"Take him out to the barns--there must be tubs there," directed Winnie. "I'll give you a piece of soap and an old towel. Don't bring the towel back, either." "I'll hang it on a bush to dry," promised Sarah amiably. "But I have to have some hot water, Winnie; Bony is delicate and I can't give him a cold bath." "Then he'll have to wait till to-morrow for his bath," said the wily Winnie. "The tea kettle is empty and I can't be lighting the stove to heat water just now." "Well, I'll try the cold water," Sarah decided reluctantly, "but if Bony catches cold, you'll be sorry--that's all." The pig under one arm and the towel and soap under the other, Sarah made for the barn and reached the big tub where the horses were watered, when Warren saw her. "What are you going to do with that pig, Sarah?" he asked suspiciously. "Wash him," said Sarah, beginning to weary of being questioned. "Not in that horse tub," declared Warren. "I've just filled it for the team. That's a drinking trough, not a bathtub." Brief experience had already taught Sarah, as it had Rosemary and Shirley, that while Richard might be cajoled or persuaded, Warren was firmness itself. If he said that pigs could not be washed in the watering tub, that settled the matter. "The brook is the best place to wash a pig, anyway, Sarah," suggested Warren helpfully. "You take this stiff brush and put Bony in the middle of the brook and scrub his back and he'll be the happiest little pig you ever saw. But if that is a good dress you have on, take my advice and stay away from water," he added. "I won't get wet," said Sarah indifferently. "Well, I guess I'll have to wash Bony in the brook. I never saw such a fussy bunch of people." She scrubbed the pig thoroughly, soaking herself to the skin in the process, and dried him neatly with the towel. Then she took him back to his box, fed him a nursing bottle of warm milk--he had readily learned to take the bottle--covered him up and hung the soiled wet towel on the rose bush by the front door. Leaving the scrubbing brush in the porch swing and the jellied remains of the soap on a gingham pillow, Sarah retired to put on a dry frock, feeling that she had accomplished one task successfully. "That pig," said Winnie, when she came upon the soapy trail of his bath, "that pig will drive us crazy yet. You mark my words!" CHAPTER XIV THE GAY FINANCES Sarah continued to bathe her pig every day. In fact she omitted no slightest detail that could contribute to his health and comfort; and the amount of care and affection she lavished on "that porker," as Mr. Hildreth referred to Bony, would have amazed anyone unacquainted with Sarah's trait of exceeding thoroughness. Whatever she found to do--providing it was to her liking--this small girl did with all her might.