to
where we're getting the logs out."

Wisbech went with him and Gordon, and was impressed when he saw how
they and the oxen handled the giant trunks. He, however, kept his
thoughts to himself, and, quietly smoking, sat on a redwood log, a
little, unobtrusive, grey-clad figure, until Gordon, who had
disappeared during the last hour, announced that supper was ready.
Then Wisbech followed Nasmyth and Gordon to their quarters, which they
had fashioned out of canvas, a few sheets of corrugated iron, and
strips of bark, for, as their work was on the hillside, they lived
apart from the regular railroad gang. The little hut was rudely
comfortable, and the meal Gordon set out was creditably cooked.
Wisbech liked the resinous scent of the wood smoke that hung about the
spot, and the faint aromatic odour of the pine-twig beds and
roofing-bark. When the meal was over, they sat a while beneath the
hanging-lamp, smoking and discussing general topics, until Nasmyth
indicated the canvas walls of the hut and the beds of spruce twigs
with a wave of his hand.

"You will excuse your quarters. They're rather primitive," he said.

Wisbech's eyes twinkled. "I almost think I shall feel as much at home
as I did when you last entertained me at your club, and I'm not sure
that I don't like your new friends best," he said. "The others were a
trifle patronizing, though, perhaps, they didn't mean to be. In fact,
it was rather a plucky thing you did that day."

A faint flush crept into Nasmyth's bronzed face, but Wisbech smiled
reassuringly as he glanced about the hut.

"The question is what all this is leading to," he observed with
inquiry in his tone.

Gordon rose. "I'll go along and talk to the boys," he announced. "I
won't be back for an hour or two."

Nasmyth glanced at Wisbech before he turned to his comrade.

"I would sooner you stayed where you are," he said. Then he answered
Wisbech. "In the first place, if we are reasonably fortunate, it
should lead to the acquisition of about a couple of hundred dollars."

"Still," said Wisbech, "that will not go very far. What will be the
next thing when you have got the money?"

"In a general way, I should endeavour to earn a few more dollars by
pulling out fir-stumps for somebody or clearing land."

Wisbech nodded. "No doubt they're useful occupations, but one would
scarcely fancy them likely to prove very remunerative," he said. "You
have, it seems to me, reached an age when you have to