lotment; they'd scratted up my spring onions an' played Hamlet wi' my
curly greens. An' then all of a sudden I bethowt me that t' mowdiewarps
would be sure to find t' pig an' mak quick-sticks o' him afore t'
mornin'. Eh! I gat that mad wi' thinkin' on it that I couldn't bide i'
bed no longer. I gat up 'thout wakkin' t' missus, an' I crept downstairs
i' my stockin' feet, an' went to t' coil-house wheer I kept my spade. I
were boun to dig up t' pig an' bring him home afore t' mowdiewarps sud
find him. But when I'd oppened coil-house door, what sud I see but a
pair o' green eyes glowerin' at me out o' t' darkness. I were that flaid
I didn't know what to do. I dursn't set hand to t' spade, an' efter a
minute I crept back to bed wi' them green eyes followin' me, an' burnin'
hoils i' my back same as if they'd bin two red-hot coils. Sooin as
cockleet com, I gat up, dressed misen an' set off for t' 'lotment, 'an
by t' Mess! what does ta reckon was t' first thing I saw?"

"Had the pig come to life again?" I asked in wonder.

"Nay, 'twere better nor that," replied Abe. "I' t' spot wheer I'd buried
t' pig an' buried t' potate afore that, somebody had belt a house, ay,
an' belt it all i' one neet. It had sprung up like a mushroom. So I went
up to t' house an' looked in at t' windey, an' by Gow! but it were my
house an' all."

"How did you know that it was your house?" I asked.

"Well, you see," Abe rejoined, "I could tell by t' furnitur that were in
it. There was our kitchen-table that I'd bowt at t' sale when t' missus
an' me were wed, an' t'owd rockin'-chair set agean t' fire; ay, an' t'
pot-dogs on t' chimley-piece an' my father's an' muther's buryin'-cards
framed on t' walls; 'twere all plain as life."

"So the lad with the green eyes had carried away your house in the night
and set it down on your allotment?"

"Nay, 'twere nowt o' t' sort. T' house wheer I'd bin livin' were a
back-to-back house, facin' north, so as we niver gat no sun thro' yeer's
end to yeer's end. But t' new house stood all by itsen, wi' windeys on
all sides, an' a back door oppenin' into t' gardin. If there were one
thing that t' missus an' me had set wer hearts on 'twere a back-door.
We'd never lived i' a house wi' a back door, an' t' missus had to hing
all her weshin' of a Tuesday across t' street. Well, I looked round to
see if I could clap eyes on t' lad that had telled me to bury t' pig,
but he were nowheer to be seen. But just then I heerd a buzz