ink of you girls while we're sitting in the
baldheaded pews at the Gaiety this winter gloating over the grand opera
we're missing!" called Sheridan, rolling his cigar juicily between his
grinning lips.

"Men of your age----" began Mrs. Sheridan.

"Hubert Appleton! If I hear----" But the protests of the "girls" fell
upon deaf ears as the men disappeared in the wake of the guide,
slapping each other upon the back in high glee.

The question of grand opera was a joke of long standing between them,
and up to the present had been on the husbands, who, despite their
protests, had manfully endured their annual week of martyrdom.

"Cheer up, ladies," smiled Bill, "the graphophone is a very good one,
and in the office is a whole box of records of my own selection. If we
are snow-bound we will not have to entirely forego even grand opera."

CHAPTER XLVI

AN ANNOUNCEMENT

Despite the handicap of the deep snow, results in the new camp were
highly satisfactory to Bill Carmody.

Not a man in the crew but swore by the boss, and each day threw himself
into the work with a will that made for success. And each night, as he
rolled into his bunk, not a man but knew that the boss himself had that
day worked harder than he.

"Niver wuz such a crew in th' woods, miss," boasted Daddy Dunnigan one
afternoon as Ethel stood in the door of the cook-shack and watched the
old man's preparation of the gigantic supper.

"Oi've logged a bit, here an' there, an' always Oi've be'n where min
wuz--but niver Oi've seed 'em buckle down an' tear out th' bone, wan
day wid another, save in th' so'gerin' days av Captain Fronte McKim.

"Th' same wuz th' boss's uncle, an' he's a McKim fr' th' sole av his
feet to th' peak av his head, barrin' th' licker, an' th' min'll go
t'rough hell an' hoigh wather fer um, beggin' ye're pardon--an' he
ain't no dommed angel, nayther, beggin' ut ag'in, miss.

"Ye sh'd see th' hand av poker he plays, an' th' beautiful swearin' av
um, phwin things goes wrong! An' ye sh'd see um foight wanst! An' now
he's gone an' poshted a foive per cint bonus av they bate Moncrossen's
cut, an' uts loike handin' ut to 'em, 'cause he knows th' b'ys is
already doin' their dommedest, beggin' ye're pardon, miss.

"Oi'll bet me winther's wages, come shpr-ring, we'll have Moncrossen
shnowed undher dayper thin' yon smithy, an' they had to tunnel to foind
ut."

The girl laughed happily and passed on with a great love in her heart
f