he fire.

After a day or two Jim moved his camp to the line, and one afternoon
when he was working in the rain stopped and straightened his aching
back. Fine ash that had turned to mud smeared his wet slickers; his
face was thin and gloomy. His money was nearly gone, and although the
fire had burned out he did not see how he could finish his contract.

The tangled brush had vanished and wet ashes covered the ground.
Half-burned logs lay about, and here and there small trees, leaning at
sharp angles with blackened branches locked, held each other up. In
places, big charred rampikes stood in rows like colonnades. The nearer
rows looked black; farther off they shone in the rain with a curious
silver gleam. The fire had helped to clear the ground, but wet men
were at work with axes and saws.

By and by Jim looked round. Somebody had shouted and it was not one of
his gang. The shout came from some distance off and while he tried to
locate the spot a rampike slanted over and broke off. The burned trunk
struck the ground with an echoing crash and a cloud of ash rolled up
like smoke. There was now a gap in the row and as the ashes blew away
Jim saw pack-horses in the opening.

"Who is it?" he asked Jake.

"A Government outfit, I expect. Prospectors don't load up with tents
and stores like that."

"If they're Government men, it means somebody from the telegraph
department is coming to look at our job."

"Yes," said Jake. "I reckon we'll soon know our luck." He waited for
a few moments and added: "It's the boss surveyor."

The surveyor presently joined them and remarked: "As I have business at
the new settlement, I thought I'd see how you were getting on."

"We might have got on faster, but we have had trouble all the time,"
said Jim.

"Looks like that. I examined the work you've done as I came along and
on the whole allow it's a pretty good job. However, we'll talk about
that later; the boys are tired and I'm glad to make your camp."

The pack-horses were unloaded and when the tents were pitched the
surveyor's cook helped Carrie to prepare an unusually good meal. When
it was over the party sat outside the surveyor's tent, which had a
double top stretched on poles beyond its front. The surveyor studied
their faces with understanding, for he knew the wilds and noted signs
of strain. He thought all had a fine-drawn look.

"It's obvious that you have been up against it," he remarked. "The big
landsli