"I can't get the hang of the thing," he said.

"Let me try," said Kit.

Dick gave way, and Kit pulled and squeezed and tugged and twisted,
while the others shouted with laughter.

"I believe she's gone dry," said Kit, very red in the face. At this
the laughers laughed anew.

"Some of you who are so good at laughing had better try."

Kit set the cup on a stump and retired.

Sarah Ketchum tried to persuade everybody else to try, but the other
boys were afraid of failure and the girls were afraid of the cow.
Sarah said if somebody would hold the animal's head so that it
couldn't hook, she'd milk--she knew she could. But nobody offered to
take the cow by the horns; so everything came to a stand-still except
Sarah's talking and the cow's eating. Then Bob Trotter came in sight,
all his pockets standing out with nuts. They called him. Sarah Ketchum
explained the situation and asked him if he could milk.

"I do the milkin' at 'ome," Bob replied.

"Wont you please milk this cow for us? We don't know how, and we want
the milk for dinner."

There came a comical look into Bob's face, but he said nothing. The