Deep Furrows

nely lakes I

de their beaut

rears his tep

vale is faire

have vanished

beside the c

oon-rise tips t

voices through t

uline

nd of Qu

. Everywhere was the gleam of new yellow stubble. In serried ranks the wheat stocks stretched, dwindling to mere specks, merging as they lost identity in distance. Here and there stripes of plowed land elongated, the rich black freshly turned earth in sharp contrast to the prevailing go

the Fishing Lakes-the trail that forked also eastward to dip through the valley of the Qu'Appelle at Blackwood before striking north and east across the Kenlis plain towards the Pheasant Hills. In reality the well kept team which drew the big g

rie winds and sun. In repose the face that was shadowed by the wide felt hat would have appeared somewhat deceptive in its placidity

ghts. His fists clenched spasmodically and there was an angry glint in his eyes. Occasionally he shook his head as if the matter in

hem!" he mu

y lantern light, he had backed his horses to the wagon and hauled it twenty-five miles

ing all winter; it was in winter that the haul was long and cruel. Starting at one, two or three o'clock in the morning, it would be impossible to forecast the weather with any degree of accuracy, so that often they would be overta

th the products of his toil he had been making for many years. What immediately concerned him was the discouraging prospect of another wheat blockade instead of any improv

he buyers, their legitimate profits filched by excessive dockage, low grades, depressed prices, exorbitant storage charges, even short weights in some cases. All this in spite of the strong agitation which had led to Government action, in spite of th

-smouldering indignation was glowing like a streak of fire in the prairie grass; a spark or two more and nothing could stop the conflagration that would sweep the plains country. If the law were to fail these red-blooded and long-suffering homesteader

ngs that he did not like but could not ignore. He recognized an undercurrent of feeling, a silence more ominous than

m, and went flying off in great leaps over the stubble. A covey of prairie chicken, fat and fit, whirred into the air and rocketed away. But he scarcely saw them. Had he looked up he might have n

pattered Stetson and came into the trail with a rush, pulling up the wiry broncho with a suddenness tha

'a' had your scalp sneaked before you could draw a bead!" He swung alongside, stepped into the wagon, loop

ob," welcomed the othe

er this way? Everyt

ver Sintaluta to see about gett

rse you

hibited so much vigor in his remarks that his good-natured auditor had to laugh. "I ain't tryin' to be funny!" finished McNair. "I mean every dashed word of it, Motherwell. If

lk alright. Some of the boys were feeling pretty hot, I can tell you! But I can'

ck. "The only kind o' resolution that'll get anythin' is made o' lead and fits in a rifle breech! And I want to tell you, old man, if there ain't

] glanced sharply

nsense!" he re

d-headed farmers who're doin' the identical same. An' if I know that many in my territory, W.

re are more and bigger fools in t

mean, talkin

torted the big farmer with heat. "What do you mean, t

didn't I?" sn

firebrand talk that's hurting our cause. The farmers have got enough enemies now, God knows, without making a

ary-you bet I a

of all

n spoke with pride. "We'd never have handled the beggars if it hadn't been for that. Even the Injuns were men enough to recognize justice, an' that's more'n these commercial blood-suckers to-day can do! If our case was in the hands of the

'd class yourself with the half-breeds, would you? Have

this one'll be bloodless; but it'll knock the spo

polated the other sententiously. "What'n the misc

ers to the papers an' your meetin's an' resolutio

That put the Manitoba Grain Act on the statutes, didn't it? Mean to say we're no

he former rancher threw

r wheat direct on cars through the fla

air impatiently. "The elevator gang 've organized to grab everything in sight. I

e organize, too?" suggested Motherwell with a flash of inspiration. "We haven't tried that

shook h

too late for that sort

mean organiz

act

ns, if n

t be nec

us fellows got together on the quiet some night an' seized a few elevators-Say, wouldn't it bring things to a head

would be the wrong kin

atically. "You'

air. "Wouldn't give a continental if I

trail unless you want to get i

in't that where we'

he right kind o

in' an' if we can't agree on it, we'd better shut up before we get mad." He vaulted easily into the saddle. "But I'll tell you one thing, W. R.-there's the

ve you a lot of sound

ell con

deepening a trifle. "They're a pretty sore bunch an' a f

he jack-rabbit finally agr

grinned the owner of the Two-

im, that Peter Dayman and I are expecting him over next week, will you? And I sa

. The other watched till horse and rider lost themselves among the d

ally required some hard talking on occasion. While Mac had become civilized enough to keep one foot in a cowhide boot planted in the practical present, the other foot was still moccasined and loath to forget the days of war-paint and whiskey-traders, feathers and fears. O

uarters, that crazy idea of seizing a few elevators at the point of a gun-! What in heaven's name would they do with them after they got them? Nevertheless, McNair might find rattle-brained listeners enough to

ious driver of the grain wagon. "Jailing him only makes a hero of him

blue line of the Qu'Appelle hills began to creep from the prairie. When the lone traveller at last could count the deep shadowy coulees the sun had disappeared, but the riot of after-fires still burned brightly in the west. He had pass

lakes. Hugging the water's edge, the buildings of the romantic old fort scattered in the twilight. The win

ober night was making itself felt. At the mouth of a coulee he spoke to a solitary Indian, standing motionless before a camp fire. The appetizing odor of roasting wild fowl reminded him that he was more tha

sion of this peaceful valley, since the days of the great buffalo herds, Father Hugonard had ministered to the Indians, starved with them, worked patiently with them through many s

ression and injustice-these were things far removed from the planets of the Ages that sparkled like jewels in the vault of Night. A vagrant breeze whispered in the

er behind a distant hill and presently a lop of yellow moon crept slowly over the edg

he heard a voice calling him through the twilight. "Qu'appelle? Qu'appelle?" he answered in French. "Who calls?" But only his own voice came back in echoes while the gloom of night deepened and a wan moon rose silently behind the distant hill. Then when he reached the Indian encampment it was only t

f the trace-chains; but presently he sensed a subdued undertone of night noises that wafted mysteriously over the silver water. It was nothing that could be recognized definitely; rather was it an impression of strangely merged minor sounds that grew upon him as imagination was g

old pioneer farmers, care-worn faces of women and bright eager faces of little children who were holding out their hands trustfully to the future. There seemed to be a never-ending procession-faces that were apathetic from repeat

d women of the soil? Was all their striving forward to find them merely marking time, shouldered into the backwater while the currents of organiz

dure forever in the face of Right; else were the world a poor place, L

talls. He whistled to the horses and they plunged into the black shadows of the coulee up which the tra

as he filled his lungs with the fresh sweet air the hope of better days warmed the heart of the belated traveller. The Hand which set the orbits of the uni

once more through the cool night upon the wheatla

ntire country west of the Province of Manitoba was known as the North-West Territories, of which the District o

, Minister of Agriculture