nearly half of the trunk, call me and I will show you what next to do.”
“Hurrah! Now I’m going to do something different! I’m sorry for you poor girls with nothing but weeds to work on,” called Ruth gaily, swinging the ax as she moved away.
The three girls watched for a few moments, but she had not yet reached the clump of trees before they were again working hard. The Captain was occupied in removing some boards from the packing cases already emptied of bedding and other things, so no one noticed Ruth.
She held the ax up over her head as she had seen others do, and brought it down with a swing. But it caught in the high bushes beside her and was yanked from her hands.
“Well! to think a little thing like that birch bush could do that!” exclaimed Ruth to herself.
She picked up the ax and took a fresh start. This time she changed her position so the birch could not interfere again. The ax came down, but so wide was its swing, and Ruth had not allowed for any leeway in her stiff pose, hence the muscles in her arms were wrenched and her back suddenly turned with the force of the blow.
“O-oh” exclaimed she, dropping the ax and rubbing the flesh of her upper arms.
She glanced over at her companions to see if they had seen the awkward work she was making of the chopping, but they were laughing merrily as they worked inside the hut. Mrs. Vernon was not to be seen so the girl’s pride was spared. She picked up the ax again and looked at it carefully.