own blanket, and sank into
slumber under the lee of the dead man's dwelling, through which a maple
tree had grown from the inside, wrenching off the shingle roof.

An owl that circled about the crumbling house, stooped now and then on
muffled wing to inspect the sleeper. Once a stealthy panther, slipping
through the willows, bared its fangs and passed the other way, and the
pale green points of luminescence that twinkled in the surrounding
bush, and were the eyes of timber wolves, faded again. Neither did the
deer that panther and wolves sought, come down to feed on the swamp
that night, for a man, holding dominion over the beasts of the forest,
lay slumbering in the desolate clearing.

Geoffrey began work early next day, and afterwards week by week toiled
from dawn until nearly sunset, blasting clear minor reefs and ledges
until he attacked the mother rock under the lip of a clashing fall.
The fee promised was by no means large, and, because current wages
prohibited assistance, he did all the work himself. So he shoveled
debris and drilled holes in the hard blue grit; and drilling,
single-handed, is a difficult operation, damaging to the knuckles of
the man attempting it. He waded waist-deep in water, learned to carry
heavy burdens on his shoulder, and found his interest in the task
growing upon him. He felt that much depended upon the successful
completion of his contract. It was not, however, all monotonous labor,
and there were compensations, for, after each day's toil was done, he
lay prone on scented pine twigs, and heard the voices of the bush break
softly through the solemn hush as, through gradations of fading glories
along the lofty snows, night closed in. He would watch the black bear
grubbing hog-fashion among the tall wild cabbage, while the little
butter duck, paddling before its brood, set divergent lines creeping
across the steely lake until the shadows of the whitened driftwood
broke and quivered.

Sometimes he would call the chipmunks, which scurried up and down
behind him, or tap on a rotten log until a crested woodpecker cried in
answer, and by degrees the spell of the mountains gained upon him,
until he forgot his troubles and became no more subject to fits of
berserk rage. He was growing quiet and more patient, learning to wait,
but his energy and determination still remained. But he was not wholly
cut off from human intercourse, for at times some of the scattered
ranchers would ride ov