The work of making the early preparations proceeded without a hitch, then Ellerton commenced his particular part of the operations.
By the aid of a lantern which he hung from the deck-beams, the apprentice descended once more to the partially submerged hold. Holding a stout canvas sling, with a rope ready to haul tight the moment the lifting gear was in position, Ellerton climbed over the partition of the stall.
The animal, now refreshed by its food and drink, had lost its docile manner, and eyed the intruder with no friendly spirit. Possibly it thought the youth was one of the brutal Peruvian cattle-drivers. If so, there was some excuse for its action, for lowering its head the brute tossed the apprentice right over the wooden partition, landing him squarely in the midst of the startled sheep in the adjacent pen.
"Aren't you nearly ready?" asked a voice from above.
Ellerton sat up. He was beginning to feel pain in more than one part of his anatomy. The task of tackling an apparently inoffensive ox was not going to be quite so easy as he imagined.
"Come and bear a hand," he replied. "The brute is getting vicious."
Andy thereupon descended into the semi-gloom of the hold.
"Be careful," continued the apprentice. "He nearly bumped my head against the deck-beams; as it was, I had a flight through space."
"Then I'm not going to pass a sling round him," said Andy. "We'll lasso him just behind the horns."
This was done, but then came the difficulty: how were they to release the animal from the stall and drag it to the hatchway?