“You don’t expect us to cut it in small lengths, do you?” asked Janet.
“Sure not, but do it dis way. Why use a hull length of wire at one time when you kin only work on one piece at a time? Now you rolls it up like dis”—Rachel demonstrated her words—“and stan’s it propeh like agin a post.”
Rachel stood the roll of wire upright against the post and nailed the end close to the post. Then she began unrolling the wire along the ground, while it was still in its upright position, but she stopped short, about midway between the two posts.
“Laws-a-massy-me! You gals ain’t got no grain of sense! Does yoh expeck dem fowl to sit in dat runway and not dig a way out unner dis wire? Dey’ll do dat fust chanst!”
“Is there anything we ought to do?” queried Janet, wishing all poultry in Timbuctoo.
“Suah! Run to the heap of ole lumbeh back ob dat barn and fetch me half a dozen bo’ads. All of you gals go foh ’em.”
In a short time the girls came back, each dragging a board under their arms. These were examined by Rachel and approved of. Then she took the first one which was about ten inches wide and nailed it inside the posts, so that it ran along the ground much like a base-molding is placed in a room where floor and side-wall meet.
“Now, you see, we kin nail dat wire fas’ to dis bo’ard and no hen kin scratch a way out t’roo a plank like dis is.”
Rachel remained to help them with the tiresome task, and when it was completed, it looked pretty good to the builders.
“I never dreamed that a little thing like a strip of wire was so hard to manage while turning it into a fence,” sighed Janet.