Lorimer of the Northwest

SANT APPR

ess I had so far found in Canada. But it had its disadvantages, for the snow became unpleasantly soft, and it was a relief to find that the breeze had strippe

and blue. And somewhere out on those endless levels, thirty miles to the north, lay the homestead of the man who might not give me employment even if I could find the place, which, remembering Jasper's directions, seemed by no means certain. However, the first landmark at least was visible, a sinuous line of dwarfed trees low down on the horizon; and gathering my sink

ith natural curiosity I surveyed him. There were many in Lancashire and Yorkshire who might beat him at a heavy lift, but few who could do so in a steady race against time from dawn to dusk, I tho

that din

ore you fetch Coombs' homestead, and you mayn't get much then. So lie right back where you

bably glucose flavored with essences-they gave me of their best, as even the poorest settlers do. One might travel the wide

from England, I see, and maybe we're rough to lo

was not educational polish, but rather a natural courtesy and self-respect, though the words do not adequately express it, which seems born of freedom, and an instinctive realization of the brotherhood of man expressed in kindly action. Hard-handed

cked by a thin birch bluff, while there was no difficulty in setting down its owner as an Englishman of a kind that fortunately is not common. He was stout and flabby in face, with a smug, self-satisfied air I

im a day or two. Of course you would be useless for several months at least, and with the la

s?" I asked cautiou

ter the stock while you're resting; plow, harrow, or chop wood until supper; after that, wash up supper dish

determining to earn experience and a living at the same time as promptly as possible. Also, though I did not discover it until later, this is the one safe procedure for the would-be colonist. There is not the slightest reason why he should pay a premium, because the

until harvest. I shall no doubt fin

rom head to heel again, and, after offe

table and don't give him too much chop. Then carry in those stove b

look of good breeding about him. Mrs. Coombs was thin and angular, with a pink-tipped nose; and in their dwelling-the only place I ever saw it on the prairie-she and her 39 husband always sat with several feet of blank table between themselves and those who worked for them. They were also, I thought, representatives of an unpleasant type-the petty professional or suddenly promoted clerk, who, lacking equally the operative's sturdiness an

lantic shore, is where he ought to be. Guess he wore t

e said. "Coombs? Well, Jim Marvin is right. I've set him down in my own mind as a defaulting deacon, or something of the kind. Did my guardian out of a hundred and fifty as premium, with duck, brant-goose, and pra

t when the Almighty gives the good soil freely He expects something back, and not a stinting of dumb beasts and land to roll up money in the bank. Take all a

oticed everything, while Harry leaned against a stall defiantly sucking at

"Diligence is the one road to success. There is a truss of hay waiting to go t

me! Weighs out the week's sugar to the teaspoonful. But y

now, he had inherited a spirit which is greater than mere bodily strength. No man had a truer comrade than I in Harry Lorraine, and the friendship which commenced in the sod stable that night when I was travel-worn and he cut the

ng humility. There are times, out on the vast prairie, when, through glories of pearl and crimson, night melts into day, or up in the northern muskegs, where the great Aurora blazes down through the bitter frost, when one stands, as it were, abashed and awe-stricken under a dim perception of the majesty upholding this universe. Then, and because of this, th

that night, and I had words with Coombs when he gave me directions about plowing. We do not get our land for nothing in Lancashire, and so learn to work the utmost out of every foot of it. However, I do not purpose to dilate upon either disc-harrows or breaking prairie, nor even the cutting o

n to ochre, rippled before me; and, had its owner's hand been more open, it would have been a splendid crop. Marvin, Harry, and I had plowed for and sown it, because Coombs despised manual labor, and confined himself chiefly to fault-finding. It struck me tha

addock fence," he said. "I regret to see you addicted to l

ose thin face seemed sourer than usual that evening, set me to wash the supper dishes. All went well

already by your breakages? No-the handle always toward a la

s handle over an open lid of the range, so, though nettle

though my up-bringing has

ry just as the door opened and Coombs came in. This did not displease me, for if a quarrel must

only breaks my crockery, but set a cruel trap to burn my f

prairie?" asked Coombs pompously; and remembering man

s. Coombs, and it was an accident. But it is coo

, Coombs had paid me nothing. It is also possible that a penniless newcomer of peaceful disposition might have been victimized, but I had learned in several industrial disputes, argued out with clog and brickbat as well as

to-night," I said; and read in Coombs' face that this was by no means what he desired. Wages are high at harvest and labor scarc

l after harvest, and I'll neither pay you a dollar nor give up your boxes if you go

istake when he tried bullying. As he strode toward me, fuming like an irate turkey cock, in an absurdly helpless attitude, I grasped his shoulder and backed him violently against a stall. Then, and whether this was justifi

m Jasper's to-morrow, and if you venture to interfere I shall be compelled to hurt you. Let t

ressfully when I went out with what was due

ombs, you may make dusters of any old clothes I leave. I am going away with Mr. Lorimer, and henceforward

s' steed which made an efficient pack-horse. It was dawn the next day when aching and footsore we limped into Jasper's. He lay back in h

e record. What shall you do now?-stay right where you are. It's a bonanza harvest, and I'll keep my promise; fifteen dol

, we gladly acc