him one and for the next two hours he worked savagely,
standing knee-deep in water in a trench, hacking out clods of the "gumbo"
soil, which covers much of the prairie and grows the finest wheat. When
dry it sets like stone, when wet it assumes a glutinous stickiness which
makes it exceptionally difficult to deal with. Fierce sunshine poured
down on Prescott's bent head and shoulders, his hands grew sore, and mire
and water splashed upon him, but he was hard and leanly muscular and,
driven as he was by a keen desire to test the corporal's theory, he would
have toiled on until the next morning, had it been needful. At length,
however, there was a warning cry from one of the men nearer the swamp.

"Watch out! Let her go!"

Prescott leaped from the trench. There was a roar higher up the ravine,
and a turgid flood, streaked with frothy lines, came pouring down the new
channel, bearing with it small nut bushes and great clumps of matted
grass. By degrees it subsided, and the men, gathering about the edge of
the muskeg, hot and splashed with mire, lay down to smoke and wait, while
the pools that still remained grew smaller. They had been working hard
since early morning and they did not talk much, but Prescott, sitting a
little away from them, was conscious of an unpleasant tension. It was
possible that the search might prove Curtis right. The corporal stood
higher up the bank, scanning each clump of grass and reeds with keenly
scrutinizing eyes. At length, however, he approached the others.

"I guess you've made a job, boys," he told them. "The soft spots ought to
dry out in about a week, but we can't wait till then. You want to
remember there's a thousand dollars for the man who finds him."

They glanced at the morass hesitatingly. It did not look inviting. In
places the reeds grew as high as their heads, and one could not tell what
depths they hid. In other spots there were tracks of slimy ooze in which
one might sink a long way. None of them, however, was fastidious, and
they waded out into the mire, shouting warnings to one another,
disappearing now and then among the grass. The search was partially
rewarded, for while Prescott and a companion were skirting a clump of
reeds they saw part of a soaked garment protruding from the slime. For a
few moments they stood looking at it irresolutely; and then Prescott,
mustering his courage, advanced and seized the stained material. It came
away more readily than he had expected,