11
in more cases than not was able to dispose of it to the
soldiers. Certainly no one but a soldeier would have bought

the Swenstrom place of evil repute.

Jake took his time about arising in the morning. There
were few chores to do. He had whittled his days down to an
almost scientific minimum of labor. Prior to the war Jake had
been a n excellent farm hand, whose services were in demand
by all the farmers of the district. Since his return his

aversion to wnrk had lost him more than one friend, and earned

‘Y

'him such terms as “worthless,” "lazy", and "goodfornothing."

Howbeit, Jake had returned with a vast leathing for exertion
or labor of any sort or kind; He had one great desire -~

to lie out in the sun with his dogs and arise only when it was
necessary to eat. Occasionally he suffered from moods of
activity when he chopped wood, broke a bit of land, put in a
crop of oats, and even cut some hay. Rather then milk the cow,
with which the aforesaid gra teful government had provided him,
Jake had pxspxxndx preferred to "tickee the tin" —~ an Alberta
expression for using canned milk. He subsisted to a large
extent upon game and the woods supplied him with ample food for
both himself and his dogs.

Jake had a rheumatic left knee that was an infallible
weather prophet. He could tell by the Kidd and extent of his
twinges exactly what the weather was due to be like on the follow~
ing day.

It so happened that on the night when half the country