it, muttered something or another over it, and
cut some notches in a short stick, which he handed to Benjy, giving
him instructions for cutting it down on certain days, and cautioning
Tom not to meddle with the wart for a fortnight. And then they
strolled out and sat on a bench in the sun with their pipes, and the
pigs came up and grunted sociably and let Tom scratch them; and the
farmer, seeing how he liked animals, stood up and held his arms in the
air and gave a call, which brought a flock of pigeons wheeling and
dashing through the birch-trees. They settled down in clusters on the
farmer's arms and shoulders, making love to him and scrambling over
one another's back to get to his face; and then he threw them all off,
and they fluttered about close by, and lighted on him again and again
when he held up his arms. All the creatures about the place were clean
and fearless, quite unlike their relations elsewhere; and Tom begged
to be taught how to make all the pigs and cows and poultry in our
village tame, at which the farmer only gave one of his grim chuckles.

BENJY'S RHEUMATISM.

It wasn't till they were just ready to go, and old Dobbin was
harnessed, that Benjy broached the subject of his rheumatism again,
detailing his symptoms one by one. Poor old boy! He hoped the farmer
could charm it away as easily as he could Tom's wart, and was ready
with equal faith to put another notched stick into his other pocket
for the cure of his ailments. The physician shook his head, but
nevertheless produced a bottle and handed it to Benjy with
instructions for use. "Not as t'll do ee much good--leastways I be
afeared not," shading his eyes with his hand and looking up at them in
the cart; "there's only one thing as I knows on, as'll cure old folks
like you and I o' th' rhumatiz."

"Wot be that, then, farmer?" inquired Benjy.

"Church-yard mold," said the old iron-gray man with another chuckle.
And so they said their good-byes and went their ways home. Tom's wart
was gone in a fortnight, but not so Benjy's rheumatism, which laid him
by the heels more and more. And though Tom still spent many an hour
with him, as he sat on a bench in the sunshine, or by the
chimney-corner when it was cold, he soon had to seek elsewhere for his
regular companions.

Tom had been accustomed often to accompany his mother in her visits to
the cottages, and had thereby made acquaintances with many of the
village boys of his own age. There was Job Ru