"
"It is admittedly the best way," I assented, with equal gravity.
At the shut of night he left me and went his way up the mountain
path, and an hour later, having attended to Nat's wants, tired as in
all my life I had never been, I stretched myself on the turf and
slept under the stars.
The grunting of the hogs awakened me, a little before dawn. I went
to the pen, and as soon as I opened the hatch they rushed out in a
crowd, all but upsetting me as they jostled against my legs.
Then, after listening for a while after they had vanished into the
undergrowth and darkness, I crept back to my couch and slept.
That day, though the sun was rising before I awoke again and broke
fast, I caught up with it before noon: that is to say, with the work
I had promised myself to accomplish. Before sunset I had scraped
over and cleaned the entire area of the sty. Also I had fetched fern
in handfuls and strewn the floor of the hut, which was now dry and
clean to the smell.
In the evening I blew my horn for the hogs, and they returned to
their pen obediently as the Princess had promised.
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