THE SEED— THE PASSING OF A 

 PRAIRIE FIRE 



I GOT back to South Qu'Appelle by the early train 

 on April 14, 1908. Things had gone well with me. 

 All the world was interested in Canada ; I was 

 possessed of practical and first-hand information. 

 Offers of work from various magazines approached 

 T^.-y pen, and although I was by no means out of 

 the wood, many of the brambles which beset the 

 way within were rendered removable. But on the 

 morning I got back and fell off the train in the 

 usual place and manner, which is always very far 

 in the rear of the platform at South Qu'Appelle, 

 gloom was in the air. Snow was falling, and I 

 knew at once that I should have to drive through 

 the fifteen miles which lay between me and any- 

 thing that might have occurred within a two weeks' 

 journey without any mail, in the teeth of the north 

 wind. Whilst I waited for the democrat I took 

 breakfast in Mrs. Walker's excellent restaurant, and 

 there I learned that many farmers had already made 

 use of the few fair days in the preceding week to 

 get in the seed, and with all my heart I wished I 

 had hurried on before, although April 15 is usually 

 in excellent time for seeding anything under a 

 hundred and fifty acres. 



361 



