aced
hurdles in rows for jumping over; across the river they laid a slippery
pole, with a live pig of the neighbourhood tied at the other end, to
become the property of the man who could walk over and get it. There
were also provided wheelbarrows for racing, donkeys for the same, a
stage for boxing, wrestling, and drawing blood generally; sacks for
jumping in. Moreover, not forgetting his principles, Henchard provided a
mammoth tea, of which everybody who lived in the borough was invited to
partake without payment. The tables were laid parallel with the inner
slope of the rampart, and awnings were stretched overhead.

Passing to and fro the Mayor beheld the unattractive exterior of
Farfrae's erection in the West Walk, rick-cloths of different sizes
and colours being hung up to the arching trees without any regard to
appearance. He was easy in his mind now, for his own preparations far
transcended these.

The morning came. The sky, which had been remarkably clear down to
within a day or two, was overcast, and the weather threatening, the wind
having an unmistakable hint of water in it. Henchard wished he had not
been quite so sure about the continuance of a fair season. But it was
too late to modify or postpone, and the proceedings went on. At twelve
o'clock the rain began to fall, small and steady, commencing and
increasing so insensibly that it was difficult to state exactly when dry
weather ended or wet established itself. In an hour the slight moisture
resolved itself into a monotonous smiting of earth by heaven, in
torrents to which no end could be prognosticated.

A number of people had heroically gathered in the field but by three
o'clock Henchard discerned that his project was doomed to end in
failure. The hams at the top of the poles dripped watered smoke in the
form of a brown liquor, the pig shivered in the wind, the grain of the
deal tables showed through the sticking tablecloths, for the awning
allowed the rain to drift under at its will, and to enclose the sides
at this hour seemed a useless undertaking. The landscape over the
river disappeared; the wind played on the tent-cords in aeolian
improvisations, and at length rose to such a pitch that the whole
erection slanted to the ground those who had taken shelter within it
having to crawl out on their hands and knees.

But towards six the storm abated, and a drier breeze shook the moisture
from the grass bents. It seemed possible to carry out the program