lf pack in its merciless regard for a fallen
leader.

Very different was the general attitude when Father Adam led the victor
away. Hard faces were a-grin. The tongues that cursed the defeated camp
boss hurled jubilant laudations at the unresponsive youth, who towered
even amongst these great creatures. But for the presence of Father Adam,
who seemed to exercise a miraculous restraining influence, these
lumber-jacks would have crowded in and forcibly borne their champion to
the suttler's store for those copious libations, which, in their
estimate, was the only fitting conclusion to the scene they had
witnessed. As it was they made way. They stood aside in spontaneous and
real respect, and the two men passed on in silence leaving the crowd to
disperse to its labours.

CHAPTER II

FATHER ADAM

The hush of the forest was profound. For all the proximity of the busy
lumber camp its calm was unbroken.

It was a break in the endless canopy of foliage, a narrow rift in the
dark breadth of the shadowed woods.

It was one of those infinitesimal veins through which flows the
life-blood of the forest.

A tiny streamlet trickled its way over a bed of decayed vegetation often
meandering through a dense growth of wiry reeds in a channel set well
below the general level. Banks of attenuated grass and rank foliage
lined its course, and the welcome sunlight poured down upon its water in
sharp contrast with the twilight of the forest.

Clear of the crowding trees a rough shanty stood out in the sunlight. It
was a crazy affair constructed of logs laterally laid and held in place
by uprights, with walls that looked to be just able to hold together
while suffering under the constant threat of collapse. The place was
roofed with a thatch of reeds taken from the adjacent stream-bed, and
its doorway was protected by a sheet of tattered sacking. There was also
a window covered with cotton, and a length of iron stove-pipe protruding
through the thatch of the roof seemed to threaten the whole place with
fire at its first use.

Inside there was no attempt to better the impression. There was no
furnishing. A spread of blankets on a waterproof sheet laid on a bed of
reeds formed the bed of its owner, with a canvas kit-bag stuffed with
his limited wardrobe serving as a pillow. There were several upturned
boxes to be used as seats, and a larger box served the purpose of a
table and supported a tiny oil lamp. There was not even the u