le places were the best
to strike a job in; but, so far as I can find out, there's not much
chance here."

George felt sorry for him. He suddenly made up his mind.

"What are farm teamsters getting now?" he asked a man who was leaving
an adjacent table.

"Thirty dollars a month," was the answer.

"Thanks," said George, turning again to the Englishman. "Be ready to
start with us to-morrow. I'll take you at thirty dollars; but if I
don't get my value out of you, we'll have to part."

"No fear of that, sir," replied the other, in a tone of keen
satisfaction.

When they got outside, Edgar looked at George with a smile.

"I'm glad you engaged the fellow," he said; "but considering that
you'll have to teach him, were you not a little rash?"

"I'll find out by and by." George paused, and continued gravely: "It's
a big adventure these people make. Think of it--the raising of the
passage money by some desperate economy, the woman left behind with
hardly enough to keep her a month or two, the man's fierce anxiety to
find some work! When I saw how he was watching me, I felt I had to
hire him."

"Just so," responded Edgar. "I suppose I ought to warn you that doing
things of the kind may get you into trouble some day; but cold-blooded
prudence never did appeal to me." He took one of the chairs in front
of the building and filled his pipe before he continued: "We'll sit
here a while, and then we might as well stroll across the plain. The
general-room doesn't strike me as an attractive place to spend the
evening in."

An hour later they left the tall elevators and straggling town behind,
and after brushing through a belt of crimson flowers, they followed the
torn-up black trail that led into the waste. After a mile or two it
broke into several divergent rows of ruts, and they went on toward a
winding line of bluff across the short grass. Reaching that, they
pushed through the thin wood of dwarf birch and poplar, skirting little
pools from which mallard rose: and then, crossing a long rise, they sat
down to smoke on its farther side. Sage Butte had disappeared, the sun
had dipped, and the air was growing wonderfully fresh and cool. Here
and there a house or barn rose from the sweep of grass; but for the
most part it ran back into the distance lonely and empty. It was
steeped in strong, cold coloring, but on its western rim there burned a
vivid flush of rose and saffron. Edgar was impressed by its vastness
a