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mm* ,7> » , > ' ? . • ; • c ^ * y HOME AGAIN SYNOP8I8.--Lured fey hti teary «*r-old playmate. Jean Lan*. Prank Hall, aged six. venture* t on the forbidden wall of a dam, In a small Ontario town. He falls Into the water and la saved from possible death by clinging to Jeans outstretched arms. Next day Jean Informs him that because of their adventure of tha day befora he la in duty bound to marry her. Ha agrees when they are "grownups." With Jean'a brother, John, also aged six. Prank begins schooL Two years later they are Joined by Jean and Frank's sister Marjorle. A little later Jean confides to Frank, in verse, her hope of <iOme day becoming "Mrs. Hall." 'Ha accepts the "proposal." Frank is fourteen when his mother dies. Tha boys are eighteen when John's father Is killed In an accident. Two years later Frank's father and John's mother are married. Dissatisfied with conditions, and ambitious, tha two boys make plans to go to Manitoba and "homestead," the girls agreeing to go with them. They set out. At Regtna they meet "Jake," who agrees to find them satisfactory homesteads. He does so, and the two friends file claims on Sections Fourteen and Twenty-two. Jake aagely advises tha adventurers In the purchase of supplies. and In a wagon draWn by a yoke of oxen, and with a cow, the four arrive at their futura homes. Construction of "shacks" and the making of a garden ara their first occupations. A young Englishman of the name of "Spoof" la a neighbor. They call on Spoof, who la living In a tent. Spoof, on bis return visit, discloses himself as a man of varied social attainments. Frank's Jealousy Is aroused. Marjorle discovers that they have a new neighbor. "He" turns out to ba a Mrs. Alton, a widowed Englishwoman, who, with her threeyear- old son Gerald has taken up a claim. Frank and John leave the homesteads for a time to do harvest work for wagea on a longer-established farm. \ f'. CHAPTER VIII--Continued "Fish? Shoals of 'em. Say, In •bout four days I begun to get as nnch mail as a new millionaire. An' photographs I I wish I had some to •how yon, but she--Bella--burned 'cm ail up. They were what I call pictures o' real life. I got so much mail ttie postman says to me, 'Whatya doln*, Jake; startin' a lottery?' an' 1 says 'Yep.' Goes* I wasn't far oat, «l that "Well, Just as I was thlnbin*. ©' foin' to a business college an' hlrin' a f»w dozen stenographers, along comes this telegram." He produced a yellow Jkeet. "Meet ma at Regina station Thursday five p. m. you'll know ma I am tfea only ona In tha world. Ball* Donna.1 "Well, 1 reckons right off that Bella Donna Is an alibi, or whatever you call a false name, an' that some o' the boys is pulling a gag on me, but Uke a fool down I goes to the station, an' there I saw her comin' right up the platform like a sandhill crane out of a marsh. I knew her, jus' like she •aid, 60 when she comes up 1 calls ber hand. " 'Madam,' says I, 'are you the lady o* the porous plaster?* "'I'll plaster you,' says she, If you five me any o' yer lip. But do you happen to know, a Mr. Jake?' says •he, gettln* out a paper; "here's his address.' - " 'Know him P says L 1 should say •». An' in case you're thinkin' o' marryin' him let me tell you some- . til in', jus' between friends. .Jake buries a wife once a year, reg'lar.' "'He does, eh?" says she. 'Well, I'm promisin' I'll be a relic' before he's a widower,' says she. 'Relic* is what she said, but It didn't sound right to me. " That's bettln' on a cinch,' says I,. •meanin' that she would get the red ribbon for relics at Regina fair already, but my wit goes over her head, as It of en does, an' she comes backat roe with 'Wha'd' you knonK 'bout anybody marryin' Mr. Jake?* " 'Everythin', says I, humpin' my wishbone with Importance. 'Jake tells me everythin'. I'jn his spirituoal adviser, so to speak, which Includes matrimony. The women that wants to marry Jake--lots of 'em rich, too, madam,' I says. 'I'm steerin' him clear o* them every day,' I says, "partly out o' sympathy'for them, on account o' his--his severe habits,' 1 •ays. "'Who are you, anywayr says she. an with that I flashes my telegram on her. 'I'm the party of the first part; says I, as they say in the law offices. "'So you're Jake,' she says, pullln' herself up till all her angles stood out like the haunches of a starved mustang. # ,Well, you got a h--1 of a< nerve', she says. I begun to think maybe she was about right, but she gave me no for reflections. • 'Where's a preacher?