when I suddenly became aware of Jack running toward me. He pointed in the direction of Spoof's homestead, and I turned my face to the south. A pillar

wiping the perspiration from his fo

humor. "Spoof has taken your advice about the tige

ikely to scatter it as to put it out. Lucky for him the grass is still green,

ighting," I said, with unusual wisdom, as

d made use of them for locomotion in a similar way. At first the oxen had rewarded their riders with a wholly unprecedented burst of speed, but the novelty had soon worn off, and as we now swung ourselves upon them they respon

t looked as though the excitement would be quite over before we could arrive. However, we were now bent upon paying Spoof a neighbourly call in any case, and when at last our oxen lum

Spoof?" we hailed hi

, and I've fixed the wagon . .

sort of sadness that made us a little ash

ting and turning our oxen to feed along wit

Governor? I know; I shall say I drove over a Canadian double-orbed firefly-one must throw in a touch of detail, for

e for a hundred dollars or les

urposes of a communic

purpose the value of a wag

ponsive to all my blandishments. Then I remembered your simple remedy-the remedy which you said would be sure to fix th

when their kicking and switching proved ineffectual they gently moved forward just far en

illed steak for supper, but I decided that I was in more need of steak on the hoof than in

more than that." Whereupon Spoof turned on me a l

r an ass, don't you know? I was quite sure you would see th

, and afterwards Spoof insisted u

"nothing to do with buffalo bones or tiger lilies, or gophers tied by their hind legs to the corner stakes of

y, didn't do," Jack reminded him.

we started on our trek homeward across the green prairie. Jack offered to go to town the next day an

ay," he insisted. "The bullocks are growin

of the forenoon the place was deserted. We set to work in his hay field, and by Wednesday n

stream of neighbours which, from its source in a dozen different springs of humanity, was to pour in upon us during the next few months. Wednesday night we came back from Spoof's, as we had a l

away to the

outlined against the horizon; another tent pit

hink of the day when all this wilderness of prairie will be plowed, every foot of it; all bearing

ed, rushing into the shack. She had a wa

to discuss it. We decided to knock off work early that evenin

be suffering from the conflicting emotions of his natural good humor and a sense that we had no business on Eighteen. His rush upon us with great ba

nloaded. A woman of slender build and rather striking beauty stood at the door. There was surprise, and, as I thought, a suggestion of

to myself, "and yet she is no coward, she has no fear of strangers, but she is afraid of someone-afraid of someone she knows. She wa

ed one of our quartette, was the first to break a rather stupid silence.

nty-two," she explained. "We saw your tent, an

voice seemed to break just there, and the lips of the new-comer went all a-

bbing her eyes with a little lump of handkerchief. "One gets a bit-a bit lonely, in spite of everything

others of our party, and then we

o mind it a bit-rather glories in it, I think. Already he has made some great explorat

edately held up one paw in a

as though not wishing to stress the point-"and Gerald and I have our way to make in the world.

m as he sleeps," and without waiting for an invita

" Mrs. Alton asked, when we

and slightly parted; his little arms thrown jauntily above his head. Jean leaned and touched the breathing lips with hers, and so did Marjorie, and a little later I saw tears on the cheeks of both. It was then I remembered that these girls had not seen

herself from his side. "Mrs. Alton, I am sure you have placed us all

farm life, and the problems of the homesteader. Mrs. Alton drank in every w

notion that I should take a homestead. I did it on Gerald's account. I shall manage some way, and in three years-by

n who had never known hard work or privation. A turn in the wheel of fortune, and she was without the money for th

. "People will flow in here in crowds, once they make a st

re a neighbor to do some plowing, and I will plant some corn next spring. I shall raise chickens, and have a great garden-I

es and a Canadian cabbage patch, and she rattled on, evidently glad of some one

a little impulsive gesture. "Gerald is my resource, as well as my responsibility. He has a hundr

around Gerald," she added, as t

pread a steamer rug. Jack and I stood at the door of the tent,

, clasping her fingers in a nervous grip

ring the lumber, and help them bu

ber? Oh, the boards!

he held us appeared t

are, here. I had to go to a doctor in Regina-Gerald had a rash, or something-it was in the

mocrat filled the tent

ea with biscuits and jam. I bought an oil stove in Regina-a

enough, "And am I the only new-comer in all this b

neighbour, a countryman of yours, down on section Two. Sp

s, and perhaps she dallied longer than there was any n

mean, have you seen him lately? A countryman of mine; you know, I must

to some other topic. Suddenly she remembered her promise that we should see Gerald awake, and, disregarding our protests, she stirred him out of his sleep. His big, blu

uns," he

id I have let him think that all the people in

has thought that," Jack interrupte

se-"have not learned to do. No, Gerald, these are not Red Indians, with feathers and paint and bows and arrows, but white people like Mumsy and you, only very much wiser. They are friends from Fourteen and Twenty-two-it is Fo

ood. "Dem Injuns," he insisted, an

ering gait homeward. Sandy saw us properly off the place, and even stood at attention until we faded out of sight in the twilight. There is likely to be a nip to the night air on the prairies even in midsummer, and Jean, I no

all form loomed up on the rough trail which already wriggled across the prairie from Fourteen to Two. He had discarded coat and waist-coat; in a khaki-colored shirt and corduroy breeches and le

over, their behavior last Sunday was not exemplary. But I say," he continued, "the

you are a man of despera

er on my way to town; his horse had gone lame and he too

; straight and lean, but not too spare; with white teeth that flashed behind lips always ready to spring to a smile beneath a sandy mustache that had more in it of promise than of realization. H

Jack, harking back to the oxen. "They a

rned, pointedly; "not, at least, while I have neighbours at h

t only a banjo, but a box of candy, wh

l accept," said he, tend

renade in our honour?"

th, and have somewhat recovered my w

loneliness. Then he sang, dipping into little fragments of repertoire, until at last he hit upon something that Jean had learned before we left the East, and there her clear soprano joined his tenor as naturally as one brook mingle

f their selections. "We have neighbours-two new neighbours-three counting

it might be a wandering Indian family

rald, the dearest little chap. He puts us

id Spoof. "H

row. She has taken a homestead so that she can raise the money to educate her boy. She is coming

was magnifying the grip that Spoof was gaining upon her. S

ll a-ramble. There was a moment's silence, then he took up the thread again. "I once knew a little boy of that name-

did not say, but he sang no more, and