ut to Canada and spent several years there earning his board, and,
now and then, a few dollars as well, by bodily labour, until he went
up into the Bush with the loggers.

For a time he had somehow contrived to hold his own with the other
workers, though logging in heavy timber is one of the tasks one could
almost fancy that man was never meant for, and the logger, whose
overtaxed muscle fails him for a moment, is very likely to have the
life crushed out of him by some ponderous, slipping trunk. Perhaps,
his lack of endurance was due to the excessive strain, or the
ill-cooked food, but during the last few weeks he had been conscious
that a slackness was creeping over him. Once or twice the handspike or
peevie had been torn from his grasp, and the lives of his comrades had
been placed in peril. He had found it more and more difficult to drag
himself out to his work each morning, but he had held on until that
afternoon when his strength had suddenly failed him.

Nasmyth was half-asleep when the cook and the leader of the gang came
in. The latter, who was a big, gaunt man with grizzled hair, stopped
close by the stove and looked at him.

"Well," said the gang leader, "what do you figure you're doing here?"

Nasmyth explained with some difficulty, for in the Bush, men
acquire a certain pride in their physical manhood, and it is never
a pleasant thing to own oneself defeated. The logger, however, nodded
comprehendingly. He was a reticent, grim-faced person from Ontario,
where they breed hard men, though some have, also, kindly hearts in
them.

"That's quite right. I've noticed it myself," he commented. "In fact,
I've been figuring on asking you to get out the last week or two."

Nasmyth smiled. Like other men of his description in that country, he
had become accustomed to hearing such remarks addressed to him.

"I wonder," he answered reflectively, "why you didn't."

The logger appeared to consider. It was characteristic of him and the
stock he sprang from that he would never have admitted that he had
borne with Nasmyth as long as possible out of kindness. The thing
would have hurt him.

"Well," he said, "it seemed to me we might start you teaming, if I
could have got a span or two of oxen in, but I'm most afraid I can't
get them at my figure." He changed the subject abruptly. "Where are
you heading for?"

"I don't quite know, though I shall probably land in Victoria sooner
or later. I might strike something a li