The boy pulled, and the elephant moved his trunk. He stretched it out, he drew it in. Never was such a miracle before. And Tiverton, drunk with glory, clapped and shouted until the women-folk clutched their sunbonnets and ran to see. No situation since the war had ever excited such ferment. Brad was the hero of his town. But now arose a natural rivalry, the reaction from great, impersonal joy in noble work. What lad, on that final day, should ride within the elephant, and move his trunk? The Crane boy contended passionately that he held the right of possession. Had he not been selected first? Others wept at home and argued the case abroad, until it became a common thing to see two young scions of Tiverton grappling in dusty roadways, or stoning each other from afar. The public accommodated itself to such spectacles, and grown-up relatives, when they came upon little sons rolling over and over, or sitting triumphantly, the one upon another's chest, would only remark, as they gripped two shirt collars, and dragged the combatants apart:-- "Now, what do you want to act so for? Brad'll pick out the one he thinks best. He's got the say." In vain did mothers argue, at twilight time, when the little dusty legs in overalls were still, and stubbed toes did their last wriggling for the day, that the boy who moved the trunk could not possibly see the rest of the procession. The candidates, to a boy, rejected that specious plea. "What do I want to see anything for, if I can jest set inside that elephant?" sobbed the Crane boy angrily. And under every roof the wail was repeated in many keys. Meantime, the log cabin had been going steadily up, and a week before the great day, it was completed. This was a typical scene-setting,--the cabin of a first settler,--and through one wild leap of fancy it became suddenly and dramatically dignified. "For the land's sake!" said aunt Lucindy, when she went by and saw it standing, in modest worth, "ain't they goin' to _do_ anythin' with it? Jest let it set there? Why under the sun don't they have a party of Injuns tackle it?"