uses for dereliction in
favor of a man who would not have dreamed of seeking them for himself. A
good many people would call this kindness of heart. Perhaps it was; the
question is a little puzzling. But the facts were as stated.

Thorpe had already commented on the feeling among the men, though, owing
to his inexperience, he was not able to estimate its full value. The
men were inclined to a semi-apologetic air when they spoke of their
connection with the camp. Instead of being honored as one of a series of
jobs, this seemed to be considered as merely a temporary halting-place
in which they took no pride, and from which they looked forward in
anticipation or back in memory to better things.

"Old Shearer, he's the bully boy," said Bob Stratton. "I remember when
he was foremap for M. & D. at Camp 0. Say, we did hustle them saw-logs
in! I should rise to remark! Out in th' woods by first streak o' day. I
recall one mornin' she was pretty cold, an' the boys grumbled some about
turnin' out. 'Cold,' says Tim, 'you sons of guns! You got your ch'ice.
It may be too cold for you in the woods, but it's a damm sight too hot
fer you in hell, an' you're going to one or the other!' And he meant it
too. Them was great days! Forty million a year, and not a hitch."

One man said nothing in the general discussion. It was his first winter
in the woods, and plainly in the eyes of the veterans this experience
did not count. It was a "faute de mieux," in which one would give an
honest day's work, and no more.

As has been hinted, even the inexperienced newcomer noticed the lack of
enthusiasm, of unity. Had he known the loyalty, devotion, and adoration
that a thoroughly competent man wins from his "hands," the state of
affairs would have seemed even more surprising. The lumber-jack will
work sixteen, eighteen hours a day, sometimes up to the waist in water
full of floating ice; sleep wet on the ground by a little fire; and then
next morning will spring to work at daylight with an "Oh, no, not
tired; just a little stiff, sir!" in cheerful reply to his master's
inquiry,--for the right man! Only it must be a strong man,--with the
strength of the wilderness in his eye.

The next morning Radway transferred Molly and Jenny, with little Fabian
Laveque and two of the younger men, to Pike Lake. There, earlier in the
season, a number of pines had been felled out on the ice, cut in logs,
and left in expectation of ice thick enough to bear the travoy