Rain now came, and we relinquished the drain-digging; I was then sent into the vegetable garden to work. I was there but a very short time when the milkman lost his billet, and I succeeded him in that position. This job did not suit me; all the other men were comfortable in huts, and I was stuck, out in the milk yard in all sorts of weather, knee-deep in muck, as well as being growled at by the other men if I did not let them take the milk. It was a bad job for a fellow if he were caught at anything like this, and at the very least it meant "50." I was in great dread, as I had to please the men by letting them take the milk, and I also had to please the master by preventing them. One morning I hit upon a plan to get out of this billet. It was raining very heavily this morning, and I was wet through. When I had finished milking I dipped my hands into the muck in the yard, and then into the milk, carried it up to the house, and gave it to the butler. He looked at me for a second, then at the milk, and said, "You d----, dirty brute! Whom do you think can drink that milk?" "Well, I can't help it," I said, "look at the yard, up to my knees in filth, and the boss won't give me time to clean it out." "Then you shall not milk any more," said the butler. I was laughing up my sleeve to think how well I had done the business. They put another milkman on, but he soon went to the hospital with pains in his legs. A third man was put on, and after a few days he was recalled to help make bricks, so the old milkman was then engaged, and that ended the trouble.