AT THE FARM 



US 



his own account, which made me rather anxious, 

 for how was I to get down as long as he remained 

 at large on the premises ? He might even find his 

 way upstairs into the roof. 



When the rejoicings were finished, the young 

 villains told off one of their number, much to his 

 disgust, to watch for the missing ferret, and the 

 rest carried off the remaining one to my pigsty, 

 where I am thankful to say that an evil destiny 

 awaited him ; for they foolishly put him in from the 

 outside, and he came through into the midst of the 

 pigs, one of whom snapped him up before ever he 

 could get to my home behind the trough, to spoil 

 it and make it uninhabitable with his horrid smell. 

 That was the end of him, for the brave pig broke 

 his back and began to eat him quite unconcernedly 

 before his owners realized what was going on. T 

 could have told them that this was liable to happen, 

 for I had had one or two narrow escapes myself. 

 They contrived to rescue his corpse for burial ; but 

 their ardour was sadly damped, and even the arrival 

 of John with a handful of apples failed to cheer 

 them up. They told him, almost with tears, that 

 one ferret was lost and the other brutally murdered, 

 and so took their departure, leaving Billy to capture 

 the runaway when he should appear. 



