254 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



arrive at the standard which my neighbour had set 

 up. The poles had become deeply imbedded in the 

 snow, but many of them had been robbed of the 

 sap through the prairie fires and were in fine con- 

 dition for warmth-giving fuel ; others were green, 

 but desperately intertwined and closely packed by 

 three feet of frozen snow, and the difficulty of 

 getting them out was greater even than it appeared. 

 To free one tree and clean it and get it away was 

 out of the question. One found the base, chopped 

 off each branch as it occurred on the way to the 

 summit, and when eight or nine branches had been 

 chopped the tree had to be raised to gauge the 

 possibility of getting it out. Sometimes by great 

 good luck I struck the last that had fallen, which 

 simplified the matter of rescue ; but many of the 

 first to fall had gone down head foremost with the 

 trunk in the air. However, disentanglement was 

 almost interesting ; at least, it always had the 

 flavour of the unexpected. Pax begged so hard to 

 come with me, and felt the cold so bitterly when he 

 came to the place where he had to rest during my 

 labour, that for his sake rather than my own I 

 limited the time to an hour ; for, once I had crossed 

 the bleak quarter of a mile of stubble, it was impos- 

 sible to fail in getting warm between the axe and 

 the cleaning and emancipation of six poplar poles. 

 It is just at such times as this that evil may happen, 

 for the body being roused into unusual warmth, the 

 mind loosens its hold of the fact that the tempera- 

 ture is still fraught with danger. One day, deeply 

 interested in the head and shoulders of my last 

 pole, I allowed my leg to remain for a moment or 

 so in the hole into which it had slipped. Victor 



