use here, though he used to pick up money
by it at home.

"If they're nice people, I hate to think
of them spending the winter in that cave of
Krajiek's," said grandmother. "It's no better
than a badger hole; no proper dugout at all.
And I hear he's made them pay twenty dol-
lars for his old cook-stove that ain't worth
ten."

"Yes'm," said Otto; "and he's sold 'em his
oxen and his two bony old horses for the
price of good work-teams. I'd have interfered
about the horses -- the old man can under-
stand some German -- if I'd 'a' thought it
would do any good. But Bohemians has a
natural distrust of Austrians."

Grandmother looked interested. "Now,
why is that, Otto?"

Fuchs wrinkled his brow and nose. "Well,
ma'm, it's politics. It would take me a long
while to explain."

The land was growing rougher; I was told
that we were approaching Squaw Creek, which
cut up the west half of the Shimerdas' place
and made the land of little value for farm-
ing. Soon we could see the broken, grassy
clay cliffs which indicated the windings of the

[[23]]

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