Chapter 158: Agonizing Wait

Everybody jumped into action when Emily and Byron returned and told the others what happened.

Emily was halfway into the house when she heard Angie saying, "I have just the thing in the old tool shed, an old drilling rod. Come on."

After she called the ambulance, Emily came outside to see Byron and his cousin Rowland carrying the big rusty iron rod between them as they hurried back to the scene of the accident.

Emily and the other guests arrived just in time to see Byron stick the long lever under the tractor. His whole body tensed as he strained to lift the machine, and everyone else rushed in to help push it up. Slowly, the tractor was moved upright again.

But there was little cause for celebration as Mateo's leg looked badly broken.

"I was told not to move him," Emily said, "the paramedics will secure the broken bones when they get here."

It was an agonizing wait for the ambulance. When the paramedics arrived, they put temporary splints on the broken bones and carried Mateo t