week. There's lots of trouble," she went on rapidly. "Men are scarce, and we must get the crop cut, for it's dead-ripe. There's two thousand acres, and yesterday three men left; some more threaten to go. You will have to keep them here -and get some more if we are going to finish the harvest."

"How many men have you now?" "Fourteen, counting two that we got this morning from the tramps' camp over in town."

"Very well, I'll go out and see what can be done.'

"My nieces are here for a visit, and they are a great help to me they go after the men."

"Yes, I saw that." The remark was lost.

"There'll be another train in to-morrow, and maybe some will come on that." "I'll see to it." He backed out of the room and found the blue one sitting alone on the porch.

"How do you like your job?" she asked quietly.

"Fine. I worked in a boiler factory once.'

"Lately?"

"Last summer. By the way, what's your name and previous condition of servitude?"

"Lady of leisure; going to school; baptized Josephine Branch-Joe for short." "And your sister?"

"My cousin, you mean. Wilhelmina Herrick; also lady of leisure-Mina for short."

"I might as well begin business now. Will you show me where the employees are working?"

"Hired men, you mean. They are over beyond the barns. Come on."

Together they walked through shorn fields until they came to the big binders, each drawn by six straining horses, and where what seemed to Gregg a small army of helpers pitched into wagons countless bundles of wheat that were thrown off the machines with bewildering swiftness.

"Rather a husky lot," he suggested, looking over the men. Some were yet in their teens; others were older, but all had a virile, bronzed appearance that told of strong muscles and outdoor life.

"Some of them are college boys," Josephine volunteered. "That one over there with the curly hair says he's been at Yale."

Gregg started-and gazed keenly at the youth. No, he was sure they were strangers.

Then a bell rang at the house. The teams slowed, the sweaty collars loosened on the horses' tired necks, and a general movement toward the barns followed.

Gregg did not mingle with the workers that evening. He was busy taking dictation from Aunt Evaline. Among other things he found from her letters that she was a leader in the community and that she had much influence with her neighbors. Just now she was interested in obtaining a branch of the railroad to reach the centre of the wheat belt, and some of the letters went into great length on the subject.

Finally she arose. "I want you to do your best for me. Do everything you can to finish the harvest as soon as possible. It means the big part of the year's income. Good night."

Gregg slept in a cosey room facing a level field that seemed a lake of pale gold in the summer moonlight. He dreamed of blue and white sunbonnets flying through the air and shedding brilliant rays upon rippling acres of wheat-and it was morning with the sun shining across his pillow.

With the handsome horse and the dilapidated surrey he started early for town -to obtain more men. Really he wanted to buy some clothes, for his flannels did not seem to fit the surroundings.

The station was a busy place. A dozen teams were drawn up to the building; as many farmers were standing on the platform. They were talking excitedly. Gregg joined the group and learned that all wanted harvest hands and were arguing about the wages they should pay.

hour.

The train would not be in for an

He went to the general store and bought a corduroy suit, a wide-brimmed hat, a red handkerchief for necktie and collar combined, a pair of high boots, and, changing garments, was surprised to see what a gallant figure he made.

He also went to the newspaper office

and looked over the exchanges. He chuckled as he read in the previous evening's edition of the nearest city paper:

WHERE IS GREGG CAMERON?
SON OF VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE G. B.

R. R. MISSING-MAY HAVE
MET FOUL PLAY

The editor was not looking and he stuffed the paper in his pocket. When at the post-office among Aunt Evaline's mail he found the same edition, it also was confiscated. He visited the printingoffice again, the hardware store, and the telephone exchange, loading several packages in the back seat of the surrey.

A faint whistle sounded far down the track and he drove to the station. Slowly a long freight crept into the yards. On several of the cars sat men, their legs hanging over the eaves, all calmly taking in the picture in which figured the red depot, the water-tank, and the eager farmers. A few crawled down; the majority stayed in their places.

"We're on," was the reply, and six forms dropped to the ground.

"Get in that surrey, fellows. I'm going to show you the time of your young lives."

Loaded to the steps-the "runningboard" one youth called it-the surrey started away, to the astonishment and disgust of the farmers, many of whom drove off with empty wagons. No more men left the train, and soon it was dragging its cumbersome length westward.

"Didn't you get the Evening Star?" inquired Aunt Evaline as she took the mail. "Guess it did not come this morning,"

blithely replied Gregg, and hurried to the field to break in his new men.

When he returned, Josephine and Wilhelmina were sitting in the hammock hung beneath a cottonwood-tree.

"If we are going to gather this harvest we "Now, I want some help," he began. must keep our men and get some more." "That's what Aunt Evaline says." "She also says you get the men.' "Wilhelmina does that," remarked Josephine, "but she doesn't keep 'em." Wilhelmina sighed.

"Well, you go at it wrong," hurried on the private secretary, seeing that there was something in the girl's reference he did not understand.

"Did you ever hear of the word 'efficiency'?”

"Hear of it? I should say I have. My professors have ding-donged it at us for three years; the papers use it for big head-lines; lecturers and ministers wear it out; and Aunt Evaline talks about it as if it were a brand of face-powder. I'm sick of it. It ought to be ostracized from good society, it's so common."

"Oh, it's a pretty good word. In this case it means more attention to keeping the men, and less to getting them.' "What did I tell you, Mina?"

A contemptuous sniff was the only re

ply.

"For some of them that would mean a beer-garden and a ball-park."

"Now you are getting at it; and if you young ladies will act as my aides I'll show you a harvest-time efficiency that will stir up the neighborhood."

That afternoon Gregg drove the horse and surrey to the field, and at one end, near the uncut wheat, where all the workers came as they made a round, began mysterious labors. He drove stakes, he nailed boards; he fastened to the boards great sheets of white paper. Then with a heavy crayon he began drawing lines and writing names.

Back at the farmhouse his assistants were busy. They were uncoiling a long line of silk-wound wire from the sittingroom, through the open door, out across the lawn, past the barn, and finally to the strange apparatus in the field.

Gregg hurried along the line, did a few things to the telephone in the sitting

"Any Delta Theta Betas in this bunch?"-Page 264.

marked Gregg, adding more names and figures to the scores.

The men cheered and started on their round again. This time the horses were pushed to the limit of their strength, and bundles fairly flew into the wagons, so eager were the workers to make the circuit once more. "You are some schemer," remarked Josephine. "They'll work themselves to death."

That evening Gregg sat beside the men on the grass, smoking a pipe with the rest, and shouts of laughter greeted his stories that rolled out in endless array.

Then he began to sing rollicking college songs, and voice after voice joined. It ended with "Boola, boola," and the tribute to good old Eli Yale.

"Good night, boys; remember the entertainment to-morrow evening," and the new secretary was gone.

Josephine accompanied Gregg on his trip to town. the following morning. The ride through the fragrant fields was refreshing, and the horse was allowed to take its own pace. At the village Gregg visited two or three stores and the post-office. One page of the Star was missing when he handed. the paper to Josephinethere were more headlines that might cause trouble.

When the train pulled in another group of farmers lined the platform and another collection of harvest hands dotted the

roofs of the cars. Gregg secured only two this morning. Then away down toward the caboose he saw a sturdy young fellow with a great shock of yellow hair walking alongside the track, making for the depot.

man's features. Quickly pulling the red handkerchief to cover his chin and mouth, and depressing the wide brim of his hat, he pushed close and whispered one word. The stranger, startled, turned and followed him down the track to the freighthouse, back of the building, out of sight of the wondering farmers. Gregg faced him with handkerchief down and hat