* she says. Tou wanted speed, an* yer goin' to get it.' With that she hustled me over town an' had me married before I knew It, so I'd have to settle fer the supper, as I flggered It out afterward. Then after supper we go to ; my shack an' she climbs Into my buslness papers Uke a hound after garbage. "'Wha'd' you do fer a HTUT, may 1 , aakf she says. *"Do!' says I, musterln' all my dlg- ^ nlty. Tm a specialist--a specialist In t • land* l know the sections with the V-y- wea-* lun» an* the bwken knees an" the spavined joints, an* it a man pays . me enough I pat him wise, an- it he don* I let him get wise at hia own expense,' Hays L Tm a specialist, an I charge like a specialist.' I says. - "'HumphI' nays she. Jus' like that yoer Una words I flgsar that |. ,I > mi By ROBERT STEAD little body who seemed llkelfr to have plenty to wist over before children were raised on the living that a eamekeeper would wring from the On the northwest of Eighteen, Just four miles west of as, a Scottish shipbuilder named Smith bad located; He appeared to be unmarried. Threa miles north of us, on Thirty-four, a Swede named Hansen had built shanty twelve feet square. In which he was housed with his wife and ais children, and on Thirty-six a Russian had dug himself a sort of cave in the bank of the gully. He, too, had a wife and numerous offspring, but tha yet you pick up a dollar now an' again by totin' these tenderfoot sod-busters out over the bald-headed.* I dunno where she got it, but she had all the language necessary, an' more. 'Let me see your bank book,' "So I dug It up, an' It showed a balance In my favor of forty-three dollars an' twenty cents. Fortunate there was nothln' in It about the hundred dollars I owed at the livery stable fer the board o' the flyin' ants, bnt I let sleepln' dogs lie, as the sayln' is. " 'How old are you, Jake, dear?" she says, all of-a sudden •Forty-three,' I says, perhaps because that was the Agger In my mind at the moment, an' I was shavln' it a little, at that. "Then you've SMde a year--so far,' says she, dropping* back to her nat'ral voice that kind o' sounds like two millwheels an' tween 'em. 'You'll die before you're sixty,' she says; 'I can see It in your eyes,' although I wasn't lookln' at her, flndin' that rather painful, 'an' leave an estate o' less than sixty dollars. Jake, that wouldn't buy me an outtit fer the funeral, fer believe me I'm goin' to do you justice when the time comes. We're goin' to take a homestead.' " 'Not me,' I says. The aeat o' my democrat is as near as I want to get to a homestead. They're all right fer sod-busters, but fer a woman o' culture--' I thought that would get her, but she was as lmperv*ous to as an ox to an oration, so to 'Very well,' says she. 'If won't take a homestead, I will.' 'You can't,' says I, boldness. 'You ain't a With that she gives me another o* those through-the-gizzard-and-nailedto- the-wall looks o' hers. 'I will be, In about twenty seconds,' she says. If there's any more discussion,' she aaya. So here we are." Have you located?" I asked Jake, when he was silent for a minute, and seemed to have dropped off Into meditation. "Yep. It was easy fer me, knowin' as I do ev'ry willow between the Sourls an* the Saskatch'wan." We expressed the hope that Bella Donna would prove a sticker. "She will," Jake prophesied. "Of course, that ain't her real name; I Jus' gave you that fer--fer Instance, an' her first name's Bella, so It's half true, which Is a pretty good average In this country. Wait 'til you see us, a-chariotin' behind the flyin' ants over to Fourteen an' Twenty-two. I'm figgerin' on organlxin' a school dtatric' right away." We gave Jake our btesslng and watched him ride off In his wobbly democrat with Its Spring seat uptllted t'o larboard and his fat figure settling down like a sack with a hat on it Sitting on the grassy knoll, digesting our lunch by the aid of the straws which each of us was unconsciously chewing, we watched Jake until he' was a speck In the distance. "What do you make of if?" said I •t last "I'm not saying," was Jack's cautious rejoinder. "Either he's married, or he isn't." But we had occasion to be thankful we had fallen in with Jake, for he had been able to direct us to a