. One gets at this kind of work in winter when nothing
much can be done, and I must be ready to break new soil for planting in
the spring."

"You are spending a good deal of money," Mrs. Farnam interrupted. "You
haven't been paid for the last shipments to England yet."

"Mabel's cautious," Farnam remarked to Agatha. "She's a pretty good
business woman, but doesn't understand that the more you spend on your
job the more you get. Anyhow, you ought to get more, but I admit you're
sometimes badly stung." Then he turned to his wife. "I must go up and
see the shippers in Montreal; in fact, now you have Agatha with you, I
think I'll start to-morrow."

"Very well," said Mrs. Farnam. "I hate to be left alone, particularly
when the nights are long." She indicated the teamster. "I see you have
hired another man; that's a fresh extravagance. How long have you had
him?"

"A week or two; thought I told you when he came. He's a pretty good
worker."

"You didn't tell me; I imagine you didn't want me to know! He's
certainly not what the boys call a looker and his face doesn't inspire
me with much confidence. Besides, he's lame."

Agatha glanced at the man, who came towards them, walking with a slight
limp beside his horses as they hauled the log across the snow. He had a
sullen air and did not look up as he passed.

"He is not handsome," she agreed, and asked: "Where do the men live?"

"We have fixed up this lot in the packing shed; my regular hands leave
me in winter," Farnam replied, indicating a wooden building at some
distance from the house. "However, we'll go home. There are some
accounts I must examine before I start for Montreal."

They went on, and when after supper Mrs. Farnam grumbled at being left
without a man in the house, Farnam took out an automatic pistol and
explained how it was used.

"I don't know why I bought the thing, unless it was to satisfy Mabel,"
he said to Agatha. "It's curious, but while she could handle mutinous
pupils and bluff the managers, she quakes if a door rattles on a windy
night. One's rather safer in our homestead than a Montreal hotel; but
Mabel has lived in the cities and the Wild West tradition dies hard. As
a matter of fact, there never was a Wild West in Canada." He opened the
pistol. "You put the cartridge shells in like this--"

"You can show Agatha how it works; I won't touch the thing," Mrs. Farnam
declared. "She's something of a sport, but I'm a womanly woman, except
when I