ing
like a heliograph; in front a desolate wilderness where the gray-white of
frost-bleached grasses was streaked by the incandescent brightness of
sloppy snow. There was neither smoke nor sign of human presence in all its
borders--only a few dusky patches of willows to break the vast monotony of
white and blue. And somewhere out on those endless levels, thirty miles to
the north, lay the homestead of the man who might not give me employment
even if I could find the place, which, remembering Jasper's directions,
seemed by no means certain. However, the first landmark at least was
visible, a sinuous line of dwarfed trees low down on the horizon; and
gathering my sinking courage I struck out for it. Slowly the miles were
left behind--straggling copse, white plateau, and winding ravine--until it
was a relief to find an erection of sod and birch-poles nestling in a
hollow. The man who greeted me in the doorway was bronzed to coffee color
by the sun-blink on snow, and his first words were: "Walk right in, and
make yourself at home!"

He was thin, hard, and wiry; the gray slouch hat and tattered deerskin
jacket became him; while, if he had not the solidity of our field
laborers, he evidently had nothing of their slowness, and with natural
curiosity I surveyed him. There were many in Lancashire and Yorkshire who
might beat him at a heavy lift, but few who could do so in a steady race
against time from dawn to dusk, I thought. Then somewhat awkwardly I
explained my business, and, mentioning Jasper, asked if he would lend me a
horse, whereupon he called to the cheerful, neatly-dressed woman bustling
about the stove:

"Hurry on that dinner, Jess!"

Next, turning to me, he added: "You're welcome to the horse, but it will
be supper-time before you fetch Coombs' homestead, and you mayn't get much
then. So lie right back where you are until dinner's ready, and tell us
the best news of the Old Country. Jess was born there."

It was characteristic treatment, and though the meal was frugal--potatoes,
pork, green tea, flapjacks and drips, which is probably glucose flavored
with essences--they gave me of their best, as even the poorest settlers
do. One might travel the wide world over to find their equal in kindly
hospitality. Perhaps the woman noticed my bashfulness, for she laughed as
she said:

"You're very welcome to anything we have. New out from England, I see, and
maybe we're rough to look at. Still, you'll learn to like us pr