noon
We drove as far as Gray Corners , where there was a country store , and there I bought a bushel of oats for the horses and a hundred-pound bag of corn for the hogs . The hogs were so ravenous that it was hard to be sure that each got his proper share ; but we did the best we could and somewhat reduced their squealing . The hastily repaired wagon body had also given us trouble , for it had threatened to shake to pieces as it jolted over the frozen ruts of the road ; but we bought a pound of nails , borrowed a hammer and set to work to repair it better , with the hogs still aboard -- much to the amusement of a crowd of boys who had collected . It was almost noon when we left Gray Corners , and it was after three o'clock before we reached Westbrook , five miles out of Portland . Here whom should we see but the old Squire , who , growing anxious over our failure to appear , had driven out to meet us . He could not help smiling when he heard Willis 's indignant account of what had delayed us . He thought it likely that we could recover the missing hog , and that evening he inserted a notice of the loss in the _ Eastern Argus _ .