athoms thick, and
leave the wind and snow to do the rest. When it has settled into shape and
solidity it is both frost and rain proof, and often requires a hay-knife
to get into it.

So, under a blue cloud of wood smoke, and amid blinding fibrous dust,
panting men, jolting wagons, and the musical whir of the separator, the
work went on, until the thrashers departed, taking their pay with them.
Then, in the light box-wagons which first rolled across the uneven prairie
on groaning wheels, and then slid in swift silence on runners over the
snow, we hauled the grain to the railroad forty miles away. It was done at
last, and Harry and I sat by the stove one bitter night considering our
next move, when Jasper came in shaking the white crystals from his furs.
He saw we were plotting something, and laughed as he said:

"Making up your bill? We'll square it at the fifteen dollars to the day
you hauled in the last load. Now I heard you talking of taking up land,
and I've been thinking some. Nothing to earn a dollar at before the
spring, and it will cost you considerable to board at Regina or Brandon.
Is there anything the matter with stopping here? If you are particular
we'll make it a deal and cut in three the grocery bill. Meantime you can
chop building lumber ready to start your house in spring. No, it isn't any
favor; I'll be mighty glad of your company."

It was a frank offer; we accepted it as frankly, and lived like three
brothers while the prairie lay white and silent month after month under
the Arctic frost. Also we found that a young Englishman who lived twenty
miles to the west was anxious to dispose of his homestead and one hundred
and sixty acres of partly broken land at a bargain. We rode over to make
inquiries, and learned that he had lost several successive crops. Jasper,
however, said this was because he spent most of his time in shooting,
while the man who wished to succeed in that region must start his work in
grim earnest and stay right with it. Now he was going out to a berth in
India, and would take the equivalent of four hundred pounds sterling for
the buildings and land, with the implements and a team of oxen thrown
in--at least one hundred and fifty pounds down, and the rest to run at
eight per cent. on mortgage. It was dirt cheap at the money, but there was
no one to buy it, he said, and Jasper, who acted as our adviser, agreed
with this.

"Got to make a plunge some time, and risking nothin' you never