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"No," returned aunt Corinne, deigning a glance his way. "That's only a gentleman goin' to eat supper here. Sing, Carrie. Now, Bobaday Padgett," warned aunt Corinne, shooting her whisper behind the curled head, "don't you go and scare her by sayin' anything about that pig-man." "Don't you scare her yourself," returned Robert with a touch of indignation. "You've got her eyes to stickin' out now.
The sun was low in the heavens, and we were sick of waving and very hungry, when we saw a cart in the road below. We waved like mad, and shouted, and Denny screamed exactly like a railway whistle, a thing none of us had known before that he could do. And the cart stopped. And presently we saw a figure with a white beard among the trees. It was our Pig-man.
We went to sleep, among the pig, and before long the Pig-man stopped and got us to make room for Alice and Denny. There was a net over the cart. I never was so sleepy in my life, though it was not more than bedtime. Generally, after anything exciting, you are punished but this could not be, because we had only gone for a walk, exactly as we were told. There was a new rule made, though.
The room was full of sunshine, and you could see the blue sky through the windows, but nothing else, because they were so high up. It was so bright we began to think the pig-man had been kidding us. Under one of the windows was a door. We went through, and there was a little passage and then a turret-twisting stair, like in the church, but quite light with windows.
Look at the bloomin' blue ribbon on 'em! Oh, Lor'! and went on quite sadly without having a drink. Our Pig-man who helped us on the Tower of Mystery day went by and we hailed him, and explained it all to him and gave him a drink, and asked him to call as he came back. He liked it all, and said we were a real good sort. How different from the man who wanted the beer. Then he went on.
There was a round stone stair going up in the middle. Alice began to gather ferns while we went up, but when we had called out to her that it was as the pig-man had said, and daylight all the way up, she said 'All right. I'm not afraid. I'm only afraid of being late home, and came up after us. And perhaps, though not downright manly truthfulness, this was as much as you could expect from a girl.
The water in the zinc bath had been upset in the struggle. Then he and the Pig-man and his kind friends helped us carry our things home. The Pig-man advised us on the way not to try these sort of kind actions without getting a grown-up to help us. We've been advised this before, but now I really think we shall never try to be benevolent to the poor and needy again.
At any rate not unless we know them very well first. We have seen our own tramp often since. The Pig-man gave him a job. He has got work to do at last. The Pig-man says he is not such a very bad chap, only he will fall asleep after the least drop of drink. We know that is his failing. We saw it at once. But it was lucky for us he fell asleep that day near our benevolent bar.
I will not go into what my father said about it all. There was a good deal in it about minding your own business there generally is in most of the talkings-to we get. But he gave our tramp a sovereign, and the Pig-man says he went to sleep on it for a solid week.
It seemed very stately and mansion-like after the Moat House, and everyone was most frightfully pleased to see us. Mrs Pettigrew CRIED when we went away. I never was so astonished in my life. Bill Simpkins is happy as sub-under-gardener to Albert's uncle's lady's mother. They do keep three gardeners I knew they did. And our tramp still earns enough to sleep well on from our dear old Pig-man.
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