re the colonel
shot a glance at him.

"You have been on the spot, I judge," he said to Ranald, rising and
following Mr. St. Clair.

"Yes, over it all."

"Wall, come along, you're the map we want, eh? Maps are chiefly for
purposes of deception, I have found, ha, ha! and there ain't none of 'em
right," and he held the door for Ranald to enter.

Mr. St. Clair was evidently annoyed. Unfolding a map he laid it out on
the table. "This is the place, I believe," he said, putting his finger
down upon the map.

"Ain't surveyed, I judge," said the colonel to Ranald.

"No, only in part; the old Salter lines are there, but I had to go away
beyond these."

"Warn't 'fraid of gettin' lost, eh? Ha, ha! Wall show us your route."

Ranald put his finger on the map, and said: "I struck the Bass River
about here, and using that as a base, first explored the whole west
side, for, I should say, about ten miles back from the river."

"Don't say! How'd you grub? Game mostly?"

"Well, we carried some pork and Hudson Bay hard tack and tea, and of
course, we could get all the fish and game we wanted."

"Lots of game, eh? Small and big?" The colonel was evidently much
interested in this part of Ranald's story. "By the great Sam, must go up
there!"

"It would do you all the good in the world, Colonel," said Mr. St.
Clair, heartily. "You must really go up with your men and help them lay
out the ground, you know."

"That's so! Now if you were lumbering in there, how'd you get the timber
out?"

"Down the Bass River to Lake Nipissing," said Ranald, pointing out the
route.

"Yes, but how'd you get it to the Bass? These limits, I understand, lie
on both sides of the Bass, don't they?"

"Yes."

"And the Bass cuts through it the short way?"

"Yes."

"Wall, does that mean six or eight or ten miles of a haul?"

"On the west side," replied Ranald, "no. There are a number of small
streams and lakes which you could utilize."

"And on the east side?"

"You see, Colonel," broke in Mr. St. Clair, "that whole country is one
net-work of water-ways. Notice the map here; and there are always a
number of lakes not marked."

"That is quite true," said Ranald, "as a rule; but on the east side--"

"Oh, of course," said Mr. St. Clair, hastily, "you will find great
differences in different parts of the country."

Mr. St. Clair folded up the map and threw it on the table.

"Let's see," said the colonel, taking up the map again. "Now how abou