He says he never will forget how it felt, not if he lives to be
Methusalem's great-grandfather. He says he got a most awful jerk from
his head to his heels too as nigh to broke his ankles, 'n' a twist in
his wrist from the weight o' the hatchet, but he said he did n't have no
time to take no a'count o' nothin' just then but the way everythin'
turned red 'n' black 'n' run into his ears."
"Did it kill--" cried Mrs. Lathrop, much excited.
"I 'm goin' to tell you.--He says the last thing he knowed was Tilly's
shriek. O' course when he cut the rope she seen he 'd meant it all, 'n'
so she grabbed up a carvin' knife 'n' yelled to her father 'n' run. Old
man Ely says it was good she run, for there was n't a minute to lose.
Old Pearson run too from where he was in the barn but Tilly got there
first. She didn't lose one second in sawin' him free at both ends 'n' he
says he was so nigh to dead that first he thought she was a gopher, 'n'
then an angel. Oh, my, but he says he was dizzy at first, 'n' faint, 'n'
queer in his ears. He sat 'n' thought about it all by himself for a long
while this mornin' afore he went on again. He says no one ever realizes
how close they are to eternity unless they accidentally go 'n' do
suthin' so darn foolish as that.
"Well, he says, after a while, after a long, long while, he felt to get
to the house, 'n' then, he says, come one o' the strangest parts o' the
story--the part as shows how everythin' turns out for the best in the
end.
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