hayladder could be pulled
right up that driveway to be unloaded above the stalls. Aaron took the
boy to the frozen-solid creek to show him where a wheel could be placed
to lift water to a spillway for the upper fields. He introduced his new
helper to Wutzchen, and was pleased to hear Waziri speak wistfully of
pork chops. Waziri didn't want to meet Martha yet, though. As a proper
Murnan boy, he was not eager to be introduced to the boss' barefaced
wife, though she bribed him with a fat wedge of applecake.

When Waziri set out with the lantern to tend to the final outdoor
chores, Aaron inquired of his wife's day. The Sarki's Paramount Wife,
with two servants, had indeed visited, bringing more gifts of food and
clothing. Somehow the four of them had managed to breach the
Hausa-_Pennsylfawnisch Deitsch_ curtain. "What in the world did
you talk about?" Aaron asked.

"First, not knowing what to say, I showed the ladies a drop of vinegar
under the microscope," Martha said. "They screamed when they saw all the
wriggly worms, and I was put to it to keep them from bundling back home.
Then we talked about you, Stoltz, and about the farm; and when would I
be giving you _Kinner_ to help with all the work," she said. Martha
fiddled with the cloak she was sewing for her husband. "It was largely
their heathen speech we used, so I understood only what they pointed at;
but they ate hearty of anything without vinegar in it, and I laughed
with them like with friends at a quilting-bee. My, Stoltz! Those
_Nay-yer_ women are lovely, all jeweled like queens, even the servant
girls; even though they have no proper understanding of Christian
behavior."

"Did they make you feel welcome, then?" Aaron asked.

"_Ach, ja!_ They pitied me, I thought," Martha said. "They said you must
be poor, to have but one wife to comfort you; but they said that if the
crops be good, you can earn a second woman by next winter. _Chuudes
Paste!_"

"I hope you told the Sarki's woman we've been married only since
haying-time," Aaron said, "and it's a bit previous for you to be giving
me little farmhands."

"I did that," Martha said. "I told them, too, that by the time the oak
leaves are the size of squirrel's ears--if this place has oaks, indeed,
or squirrels--we'd have a youngling squalling in our house, loud as any
of the Sarki's."

Waziri, crouched near the tent to pick up such talk as might pass inside
concerning himself, was at first dismayed by Aaron's wh