WE DIG IN 47 



them digging a garden in the mud. The spot she 

 selected was on a well-drained hillside and not quite 

 as hopelessly muddy as on level ground. Percival 

 and I only jeered, saying the seeds would rot if the 

 birds didn't eat them. But we couldn't discourage 

 her. 



Her courage was rewarded in due time by a crop 

 that still makes my mouth water. She had beans, 

 peas, sweet com, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers, tur- 

 nips, squash, salsify, cantelope and watermelons. 

 She was proud to the bursting point of her achieve- 

 ment ; and I confess Percival and I had to take a back 

 seat in agricultural matters from then on. Many 

 days she wandered about amid her fruit and vege- 

 tables, weeding and picking bugs, rain or shine. 

 Luckily she was able to get more boys to help her 

 at this time because our work was constantly delayed 

 by the torrents that streamed from the heavens upon 

 our luiprotected heads. 



During all these weeks of hard labor, we fared very 

 well at meals. Phishie and his boy gave us regular 

 English breakfasts of bloater or kippered herring. 

 Often we had ham and eggs, for Osa's original seven- 

 teen chickens soon increased to fifty, then to a hun- 

 dred, then to two hundred. At luncheon and dinner 

 we had all the vegetables in season — 'peas, beans, 

 cucumbers, sweet com and melons, which she had so 

 carefully tended; and Phishie delighted in making my 



