e evidently
working at high pressure. Their blue duck clothing and bare brown arms
appeared among the white and ochre tinting of the grass that seemed
charged with brightness, and the sounds of their activity came up to
her. She could distinguish the clashing tinkle of the mowers, the
crackle of the harsh stems, and the rattle of waggon wheels.

By and bye a great mound of gleaming grass overhanging two half-seen
horses moved out of the sloo, and she watched it draw nearer until she
made out Wyllard sitting in a depression in the front of it. She sat
still until he pulled the team up close beside her and looked down with
a smile.

"It's 'most two miles to the homestead. If you could manage to climb
up I could make you a comfortable place," he said.

Agatha held her hands up with one foot upon a spoke of the wheel as the
man leaned down, and next moment she was strongly lifted and felt his
supporting hand upon her waist. Then she found herself standing upon a
narrow ledge clutching at the hay while he tore out several big armfuls
of it and flung it back upon the rest.

[Illustration: "Agatha held her hands up ... as the man leaned down,
and the next moment she was strongly lifted."]

"Now," he said, "I guess you'll find that a snug enough nest."

She sank into it with at least a certain sense of physical
satisfaction. The grass was soft and warm, scented with the aromatic
odours of wild peppermint, and it yielded like a downy cushion beneath
her limbs. Still, she was just a little uneasy in mind, for she
fancied she had seen a sudden sign of tension in the man's face when he
had for a moment held her on the edge of the waggon. Unobtrusively she
flashed a glance at him, and was reassured. He was looking straight
before him with unwavering eyes, and his face was as quiet as it
usually was again. Neither of them said anything until the team moved
on. Then he turned to her.

"You won't get jolted much," he said. "They've been at it since four
o'clock this morning."

"That," said Agatha, "must have meant that you rose at three."

Wyllard smiled. "As a matter of fact, it was half-past two. There was
no dew last night, and we started early. I've several extra teams this
year, and there's a good deal of hay to cut. Of course, we have to get
it in the sloos or any damp place where it's long. We don't sow grass,
and we have no meadows like those there are in England."

Agatha understood that he meant t