OF FUEL AND FEAR 237 



slashed north and south, right and left, omitting to 

 stop either to clean or to collect, with the result 

 that the tall indignant poplars fell over one another 

 like men on a battle-field, root and branch interlaced, 

 and it was plain that a heavy fall of snow would 

 render their rescue a most arduous, if not hopeless 

 task. 



" I have a great favour to ask you," he said one 

 day at dinner, " will you promise to grant it ? " 



" Not until I hear what it is," I answered, " but 

 I'll do my best." 



" May I have a half-holiday this afternoon to 

 go to the Fort, and buy a new axe ? I'll pay for it." 



The final clause annoyed me badly. " I have 

 told you that a certain amount of fuel must be 

 felled, cleaned, packed, and ready to haul before 

 the next snowfall," I answered. " It may come at 

 any moment, and if so it will be impossible to work 

 in the bluffs within a few hours. The fuel must be 

 gathered. If the axe is difficult I am sorry, but it 

 has'brought down so much that it can bring down a 

 little more, and a half-holiday, with snow already 

 here, and more coming, is ridiculous." 



" But I don't mind working in the snow," he 

 objected, "and after all it isn't your affair. You 

 won't be here through the winter. It's my own 

 look-out." 



" Is it ! " I said in exasperation. " Where would 

 you of all people be without sufficient fuel ! A 

 person who dreams for hours on end by the fireside 

 at night, and has to be driven to gather fuel by day, 

 is not the person to find his way into prairie bluffs 

 in mid-winter. A nice story would go round the 

 world if you happened to be laid up here without 



