IVF.r.CO.UE NEWS, 



119 



)> 



■gin 



for an old ' know 

 .on. 

 Wnd our pipes, little 

 in that a change of 



margin is twenty-six inches, as, v ' n the time comes, 

 I will show you." 



" Right you arc ! right you a.e ! " he answered, 

 blithely. "You don't take 

 nothing/ that is not open tt 



So we finished our w! i 

 supposing when Ave turned 

 weather was at hand. 



At four in the rr /-ning it was cold enough 

 for me to requi nother blanket upon my 



bed ; at break fa. .e the thermometer must 



have been ' lu .iCar freezing point, while fitful 



gusts of wind every now and then sung in mournful 

 cadence around the chimney stacks and gables of the 

 house. On going forth, big black clouds, solid as if 

 cut out of boot leather, were rising higher and higher 

 in the north-west, and an odd, straggling flake of 

 snow drifted past as if not anxious to terminate its 

 existence by making closer acquaintance with 

 Mother Earth. 



The season had at length broken, winter was at 

 last come, and with its advent, of course, would arrive 

 the migratory wildfowl. 



Soon after breakfast one of the farm hands came 

 in from a distant part of the ranche with a load of 

 cord-wood ; he was brimful of news for the *' boss," 

 so must see him. His interview was not delayed. 

 " Boss, the fowl are come, the big slough beyond my 

 shanty is full of them, and they are fai»-ly booming 

 around the lower part of the corn-field that had a 

 miss-crcp." This field had been drowned out in 

 spring, so its produce was not worth gathering ; 

 but, to make the best possible use of the grain it 

 had borne, five or six score of hogs had been turned 

 into it, and, as may be imagined, its soil was trampled 

 into a quagmire. This place was in the most 

 splendid condition for a ducks' feeding- ground, and 

 would remain so until it was frozen. A smart team 





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