Jim, can we come up on Jumpin' Jane and help you?" called
Don, when he saw his old friend fingering the valves and levers of the
engine.

"Pretty soon, mebbe. It's all up to your ma," said Jim.

"Not now, Don; wait until we see how it works," replied Mrs. Starr,
catching hold of Don's hand to keep him beside her.

Meantime, the timber men had been running a huge saw through a giant
pine tree until the foreman shouted "All Back!"

Instantly, everyone ran to safety, except the man who fastened the
"clutch" of the Jumpin' Jane into the trunk of the tree. Then he too ran
back to join his associates.

The foreman gave the signal, Jumpin' Jane gave a little wrench, and lo!
the king of the forest started to lower his head. With a crash and a
dragging off of all the branches impeding its descent, the pine measured
its enormous length along the cleared ground. No sooner was it down than
a dozen men jumped over and lopped off boughs until it looked like a
telegraph pole. Another signal was given to Jim, and he pushed a lever
that governed the huge steel arm of the machine. This arm swung over
toward the pine and whirled out a cable with the hooks wide open ready
to clasp about the tree. A man stood by and as soon as the hooks
descended he guided them about the trunk and locked them. A signal, and
Jim pushed upon another lever that brought the steel arm back to first
position, dangling the immense pine over the flat sledge as if it were
a tooth-pick. A man was waiting to use his cant-hook to steady the log
at one end while the cable deposited its freight lengthwise on the floor
of the sledge. Before the steel arm of Jumpin' Jane could be signalled
for another trip, another huge tree had been sawed through and awaited
its downfall.

Don and Dot were so excited over Jumpin' Jane that they could not keep
their eyes from her. After constant coaxing, they succeeded in gaining
unwilling permission to climb up to the engineer's caboose and watch Jim
work.

Jim managed to show them the different levers and valves during the
intervals between loading and lifting. The twins were completely
fascinated by the machine and asked many pertinent questions that Jim
delighted in answering. If Jim had known the twins better, or had spent
the summer with them on the ranch in Texas, he would not have explained
so minutely how the engine worked. But he thought they craved knowledge,
and he told them all he could.

After witnessing all of the