farmer within a day's drive who hired both us and our oxen for the harvest, or until the beginning of threshing. It was the middle of October, and there • was a crisp tang in the air night and morning, before we again hit^he trail for Fourteen and Twentytwo. During all this time we had no word from our homes, as there was no one to carry mail in or out, and It was with anxious and eager hearts that we hurried Buck and Bright along the homeward Winding trail. On the second day, as we were bowling along at the t'wo-and-a-halfuiile- an-hour clip which Buck and Bright considered the limit of furious driving. Jack drew my attention to a speck on the horizon ahead of us. It grew rapidly, and although there was no mirage this time to bring our visitor down from heaven, we soon were able to discern the scarlet uniform of the mounted police. It came along at the smart trot to which the police horse is educated, and in half an hour Harold Brook drew up beside us. "Hello, Lane and Hall!" the policeman greeted us. "Getting back from your harvest excursion?" So it was evident he knew we bad been away, and why. But Jack, whether he thought of this or not, answered him cordially. "We're on the home stretch," he admitted, "and old Fourteen and Twenty- two will look pretty good to us, after cook cars and cabooses." The lightest kind of a smile flickered about Brook's Hps. "And so It should." he agreed, "with two fine girls such as adorn your respective homesteads. I was In the district last, night." "Were the girls well?" I. forced myself to say, partly because I felt my silence waa beginning to shout, and partly because of a real anxiety about them. I believe so, I -didn't see them, myself; came In by the south and landed first with your neighbor, Spoof. Capital chap; I stayed overnight with him, and smoked up nearly all of his Eng llsh tobacco. At breakfast I finished his last Jar of marmalade, so If Spoof is flying a flag of distress when you reach home"you will know the cause of It. Imagine an Englishman without marmaladje--breakfast without marmalade l My dear fellow, I'm English myaeit, and I--I assure you It Isn't .done." 1 i?" «Wst--- i persisted. I Buoea *as been keeping-a neighborly eye on them. I meant to call on you, of gpursa, but when Spoof told me you were away I stayed with him. He assured me that everyone Is flt at Fourteen and Twenty-two." This was good news and a weight off Besides, It was evidence that In the twinges of my Jealousy toward Brook I fell somewhat short of doing him Justice. Brook was a decent fellow, and was playing the game. "Just a suggestion," said the policeman, after a moment. "This Is your first autumn on the prairies, and you can't be too careful about fire. These warm days and frosty nights are the of the year. I found Spoof had no fire guardp, so I showed him how to make them, and I took the liberty of hinting that he go to Fourteen and Twenty-two and see that the buildings are properly protected." We thanked Brook, and he saluted and rode away, his red tunic slowly fading out of view in the cloud of dust which his horsS kicked up from the bone-dry trail. "Very decent chap. Brook," said Jack, after a while, and I said, "Yes." It was with a strange pounding of the heart that we at last discerned the outlines of the shacks of our little settlement. Mrs. Alton's came first Into view, then Spoofs, then, together, the buildings on Fourteen and Twenty- two. A gust of homesickness swept up and took sudden possession of me,- and I, realized for the first' time how much I had become attached to the little square on the thousand-mile fabric of the prairies which I had already learned to think of as home. Gaunt and bare they may be, but the prairies have a way of winding themselves about the heart with bands that are stronger than steel. If we had been anxious, we were eager, too; eager with the news of of our successful season's work; with anticipation of the bright faces which would greet the roll of crisp new bank bllla that Jack carried tv an lnalde I Held Her and Kissed Her and Would Not Let Her Go. vest pocket: eager to display the load of provisions and supplies whlcb had been bought with part of our earnings. We must bave been fully'a mile from the houses when we discerned the first evidences of life. A little figure darted out of the shack on Twenty-two to the edge of the gully; then for a