d them down to peaceful dreams.

CHAPTER IX.

SETTING THE STAKES.

"We mustn't let any grass grow under our feet, boys," was Mr. Aleck
Howell's energetic remark, next morning, when the little party had
finished their first breakfast in their new home.

"That means work, I s'pose," replied Oscar, turning a longing glance
to his violin hanging on the side of the cabin, with a broken string
crying for repairs.

"Yes, and hard work, too," said his father, noting the lad's look.
"Luckily for us, Brother Aleck," he continued, "our boys are not
afraid of work. They have been brought up to it, and although I am
thinking they don't know much about the sort of work that we shall
have to put in on these beautiful prairies, I guess they will buckle
down to it. Eh?" and the loving father turned his look from the grassy
and rolling plain to his son's face.

Sandy answered for him. "Oh, yes, Uncle Charlie, we all like work!
Afraid of work? Why, Oscar and I are so used to it that we would be
willing to lie right down by the side of it, and sleep as securely as
if it were as harmless as a kitten! Afraid of work? Never you fear
'the Dixon boys who fear no noise'--what's the rest of that song?"

Nobody knew, and, in the laugh that followed, Mr. Howell suggested
that as Younkins was coming over the river to show them the stakes of
their new claims, the boys might better set an extra plate at
dinner-time. It was very good of Younkins to take so much trouble on
their account, and the least they could do was to show him proper
hospitality.

"What is all this about stakes and quarter-sections, anyway, father?"
asked Sandy. "I'm sure I don't know."

"He doesn't know what quarter-sections are!" shouted Charlie. "Oh, my!
what an ignoramus!"

"Well, what is a quarter-section, as you are so knowing?" demanded
Sandy. "I don't believe you know yourself."

"It is a quarter of a section of public land," answered the lad.
"Every man or single woman of mature age--I think that is what the
books say--who doesn't own several hundred acres of land elsewhere (I
don't know just how many) is entitled to enter on and take up a
quarter of a section of unoccupied public land, and have it for a
homestead. That's all," and Charlie looked to his father for
approval.

"Pretty good, Charlie," said his uncle. "How many acres are there in a
quarter-section of land?"

"Yes, how many acres in a quarter of a section?" shouted Sandy, who
saw that