The phrase "make out" in the first paragraph means______.

I had just gone to bed after a very hard day when the phone rang. It was an eccentric farmer. I had never met him before although I had often heard people talk about him. He sounded quite nervous and he had been talking for a minute or so before I understood anything. Even then all I could make out was that someone called Milly had a very bad accident. I hadn’t the slightest idea who she was but I obviously had to go.
    It had been snowing heavily that day and I didn’t know the way. I had been driving for at least an hour when I finally found his place. He was standing there, waiting for me. It seemed Milly had died. "She meant more to me than anyone even my own wife!" he said. I could see that he had been crying. I thought something terrible had taken place. I was even more shocked when he told me he had put her in the barn. "I would not leave her out in the cold!" he said. Milly had clearly been a secret lover of his. I was about to tell him he could not expect me to cover anything up when he opened the barn door. He lifted his candle and I saw a dark figure on the ground. "She was such a good cow! I wouldn’t let anyone but a doctor touch her!" he said, and burst into tears again.