What is the first obstacle that makes it hard for Ethan to get into town to buy glue for the broken pickle dish?

The first obstacle:

With ordinary luck he should have had time to carry out this plan; but everything went wrong from the start. On the way over to the wood-lot one of the greys slipped on a glare of ice and cut his knee; and when they got him up again Jotham had to go back to the barn for a strip of rag to bind the cut.