Free Me and Mr. Bell by Philip Roy Page B

part. I had to shovel a narrow tunnel underneath the stone so that I could pass a chain through. I needed to wrap the chains all around the stone so that they wouldn’t come off when the horses started to pull. It was a lot of work and harder than I thought it would be, but eventually the two tunnels I dug from each side met at the middle. I shoved a chain in and pushed it through with the spade. Then I climbed down on the other side and pulled it up. Now I was covered in mud. That didn’t matter; I was just so determined to make this work.
    Once the chains were wrapped around the stone and linked together, I pushed the wheelbarrow over to the woods. This was the really tricky part. I had to choose five very strong trees where I could tie the pulleys. Each horse would pull one rope, and each rope would pass through three pulleys. But the two middle pulleys would be on the same tree. Between the pulleys, the ropes would make a shape like the letter W . One rope wouldn’t be strong enough to pull the stone. It would break for sure. But two horses pulling two ropes through six pulleys should be strong enough. It was really strong rope.
    It was lucky I had borrowed Mr. McLeary’s rope because it was a long way to the first tree and I had to tie ropes together to make them long enough. I just hoped that the knots where I tied them wouldn’t have to go through the pulleys, because they wouldn’t fit.
    I chose trees that were the same distance from the horses and the stone, on both sides, then tied the pulleys to them with chains and rope. When the pulleys were all in place, I went back to the stone and stared at the whole set up. It kind of scared me because the stone was so big and I was afraid that all I was going to do was break the ropes. Then I thought that maybe I could make it easier by shovelling the ground in front of the stone so that it would be like a ramp. Then the stone would slide out of the hole instead of having to be plucked out like a chestnut out of its shell. So I started digging again as fast as I could. Now I was really tired. But I wanted to make sure I was done before my sister and brother came home from school and told my mother I hadn’t been there today.
    Finally it was time to fit the ropes through the pulleys. I did the right side first. It took three pieces of rope tied together to reach the horses. Then I did the left side. It took only two pieces of Mr. McLeary’s rope because it was longer. Then I moved the horses apart, tied two shorter ropes to their leads and tied the pulley ropes to the two harnesses on their backs. The field was wet, and the horses would have to pull uphill, but we were ready. I went back to the stone and took one last look. I wondered how long it had sat in this field. Probably millions of years. “Please work,” I whispered, then went to the front of the horses, picked up the leads, pulled on them and called to the horses. “Come! Come! Come! Come!”
    The field was wet and slippery but also rocky, and so the horses were able to grip the ground with their hooves. They were so strong. At first, they didn’t move the rope at all; they just stepped sideways. They seemed surprised to find that they had to pull something so heavy. The second time I called them to come, they started to move up the hill, and they kept coming. I lowered my head so I could see beneath one of the horses, and I saw the stone rise out of the ground. It was like magic. “Come! Come! Come! Come!” I called again, and the horses continued up the hill. As they did, the stone slid down toward the woods. After about thirty feet, I stopped the horses, ran down to the pulleys and checked to see where the knots were in the rope. Then I had to run back to the horses and make them back up so I could untie the ropes and tie them again with the knots on the other side of the pulleys. Then I ran back to the horses and called them to pull again. I had to do