nd work-bent; the woman short and heavy. Both
were past middle age.

He made inarticulate sounds to attract their attention, then gestured to
his mouth and ears to indicate his assumed affliction. He rubbed his
stomach to portray hunger. Looking about, he saw an ax sticking in a
chopping-block, and a pile of wood near it, probably the fuel used by
these people. He took the ax, split up some of the wood, then repeated
the hunger-signs. The man and the woman both nodded, laughing; he was
shown a pile of tree-limbs, and the man picked up a short billet of wood
and used it like a measuring-rule, to indicate that all the wood was to
be cut to that length.

Hradzka fell to work, and by mid-morning, he had all the wood cut. He
had seen a circular stone, mounted on a trestle with a metal axle
through it, and judged it to be some sort of a grinding-wheel, since it
was fitted with a foot-pedal and a rusty metal can was set above it to
spill water onto the grinding-edge. After chopping the wood, he
carefully sharpened the ax, handing it to the man for inspection. This
seemed to please the man; he clapped Hradzka on the shoulder, making
commendatory sounds.

* * * * *

It required considerable time and ingenuity to make himself a more or
less permanent member of the household. Hradzka had made a survey of the
farmyard, noting the sorts of work that would normally be performed on
the farm, and he pantomimed this work in its simpler operations. He
pointed to the east, where the sun would rise, and to the zenith, and to
the west. He made signs indicative of eating, and of sleeping, and of
rising, and of working. At length, he succeeded in conveying his
meaning.

There was considerable argument between the man and the woman, but his
proposal was accepted, as he expected that it would. It was easy to see
that the work of the farm was hard for this aging couple; now, for a
place to sleep and a little food, they were able to acquire a strong and
intelligent slave.

In the days that followed, he made himself useful to the farm people; he
fed the chickens and the livestock, milked the cow, worked in the
fields. He slept in a small room at the top of the house, under the
eaves, and ate with the man and woman in the farmhouse kitchen.

It was not long before he picked up a few words which he had heard his
employers using, and related them to the things or acts spoken of. And
he began to notice that thes