172 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



the breaking. And the salary, of course, is not 

 much. I only pay ten dollars." 



Before they left Mrs. Creegan confided to me 

 that she was more than disappointed that I had 

 not been able to offer him some kind of work : 

 " He has been with us since he came," she exclaimed, 

 " and we have neither work nor room for a third 

 man. I shouldn't recommend him to you only 

 that I really think he would be useful, he is quite a 

 good carpenter. And all sailors are handy men ! " 



" I have a lot of painting and whitewashing to 

 get through indoors and out," I said. " I meant to 

 do it myself, but now that I have the chores on my 

 hands time seems to shrink. In any case I'll think 

 it over, and consider if it is possible to offer him a 

 little more money. But I had made up my mind 

 to learn to milk ; it would make one so independent 

 of chore-boys, and I doubt if I shall ever do it myself 

 as long as some one is round to do it for me." 



Usually I spent my hours of idleness on the 

 shelving, sweet-scented bank of a sheltered slough, 

 dreaming of the things that I would do on the day 

 after to-morrow, or watching the sky or the flora 

 and fauna of the prairie. The ducks made a kind 

 of nursery of this particular slough ; they were most 

 fascinating, the parent birds were so fussy and the 

 long families so foolish the art of living should be 

 learned from young ducks. And the gophers ! 

 Crouched on their haunches with their dainty little 

 forepaws dropped in a most convincing attitude 

 of supplication, they seemed, like those shallow but 

 interesting Pharisees of old, to have walked off with 

 the star parts of virtue without even paying the 

 orthodox price of a sense of sin. But Fate is 



