Threshing 



for shells for his gun, and having breakfasted, 

 we set forth with the outfit to make a start on 

 forty acres of wheat about a mile away. 



The lumbering gasolene engine, drawing the 

 separator and a wagon containing casks of gaso- 

 lene and sundry impedimenta, soon arrived on 

 the scene of operations, and after a Uttle delay 

 work began. 



Even with this small outfit the scene was a 

 busy one ; there were three teams of oxen, in- 

 cluding ours, which I drove, and one team of 

 horses employed in hauling sheaves to the sepa- 

 rator. 



Our work was to drive our rack from shock 

 to shock, pitching on to our racks and climbing 

 up to arrange the sheaves from time to time 

 until we had a load ; then, keeping our turn, 

 we would haul to the separator a rack on each 

 side, and pitch our sheaves to the band-cutters, 

 who in turn passed them to the feeder. 



When the machine was running well it took 

 us all our time to keep up with it, and we were 

 not sorry when once or twice during the morn- 

 ing there was a stop for a few minutes owing to 

 the engine misfiring, or to adjust the belt, or 

 from some other cause. 



In addition to the teams already mentioned, 

 there were a man and boy with two light horses 



137 