few minutes sank from sight; then reappeared on our side of the stream and rushed into the shack on Fourteen. Almost Instantly two figures appeared al the door; paused for a moment, then swooped like wild tilings down the trail toward us. And we stood up on the top of the wagon and waved our hats and yelled like mad, until even Spoof down on section Two must have heard us. And old Buck and Bright, their phlegmatic souls at last awakened by that strange power that lies at the root of all creation and which is friendship and love and all the shadings of affection which lie between-- or perhaps it was by the smell of the haystack at their own stables--joined in the spirit of the occasion and broke forth In a most surprising gallop*their hoofs click-clacking and their tracechains lashing the whlffletreea as they ran. Soon we came up, and there were the girls, wonderful, lithe, sunburned, radiant, hatless, golden hair streaming in the golden light at the end of day, arms extended, white teeth gleam lng, measureless, ineffable. In the beauty and wonder of their young womanhood! We sprang from the wagon and--I don't know how It happened-- Jean ran straight Into my arms. Not Marjorle--I didn't see what became of her--I didn't stop to look;-- Jean ran straight Into my arms! 1 held her there, held her with the strength of ten weeks' harvesting In my muscles and of all my young hot boyhood In °nqr veins; held her would not let the we had been little children together, playing by the dam where the waterwheel across the river tossed Its dancing diamonds In the air, I aad kissed ber and would not "lot ber go- Across the fields of crisp and brittle grass we trudged together, disregarding tiie trail and the measureless swoon of that sunset world as we swept homeward on the flood-tide of our happi- Her firm little arm pressed tight against mine and our limbs swung together In the rhythm of our stride. And I looked down In her face I saw a light that was not altogether the glint of the setting sun. But In that most poetic moment' of her life Jean forgot to be poetic. Once more she slipped her arm about me. "Gee, it's good to And In what should have I supreme hour I found myself lng whether Jean's passion \ or Juat plain loneliness. * CHAPTER IX That was a but The girls confessed that they had on the lookout for us since the first of the month. They had even borrowed Spoofs field glass so that they could sweep the horizon to the eastward far beyond Mrs. Alton's. "He's the strangest sort' of chap, Is Spoof," said Jean. "Will you believe me, he hasn't been Inside this house since you left? Used to walk over from time to time, and see that tne pigs and the cows were living In harmony. and that the fuel bad not given out', but was always In a rush home again. Never saw such a man for work; quite different from what he used to be." Jack looked his sister over with an eye that did not reserve all its approval for Marjorle. "We thought you would have been an accomplished banjolst by now," he said. "Not a lesson--not a single lesson In all this time," Jean grumbled. "And now I suppose he'll be over tomorrow to Indulge us with the pent-up leisure of two months!" Jean'B nalvette was little greatar than mine. We had been brought up with a sound training in the rudiments of behavior, but with little knowledge of its social complexities. My feeing in the matter was a mixed sense of surprise that our neighbor, usually so friendly, had held aloof at a time when he was particularly needed, and of annoyance that Jean should be so obviously put out about It. The girls had a strange treat In reserve for us. It was Jean who Ibid us. of It, although, as it seemed to me, her manner suggested a certain Jack of frankness very unlike Jean. It seemed that a few days before our return a jack rabbit had loped up within easy distance of the shanty door, where he perked himself on his hind legs, taking observations. Marjorle took the gun down from the wall, aimed It with great deliberation, and fired. Jean declared that the rabbit was not hit, but that be died of fright. Be that aa it may, he furnished the filling for a very deep and tempting rabbit pie. "And only to think," said Jean, her bright -eyes dancing, "It would scarcely have kept any longer. We were managing to freeze it a little at nights, but it would thaw out during the day." "I don't know but It