`` No , I have n't seen any calves -- but a good many might be in this pasture without being visible to the naked eye , '' said Ellis , with a smile . Old Thomas shook his head ruefully . `` Them elders have been too many for me , '' he said . `` Did you ever see a worse-looking place ? You 'd hardly believe that twenty years ago there was n't a better piece of land in Dalrymple than this lot , would ye ? Such grass as grew here ! '' `` The soil must be as good as ever if anything had a chance to grow on it , '' said Ellis . `` Could n't those elders be rooted out ? '' `` It 'd be a back-breaking job , but I reckon it could be done if anyone had the muscle and patience and time to tackle it . I have n't the first at my age , and my hired man has n't the last . And nobody would do it for what I could afford to pay . '' `` What will you give me if I undertake to clean the elders out of this field for you , Mr. Fillmore ? '' asked Ellis quietly . Old Thomas looked at him with a surprised face , which gradually reverted to its original shrewdness when he saw that Ellis was in earnest . `` You must be hard up for a job , '' he said . `` I am , '' was Ellis 's laconic answer . `` Well , lem me see . '' Old Thomas calculated carefully . He never paid a cent more for anything than he could help , and was noted for hard bargaining . `` I 'll give ye sixteen dollars if you clean out the whole field , '' he said at length .
Ellis looked XXXXX the pasture .
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