There was nothing left. So far as he was concerned, the
earth was without form and void. There was nothing to wait or hope
for. There was nothing to live for, neither cheerful yesterdays nor
confident to-morrows. What was the use in living? He looked down at
the slender creature lying outstretched almost at his feet, shaken
with the agony of long-repressed grief, and then at his long, muscular
hands. How little it would take to end it all for both of them! A mist
came over his eyes and he stooped, his hands outstretched toward her
white throat. They fell on the rounded curve of her shoulder. He
checked the caress as he checked the other impulse and shook her
instead.

"Let us go home," he said.

They went into the storm.

V

Why wilt thou take a castle on thy back
When God gave but a pack?
With gown of honest wear, why wilt thou tease
For braid and fripperies?
Learn thou with flowers to dress, with birds to feed,
And pinch thy large want to thy little need.

FREDERICK LANGBRIDGE.

The next morning dawned clear and warm, and Adam, coming in with his
milk-pails, held out his hand to Robin. There were three ripe
strawberries.

"See," he said, "they are the harbingers of spring, or a California
climate, and either way makes our gain. California without fogs and
fleas is heavenly enough for most people."

Nevertheless, they completed the shelling of the corn, and made a bin
for it at the end of the tunnel, removing the cat family to the house,
where Lassie viewed their advent with jealous eyes. One day when they
had been hulling corn for nearly a week, Adam sat down and began
laughing. "Do you know how much corn it takes to plant an acre?" he
asked.

"No," said Robin, blankly. "I know something about the number of
kernels to the hill,--'one for the cutworm, and one for the crow, and
one for something-or-other else, I forget what, and one to grow.'
Why?"

"It takes eight quarts to plant an acre. We have raised about thirty
bushels to the acre, which is very well for sod. That will make over
fifteen thousand pounds of meal and hominy, and will feed us for seven
years, even if we eat six pounds daily. Unless there is a winter
season, when we must do something for the animals, there is not the
slightest use in planting more than an acre. As to the wheat, even
with a light yield, there would be fifteen hundred pounds to the acre.
We have fresh vegetables all the time, and the