Is a little overkept as it Is," Marjorle admitted, "but we're going to eat it tonight." And so we sat about our little table, with the great rabbit pie in the middle, and great helpings of white potatoes and onions on. our plates, and flaky white bread and yellow homemade butter within reach, and the light beating down from an oil lamp on the Wall, and would not have changed places with anyone on earth. The next day revealed changes tn the neighborhood which we had not had time to notice or discuss in the evening. A number of settlers had come in. Ttye girls had not seen any of them, but could give almost as accurate descriptions asx^hough they had. It seems Spoof had come over to Fourteen every Sunday afternoon during our absence, and, for all the shyness against which Jean had protected, he had managed to regale the girls with the gossip of the commynlty, for our two little shacks were really becoming the center of a neighborhood. From Spoof they learned that the Browns had landed from England with three children and hardly anything else, and had built a shack on the southwest quarter of Four. Mr. Brown' bad been a gamekeeper In England. His wife was a Ola Hansen bad said, when discussing the subject with Spoof. And as Ole regarded his own six hopefuls as "yust a nice commcoce," the imagination was rather stirred by we possibilities of what the cave on Thirty-alx might disclose to the census taker. "How do you say his name?" Spoof had Inquired^ "Yah don' say ft. Yih sneexe It," Ole explained. "Sneezit--that'll do," said Spoof. And so, quite without his knowledge or consent, our Russian neighbor was supplied with an English name; a ^ which may some day--who pride by ona of Then there can from Iowa, a man with a lust for labor and for doing things on a big scale. He and his wife had landed on section Twenty about the middle of August, and, Ignoring the tradition that It Is useless to break prairie sod In the fall, had already turned over a broad strip from end to end of their quarter section. Bnrke It waa who Introduced mules Into From what the girls were able to gather from Spoof mules called for an than did "And you want us to believe thai Spoof told you ail these things without ever coming Into the house?" I challenged. "Never a foot over the doorstep," said Jean. That Is, hardly ever. Iffe a big country; why be so particular for a foot or two?" "Oh, Tm not; not it all. I'm mere* ly checking up what you said last' night" "In my Intoxication over your r®» turn! How could you, Frank?" And with that I had to be satisfied. "But the best is yet!" Marjorle claimed. "Guess who's married?" "Jake!" we answered together. "Oh; somebody told. Yes, Jake. Ha and his wife are settled on Sixteen. They've a little shack up, and Jake Is farming the community, as he calls It 'Acquaintances,' he says, 'are about all I'll be able to cultivate this year.' He spends most of his time at Spoofs, but I don't notice that Spoof's work goes along any quicker on that account. They called on us a couple of times--Jake and his wife, I mean; they have the advantage over the other settlers of having a light wagon and a team of ponies, which make it easy for them to get about Mrs. Jake impresses one as being angular and competent, with perhaps more heart In her than her appearance would suggest They say it was an agency match." At that point we took up the story with Jake's account of bis courtship and wedding, censored, of course, to suit the audience. "That's mostly lies," said Marjorle, In ber matter-of-fact way. "He advertised for her all right, but he went to Minneapolis to meet her, and it was only when he promised to go on a homestead that she consented to come. Shg told me that much; said she'd had enough of the town, and wanted to get away from everything and everybody. She has a touch of humor, too; said, 'I guess that's what I did, all right, when I came out on the bald-headed with Jake.'" "But the telegram? He hid her telegram." "He must hare faked that. He knew he would meet you boys before he went back, •and he bad # story made up to show hlmadl in the best light possible." "How about Mrs. Alton?" I asked. "She doesn't come out. We've gone over a couple of times, and she receives us with great friendliness, but when we ask her to return our visit she always makes out that she can't leave the boy. Of course she eould bring him