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Buck, Charles Neville, 1879-1930

"A Pagan of the Hills"

Thar's some car-loads in thar right now, an'
threshin' time hain't nigh over yit."
Drawing a key from his pocket he took them into the small office, and
showed them the spaciously dimensioned interior. There were no windows
save high overhead, and only two doors. One of these was a great
sliding affair where the wagons backed up, and the other was small but
equally solid. It was a huge box of heavy timber, most of it
constituting the bin itself, but the old fellow showed it proudly--nor
was his pride misplaced, for with this great cube of massive timber,
his neighbors had met and overcome a perplexing handicap of nature.
They climbed a ladder and looked down into the reservoir partly filled
with golden grain, and Jerry, noticing a coil of rope hanging from an
upright, inquired: "Did ye hev a lynchin' in hyar by way of
house-warmin'?"
McGivins laughed, but his narrative had not yet come to uses of that
rope, and he refused to be hurried.
"Ye sees," he zestfully enlightened, "we've got a sort of table land of
wheat ground hyarabouts thet raises master crops--an' we've got a
railroad runnin' right past our doors ter haul hit out ter ther world
below.


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