the plateau, and spent an hour or so before we
decided that the new site was more favorable than the other. Then Lyle
turned to me.

"Hadn't we better run our line through and mark it off now that we're
here?" he suggested.

I agreed, and as one of the men had brought two or three saws and axes in
a wagon we set about it. The men from Carrington, however, were not very
proficient at the work and a good deal of the chopping fell to me. The
bush was rather thick, and I spent an hour in tolerably arduous labor
before our base line was clear. Then I sat down on a slender fallen birch
while Lyle and the rest went back to the wagon for some provisions they
had brought. It was evident that we could not get home for supper.

It was a still afternoon, and the sound of the creek rang across the
shadowy birches with an almost startling distinctness. That end of the
line had, however, nearly reached the verge of the prairie. Presently
another sound that rapidly grew louder reached my ears. It was the
rhythmic beat of approaching hoofs, and for no very definite reason it
brought me a trace of uneasiness. However, I sat still with my pipe in my
hand until the drumming of hoofs that grew very close stopped suddenly,
and then turning sharply I saw Colonel Carrington striding through the
bush. He stopped near my side, and nobody would have supposed from his
appearance that the sight of me or the fallen trees afforded him any
pleasure.

Three or four slender birches lay close at my feet, and here and there
another was stretched across the line I had driven. Carrington's face grew
hard, and a little portentous sparkle crept into his eyes as he looked at
them. Then he turned to me.

"Mr. Lorimer," he said, "will you be kind enough to explain why you are
cutting my timber without permission?"

"I have done it at Mr. Lyle's request, sir," I said.

Now I do not know how Carrington had heard of what was going on, but his
answer made it evident that he had.

"Ah, I had partly expected this. Will you tell Lyle that I want him at
once!"

It was not a request but a command flung at me with a curt incisiveness
that brought the blood to my face, and I was never quite sure afterward
why I went. Still, it was usually difficult for even those who disliked
him most to disobey Colonel Carrington. In any case, I found Lyle and the
others, and came back with them outside the bluff which was the easier
way. Carrington, however, had evidently gro