udiously as he had done a moment before, Garry again avoided
Steve's eyes.

"Miriam Burrell," the latter supplied the omission. "And that's fine,
isn't it? How long are they going to stay, Joe?"

But Joe had finished with trifling.

"Where are we going to put them?" he insisted doggedly.

"Why, we have a couple of shelter tents somewhere in the duffle,
haven't we? We might pitch those if----" he looked about,
ruminatively--"if you think this is too squalid."

Joe turned appealingly to Garry, only to meet eyes flaring with
deviltry.

"If you think that I'm going to give up my quarters for a troup of
curious sight-seers, you're mistaken. If that's what you turned toward
me for, don't allow yourself to dwell upon it another minute. I'm a
laboring man and I have to have decent rest at nights. . . . Do you
suppose Cecile would really mind a tent?"

And then Joe's face went red.

"Now ain't you the pair of rough jokers?" he whined. "Ain't you,
though? But what's it going to be--this room or Garry's? The way I
look at it we're elected to camp out ourselves. We're hardened sons of
the wilderness, you know. That's what they always call us in print.
But how am I going to get this place cleaned up?"

For another hour Joe argued it, and at last settled upon the
store-house building as the likeliest for sleeping quarters for the
feminine portion of the visitors.

"We have to eat in here, anyhow," he argued, "so I guess it's the best
arrangement we can hit on. Honey won't be here much to meals, either.
That'll be one nice thing about it. He'll be going north directly.
And now--now I guess I'll go out and have a look at the pantry, even if
it does make me feel sort of faint every time I think of the grub we've
got on hand. Canned beans and boiled potatoes, and ham and bacon, to
round out a banquet. Why couldn't a couple of mighty hunters like you
bring home more than one little haunch of venison? Bacon and beans!
Steve, you sure have been living mighty low-down on this job!"

He went out with a great show of haste, but returned almost
immediately, forgot the urgency of matters in general in finding Garry
idly shuffling a deck of cards. Throughout the evening Joe had
exhibited an unwillingness to meet the third man's glances directly,
but it was impossible for him to remain oblivious to the clicking of
the chips. He balanced first on one foot and then on the other for a
moment; then diffidently drew up a