ul excursion in the world, and
there wouldn't be any other side to it. I couldn't make good to you
in any way. I don't know anything about lumbering, forestry or
practical surveying."

"Don't begin by criticizing your employer, Dick. Just make believe
that he knows what he is about. I am not paying you for what you
know now, but for what you will know in a few months. I am expecting
great things of you. The science of forestry and economic methods of
lumbering are fairly well understood in Canada. You will find
yourselves with young men of education and enterprise, enthusiasts
who think nothing of starting out alone on snowshoes for a week or a
month in the woods, where the mercury in the thermometer often
freezes. You will find your work cut out for you if you only keep up
with them, and I am hoping that you will get near the head of your
class. I want you to learn the business from the beginning to the
end from the planting to the cutting of the tree, and from forest to
freight car. So don't fear that you will not have a chance to earn
your salary. Your pay and Ned's will be the same. It will take good
care of you, but you will not find much over to waste. Here, Molly,
come back and hear the rest of that romance that I interrupted. And
don't look so cross at me next time I speak to Dick."

"Isn't he the nice old daddy?" said the girl to Dick, as she sat
down near him. Dick looked as if he thought so too, but was troubled
to find words to express all he felt. The launch, which was now
flying up the coast, was just opposite the shack of the fisherman
whom the boys had hired to help with the manatee which couldn't be
found. Dick was telling the girl the story of the manatee when Ned
put in an appearance.

"Run away, Molly. I want to talk to Dick."

"Neddy Barstow, when daddy says 'Run away, Molly,' I have to go, but
when you say it, I stay right where I am. See?"

"But this is important, Molly. It's business."

"So am I important, even if I'm not business. If business is in a
hurry, it can go ahead; if it isn't it can wait."

"Dick," said Ned, "Dad thinks we need a little vacation before going
to work, and he offers to take us on a cruise in the _Gypsey_ to the
Bahamas and to Cuba, or to charter a light-draft boat that could go
through the Bay of Florida and let us finish our cruise in the
crocodile country, beginning where we turned back when the fresh
water gave out. Maybe he will let Molly go."

"Let Molly