Homesteading 



cleared the field in proximity to its first position. 

 The work went on well into the darkness, for 

 the days were shortening very rapidly now, and 

 when it ceased we were quite ready for supper. 



Two of the gang who lived near went home 

 for the night, while the rest of us rolled ourselves 

 in our blankets, either on the floor of the shack 

 or on a bed of hay in an outbuilding, and Tom 

 remarked, as he and I chose the latter, that 

 " A man can usually survive with food, drink, 

 warmth, and shelter." 



We were up again soon after daybreak, the 

 animals fed, breakfast eaten, and work begun. 



The yield was about fifteen bushels to the acre, 

 and was coming down the spout shrivelled and 

 tough, with a feel that promised a danger of 

 heating. In fact, it was obviously little better 

 than pig-feed, and the price at the elevator more 

 than twenty miles away would probably not 

 exceed fifty cents a bushel, even if they would 

 take it there at all. 



Now, with the price for threshing at ten cents 

 a bushel, it is easily calculated how very little, 

 if any, profit there was for either threshing-man 

 or grower out of such a crop. 



The following day being Sunday, we both 

 decided to return to my homestead with Nancy 

 and her foal, and rejoin the outfit on the Monday 



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