12 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



seem to say. " Very sweet is rest in the sun- 

 warmed bosom of its guardian hill." 



In those fascinating days, between the space of 

 four miles, one walked from the place where " un- 

 certainty is hope " to the mood where hope becomes 

 certainty. The fine exhilaration of the prairie air 

 lures one on all the time always up the hill, never 

 down ; and even if it is sometimes to halt at the 

 place where the gods laugh, it is at least within the 

 enchantment of an atmosphere where one may 

 laugh through one's tears with the gods. 



I ran down the narrow zigzag path full tilt and 

 met Mr. Creegan at the gate of his house. 



" My brother thinks you know a man who wants 

 to sell a team," I said. " Can you really recommend 

 them to us ? Most people who have seen our present 

 team seem to think them a little ancient. But they 

 work splendidly. Only I should like mares." 



" Couldn't Mr. McLeay have let you have a team 

 on good terms ? " he suggested. 



" He wouldn't sell his mares," I explained, " and 

 as I thought he might have let me have at least one 

 of them, I wouldn't take his son's geldings at three 

 hundred and fifty dollars. Especially as they aren't 

 young either, although they are fine beasts, nearly 

 as big as our own." 



" I can show you the team Jake Shore has for 

 sale," he said ; " they are running over here on the 

 flats. Good beasts and young. He bought them 

 of old Yorke the carrier for his son's homestead, but 

 the poor fellow died. He says he will let you have 

 them for three hundred and ten dollars, harness 

 thrown in. But you had better look at them first, 

 and then go and talk to him about the deal." 



