to-day."

"I'll get off; but there's a mower yonder I would like. Will you buy
it for me, if it goes at a fair price?"

"Certainly," promised Grant. "Tell Flora to give you supper; and if
you ride back afterward by the trail, you'll meet me and I'll let you
know about the mower."

George rode away shortly afterward, and Grant waited some time before
he secured the team, after rather determined opposition. Finding
nobody willing to lead the horses home, he hitched them to the back of
his light wagon and set off at a leisurely pace. When he had gone a
little distance, he overtook a man plodding along the trail. The
fellow stopped when Grant came up.

"Will you give me a lift?" he asked.

The request is seldom refused on the prairie, and Grant pulled up his
team.

"Get in," he said. "Where are you going?"

"North," answered the other, as he clambered up. "Looking for a job;
left the railroad yesterday and spent the night in a patch of scrub.
Heard there was stock in the bluff country; that's my line."

Grant glanced at the fellow sharply as he got into the wagon and
noticed nothing in his disfavor. His laconic account of himself was
borne out by his appearance.

"It's quite a way to the first homestead, if you're making for the big
bluffs," he said. "You had better come along with me and go on in the
morning."

"I'll be glad," responded the other. "These nights are pretty cold,
and my blanket's thin."

They drove on, and after a while the stranger glanced at the team
hitched behind the vehicle.

"Pretty good beasts," he remarked. "That mare's a daisy. Ought to be
worth a pile."

"She cost it," Grant told him. "I've just bought her at a sale."

"I heard the boys talking about it when I was getting dinner at the
settlement," said the stranger carelessly. "Called the fellow whose
place was sold up Langside, I think. There's nothing much wrong with
the team you're driving."

Grant nodded; they were valuable animals, for he was fond of good
horses. He was well satisfied with his new purchases and knew that
Langside had bought the mare after a profitable haulage contract during
the building of a new railroad. His companion's flattering opinion
made him feel rather amiable toward him.

It was getting near dusk when they entered a strip of broken country,
where the ground was sandy and lolled in low ridges and steep hillocks.
Here and there small pines on the higher summits stood out black
a