sight of Stasiek, but could see nothing more of his farm or of the
road. He was beginning to feel very tired; his feet seemed a heavy
weight, but the weight of uncertainty was still greater, and he never
got enough sleep. When his work was finished, he often had to drive off
to the town.

'If I had another cow and that field,' he thought, 'I could sleep
more.'

He had been meditating on this while harrowing over a fresh bit for
half an hour, when he heard his wife calling from the hill:

'Josef, Josef!'

'What's up?'

'Do you know what has happened?' 'How should I know?'

'Is it a new tax?' anxiously crossed his mind.

'Magda's uncle has come, you know, that Grochowski....'

'If he wants to take the girl back--let him.'

'He has brought a cow and wants to sell her to Gryb for thirty-five
paper roubles and a silver rouble for the halter. She is a lovely cow.'

'Let him sell her; what's that to do with me?'

'This much: that you are going to buy her,' said the woman firmly.