Hay-time 



' These Canadian humming-birds are awful 

 to-night ; look at those poor brutes," and he nodded 

 towards Nancy and the bulls, who were evidently 

 in too great distress to feed. 



" Why don't you light a smudge ? " said I. 



" What do I know about a smudge ?— and I 

 a J 11 afraid of fire," replied my comrade. 



" Oh, you can find a bare spot, and anyway, 

 the prairie won't burn now— there's too much dew," 

 said I. 



We soon found some dead twigs and grass 

 and got a good blaze started, and then, heaping 

 on it a quantity of damp grass and manure, a 

 thick blue smoke drifted away before the gentle 

 breeze. In the shelter of this the poor animals 

 found relief. A " smudge," as it is called, seems 

 the one effective outdoor panacea for the mos- 

 quito plague, but even this is not of much use 

 if there is no wind and the smoke goes straight up. 



For ourselves, we rushed to the shack, made 

 a smoke inside, and closed the door on our tor- 

 mentors. Of course, one should have wire 

 blinds, but that is a luxury often absent for the 

 beginner. 



Next day came Jim with a team of horses and 

 a set of discs, and as Tom had already made a 

 start with the bulls, work on the fifty acres got 

 on well. 



95 



