"And look out for Dickerson. Ask him for the things he borrowed.
You'll need 'em, p'r'aps, if you're goin' to do any farmin' for
Mis' Atterson."

She bustled away. Hiram thought he had heard enough about his
neighbors for a while, and he went out to look over the pasture
fencing, which was to be his first repair job. He would have
that ready to turn the cow and her calf into as soon as the grass
began to grow.

He rummaged about in what had been half woodshed and half
workshop in Uncle Jeptha's time, and found a heavy claw-hammer, a
pair of wire cutters, and a pocket full of fence staples.

With this outfit he prepared to follow the line fence, which
was likewise the pasture fence on the west side, between
Mrs. Atterson's and Dickerson's.

Where he could, he mended the broken strands of wire. In other
places the wires had sagged and were loose. The claw-hammer
fixed these like a charm. Slipping the wire into the claw, a
single twist of the wrist would usually pick up the sag and make
the wire taut again at that point.

He drove a few staples, as needed, as he walked along. The
pasture partook of the general conformation of the farm--it was
rather long and narrow.

It had grown to clumps of bushes in spots, and there was
sufficient shade. But he did not come to the water until he