A Prairie Courtship

the afternoon and almost unpleasantly hot in the sheltered hollow. The crest of it shut out the wind that swept the open levels, and the sunshine struck down between the birches,

ast few days. It was supposed that he picked up a good deal of it in the most unlikely as well as the more obvious places, for he was troubled by few scruples and was endued with the faculty of getting money. He was a young man, evidently of excel

ns of the small farmers and ranchers on both sides of the frontier are as a rule mortgaged to the hilt, or at least they were a few years ago. They lived, and no more, for when the seasons vouchsafed them a bountiful harvest, storekeeper, land agency man, or mortgage jobber usu

w he could reach the settlement. He was then, he supposed, eight or nine miles from the nearest farm, and it seemed very probable that even if he succeeded in reaching it every horse

orses disappeared among the trees, but by the rapid beat of hoofs which mingled with the rattle of wheels they seemed to be coming down at a gallop. Nevis was aware tha

o let it stay exactly where it was. He fancied that the driver, who could not get by, could stop his team if he made a determined effort, and

or? Couldn't you get ou

riving at that

er Volador's feet. I'll get on

sat

n to earn a

"on what I'm expected to do

body who'll drive me to the sett

I'm not open.

your time. It will probably pay

lf-contemptuous stres

etorted. "As you were not, I'll give you another; I'm not a ve

h a laugh of half-

that kind of t

t, and when I saw that you meant to hold me up my first impulse was to drive smas

lar reason for this g

on an open trail; and in the next, I've spent the last few days borrowing things fo

s sm

the crudest notion of what you have up against you. It would be about as sensible fo

eral or the way this country's run. My dislikes are concentrated on a few particularly obnoxious pe

the people I deal with as

ere talking with you longer than I care abou

ring pedler, and even more annoying to be left stranded nine miles from anywhere with a worn-out horse; but a glance at the lean,

trike for Taylor's on your feet," he advised. "The walk will probably do you good, if o

ind them. Two or three hours later he pulled up in front of Farquhar's homestead, where, as he informed it

dy on the trail?" M

d him. Anyway, I meant to, but he's tough in the hide,

you want to

air of reflection, "I think it w

es?" Aliso

ed to her w

ly neat, from his tie, which was a marvel, to his very elegant pointed shoes. I da

hould that

e the manner in which he was got up seemed symbolical. It hinted that only the best of everything would content him, and that he meant to get it, no matter what it cost anybody else. There was his horse, for inst

hat scheme," declared Farquhar

me other grieva

some eccentric notions about farming; but he has paid Nevis his interest for quite a while, besides buying everything he used from him at dou

d with a flush of in

heard of it. Why didn

They got a few things together, and he's camped in a tent on Governmen

cted Farquhar, "you

Who went round and got the tent and t

ne s

eard of it, the bo

valrous impulses in this humorous vagabond which would on due occasion lead him to ride a reckless tilt against overwhelming odds in the cause of the helpless and oppresse

edful. Nobody could find fault with you for helping Langton, but you should have stopped at that. Ins

Alison recognized that he me

from Nevis. For instance, what has the electrical tension in the atmosphere he used to fret about to do with one's harrowing, a

. "Still, I can't see why a man should be hounded down because he won'

on. "That is, unless they're very strong and fortunate, and then they lead. What was supp

ers won't?" que

couch the lance in the face of any opposition that can be brought against them, and ride right home. Th

r regarded h

ite superfluous. He'd charge a locomo

gin prairie recorded in my name, and I believe a carload of sawed lumber and general fixings will arrive at the station in the next few d

strolled away toward the barn together, and Alison was left with Mrs. Farquhar. The prairie was wrapped in shadow now, and a half-moon was rising above its eastern rim. It was very still, and t

mean to turn farmer?

," answered Mrs. Farquh

son. "Still, it isn't what I should have a

wife to set up housekeeping in a wagon, though, for that matter, I don'

pleasant to think of Thorne's getting married at all. The idea of his being willing to contemplate marriage, so to speak, in the abstract, as the men who went to Win

uch trouble if that was his idea,"

y little trouble in Leslie Thorne's case. Whatever

could even confess that the man's light-hearted manner,

very well with Florence Hun

rquhar

ould have got on a good deal better with Mrs. Hunter had he been an

mth crept into her face,

is respectful homage, which he was quite ready to pay her as Elcot's wife, though tha

two, for she was forced to con

st her husband," she objected. "He seems

ll take the other way-and they'll get on better afterward. However, that's a matter that doesn'

" said Alis

in her last letter; but her duties were not unpleasant, and she was growing fond of the unassuming but very sensible people with whom she dwelt. Their view was narrowed by no prejudices, and they disdained pretense; they

Langton's getting on," he said. "I couldn't very well be

you declared you didn't know how you were going to get through with t

strip of paper and

trust my memor

ht was already burning, and Mrs. Farq

about half of what you ask for." Then she turned to Alis