it's Norwegians now, is it? I thought this was
Americy.'

"Then he goes up to the machine and yells
out to Ole Iverson, 'Hello, partner, let me up
there. I can cut bands, and I'm tired of tramp-
in'. I won't go no farther.'

"I tried to make signs to Ole, 'cause I
thought that man was crazy and might get the
machine stopped up. But Ole, he was glad to
get down out of the sun and chaff -- it gets
down your neck and sticks to you something
awful when it's hot like that. So Ole jumped
down and crawled under one of the wagons for
shade, and the tramp got on the machine.
He cut bands all right for a few minutes, and
then, Mrs. Harling, he waved his hand to me
and jumped head-first right into the thrashing
machine after the wheat.

"I begun to scream, and the men run to stop
the horses, but the belt had sucked him down,
and by the time they got her stopped he was
all beat and cut to pieces. He was wedged
in so tight it was a hard job to get him out,
and the machine ain't never worked right
since."

"Was he clear dead, Tony?" we cried.

"Was he dead? Well, I guess so! There,

[[203]]

p202 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p203w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p204

v?