OF AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT 13 



" I can't possibly pay him three hundred dollars 

 spot cash, and they are not nearly as big as our 

 own team," I said. But they were good horses of 

 the middle-weight division. Jess, the mare, was 

 gentle, black, and quite young she revived one's 

 hope of baby horses. Dick was a bright bay with 

 the friendliest eyes, and a promise of pace which 

 even the hair on his fetlocks failed to conceal. 

 I determined to buy them if I could come to 

 terms. 



" Do you think if I offered him sixty dollars down 

 and the balance a month or so later he would agree 

 to sell ? " I asked Mr. Creegan. 



" I feel sure he would," he answered; " but go 

 and see him. You will find him in or near his 

 shack." 



I knocked at the door of a little shanty opposite 

 the Post Office, and a man with sad eyes and a big 

 grey beard, who looked as though he particularly 

 belonged to the hills of Fort Qu'Appelle, opened it. 

 I told him of my errand and proposal of payment, 

 and that of course I was willing to pay interest on 

 the amount deferred. 



" If you will pay the balance in October and 

 November, you can take the horses and harness," he 

 said, " and I shall not be asking any interest for 

 that short time." 



So we arranged that Jess and Dick should join 

 my forces, and that my brother should fetch them 

 on the following day. At the top of the hill I 

 looked back upon them in the valley. A happy, 

 useful, friendly pair, browsing contentedly on the 

 sun-cured herbage. Four and five years was the 

 age which had been given me, but it transpired that 



