The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-08-19

at the river bank dozen times dur
ing the morning; and when, little
after noon, saw stranger ride In
through the pasture and lead his
horse to the sheds, was conscious
of distinct relief.
"Olson's sent somebody to stay on
his RANCH" ventured, indiscreetly.
ANY Of our business?" Lafe
scorched me into silence. "He could,
easy enough. Plenty of Norwegians
along the creek"
Apparently the new man was for
household service only; that Is, he
may have milked the COWS and fed
the chickens and attended to turning
out and gathering in the stock, but
his industry did not extend as far
as the bayfield,. Lafe commented on
| the fact day or two after his
arrival.
They're going to lose their sec
ond crop over there" he pointed out.
You'd think Olson'd get back and
tend to It,"
"Of course his wife's sick" I ex-
cused him. "Serve him right, any
how" / hastened, to cover up my
weakness.
BY another day there was no ques-
tion as to the need of immediate cut
ting II the alfalfa were to yield good
grade of hay. From end to end of
the field the feathery purple bios
SONS waved above the green. was
less at home than Lafe in ranch mat
ters, but even I could see that the
strength needed in the stalk was
rapidly being spent upon flowers. Sc
cretly each of us sent many anxious
glances along the road by which Oh
son must return.
When he had been gone a week,
, Lafe, staring at the brilliant field,
suddenly announced his intention.
I'm going to cut it," he declared.
and at once flung round to forestall
my protest. II suppose you think
it's all right to let good hay spoil,
but l tell you It isn't only Olson II
hurts. If that hays spoilt, there's
that much less hay in the valley, and
everybody's cattle"
How'll you cut It? Your fathers
got the mowers" interposed, practi-
! cally.
"Olson's mowers here. Come on,
let's get start on it."
| With Lafe to decide was to act
especially when his father was absent.
Our own chores were but half done,
but in twenty minutes We were hitch
ing our horses outside Olson's wagon
! shed.
| The man in charge came up from
the calf-pen as we finished harness.
ing, and stood about, watching us.
lie was boy only year of two older
than Lafe, and a Norwegian in good
earnest, without a word of English
to his credit. He did not object
| to our taking out the mower, but
when we turned 1t in the direction of
the bayfield,, he suddenly became vo-
cal with protests.
II expect Olson told him to look
| out for u.s." Lafe interpreted. He
swung his whip in wide circle.
tits all right" he shouted back.
Good work! Amigo!"
The Spanish word did not seem to
, clear the mazes of the Norwegian
mind to any extent. The boy fol-
lowed, calling out after us until Lafe
whipped up the horses and left him
breathless in the background.
The field was fairly level and the
cutting not hard work. Lafe rode the
first swath, the second, and so on,
and at the end of every row we
stopped to exchange comments ON our
progress.
We had covered perhaps quarter
of the field when suddenly we heard
behind us a sound like the explosion
of many little closed buckets of boil
ing water. We turned. and Olson
was standing, at the gate, just dis
mounted, watching us. His mouth
was open and his face brick-red.
What what-"he began,
stammering.
Lafe faced him in the strength of
conscious virtue.
Were cutting your hay for you.
You let it stand so long it'd been
spoiled by the end of the week"
He picked up stalk, on which the
blossom was already beginning to
brown, and handed it to the owner.
Olson took it. He crumbled the top
between his fingers for a moment.
Then the power of speech came to
him.
You were cutting my hay, were
you? And | wass raising alfalfa for
seed"
He picked up his horses bride
and started out of the field. We fol-
lowed-slowly. We were nearly at
the sheds before any one of us
spoke. Then, II should think you
would be mad!" Lafe gulped forth.
"Wass it your father sent your"
the owner asked, without turning his
head
Hes up the creek. We just saw
I.