"It's your own pig, and I suppose you can go, but you'll have a long day
of it."
"The longer the better," said the Twins.
All that week they carried acorns, and turnip-tops, and everything they
could find that was good for pigs to eat, and fed them to Diddy, and she
got fatter than ever.
The day before the Fair, they took the scrubbing-pail and the broom, and
some water, and scrubbed her until she was all pink and clean. Then
they put her in a clean place for the night, and went to bed early so
they would be ready to get up in the morning.
When the first cock crowed, before daylight the next morning, Eileen's
eyes popped wide open in the dark. The cock crowed again.
_Cock-a-doodle-doo_!
"Wake up, Larry darling," cried Eileen from her bed. "The morn is upon
us, and we are not ready for the Fair."
Larry bounded out of bed, and such a scurrying around as there was to
get ready! Mrs McQueen was already blowing the fire on the hearth in
the kitchen into a blaze, and the kettle was on to boil. The Twins wet
their hair and their Mother parted it and then they combed it down tight
on the sides of their heads. But no matter how much they wet their
hair, the wind always blew it about their ears again in a very little
while. They put on their best clothes, and then they were ready for
breakfast.
Mr McQueen was up long before the Twins. He had harnessed Colleen and
had loaded the pig into the cart somehow, and tied her securely. This
must have been hard work, for Diddy had made up her mind she wasn't
going to the Fair.
Mr McQueen had found room, too, for some crocks of butter, and several
dozen eggs carefully packed in straw.
When breakfast was over, Mrs McQueen brought a stick with notches cut
in it and gave it to Mr McQueen.
She explained what each notch meant. "There's one notch, and a big one,
for selling the pig," she said, "and mind you see that the Twins get a
good price for the creature. And here's another for selling the butter
and eggs. And this is a pound of tea for Grannie Malone. She's been
out of tea this week past, and she with no one to send. And this notch
is for Mrs Maguire's side of bacon that you're to be after bringing her
with her egg money, which is wrapped in a piece of paper in your inside
pocket, and by the same token don't you be losing it.
"And for myself, there's so many things I'm needing, that I've put all
these small notches close together. There's yarn for stockings for the
Twins, and some thread for myself, to make crochet, that might turn me a
penny in my odd moments, and a bit of flour, and some yellow meal. Now
remember that you forget nothing of it all!" Mr McQueen shook his head
sadly. "Faith, there's little pleasure in going to the Fair with so
many things on my mind," he said.
The sun was just peeping over the distant hills, when Colleen started up
the road, pulling the cart with Diddy in it, squealing "like a dozen of
herself" Mrs McQueen said. Mr McQueen led the donkey, and Larry and
Eileen followed on foot. They had on shoes and stockings, and Eileen
had on a clean apron and a bright little shawl, so they looked quite
gay.
They walked miles and miles, beside bogs, and over hills, along country
roads bordered by hedgerows or by stone walls. At last they saw the
towers of the Castle which belonged to the Earl of Elsmore. It was on
top of a high hill.
The towers stood up strong and proud against the sky. Smoke was coming
out of the chimneys.
"Do you suppose the Earl himself is at home?" Eileen asked her Father.
"'Tis not unlikely," Mr McQueen answered. "He comes home sometimes
with parties of gentlemen and ladies for a bit of shooting or fishing."
"Maybe he'll come to the Fair," Eileen said to Larry.
"Sure, he'd never miss anything so grand as the Fair and he being in
this part of the world," said Larry.
Some distance from the Castle they could see a church spire, and the
roofs of the town, and nearer they saw a little village of stalls
standing in the green field, like mushrooms that had sprung up
overnight.
"The Fair! The Fair!" cried the Twins.