rst oats
were yellowing. Coombs' voice roused me from a pleasant reverie, wherein I
sat once more with Alice beside the hearth in England.

"It's not dark yet, and there's the wire waiting for the paddock fence,"
he said. "I regret to see you addicted to loafing. And Mrs. Coombs has no
water left for the kitchen."

Saying nothing, I smiled a little bitterly as I marched away to carry in
water, and then the lady, whose thin face seemed sourer than usual that
evening, set me to wash the supper dishes. All went well until I had the
misfortune to break a stove-cracked plate, when looking at me
contemptuously she said:

"How very clumsy! Do you know you have cost me two dollars already by your
breakages? No--the handle always toward a lady! But what could be
expected? You were never brought up."

Now the frying-pan or spider I held out had stood with its handle over an
open lid of the range, so, though nettled, I still held it turned from
her, and answered shortly:

"Not to wash dishes, madam, though my up-bringing has nothing to do with
the case."

With an impatient gesture she reached over and grasped the hot handle,
then dropped it with a cry just as the door opened and Coombs came in.
This did not displease me, for if a quarrel must come it comes best
quickly, and I listened unmoved while the mistress of the homestead said:

"Walter, I think you had better get rid of this man. He not only breaks my
crockery, but set a cruel trap to burn my fingers, and I do not choose to
be insulted by a hired hand."

"Have you anything to say before I turn you out on the prairie?" asked
Coombs pompously; and remembering many an old grievance I answered with
cheerful readiness:

"Nothing of much moment, beyond that I warned Mrs. Coombs, and it was an
accident. But it is cooler without, and we can discuss it better there."

He followed in evident surprise, and I chuckled when he even walked after
me into the stable, for already I guessed that if I left before the
harvest I might have trouble about my wages. So far, in spite of several
requests, 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 upon barrelhead platforms, that there are occasions when
ethical justice may well be assisted by physical force. Besides, I was a
Lingdale Lorimer, and would have faced