.

"Oh, 'cause pa's heart is just set on making a go of it here, and we
would be just as pore anywhere else. We have tried a heap of times to
start a home, and we've worked hard, but we were never so pore before.
We have been here three years and we can prove up soon; then maybe we
can go away and work somewhere, enough to get a team anyway. Pa has
already worked out his water-right,--he's got water for all his land
paid for, if we only had a team to plough with. But we'll get it. Pa's
been workin' all summer in the hay, and he ought to have a little
stake saved. Then the sheep-men will be bringin' in their herds
soon's frost comes and pa 'lows to get a job herdin'. Anyway, we got
to stick. We ain't got no way to get away and all we got is right
here. Every last dollar we had has went into improvin' this place. If
pore old hard-worked pa can stand it, the kids and me can. We ain't
seen pa for two months, not sence hayin' began, but we work all we can
to shorten the days; and we sure do miss pore old Nick and Fan."

We gathered up as much of the vegetables as we could carry. Mrs.
O'Shaughnessy paid, and we started homeward, promising to send for the
rest of the beets and potatoes. On the way we met two children, and
knew them at once for "Johnny and Eller." They had pails, and were
carrying water from the stream and pouring it on the green spot that
covered Nick and Fan. We promised them each a dime if they would bring
the vegetables we had left. Their little faces shone, and we had to
hurry all we could to get supper ready before they came; for we were
determined they should eat supper with us.

We told the men before the little tykes came. So Mr. Struble let
Johnny shoot his gun and both youngsters rode Chub and Antifat to
water. They were bright little folks and their outlook upon life is
not so flat and colorless as their mother's is. A day holds a world of
chance for them. They were saving their money, they told us, "to buy
some house plants for ma." Johnny had a dollar which a sheep-man had
given him for taking care of a sore-footed dog. Ella had a dime which
a man had given her for filling his water-bag. They both hoped to pull
wool off dead sheep and make some more money that way. They had quite
made up their minds about what they wanted to get: it must be house
plants for ma; but still they both wished they could get some little
thing for pa. They were not pert or forward in any way, but they
answered readily