"In the water," said Eben, coolly "at least I suppose so, for there's where it was going the last time I saw it. I knew I couldn't save horse and wagon both, so I cut the traces and let the thing slide."
"Cut the traces! And suppose the horse had kicked your brains out?"
"He hadn't much chance to kick, poor old fellow, and besides, I didn't think anything about that."
"I dare say you didn't. It must have been a foolish one that hitched the horse so near the bank, to begin with. Come, let's lead him to a safe place, and you come in and rest. You look kind of white and beat out."
"I do feel out of breath," admitted Eben. "You see I tried to pull the wagon up, in the first place, and it was too heavy for me. Whose is it, anyway?"
"It belongs to Mr. Wilbur. He has been up here to see Mr. Antis about getting his boy Tom a place in the mill."
Eben's face fell. "Then I am just in time to be too late," said he. "That is just what I was coming after."
"Oh, but this isn't such a place as you would want," returned Jeduthun. "It is the same that Jerry Blythe had. You wouldn't want to do such work."
"I want to do any work that I can earn my living by," said Eben. "I can't live on mother and Flora, and I won't, and I must go at anything I can find to do. It won't answer to be too particular in such a case, you know."
"Do tell!" said Jeduthun. "Why, I thought you was left pretty well off, and that you was going to Hobartown to college?"