18 WINTER 



The two brothers had got a short leave from 

 college, and had started their turkey drive in the 

 more settled regions back from the New Brunswick 

 border. They had bought up the turkeys from farm 

 to farm, had herded them in one great flock as they 

 drove them leisurely along, and had moved all the 

 while toward the state line, whence they planned to 

 send them through Maine for the New England 

 market. Upon reaching the railroad, they would 

 rest and feed the birds, and ship them, in a special 

 freight-car ordered in advance, to a Boston commis- 

 sion house, sell the horse and rig for what they could 

 get, and, with their dog, go directly back to college. 



More money than they actually possessed had 

 gone into the daring venture. But the drive had 

 been more than successful until the beginning of the 

 Black Creek road. The year before they had gone 

 over the same route, which they had chosen because 

 it was sparsely settled and because the prices were 

 low. This year the farmers were expecting them ; 

 the turkeys were plentiful; and the traveling had 

 been good until this early snow had caught them 

 here in the backwoods and held them; and now, 

 with the sudden shift of the wind again to the 

 north, it threatened to delay them farther, past all 

 chance of bringing a single turkey through alive. 



But George and Herbert Totman had not worked 

 their way into their junior year at college to sit 

 down by the roadside while there was light to travel 



