gs of interest, and his
comments, colored with the slang of the city streets, afforded them no
end of amusement. So it was with regret on all sides that at break of
the following day the boys put their duffle on the big sled used for
hauling in supplies and followed it themselves. Pat went with them to
see them off at the train.

With the last glimpse of the lumber camp as the sled entered the forest
a silence broken only by the tinkle of the bell on one of the horses,
the muffled sound of their feet and the slithering slide of the broad
runners over the snow, fell on the little group. None felt in the mood
for talking save the driver, and he soon subsided, failing to elicit
more than monosyllabic responses. Pat was busy with thoughts of what his
share from the sale of the black fox skin would mean to him in the
furtherance of his ambitions for an education. But on his three guests
the unfathomable mystery of the wilderness had once more fallen and
wrapped them in its spell. It was the deeper for the knowledge that they
were so soon to break it with no certainty of when they might again
surrender their spirits to it. They were going back to another world.

Oddly enough it was Sparrer who finally voiced the feeling of which both
Upton and Hal were conscious, yet found no words to express.

"It makes a feller feel little," said he, "like he ain't nothin' at all,
and yet dat inside av him is somethin' bigger'n this." He swung one hand
around in an all inclusive sweep. "An' it makes him feel clean inside,
just like it is outside, an' like he'd got to do big things an' little
mean things hadn't got no place. An'--an'"--Sparrer was groping for
words to make his meaning clear--"it gives a feller a funny feelin' dat
he ain't much and yet dat some way he's bigger'n de mount'ns, an' if dey
is a million years old like people say, he's goin' ter last a lot
longer. Bein' out here makes me feel just like Oi do when Oi go into de
church an' de sun comes trew dem colored winders and de organ plays an'
lifts a feller right up 'til he feels like he had wings an' could fly if
he only knew how ter use 'em."

Sparrer stopped abruptly and gazed with unseeing eyes off through the
forest aisles. Pat looked over at the youngster with the light of
understanding in his eyes.

"Right, son," said he. "I know the feeling. This is the great cathedral
that God has built for Himself and the littleness we feel is because of
His own presence, and th