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158
Adventures in Contentment
·
David Grayson
97
I
met
the
infidel
as
the
result
of
a
rather
unexpected
series
of
incidents.
I
don't
think
I
have
said
before
that
we
have
for
some
time
been
expecting
a
great
event
on
this
farm.
We
have
raised
corn
and
buckwheat,
we
have
a
fertile
asparagus
bed
and
onions
and
pie-plant
(enough
to
supply
the
entire
population
of
this
community)
and
I
can't
tell
how
many
other
vegetables.
We
have
had
plenty
of
chickens
hatched
out
(I
don't
like
chickens,
especially
hens,
especially
a
certain
gaunt
and
predatory
hen
named
[so
Harriet
says]
Evangeline,
who
belongs
to
a
neighbour
of
ours)
and
we
have
had
two
litters
of
pigs,
but
until
this
bright
moment
of
expectancy
we
never
have
had
a
calf.
Upon
the
advice
of
Horace,
which
I
often
lean
upon
as
upon
a
staff,
I
have
been
keeping
my
young
heifer
shut
up
in
the
cow-yard
now
for
a
week
or
two.
But
yesterday,
toward
the
middle
of
the
afternoon,
I
found
the
fence
broken
down
and
the
cow-yard
empty.
From
what
Harriet
said,
the
brown
cow
must
have
been
gone
since
early
morning.
I
knew,
of
course,
what
that
meant,
and
straightway
I
took
a
stout
stick
and
set
off
over
the
hill,
tracing
the
brown
cow
as
far
as
I
could
by
her
tracks.
She
had
made
way
toward
a
clump
of
trees
near
Horace's
wood
lot,
where
I
confidently
expected
to
find
her.
But
as
fate
would
have
it,
the
pasture
gate,
which
is
rarely
used,
stood
open
and
the
tracks
led
outward
into
an
old
road.
I
followed
rapidly,
half
pleased
that
I
had
not
found
her
within
the
wood.
It
was
a
promise
of
new
adventure
which
I
came
to
with
downright
enjoyment
(confidentially--I
should
have
been
cultivating
corn!).
I
peered
into
every
thicket
as
I
passed:
once
I
climbed
an
old
fence
and,
standing
on
the
top
rail,
intently
surveyed
my
neighbour's
pasture.
No
brown
cow
was
to
be
seen.
At
the
crossing
of
the
brook
I
shouldered
my
way
from
the
road
down
a
path
among
the
alders,
thinking
the
brown
cow
might
have
gone
that
way
to
obscurity.
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