till
every inch of the black hides was ready to shed its coat of hair and
scarf-skin, were drawn out upon the wheelbarrow. Then a gambol-stick was
thrust through the tendons of the hind legs and the hogs were suspended
from a cross pole about six feet from the ground, where they hung while
the great corn-knives scraped and scratched and scrubbed and scoured till
the black bodies gradually lost their coating and became pink and tender
looking and perfectly clean. They were then drawn and left to cool and
stiffen.

The sloppy, misty weather made the work hard because of the frozen earth
under the melting snow, and the steaming, half foggy atmosphere was too
warm for comfort of men working over an open fire and a steaming barrel of
hot water, but by noon the butchering was finished. To the new man it was
a journey back to childhood. How well he remembered the various features
of preparation: the neighbours asked in to assist, the odours pleasant and
unpleasant, the bustling about of his mother as she baked and boiled and
stewed for the company, the magic circle about the pens from which he was
excluded when the men went forth with the rifle, and the squeal which
followed the rifle's crack, and the fear which gripped him when he thought
the poor pig was hurt, but which was explained away by his father, who,
proud of his marksmanship, assured him that "that pig never knew what hit
it."

In addition to the fact that the man had spent his childhood on a farm, he
had the happy faculty of entering into the life of the people among whom
he found himself. He entertained the little group at the dinner table that
day with a description of his mother's soap-making, and discussed the best
ways of preparing sausage for summer use as if he himself were a cook; and
as Luther listened he was convinced that the Hunter home was the proper
place for him to settle down.

At two o'clock Luther started home with some spareribs, wrapped in one of
Liza Ann's clean towels, under his arm. It was early, but nothing more
could be done at Silas's house till the carcasses were cold enough to cut
and trim, and, besides, there was an ominous looking bank of dull gray
cloud in the northwest. Luther swung along the road toward the west
energetically.

The wind gave a little twisting flurry, and dropped completely when he was
about halfway between Chamberlain's and the Hunter place. A few minutes
later there was a puff of wind from the opposite directio