make dinner and took
possession of his shanty. They worked with a will. The logs were hauled
and built into heaps and fire set, and every art the backwoodsman knows
was used to make them burn. As ashes were scraped they were shovelled
into the boxes on the sleds and started for Magarth's, returning with
small loads of boards. With so many hands the small clearance was, late
in the afternoon, put in such a shape that Archie and two men who
remained could do the rest. Before the week was out, he had oats and
peas sown, and a patch reserved for corn and potatoes. At Magarth's $10
had been placed to his credit for ashes delivered.

As he was cooking his breakfast Archie was surprised by a sound at a
distance which he recognized as the strokes of an ax. Listening with
rapt attention, there came, in a few minutes, the familiar crash of a
tree falling. 'That means I have got a neighbor: somebody has taken a
lot at the end of the concession,' said Archie, and he set about his
day's work in high spirits. It was as fine a day as a June day can be,
and there is no finer the world over. The brilliant blue of the sky was
brought out by a few snowy cloudlets drifting before a gentle breeze,
which tempered the warmth of the glorious sunshine. The heart of the
young man was glad and found expression in song and whistling as he
wielded the ax. What caused him to pause in blank astonishment? From the
woods behind him, came a voice singing 'O whistle and I will come to
you my lad.' It was a woman's voice, it was a familiar voice. Dropping
his ax he bounded towards the figure emerging from the bush where the
sled-road entered his clearance. 'It is my own sister!' he shouted in a
scream of joy, and clasped her in his brawny arms. 'O, Mirren, have you
dropped from the sky? I would have as soon expected to meet an angel.'

'I am just a sonsy Ayrshire lass and have come on my feet and not on
wings. Eh, but you've changed--ye've worked over hard.'

'It has been sweet work, for it was for father and mother. Nothing wrong
with them that sent you here?'

'I left them well, and hoping to join us next spring.'

'And how did you come--what started you--where did you get the passage
money--how did you find your way here?'

'I'll tell you after I have seen this grand house of yours. An' this is
the shanty you wrote about with everything out and inside
higgle-de-piggeldy! Ye are a great housekeeper to be sure. Why, your
house has not got a lum! (