ntly he had no difficulty in overtaking the
tired thieves, who were carrying the swine between them. He went softly
behind them till they came to the wood.

As soon as they had entered it one of the thieves said to his comrade:

"Let us rest awhile here."

But the other replied:

"No, brother; if Tim overtakes us here, he will trick us again by some
means or other. But some way farther on you remember there is an empty
cottage, near the road, there we can rest without danger."

"Very good," said his comrade, "we will stop there."

Tim, hearing what they said, turned aside, and, getting before them,
daubed his face with clay; then, running as fast as he could to the
cottage, he sat down within the ruined petsch, holding in his hand a
brick. He had not waited five minutes when they entered the cottage and
cast the swine down upon the floor.

"Now, brother," said one, "we have nearly finished the business, let us
smoke a pipe of tobacco."

"Capital!" replied the other, taking out his flint and steel; but though
he struck and struck, he could not make the tinder take light. "Here's a
pretty affair," said he, "the tinder got damp as I ran amidst the dew of
the wood endeavouring to overtake that rascal Tim."

"Go to the mouth of the petsch," said the other, "perhaps a spark will
take hold of the soot."

The other went up to the petsch and began again to strike. In the
meantime Tim, looking full at him, gnashed his teeth violently. The
thief, hearing something gnashing, struck harder than before, and,
looking into the petsch by the light of the sparks, instantly fell to the
ground, for seeing the face of Tim he took him for the devil and was so
terrified that he could only utter with a broken voice:

"Oh, brother!--the devil!--the devil!"

Thereupon, Tim knocked violently upon the petsch, and hurled the brick at
the other thief, who made for the door, but, striking his forehead
against the lintel, he fell senseless. Tim then seizing one of their
sticks began to belabour his brothers-in-law so lustily that they soon
recovered their recollection and betook themselves to flight. Their legs
trembled so with the fright they were in that they stumbled more than
once; but Tim assisted them on their way by pelting them with bricks.
Having driven them off, he took the swine and carried her home, where he
arrived just as the day was beginning to break.

The first word which the thieves said on recovering their bre