-office, or going along the road with
her work-team, she would clap her hands and call to us in a spiteful,
crowing voice:

'Jake-y, Jake-y, sell the pig and pay the slap!'

Otto pretended not to be surprised at Antonia's behaviour. He only
lifted his brows and said, 'You can't tell me anything new about a
Czech; I'm an Austrian.'

Grandfather was never a party to what Jake called our feud with the
Shimerdas. Ambrosch and Antonia always greeted him respectfully, and he
asked them about their affairs and gave them advice as usual. He thought
the future looked hopeful for them. Ambrosch was a far-seeing fellow; he
soon realized that his oxen were too heavy for any work except breaking
sod, and he succeeded in selling them to a newly arrived German. With
the money he bought another team of horses, which grandfather selected
for him. Marek was strong, and Ambrosch worked him hard; but he could
never teach him to cultivate corn, I remember. The one idea that had
ever got through poor Marek's thick head was that all exertion was
meritorious. He always bore down on the handles of the cultivator
and drove the blades so deep into the earth that the horses were soon
exhausted.

In June, Ambrosch went to work at Mr. Bushy's for a week, and took Marek
with him at full wages. Mrs. Shimerda then drove the second cultivator;
she and Antonia worked in the fields all day and did the chores at
night. While the two women were running the place alone, one of the new
horses got colic and gave them a terrible fright.

Antonia had gone down to the barn one night to see that all was well
before she went to bed, and she noticed that one of the roans was
swollen about the middle and stood with its head hanging. She mounted
another horse, without waiting to saddle him, and hammered on our door
just as we were going to bed. Grandfather answered her knock. He did not
send one of his men, but rode back with her himself, taking a syringe
and an old piece of carpet he kept for hot applications when our horses
were sick. He found Mrs. Shimerda sitting by the horse with her lantern,
groaning and wringing her hands. It took but a few moments to release
the gases pent up in the poor beast, and the two women heard the rush of
wind and saw the roan visibly diminish in girth.

'If I lose that horse, Mr. Burden,' Antonia exclaimed, 'I never stay
here till Ambrosch come home! I go drown myself in the pond before
morning.'

When Ambrosch came back from