t of day appeared and went to examine the tender grain,
without which they could not remain upon the land which had cost so dear
in the suffering of the winter just past.

A surprise was in store for them. The young insects matured rapidly. While
they appeared in swarms, it was noticed that they disappeared immediately
upon hatching.

Kansas began to get its breath.

Never was promise of crops more encouraging. There was a distinct note of
reassurance and hopefulness in the air. What became of the grasshoppers
nobody knew exactly, but they went almost as fast as they hatched. Some
shook their heads and said, "Wait till hot weather."

Josiah Farnshaw moved steadily ahead with his planting. He announced that
he had faith in Kansas--had always had--he'd stand on the burning deck!
While others hesitated, he took advantage of wind and weather to get his
crops in the ground. He had been right all along. He did not propose "to
be run off of the land he had homesteaded and set with trees by any durned
little bugs he'd ever come across." It was necessary to be up and doing if
a man was going to provide for a family.

Now this assertion proved to be true, for the agent of the harvester
company visited him and requested payment of the notes given the year
before. The agent was gracious when the inability to pay was explained. He
would renew the paper if it could be secured by the land. There was no
hurry about payment, but it was necessary for the details to be finished
up in a business-like manner. The thing looked simple enough. It was a
just debt and Mr. Farnshaw intended to pay it. He'd as soon it was secured
by the land as any other way. The details were soon arranged.

Mr. Farnshaw agreed to meet the agent in Colebyville, the nearest town,
the next day, and have the papers made out. After the agent was gone Mr.
Farnshaw went to the house to inform his wife that she was to go to town
and attach her name to the document.

The storm of protest was expected, and when Mrs. Farnshaw broke out with:

"Now, pa, you ain't never goin' t' mortgage th' farm, are you?" he
answered surlily:

"Yes, I be, an' I don't want no words about it neither," and walked
determinedly out of the house, leaving his wife to cry out her fears with
her children.

"We won't have where to lay our heads, soon," she announced bitterly.
"I've seen somethin' of th' mortgage business an' I ain't never seen any
of 'em free from payin' interest afterward