"I have no doubt," Tobias said, as he turned the wagon out of the Esk valley onto a road leading up to the moors. The kid had to be hardy to have endured living alone and providing for himself at such a young age.

"You'll do all sorts, depending on what needs doing. Daily tasks involve milking the cows, and I'll show you how to churn it. Feeding the animals. If there's a lot of birds, I might put you on guard over the fields, though Jimmy would probably be more suitable for that. There's cleaning out the stables, which is more work than you probably think. And then there's haymaking, twice over the summer at least. There's the fields, weeding and watering and all that, and if you stick around, there will be the harvest, but I hire extra hands for that too."

He always got tons of unemployed men willing to take on a few days work, as well as women and children eager to make a few extra pennies to add to the husbands' incomes and get a wholesome hot farmer's meal at noon. Some came all the way from Whitby for the purpose, for there were always more willing hands than farms. Tobias actually preferred the women and children, for they tended to give him less trouble than the rowdy men who had been out of jobs for a long time, and though they weren't as strong, they were a great deal cheaper.

"Then there's deliveries to be made, once you've proven yourself trustworthy. And I might ask you to accompany my wife or the wetnurse to town now and then. Then if you stick around even longer, there will be ploughing and other work for the winter, but let's see how the summer goes."