t the books say five inches of ice will
hold a team, and there's more than that. How much are we putting in a
day, now?"

"About forty thousand."

Radway fell silent.

"That's mighty little for such a crew," he observed at last, doubtfully.

"I always said you were too easy with them. You got to drive them more."

"Well, it's a rough country," apologized Radway, trying, as was his
custom, to find excuses for the other party as soon as he was agreed
with in his blame, "there's any amount of potholes; and, then, we've had
so much snow the ground ain't really froze underneath. It gets pretty
soft in some of them swamps. Can't figure on putting up as much in this
country as we used to down on the Muskegon."

The scaler smiled a thin smile all to himself behind the stove. Big John
Radway depended so much on the moral effect of approval or disapproval
by those with whom he lived. It amused Dyer to withhold the timely word,
so leaving the jobber to flounder between his easy nature and his sense
of what should be done.

Dyer knew perfectly well that the work was behind, and he knew the
reason. For some time the men had been relaxing their efforts. They had
worked honestly enough, but a certain snap and vim had lacked. This was
because Radway had been too easy on them.

Your true lumber-jack adores of all things in creation a man whom he
feels to be stronger than himself. If his employer is big enough to
drive him, then he is willing to be driven to the last ounce of his
strength. But once he gets the notion that his "boss" is afraid of, or
for, him or his feelings or his health, he loses interest in working for
that man. So a little effort to lighten or expedite his work, a little
leniency in excusing the dilatory finishing of a job, a little easing-up
under stress of weather, are taken as so many indications of a desire to
conciliate. And conciliation means weakness every time. Your lumber-jack
likes to be met front to front, one strong man to another. As you value
your authority, the love of your men, and the completion of your work,
keep a bluff brow and an unbending singleness of purpose.

Radway's peculiar temperament rendered him liable to just this mistake.
It was so much easier for him to do the thing himself than to be harsh
to the point of forcing another to it, that he was inclined to take the
line of least resistance when it came to a question of even ordinary
diligence. He sought often in his own mind exc