One day Père Jean had a heavy hogshead in the dairy which he wished to move, and he and Gran’père could scarcely budge it. Medard, the horse, had been loaned to Joseph Verbeeck, the market gardener, to help plough a field for late cabbages. So Père Jean pried up the hogshead with a bar while Gran’père slipped rollers beneath it, and when Luppe returned from town with Mère Marie they hitched him to a chain fastened around the hogshead. Père Jean and small Henri pushed from behind, Gran’père stood ready with more rollers, and Mère Marie urged Luppe to pull. With great effort they moved the heavy load a few inches, and Luppe began to pant painfully.
“It is too hard for him,” said Mère Marie. “He is no longer young. He will hurt himself.”
Then Gran’père thought of young Pierrot and sent Henri and Lisa to find him. They hitched him to the chain beside Luppe and Mère Marie gave the word to start.
Pierrot hurled himself forward mightily and fell back upon his haunches. Old Luppe looked at him disgustedly. That was no way to start a load.
Pierrot got up again and settled forward into his collar, his nails scratching the dairy floor in an effort to get a foothold, and before the rest were ready the big hogshead started to move. Then Luppe threw his weight forward, and Père Jean and Henri put their shoulders to it, and the hogshead began to gather momentum.
At first Pierrot pulled jerkily, with his forefeet scratching and his tongue hanging out; he wanted to run with it. But Luppe growled at him and soon he settled down to the steady pull that counts. Gran’père began thrusting the rollers beneath the hogshead, Mère Marie spoke shrill words of encouragement, and foot by foot the two big dogs dragged the ponderous load to the other side of the dairy.
Pierrot was panting and his tongue was dripping when the work was done, but he looked up very proudly at Mère Marie, as Gran’père unharnessed him, and wagged his stump tail violently as she spoke the expected word of praise. Old Luppe said nothing, but stalked off stolidly to his piece of carpet and lay down with a thump.
Then Père Jean went over to Pierrot and felt up and down his legs and pinched his back and shoulders.
“He’ll do,” said Père Jean. “I think you might take him to town to-morrow with Luppe.”
Pierrot had grown up.