By the time they had changed and eaten the meal which Mrs Bell had prepared, the hailstorm had stopped and an uneasy silence seemed to hang over the countryside. Mr Bell had insisted that everyone should eat before even beginning to see to the stock, but as soon as the last mouthful was eaten he pushed back his chair and jerked his head at Adam. ‘We’d best see what damage has been done,’ he said gruffly. ‘Though I dare say we’ll find it quicker to make a note of what’s unharmed.’ He gave a grim little chuckle. ‘If we’ve got away without the new stores stampeding, like they do in cowboy fillums, I reckon we’ll be luckier than we deserve.’ He shook his head sorrowfully, then winced and put a hand over the neat dressing his wife had applied to his forehead. ‘Darn it! How that iodine do sting!’ He turned to his wife. ‘You stay here, Mother; the rest of us will check the beasts.’ He turned to Tess, his smile kindly. ‘You stay here if you’ve a mind, my dear. The four of us should be quite enough . . .’

Adam had already left the kitchen and was crunching over the ice in his big rubber boots when Tess heard him give a startled exclamation. The next moment he burst back into the room, his weathered face paler than usual. ‘Crippen’s gone!’ he shouted. ‘He’s bust clean out of his sty and there int no sign of him! Oh, master, he’ll be in the devil’s own temper. Gawd help anyone what crosses his path!’

Everyone except Mrs Bell immediately left the kitchen to examine the sty, not because they did not trust Adam’s word, but because the sty was so solid that they could not imagine how the great boar had escaped from it. But escape he had. The door to his pen had been torn clean off its hinges, and of Crippen himself there was no sign. Tess had intended to stay with Mrs Bell, but at the thought of an exciting pig hunt she went back to the kitchen, got her oilskins and returned to the yard. She was amused to see Adam stirring the straw of Crippen’s pen as though he suspected that the great beast might have burrowed into it to hide from the storm, but as soon as Mr Bell issued his orders Adam expressed his willingness to join in the search. ‘Not that he’ll be difficult to find, ’cos he’s that big we’re scarce likely to overlook him,’ he said. ‘And knowin’ Crippen he’ll be in a rare bad mood. In fact it’s likelier he’ll be huntin’ we than we huntin’ him.’

Mr Bell turned and glared at the elderly farm worker. ‘Go and get a couple of mangel-wurzels down from the loft,’ he commanded. ‘Crippen’s rare fond of ’em, so if we can’t persuade him by other means mebbe bribery will do it.’ He turned to his brother-in-law. ‘I reckon he’ll ha’ gone to the sows in the hazel pasture. ’Tis only natural to seek the company of your own kind when things go wrong.’ He turned to Jonty and Tess. ‘You two check on the horses and the cattle down by the cut. Let’s hope they’re all safe and sound, but cattle panic easy.’