e right to a rabbit what a bob-cat was feastin'
on than the cat had," volunteered Rifle-Eye in explanation. "In the
ensooin' disagreement he got a bit scratched, an' so I looked after him.
I told him to stay at Ben's, an' I guess he's all right now."

"Being three days late isn't the best start in the world," said the
Supervisor sharply, "but if Rifle-Eye knows all about it and is willing
to stand for it, I won't say any more. Can you cruise?"

"I've learned, sir, but I haven't done much of it. I think, though, I
can do it, all right."

"Very well. We'll break off for dinner now, and you can try this
afternoon. Or do you still feel tired, and would you rather wait until
to-morrow?"

"Thanks, Mr. Merritt," answered Wilbur, "but I want to start right now."

"Very well," said the Supervisor laconically. Then, turning to the
Ranger, he commenced talking with him about the work in hand, and for
the moment Wilbur was left aside. The lumberman who had been working on
the other side of the Supervisor, however, sauntered up and introduced
himself as "McGinnis, me boy, Red McGinnis, they call me, because of the
natural beauty of me hair."

"I'm very glad, Mr. McGinnis--" began the boy when the lumberman
interrupted him.

"'Tis very sorry ye'll be if ye call me out of me right name. Sure I
said McGinnis, jest plain McGinnis, not Misther McGinnis. Ye can call me
'Judge,' or 'Doctor,' or 'Colonel,' or annything else, but I won't be
called Misther by annyone."

"Very well, McGinnis," said the boy, looking at his height and broad
shoulders, "I guess there's no one that will make you."

"There is not!" the big lumberman replied. "And are ye goin' to join us
in a little promenade through the timber?"

"So Mr. Merritt said."

"I don't see what for," the Irishman replied. "Sure, there's the three
of us now."

"Is there much of it to do?"

"There is that. There's three million feet wanted, half sugar pine and
half yellow pine, in this sale alone. An' there's another sale waiting,
so I hear, as soon as this one's through."

"Maybe it's just to find out whether I can do it?" suggested Wilbur.

The lumberman nodded affirmatively.

"That's just about it," he said. "Because ye'll have a big stretch to
cover as Guard, an' there'll be no time for ye cruisin'. You keep the
trees from burnin' up so as we can mark them for cuttin' down."

"It always seems a shame," said Wilbur, "to have to cut down these
trees. Of course, I kno