them in partial
obscurity--an alarming prospect. The only other movable was the bed.

"What'll we do?" said Joe nervously. "We can't break it up without the
axe, and that's outside."

Husky's eye, vainly searching the cabin, was caught by the sleeping
figure in the corner.

"Send cookee out for wood," he said. "He hasn't heard nothing."

"Sure," cried Joe, brightening, "and if there's anything out there
we'll find out on him."

"He'll see we've burned the stuff up," objected Shand, frowning.

"What of it?" asked Big Jack. "He's got to see when he wakes. 'Tain't
none of his business, anyhow."

"Ho, Sam!" cried Husky.

The recumbent figure finally stirred and sat up, blinking. "What do
you want?" Sam demanded crossly.

As soon as this young man opened his eyes it became evident that a new
element had entered the situation. There was a subtle difference
between the cook and his masters, easier to see than to define. There
was no love lost on either side.

Clearly he was not one of them, nor had he any wish to be. Sam's eyes,
full of sleep though they were, were yet guarded and wary. There was a
suggestion of scorn behind the guard. He looked very much alone in
the cabin--and unafraid.

He was as young as Joe, but lacked perhaps thirty pounds of the other
youth's brawn. Yet Sam was no weakling either, but his slenderness was
accentuated in that burly company.

His eyes were his outstanding feature. They were of a deep, bright
blue. They were both resolute and prone to twinkle. His mouth, that
unerring index, matched the eyes in suggesting a combination of
cheerfulness and firmness. It was the kind of mouth able to remain
closed at need. He had thick, light-brown hair, just escaping the
stigma of red.

There was something about him--fair-haired, slender, and
resolute--that excited kindness. There lay the difference between him
and the other men.

"We want wood," said Husky arrogantly. "Go out and get it."

An honest indignation made the sleepy eyes strike fire. "Wood!" he
cried. "What's the matter with you? It's just outside the door. What
do you want to wake me for?"

"Ah!" snarled Husky. "You're the cook, ain't you? What do we hire you
for?"

"You'd think you paid me wages to hear you," retorted Sam. "I get my
grub, and I earn it."

"You do what you're told with less lip," said Husky threateningly.

At this point Big Jack, more diplomatic, considering that a quarrel
might result in awkward disclo