Now and then we passed Winston on the prairie or saw him from the trail, but I think I only once spoke to him." "Well," said the officer, "it seems to me I had better get you sent back to your old station, where you can quietly pick up the threads again.

Would the trooper you mentioned be fit to keep an eye on things at Silverdale ?" "No one better, sir," said Stimson.
"Then it shall be done," said the officer.

"The quieter you keep the affair the better." It was a week or two later when Winston returned to his homestead from the bridge, which was almost completed.

Dusk was closing in, but as he rode down the rise he could see the wheat roll in slow ripples back into the distance.

The steady beat of its rhythmic murmur told of heavy ears, and where the stalks stood waist-high on the rise, the last flush of saffron in the northwest was flung back in a dull bronze gleam.