el, ye know," said Jonathan, the elder
of the two. "So I must have two two-quart measurefuls out of every bag."
He proceeded to untie the bags and toll them, dipping out a heaped
measureful.

"Here, here," said Addison, "you must _strict_ those measures with a
square; you're getting a good pint too much on every one."

"All right," they assented, and producing a piece of straight-edged
board, _stricted_ them.

"Have to watch these millers a little," Addison remarked. "And I guess,
Jock, you had better not toll all the bags till you see whether there's
water enough to grind all of it."

"O, there's water enough," said they. "There's a whole damful."

They then poured the first bagful into the hopper over the millstones,
and went to hoist the gate. It was a very primitive, worn piece of
mechanism, and hoisting it proved a difficult task. Addison and Halstead
went to help them. At length they heaved the gate up; the water-wheel
began to turn and the other gear to revolve, making a tremendous noise.
I climbed down beneath the mill, at the lower end, to see the
water-wheel operate. The wheel and big mill post turned ponderously
around, wabbling somewhat and creaking ominously. By the time I went
back into the mill, above, the first bagful of corn was nearly ground
into yellow meal, which came out of the stones into the meal-box quite
hot from the molinary process. Addison was dipping the meal out and
putting it up in the empty bag.

"Is it fine enough?" Jock called out. "I can drop the stone a little, if
ye say so. We will grind it just as ye want it."

Presently something went through the millstones that made an odd noise;
and the young miller, George, accused Halstead of throwing a pebble into
the hopper. They had a dispute about it, and George complained that such
a trick might spoil the millstones.

Another bagful was poured into the hopper and ground out; and then
Addison and I brought along the third bagful.

"Hold on there," said Jock. "I haven't tolled that bag."

We thought that he had tolled it.

"No," said both Jock and George. "You said not to toll that last bag
till we saw whether there was water enough to grind it."

"But you declared that there was water enough, and tolled it!" cried
Halstead.

Addison and I could not say positively whether they had tolled it or
not; and they appeared to think that it had not been tolled. The point
was argued for some moments; finally it was agreed to compromis