with their own fingers, in the scanty interludes between washing, and
baking, and mending their husbands' or fathers' clothes. The faces of
the women were a trifle sallow and had lost their freshness in the dry
heat of the stove. Their hands were hard and reddened, and in figure
most of them were thin and spare. One could have fancied that in a land
where everybody toiled strenuously their burden was heavier than the
men's. One or two of the women clearly had been accustomed to a smoother
life, but there was nothing to suggest that they looked back to it with
regret. As a matter of fact, they looked forward, working for the
future, and there was patient courage in their smiling eyes.

Creighton's Sally, who was then tripping through the measure on
Hawtrey's arm, was native born. She was young and straight--straighter
in outline than the women of the cities--with a suppleness which was
less suggestive of the willow than a rather highly-tempered spring. She
moved with a large vigor which barely fell short of grace, her eyes
snapped when she smiled at Hawtrey, and her hair, which was of a ruddy
brown, had fiery gleams in it. Anyone would have called her comely, and
there were, indeed, no women in Stukely's barn to compare with her in
that respect, a fact that she recognized.

"Oh, yes," said Sager reflectively; "she'll get him sure if she sets her
mind on it, and there's no denying that they make a handsome pair. I've
nothing against Hawtrey either: a straight man, a hustler, and smart at
handling a team. Still, it's kind of curious that while the man's never
been stuck for the stamps like the rest of us, he's made nothing very
much of his homestead yet. Now there's Bob, and Jake, and Jasper came in
after he did with half the money, and they thrash out four bushels of
hard wheat for Hawtrey's three."

Stukely made a little gesture of concurrence, for he dimly realized the
significance of his companion's speech. It is results which count in
that country, where the one thing demanded is practical efficiency, and
the man of simple, steadfast purpose usually goes the farthest. Hawtrey
had graces which won him friends, boldness of conception, and the power
of application; but he had somehow failed to accomplish as much as his
neighbors did. After all, there must be a good deal to be said for the
man who raises four bushels of good wheat where his comrade with equal
facilities raises three.

In the meanwhile Hawtrey was talki