"And what about Jose?" The father put his left hand upon the little boy's shoulder. Jose was kneeling beside him, roasting chestnuts on the hearth. "I am going to school this winter, Antonio says." Jose looked up with a happy face. "A school term will begin early in January, at the village. Jose can go for the sixteen weeks; he is strong enough to walk there and back, I think," said Antonio. "Sometimes can I go, too?" Malfada asked, tossing back her thick black hair. "Yes, little one, you can go with Jose, that is the best plan. Then you can help each other with your lessons," the father said quickly. Soon the winter began. The dull weather with heavy rains lasted two or three weeks. In this Portuguese country, autumn meets winter with pouring rain and with strong winds, which break down almost everything in the gardens and which cover gardens and fields with wet leaves and long sprays of vine. During these days Antonio and Jose wore about the farm-work curious coats made of several layers of dried grass. These were some protection against rain and wind. But there was not much work to be done until the heavy storms should cease. In late November the sun came forth brightly. It was time to plough the stubble fields. The only plough Jose had ever seen until now, was one made of a crooked branch of hardwood tree, shod with iron,--of the same pattern as the plough used by the Romans two thousand years ago. It was a plough so light in weight that after the day's work was done, the man lifted it from the ground and hung it over the yoke of the ox. This old kind of plough was drawn by one ox, and it stirred the soil only six or seven inches deep. The new plough--which Antonio brought home one day behind the oxen--turned a deep straight furrow in the light crumbling soil. The old harrow, to level the ground after the ploughing, was made of fifteen or twenty teeth of iron set into a wooden framework. The new harrow which Antonio bought had many strong, close-set teeth. Jose had followed after the plough with great delight, to watch its working. Now, when Antonio let him ride on the harrow-seat, the boy kept his head turned back most of the way, in order that he might see the ploughed land grow level under the harrow's teeth. "Surely our crops will be doubled next season--twice as large as ever before--because the ground is so well-prepared," the father said each day as he watched the work from the doorway. He seemed to gain in strength daily, even during this dullest season of the year. It was hard, though, for him to be unable to help, for there was much work to be done. Jose was given the sowing of the winter wheat and rye, and of the maize for the winter food of the cattle. Antonio pruned the grape-vines and cut off the tops of the trees on which the vines hung. Soon the maize shot up, and the young stalks had to be cut, morning and night.