Page:The Complete Works of Lyof N. Tolstoi - 11 (Crowell, 1899).djvu/581

Rh it by the butcher; on both sides hung the skin. Still the animal did not cease to writhe. Then another butcher caught hold of one of the legs, broke it, and cut it off. In the remaining legs and the stomach the convulsions still continued. The other legs were cut off and thrown aside, together with those of other oxen belonging to the same owner. Then the carcass was dragged away and hung up, and here the convulsions ceased.

Thus I looked on from the door at the second, third, fourth ox. With all it was the same: the same cutting off of the head with the tongue bitten, and the same convulsed members. The only difference was that the butcher did not always strike at once so as to make the animal fall. Sometimes he missed his aim, upon which the ox leaped up, roared, and, covered with blood, tried to escape. But then his head was pulled under the bar, struck a second time, and he fell.

I afterward entered by the door through which the oxen were led in. Here I saw the same thing, only nearer and therefore more plainly. I also saw here what I had not seen before: how the oxen were forced to enter the door. Each time an ox was seized in the inclosure and pulled forward by a rope tied to its horns; the animal, smelling blood, refused to advance, sometimes bellowed and drew back. Two men were unable to drag it in by force, so one of the butchers went round each time and grasped the animal's tail and twitched it, breaking the stump so that the gristle crackled,—then the ox advanced.

When they had finished with the cattle of one owner, they brought in those of another. The first animal of this next lot was not an ox, but a bull—a fine, well-bred creature, black with white spots on legs, young, muscular, full of energy. He was dragged forward, lowering his head and resisted sturdily. But the butcher, who followed behind, seized the tail,—like an engine-driver grasping the handle of the whistle,—twisted it, the gristle cracked, and the bull rushed forward, upsetting the men who held the rope. Then