324 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



magistrate and let you know exactly what I shall 

 do in the matter." 



" I've earned my money." 



" You've done nothing of the kind. Had you 

 remained until the end of the season you might 

 have earned the lull sum on the average of the 

 higher rate of wages after August ; and until the 

 day of Fort Qu'Appelle fair I thought I should be 

 leaving a trustworthy man with my beasts. Had 

 you left at the end of your first month you would 

 have drawn just fifteen dollars. I should have 

 hired Roddy McMahon and his team to finish the 

 ploughing and it would have been finished weeks 

 ago. If I were you, for very shame I could not 

 leave that worn-out job for another." 



" I've earned my money." 



" If the magistrate decides that it is so, I shall 

 obey the law of the country." 



I consulted Mr. Thompson, postmaster and justice 

 of the peace at Fort Qu'Appelle, and he said it was 

 the worst case of the treachery of a farm-hand that 

 had ever come under his notice. " Dock him a 

 fortnight's wages," he advised, " and if he insists 

 on his claim let him sue you. As you have no 

 written evidence it would be a little difficult to 

 judge exactly how you stand over the change of 

 wages. But a man that leaves his employer on the 

 eve of harvest engaged at a scale of wages to carry 

 him. over harvest will not go unpunished in this 

 country." 



I docked the two weeks' wages, but as I had 

 advanced his wife two pounds through an agent 

 in England the fine was considerably curtailed. He 

 put his shoulder to his work on the last day as he 



