hus, in case of an
emergency, a convenient stopping place.

I watched the sky rather anxiously, not so much on my own account as
because my wife, seeing me start, would worry a good deal should that
start be made in foul weather. At nine the sky began to get grey in
spots. Shortly after a big cloud came sailing up, and I went out to
watch it. And sure enough, it had that altogether loose appearance, with
those wind-torn, cottony appendages hanging down from its darker upper
body which are sure to bring snow. Lower away in the south--a rare thing
to come from the south in our climate--there lay a black squall-cloud
with a rounded outline, like a big windbag, resembling nothing so much
as a fat boy's face with its cheeks blown out, when he tries to fill a
football with the pressure from his lungs. That was an infallible sign.
The first cloud, which was travelling fast, might blow over. The second,
larger one was sure to bring wind a-plenty. But still there was hope. So
long as it did not bring outright snow, my wife would not worry so much.
Here where she was, the snow would not drift--there was altogether
too much bush. She--not having been much of an observer of the skies
before--dreaded the snowstorm more than the blizzard. I knew the latter
was what portended danger.

When I turned back into the house, a new thought struck me. I spoke to
my wife, who was putting up a lunch for me, and proposed to take her and
our little girl over to a neighbour's place a mile and a half west of
the school. Those people were among the very few who had been decent to
her, and the visit would beguile the weary Sunday afternoon. She agreed
at once. So we all got ready; I brought the horses out and hooked them
up, alone--no trouble from them this morning: they were quiet enough
when they drank deep at the well.

A few whirls of snow had come down meanwhile--not enough, however, as
yet to show as a new layer on the older snow. Again a cloud had torn
loose from that squall-bag on the horizon, and again it showed that
cottony, fringy, whitish under layer which meant snow. I raised the top
of the cutter and fastened the curtains.

By the time we three piled in, the thin flakes were dancing all around
again, dusting our furs with their thin, glittering crystals. I bandied
baby-talk with the little girl to make things look cheerful, but there
was anguish in the young woman's look. I saw she would like to ask me to
stay over till Monday, but