The task was nearly
completed, and the chill October days were fast verging upon winter,
when towards the evening of one of them he contrived - I know not
how - to crawl down from the field at the head of the hill, faint and
pale, and in great pain.
He had broken the small bone of his leg.
In dragging, among the stumps, the heavy machine (which is made in
the form of the letter V, and is supplied with large iron teeth),
had hitched upon a stump, and being swung off again by the motion
of the oxen, had come with great force against his leg. At first he
was struck down, and for some time was unable to rise; but at length
he contrived to unyoke the team, and crawled partly on his hands and
knees down the clearing.
What a sad, melancholy evening that was! Fortune seemed never tired
of playing us some ugly trick. The hope which had so long sustained
me seemed about to desert me altogether; when I saw him on whom we
all depended for subsistence, and whose kindly voice ever cheered
us under the pressure of calamity, smitten down helpless, all my
courage and faith in the goodness of the Divine Father seemed to
forsake me, and I wept long and bitterly.
The next morning I went in search of a messenger to send to
Peterborough for the doctor; but though I found and sent the
messenger, the doctor never came.
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