noon
It was now the latter end of October , and still the harvest was far from being completed . The watch-dog had died , and the horses began to exhibit symptoms of lameness , which were the more distressing , that the securing of the crop depended entirely upon their ability to labour . Two of the cattle were brought home , by the boy who herded them , in a diseased state , and the same evening one of them died . On the following morning , one of the horses was found unable to rise ; and , before noon , he was dead also . It seemed as if the fates had conspired to ruin the old farmer and his family ; day after day , horses , cattle , and other live stock , sickened and died ; and , in a short time , he found himself without the means of prosecuting the labours of so precarious a season , with any prospect of success . To add to his distress , a summons was now served against him for fifty pounds , `` which , '' as that document affirmed , `` he still owed , and had refused to pay to the creditors of Mr. Rickledyke , for the building of his barn , & c. '' Mr. Rickledyke was the contractor who had been employed on this occasion ; the whole of the money had not been paid when he became bankrupt ; and , though the old farmer was perfectly certain that he had paid it , when he recollected that the bankrupt was a friend of Mr. Goosequill 's , and that the money had been paid in his office , he felt convinced that the whole was a trick , intended to embarrass if not to ruin him . He recollected farther , that , as a _ stamp _ could not , at the time , be obtained , for giving him a discharge , he had left the place without any voucher for the payment of the debt , beyond the testimony of two witnesses who were now dead ; and thus he had no alternative but to pay it again .