The School, Well-digging, and a Picnic 



derives nearly as much excitement or real in- 

 terest as does the ambitious young grain grower 

 from his far more worthy occupation. 



In a previous chapter I mentioned a piece of 

 land which we had seen our friends seeding with 

 wheat. It was a long strip, containing about 

 fifty acres, sloping from fairly hilly ground at 

 the south end for half a mile to a hollow, 

 then rising slightly for a short distance to the 

 north end. 



We had watched the crop maturing with much 



interest, owing to the hopes we had for our own 



' crops for the following season. Helped by the 



! splendid July rains, it had grown amazingly, 



j and now stood some six feet high in places, and 



I very thick indeed. As a neighbour remarked in 



passing, it looked like going forty bushels to the 



acre. It had, however, grown very rank, and 



seemed late in filling out and maturing, though 



gradually turning colour. 



One day the quiet Harry remarked : "I don't 

 much like the look of that wheat ; it does not 

 seem to have much grain in it," and in response 

 we all strolled out to have a look at it. 



As we walked through it, rubbing out ears in 

 our hands and noting immense numbers with no 

 grain in, McBlair, the weed inspector, who also 

 with his two sons had a large acreage, drove up, 



107 



