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The roof, which was constructed of recumbent poles placed at the usual angle, and covered with blocks of turf, seemed fairly sound; but the sky gleamed through a circular space to remind us of the stove which had not arrived with us at Lipton. In one corner of the shack two collapsible, canvas-covered stretchers lay side by side; these, with the forlorn-looking hunting sketch by Basil Nightengale, were the full force of the household goods. There was a detached air of welcome about the familiar sketch, but the stretchers seemed only to accentuate the nakedness of the land.
Hilaria threatened to become hysterical, but my brother suddenly announced that he had forgotten lamp-oil and lantern chimneys, which at once inspired her to the sensible solution of a difficult situation.
"If you want supper, Klarnz," she commanded, "just get a hustle on. Light a fire and boil the kettle at once. You can whistle dirges and admire me later on. Hold to these hats, Lal, whilst I dive for the ham."
Lal's anxiety concerning the hats was so palpably inferior to his anxiety concerning the ham, that I promptly rescued his light but expensive burden, and turning into the shack to deposit them on my dressing bag, remembered that it contained the fag end of a candle, and that a candle placed in a drip of its own wax will do its duty as brightly as if placed in a candlestick of gold.
In less than ten minutes the kettle sang gaily to a cheerful and warmth-giving blaze. The dry wood of the prairie burns with strength as well as speed, and after sundown, even in the hot months of July and August, the air is often tinged with the delicate breath of ice, when the camp-fire can be as welcome as godsend as the sun itself.
Supper was laid out on one of the stretchers. The ham, released from brown paper, tin-foil, and the inner travelling garments of the comestible, was the piece de resistance, and held on to its somewhat treacherous situation in the centre of the stretcher by sheer force of avoirdupois. Cups, saucers, plates, and cutlery all made slding overtures towards it from their orthodox positions upon the festal board. Hilaris sat upon the recumbent sack of flour, and Lal upon a portmanteau. I chose the more lofty but less convenient support of the hat-box. Klarnz knelt. The ham was horribly salt, but no one remarked on it. We took it thankfully with the crackers, and milkless tea, and then, in loyal obedience to Hilaria, we washed up-all save Klarnz, whose hands returned to his pockets, as he watched Hilaria with admiration untinged with awe, until I, hwo know every sign of the times in Hilaria's deep blue eyes, promised to do Lal's share of the drying-up if he would pitch the tent and induce Klarnz to retire.
Hilaria and I gazed silently at each other, and then at our environment. Under the clear bright light of the moon patches of silvering water gleamed here and there from the strange but very sweet serenity of the prairie. The evening song of the poplars whispered us welcome from a neighboring bluff. A weird bird gave us greeting on a plaintive note. Cackle, chant, and the ceaseless hum of living creatures, which awake from the habitations if ice-bound earth, into the sudden joy of summer life on the Canadian prairie, echoed the Magnificent first sung in unforgotten Eden. The indefinable spirit of the prairie that leaps and yearns towards the joy of life in every leaf and flower and grass-blade of summer-time, and broods over it in sure white pall of winter, throbbed as a welcome. And the stars came out, not only in the bewildering millions which mantle heaven in the countries of clear atmosphere, but all the dear familiar friends of home were there, peering down on us in pleased surprise; and the sword of Orion was on guard when I fastened the door of the shack and said good-night.
taken from page 111, 112, 113
A Summer on the Canadian Prairie
Lipton - The Prairie
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Wheat and Woman
Also by Georgina Binnie-Clark
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