At length the eldest of the sons stepped heavily forward, and, without
any apparent effort, he buried his axe to the eye, in the soft body of
a cotton-wood tree. He stood, a moment, regarding the effect of the
blow, with that sort of contempt with which a giant might be supposed
to contemplate the puny resistance of a dwarf, and then flourishing
the implement above his head, with the grace and dexterity with which
a master of the art of offence would wield his nobler though less
useful weapon, he quickly severed the trunk of the tree, bringing its
tall top crashing to the earth in submission to his prowess. His
companions regarded the operation with indolent curiosity, until they
saw the prostrate trunk stretched on the ground, when, as if a signal
for a general attack had been given, they advanced in a body to the
work, and in a space of time, and with a neatness of execution that
would have astonished an ignorant spectator, they stripped a small but
suitable spot of its burden of forest, as effectually, and almost as
promptly, as if a whirlwind had passed along the place.
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