Sarah was as good as her word. She not only assembled the entire Rainbow Hill family in the barn that evening and put Bony through his paces, but she continued to give "exhibitions" whenever and wherever she could assemble an audience of one or more. Eventually she took Bony over to the Gay farm and delighted the children there who thought he was absolutely the most clever pig they had ever seen and Sarah the most wonderful trainer.  
The fame of Bony spread abroad and gradually Sarah's family grew accustomed to having a horse and wagon¹ drive in, usually with a couple of empty milk cans rattling² around in the back showing that the driver was on his way home from the daily trip to the creamery; and to hearing a knock at the door, followed by a voice asking, "Is the little girl in—the one with the pig?"
 
Answered in the affirmative, the inevitable³ request would be: "Do you think she would mind letting me see him do tricks? They tell me, down to the creamery" (or at the store or the postoffice) "that he is sure a smart pig."
 
These requests pleased Sarah immensely. She, would sally forth⁴ importantly and rout⁵ Bony out of his comfortable box, present him as one would introduce a famous artist and put him through his program. The audience never failed to be pleased and grateful and to be generous with praises. Warren declared that there was small danger of Bony ever forgetting his accomplishments⁶ for hardly a day passed that he wasn't "billed to appear."
 
But before Bony attained⁷ this place in the limelight, Doctor Hugh and Jack⁸ Welles arrived for their promised two weeks' visit and vacation. Even her marvelous pig could not hope to compete with these arrivals and Sarah's interest in Bony slackened slightly though she kept him rigorously in training.
 
The doctor and Jack came in the former's car. It was difficult to say whose disappointment was keenest when Jack announced that he intended to sleep at the bungalow⁹ and eat at Mr. Hildreth's table—Mrs. Willis, Winnie and Rosemary were equally dismayed.
 
"Jack dear, I thought of course you'd live with us," protested Mrs. Willis. "You know we'll love to have you and I'm afraid you won't be comfortable at the bungalow."
 
"It won't be any kind of a vacation for you," declared Rosemary. "You'll have to get up at five o'clock because they have breakfast at six; and Mrs. Hildreth won't let you put a book or a paper out of place—Richard says so."
 
"I'm not saying anything against her cooking," pronounced Winnie, through the screen door, where she had been drawn¹⁰ by the argument. "But I tell you this in all honesty, Jack Welles; Mrs. Hildreth puts too much salt in her oatmeal, to my way of thinking, and she skimps¹¹ on the shortening in her pie crust."
 
Jack glanced across the porch at Doctor Hugh, who was seated in the swing with Rosemary.
 
"This isn't a vacation, you know," said Jack mildly. "I've hired out, at wages, and I'm to go to work to-morrow morning. And it is in the agreement that Mr. Hildreth is to 'board and lodge¹²' me."
 
"Well, you can work for him and live here with us, too," suggested Rosemary comfortably. "Can't he, Mother?"
 
"It's ever so nice of you to want me," said Jack, "but you see, I've figured out that I want the complete experience; I want to get up when the other hired men do and eat breakfast when they do—Winnie wouldn't like to get me a six o'clock breakfast for the next two weeks—and I wouldn't let her, if she did."
 
"Richard doesn't think you'll stick it out for the whole two weeks," offered the placid¹³ Sarah, looking up from the book she was sharing with Shirley on the grass rug. "He said so."
 
Jack flushed, Doctor Hugh looked annoyed and Mrs. Willis sighed. Sarah's remarks usually aroused varied¹⁴ emotions.
 
"I think Jack is quite right," said the doctor firmly, before anyone could speak. "He wants to see this thing through and while he knows I'd like first rate to have him stay here at the house, I think he'd be handicapped from the start. There'll be the evenings left him, anyway, and Sundays—two of them at least."
 
"You must come to us for Sunday dinner," planned Mrs. Willis instantly. "I'll ask Richard and Warren, too; Winnie has wanted me to for some time, but there never seemed to be a mutually convenient time."
 
So Jack took his suit case over to the bungalow and was introduced to the little room next to the one shared by Warren and Richard. He had met Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth on one of his trips to Rainbow Hill with Doctor Hugh, but he had not seen Warren and Richard till this afternoon.
 
The three boys shook hands pleasantly. Jack was the youngest by a couple of years and not so deeply tanned; though, being an active lad and fond of outdoor sports, he had acquired a coat of brown since the closing of school. But he felt, looking at the other two, that he lacked their muscular advantage and a certain hardness that bespoke¹⁵ sturdy endurance.
 
"I'm ready to go to work," said Jack, in response to a question from Mr. Hildreth. "I've brought overalls¹⁶ and I'm said to be willing and obliging."
 
Richard grinned and Warren's gray eyes smiled.
 
"Well, I hope you'll tumble up early in the morning," observed the farmer, his mind busy already with the next day's work. "We're going to start picking tomatoes for the cannery."
 
There wasn't much thrill about the persistent¹⁷ ringing of the alarm clock the next morning and Jack turned over with a groan¹⁸. The dial said five o'clock, though he was sure he had not been asleep longer than two hours.
 
"Morning," was Mr. Hildreth's brief greeting when he met his new hand at the back door. "Glad to see you made it. Warren's your boss—he knows what has to be done. You'll find him out in the barn, milking."
 
Even a careless observer—and Jack was not that—would have been struck with the dewy freshness of the grass and shrubbery and the ma............