with ber, so that Is only an excuse. For some reason she wants to stick close to bar stead." The Change lH the hills, Ridge. "How about facetious tourist "Same as all the rest It that the blacksmith done c ry. He'd hook onto your aching tooth and drag you all over the surrounding scenery if the fang didn't come out be- The same blacksmith la still but he don't hurt as to. Now he simply a clUb and pulla the tooth before you come to. Aw, I tell times have City Star. Modern Marvel is that the phrase, "the m look Uke dollar THE CHICAGO WHTTB LBAD * OIL OCX 1M> Sc. m a. Waam Asa, CMov* H. Wall Finish Frank doesnt seem te be flatting along vary faat In hie wooing. Is he going to win or loeet Centuries Have Seen No Change in Hammer iSiL-is .x: Recently an old hammer waa found embedded In a mass of concrete to which was attached a piece of Roman tile. From the broken crockery found with it there, is no doubt that it must have been a Roman hammer dating from the Second or Third century. The fortunate discoverer of this Interesting relic was carrying' it off In triumph to his office when he happened to pass a workman nailing a carpet with what Is known as an upholsterer's hammer. This, on Inspection turned out to ba an exact rep- Uea of the Roman Instrument, cept that it-waa very slightly smaller. The bevel on the Inside of the "claw* of the nail wrench was the same. The same number of rivets was used to attach tiie head to the wooden handle, and these rivets were- fixed in exactly the same positions. As "Q. W.," writing of the Incident In one of the papers, remarked: "So with all our vaunted progress, there seem to be some things which, having once been designed to meet a apecial need, cannot be Improved upon so lew aa the Ifcnlil Mttlala* AAMkA ll > ^ (TO BE CONTINUED.) Tested Patron«* H ospitality Stepping into a taxlcab the other day, says the Paris Intransigeant • fare discovered a package of chocolate lying on the seat Without hesitation he put It In bis pocket, paid tha chauffeur, adding a good pourboire, and was about to depart when the driver called out! "What about my chocolate?" , "Your chocolated queried the client greatly taken aback. Then, the chauffeur explained that he was testing the honesty of his fares, and of eleven whom he had carried that morning only two had Informed him that a package of chocolate was lying on the seat. The two honest folk were a sergeant leaving for Morocco and a milliner's messenger girl. "Honest people are scareV Mdd,tfce yhlleaophla cbaoffebr. first Crop Paid • for His Lands «fc. . «TN 1920," cays Mr. Adolph Bellard, of St. Paul de X Metis, a district in Alberta, Canada, "I had twenty- , five acres of wheat, which yielded forty buihdt per acre.** ^ Torty bushels per acre! >|p: With wheat at, say, $1.50 per boahel, forty baahela gtvtl a return of $60.00 per acre. '% Yet, you can buy land in Canada capable of growing; the bnt wheat in the world for $15.00 to $20.00 per acre) j Started With $1,50000 Now Worth $20,000.00 Adolph Bellard came to Canada from Rice Lake, Wisconsin, in 1911, with $1,500.00 capital. He settled [ In "park" country of Central Alberta--wwiwi prairie and woodland. To-day, he is worth $20,000.00, owns a half section of fine, rich land, with good buildings > all the necessary livestock and equipment. "This is a splendid country." say* he, "with plenty of water, i ti*"* for cattle, whiph run out all Wiat^Cp -• .*5 Xhere if a New Opportunity For You in Canada r, O0KS YAW a NEW M b. Qii Its rich,, mod fateoer crop* at lower coat, is a country of real, to^SwWwbere fertile Csnna of thdr omn may be had at low cot. yoor otBT ad&bort Jost acRMB «n Imaginary line, offers TOO tills chance; MmOly folk, thrifty, law-abiding and industrious. You wffl enjoy free political Institotkro, free public schools, and an mdaedOmenimen*'. baaed on the mt will of • free people. , Canada has mat are* of ifcb, fertile, virgin land swatting improve- , * ment along the nflfoads, at prices racing from $15.00 to $20.00' « per aacTrul^ Improved tons at somewhat higher pricey with (ong terms of payment tf desired. Free homesteads, farther jpA, for pioneer*. This la the anpreme chanre of tiie present tVnui to Canada^ Pamphlets silk ftdl Use this ooupon. Z RoomA>320 Ottawa. <*eeda pbMS ••ad jrow fceek « Item | OpporMBitks Ja- CMNrfa. I Ifc-- 1 tin , |Ta*rnu -8Mta (Writ# &am« •ad mhimm plainly) tti