292 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



shook like a woman the moment I had everything 

 fixed so that we could get it over in a second, and 

 then he wanted me to do it." 



" And didn't you ? " 



" No, but I admitted I couldn't. If I had known 

 about it, I would have brought along my gun. 

 Of course, if it was a matter of starvation I could do 

 it, I have no doubt." 



I was furious with them both, but especially 

 Adam, as he took the whole proceeding as a fine joke, 

 and wasn't in the least concerned at being caught out 

 in lying bounce. 



" Boys Alive ! Two nice pairs of greenhorns you 

 got on that butcherin' job. Couldn't kill a pig, 

 not both the two of us." 



The poor little pigs were cowering in a corner 

 with frightened eyes, and didn't die for a further 

 six weeks, and the occurrence brought about one 

 excellent rule on the farm, which is never broken. 

 Every pig has to be shot through the head before it 

 is butchered in the usual fashion ; it makes very little 

 difference to the meat, and all the difference left 

 in this world to the pig, who, instead of dying a 

 hundred deaths through terror, is dead before it 

 knows it has to die. 



One morning going in from work within an hour 

 of dinner-time I found a tall and very athletic - 

 looking Englishman waiting on the veranda. I 

 recognized him as a man who had been recom- 

 mended to me by some friends in South Qu'Appelle. 

 I explained that I had already engaged a man, but 

 he dined with us, and when I heard a glowing 

 description of the two years he had passed on a 

 Manitoba farm, of the acres he had ploughed, disced, 



