"It's fierce to-night," Devine remarked. "Do you think there'll be a good turn-out of the Allenwood boys?"
"The cold won't stop them. I expect the Colonel has sent round to whip them up."
"I guess you're right. Do you know, now that I've met one or two of them I see something in you and Hester that's in them. Can't tell you what it is, but it's there, and it was plainer in your father. What are they like when you get to know them?"
"Much the same as the rest of us."
"The rest of us! Then you don't claim to be different from the general prairie crowd?"
Harding frowned.
"I suppose I wouldn't mind being thought the best farmer in the district," he said; "but that's all the distinction I care about."
"You'll get that easy enough. You've gone ahead fast, Craig, and you're going farther; but you may have some trouble on the way. When a man breaks a new trail for himself and leaves other men behind, it doesn't make them fond of him."
"Oh, I have no delusions on that point. To attain success, one cannot hope to travel a balmy road."
"Why do you want to rope in the Allenwood boys?" Devine asked curiously.