d the ball at the
lower-ranking of the two men within the square, the village banker. The
shoemaker missed, and was retired.

The Daturans were soon stripped down to trousers and boots, their black
torsos steaming in the cold air. Aaron removed his shirt--but not his
hat--and so far forgot his Hausa in the excitement that he not only
rooted for his teammates in _Pennsylfawnisch Deitsch_, but even
punctuated several clumsy plays with raw _Fadomm_'s.

Aaron's skill won the first half for his team. Blooded, the Chamber of
Commerce Eight fought through to win the second half. A tie. The
play-off saw the Working-Man's League pummeled to a standstill by the
C-of-C, who took the laurels with a final slam that knocked Waziri into
the straw, protesting that it was an accident.

Sweating, laughing, social status for the moment forgotten, the teams
and their mobs of fans surged into the farmhouse to demand of Martha
wedges of raisin pie and big cups of strong coffee. As the guests put
their rigas and their white caps back on, and assumed therewith their
game-discarded rank of class, they assured Aaron that the afternoon at
the ball game had been a large success.

* * * * *

The next day was crisp and cold. With nothing more to be done till the
soil thawed, Aaron took Waziri down to the creek to investigate his
project of irrigating the hilltop acres. The flow of water was so feeble
that the little stream was ice to its channel. "Do you have hereabouts a
digger-of-waterholes?" Aaron asked the boy. Waziri nodded, and supplied
the Hausa phrase for this skill. "Good. _Wonn's Gottes wille iss_, I
will find a spot for them to dig, smelling out the water as can my
cousin Blue Ball Benjamin Blank," Aaron said. "Go get from the barn the
pliers, the hand-tool that pinches."

Waziri trotted off and brought back the pliers. "What are you up to,
Haruna-boss?" he asked. Aaron was holding the bulldog pliers out before
him, one handle in each hand, parallel to the ground.

"I am smelling for the well-place," the Amishman said, pacing
deliberately across the field. The boy scampered along beside him. "We
will need at least one well to be safe from August draught. Cousin
Benjamin found the wet depths in this fashion; perhaps it will work for
me." Aaron walked, arms outstretched, for half an hour before his face
grew taut. He slowed his walking and began to work toward the center of
a spiral. Waziri could see t