ay twenty hours long,
from two in the morning till ten at night; but with this I used
afterwards to take an antidote in the shape of ten or eleven hours'
sleep. On such occasions I always gave my animals a double allowance of
food, and if they were improvident enough to consume it, as if it were
carnival time, or a period of some great feast, that was their look out,
and after their feast came a fast, which at worst only gave them an
increased appetite, and did them no real harm.

Speaking of appetite and eating, I must describe my first pig-killing. I
felt that I required pork, and the more I thought of it the more I was
convinced that I _must_ have it, although a murder had to be committed
before I could have it either roast, boiled, or fried. Very well, what
easier! There were the two pigs, each about one hundred and forty pounds
weight; all I had to do was to kill one. Of course I would set about it
at once; but upon reflection I became aware that some courage was
required, and that I was totally ignorant of the work before me.
However, I sharpened a long knife and went and had a look at the pigs,
and the more I looked the less I liked my task; so much so, that after
half an hour I decided that I would have tinned mutton for dinner--the
pork would be too fresh, and perhaps it might be a dull day to-morrow,
and I should want something to do! So the pig received a respite. Next
morning when I awoke and considered how and when I should kill the pig,
I made the resolve that come what might "that day the pig should die."

After breakfast I again sharpened the knife, as if it had become blunt
again in the night, and got up a razor edge on the weapon, and once more
proceeded to the stye. I selected my victim, and got one of my legs over
the wall of the enclosure; but then my heart failed me, it seemed as if
I was about to slay an old friend; indeed, they _were_ old friends,
those two piggies, and I had had many a chat with them, in fact, could
almost understand their language of grunts.

How was I going to secure my victim before giving the _coup de grace_?
Should he not be offered up on a stool? if so, I had not one to use; but
an idea struck me, and that idea I adopted. Over the stye, about ten
feet from the ground, the limb of a walnut tree stretched across, and my
idea was to drop a line over the bough and make it fast round the
porker's snout, haul him up on his hind legs, and bury my knife up to
the hilt in his thr