te to Aunt Olive's resourcefulness. The older
men of the party declared that they had never slept so well as after
those evening meals of white monkey on johnny-cake toast. Beyond doubt,
it was much better for us than heavier meals of meat and beans after
days of hard labor.

From half an hour before sunrise till an hour after sunset, during those
entire five days, the tall white birches fell fast, the saw hummed, and
the bolts went rolling out on the ice-clad lake.

I never saw a crew work with such good-will or felt such enthusiasm
myself as during those five days. We had the exhilarating sensation that
we were beating a malicious enemy. Every little while a long, cheery
whoop of exultation would be raised and go echoing across the lake; and
that last day of February we worked by the light of little bonfires of
birch bark till near midnight.

Then we stopped--to clear the law. And I may state here, although it
must sound like a large story, that during those five working days the
ten of us felled, sawed and rolled out on the ice two hundred and
eighty-six cords of white-birch bolts. Of course it was the saw and the
two relieving spans of horses which did the greater part of the work,
the four axmen doing little more than fell the tall birch-trees.

The next day, after a final breakfast of white monkey, we went home
triumphant, leaving the bolts on the ice for the time being. All were
tired, but in high spirits, for victory was ours.

Two days later the old Squire came home from Three Rivers, entirely
unaware of what had occurred, having it now in mind to organize and
begin what he supposed would be a month's work up at the birch lot for
the choppers and teams from the two logging-camps farther north.

Neither grandmother Ruth nor the rest of us could resist having a little
fun with him. After supper, when we had gathered in the sitting-room,
grandmother quietly handed him Mrs. Lurvey's letter, with the
notification about the birch.

"This came while you were away, Joseph," she said to him, while the rest
of us, sitting very still, looked on, keenly interested to see how he
would take it.

The old Squire unfolded the letter and began reading it, then started
suddenly, and for some moments sat very still, pondering the
notification. "This bids fair to be a serious matter for us," he said,
at last. "We have lost that birch contract, I fear, and the money that
went into it.

"And I have only my own carelessness