{"product_id":"2940013683068","title":"Settlers of the Marsh","description":"On the road leading north from the little prairie town Minor two\u003cbr\u003emen were fighting their way through the gathering dusk.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBoth were recent immigrants; one, Lars Nelson, a giant, of three\u003cbr\u003eyears' standing in the country; the other, Niels Lindstedt,\u003cbr\u003eslightly above medium size, but compactly built, of only three\u003cbr\u003emonths'.  Both were Swedes; and they had struck up a friendship\u003cbr\u003ewhich had led to a partnership for the winter that was coming.\u003cbr\u003eThey had been working on a threshing gang between Minor and Balfour\u003cbr\u003eand were now on their way into the bush settlement to the north-\u003cbr\u003eeast where scattered homesteads reached out into the wilderness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was the beginning of the month of November.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNiels carried his suitcase on his back; Nelson, his new friend's\u003cbr\u003ebundle, which also held the few belongings of his own which he had\u003cbr\u003ealong.  He wore practically the same clothes winter and summer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAbove five miles from town they reached, on the north road, the\u003cbr\u003epoint where the continuous settlement ran out into the wild, sandy\u003cbr\u003eland which, forming the margin of the Big Marsh, intervened between\u003cbr\u003ethe territory of the towns and the next Russo-German settlement to\u003cbr\u003ethe north, some twenty miles or so straight ahead.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt this point the road leapt the Muddy River and passed through its\u003cbr\u003esheltering fringe of bush to strike out over a sheer waste of\u003cbr\u003eheath-like country covered with low, creeping brush.  The wind\u003cbr\u003ewhich had been soughing through the tree tops had free sweep here;\u003cbr\u003eand an exceedingly fine dust of dry, powdery ice-crystals began to\u003cbr\u003efly--you could hardly call it snow so far.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt did not occur to Niels to utter or even harbour apprehensions.\u003cbr\u003eHis powerful companion knew the road; where he went, Niels could\u003cbr\u003ego.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey swung on, for the most part in silence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe road became a mere trail; but for a while longer it was plainly\u003cbr\u003evisible in the waning light of the west; in the smooth ruts a film\u003cbr\u003eof white was beginning to gather.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe wind came in fits and starts, out of the hollow north-west; and\u003cbr\u003ewith the engulfing dark an ever thickening granular shower of snow\u003cbr\u003eblew from the low-hanging clouds.  As the trail became less and\u003cbr\u003eless visible, the very ground underfoot seemed to slide to the\u003cbr\u003esouth-east.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy that time they had made about half the distance they intended to\u003cbr\u003emake.  To turn back would have given them only the advantage of\u003cbr\u003egoing with, instead of against, the gathering gale.  Both were\u003cbr\u003eeager to get to work again: Nelson had undertaken to dig wells for\u003cbr\u003etwo of the older settlers in the bush country; and he intended to\u003cbr\u003eclear a piece of his own land during the winter and to sell the\u003cbr\u003ewood which he had accumulated the year before.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145770418416,"sku":"2940013683068","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013683068_p0.jpg?v=1763584490","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013683068","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}