t
there. In spots, I found the imprints of rubber boots. I also found four
canthooks, used for rolling logs."

Hippy suggested that these might have been left when the lumbermen
stopped work in the early spring, but Tom shook his head.

"No. They were new, which indicates that they were brought to this place
within a few days--probably within the last few hours, for the hooks did
not have a single point of rust on them."

"But, Tom! I cannot understand how moving that tremendous weight in bulk
was possible for a handful of men," wondered Grace.

"Jacks can do anything they wish with logs," answered Tom Gray. "In this
instance they called on nature for assistance, and fickle nature lent
them a hand by sending them rain. The ground too, I discovered, had been
dug out under the lower side of the skidway and the supports knocked
out."

"The varmints!" growled Joe Shafto, who had been an attentive listener
to Tom's story.

"The jacks shifted some logs around to act as a track to give the logs
on the skidway a good start down the bank; they further cleared a
channel lower down so that the water might undermine the skidway still
more, then, when the trap was properly set, undoubtedly gave the top of
the pile a start with their hooks. I can't describe it so you people,
unfamiliar with logging operations, can get the picture clearly."

"I think you do very well," answered Emma wisely. "Of course, Hippy
could improve upon it, but fortunately he is not telling the story."

"Do you know of any early lumber operations near here, Mrs. Shafto?"
asked Tom.

The guide said she did not, but that the woods were often full of
cutters late in the fall and in the early winter.

"Section Forty-three was goin' to start cuttin' on the first of this
month I heard, but I don't know whuther they did or not," she said.

Tom Gray consulted his forestry map and nodded.

"We will look in on them, so I believe I shall stay with you until the
day after to-morrow. In the meantime I shall have another look at the
skidway while you people are packing up," he said, rising.

"What shall we do without tents?" questioned Anne anxiously.

"Do nicely. When we make camp this afternoon Mrs. Shafto and I will show
you. I do not think it advisable to head directly for Forty-three, but
to camp in the vicinity of that section, as I shall wish to speak with
the foreman of the gang there."

"Reckon ye know what ye wants to do," nodded the guide.

Whe