HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. NO. XXIV.--MAY, 1852.--VOL. IV. RODOLPHUS.--A FRANCONIA STORY. BY JACOB ABBOTT. CHAPTER III. I. ANTONIO. The person who came in so suddenly to help the boys extinguish the fire under the corn-barn, on the night of the robbery, was Antonio, or Beechnut, as the boys more commonly called him. In order to explain how he came to be there, we must go back a little in our narrative, and change the scene of it to Mrs. Henry's house at Franconia, where Antonio lived. One morning about a week before the robbery, Phonny, Mrs. Henry's son, and his cousin Malleville, who was at that time making a visit at his mother's, were out upon the back platform at play, when they saw Antonio walking toward the barn. "Children," said Antonio, "we are going into the field to get a great stone out of the ground. You may go with us if you like." "Well;" said Phonny, "come, Malleville, let us go." So the children followed Antonio to the barn. There was a man there, one of Mrs. Henry's workmen, called James, who was getting out the oxen. James drove the oxen into the shed, and there attached them to a certain vehicle called a drag. This drag was formed of two planks placed side by side, with small pieces nailed along the sides and at the ends. The drag was shaped at the front so as to turn up a little, in order that it might not catch in the ground when drawn along. There was a hole in the front part of the drag for the end of a chain to be passed through, to draw the drag by. The end of the chain was fastened by a wooden pin called a _fid_, which was passed through the hook or one of the links, and this prevented the chain from being drawn back through the hole again. While James was attaching the oxen to the drag, Antonio was putting such tools and implements upon it as would be required for the work. He put on an iron bar, an ax, a saw, a shovel, and two spare chains. "Now, children," said he, "jump on." So Phonny and Malleville jumped on, and Antonio with them. Antonio stood in the middle of the drag, while Phonny and Malleville took their places on each side of him, and held on by his arms. James then started the oxen along, and thus they went into the field. "And now, Beechnut," said Malleville, "I wish you would sing me the little song that Agnes sung when she was dancing on the ice that summer night." Phonny laughed aloud at this. "Oh, Malleville!" said he; "there could not be any ice on a summer night." "Yes, there could," said Malleville, in a very positive tone, "and there was. Beechnut told me so." "Oh, that was only one of Beechnut's stories," said Phonny, "made up to amuse you." "Well, I don't care," said Malleville, "I want to hear the song again."