as they found time hanging heavily upon their hands. They begged the
foreman to permit them to work with the section crew during the months
of their vacation, but as they had not sufficient strength to do the
strenuous work required of a section laborer, the foreman had to refuse
their request. Then they tried to find employment amongst the scattered
ranches which here and there commenced to break the monotony of the
prairie, but as the planting had been finished long ago, and the harvest
would not commence until after school had re-opened, their appeals were
in vain. Then they discovered that we had stacked a lot of useless,
decayed railroad ties in the backyard of the section house, and they
reduced these into stove lengths. After this task had been finished,
despair seemed to have taken hold of the boys as there was nothing for
them to do to occupy their time.

Idleness breeds mischief. One morning when their good mother wondered
why Joe and Jim did not show up at the breakfast table, she sent Donald,
her eldest boy, upstairs to arouse them. He returned and reported that
they were not in their room. Her hasty investigation proved that they
had not only not occupied their beds, and their savings bank had been
emptied of its contents, but the broken-hearted mother was nearly
frantic when she found that her thoughtless sons had disappeared without
leaving even a short note apprising her of their intentions, or at least
bidding her a brief farewell.

This was the last and most cruel blow an unkind fate had inflicted upon
poor, suffering Mrs. McDonald, and it was days before they were sure
that she would not succumb. In the meantime the foreman and every other
friend of the sorrow-stricken widow put every bit of legal and police
nachinery they could command into motion, trying to find at least a
trace of the twins, and although for weeks they searched far and wide,