the strand of wire unwound
behind them. Every once in a while a coil would kink, or buckle back, or
strike as swiftly and as viciously as a snake. The sharp barbs caught at
their clothing, and tore Bob's hands. Jack Pollock seemed familiar with
the idiosyncrasies of the stuff, for he suffered little damage. Indeed,
he even found leisure, as Bob soon discovered, to scrutinize his
companion with a covert curiosity. In the eyes of the countryside, Bob
had been "fired," and had been forced to take a job rangering. When the
entangling strand had been laid along the ground by the newly planted
cedar posts, it became necessary to stretch and fasten it. Here, too,
young Jack proved himself a competent teacher. He showed Bob how to get
a tremendous leverage with the curve on the back of an ordinary hammer
by means of which the wire was held taut until the staples could be
driven home. It was aggravating, nervous, painful work for one not
accustomed to it. Bob's hands were soon cut and bleeding, no matter how
gingerly he took hold of the treacherous wire. To all his comments,
heated and otherwise, Jack Pollock opposed the mountaineer's determined
inscrutability. He watched Bob's efforts always in silence until that
young man had made all his mistakes. Then he spat carefully, and, with
quiet patience, did it right.

Bob's sense of humour was tickled. With all his education and his
subsequent wide experience and training, he stood in the position of a
very awkward subordinate to this mountain boy. The joke of it was that
the matter was so entirely his own choice. In the normal relations of
industry Bob would have been the boss of a hundred activities and twice
that number of men; while Jack Pollock, at best, would be water-boy or
fuel-purveyor to a donkey engine. Along in the middle of the morning
young Elliott passed carrying a crowbar and a spade.

"How'll you trade jobs?" he called.

"What's yours?" asked Bob.

"I'm going to make two cedar posts grow where none grew before," said
Elliott.

At noon they knocked off and went back to the ranger camp where they
cooked their own meal. Most of the older rangers were afield. A
half-dozen of the newcomers and probationers only were there. Elliott,
Jack Pollock, two other young mountaineers, Ware and one of the youths
from the valley towns had apparently passed the examinations and filled
vacancies. All, with the exception of Elliott and this latter
youth--Curtis by name--were old