mam, and I'd be glad to know if you're satisfied I've done
the things you want. If I have, and you feel good about it, I'd be
thankful if you'd report the way we're workin' this camp. And if you've
a spare moment to talk other things, you might say that the boys of my
camp are mighty hard put to get the stuff, and they're as tough a gang
of jacks as ever heard tell of the dog's life of the forest."

The man spoke with the fluency of real protest. He somehow felt he was
on his defence in the presence of this woman representative of his
employers. This girl was not there enduring the discomforts of the
forests for amusement. She came with authority, and she seemed to
possess great understanding. Arden Laval knew his own value. His record
was one of long service with his company. Furthermore, his outfit was
trusted with the pioneering work of the forest where judgment and
enterprise, and great experience were needed. He felt it was the moment
to talk, and to talk straight to this woman with the red hair who had
invaded his domain. So he gave full rope to his feelings.

It was some moments before the girl replied, and the man waited
expectantly. He was studying the far-off gaze of the pretty hazel eyes,
and wondering at the thought moving behind them. At length Nancy
withdrew her gaze from the forest.

"I shall certainly report the things I've seen," she said with a smile
that found prompt response in the man's dark eyes. "You've certainly
done your best to show me, and tell me, the exact position. I shall make
a point of reporting all that. Yes, I've seen it all, thank you very
much."

Then her smile suddenly vanished. The shrewd gaze of commercial interest
replaced it.

"But these Labrador folk?" she demanded. "Is that stuff just--hearsay?"

The man shook his head. He was feeling easier.

"It's God's truth, mam." He spat out a stream of tobacco juice. "I know
them forests. Say," his eyes had lost their smile, "I don't guess I
figger to know the business side of things, I don't calculate to know if
the folks on Labrador work with, or against the Skandinavia. But I do
know that if they're up against us they've got us plumb beat before we
start. They got the sort of lumber the jacks dream about when they got
their bellies full on a Saturday night, and they're going to wake up to
find it Sunday mornin'. I'm just a lumberman, and if I hadn't fifteen
years' record with the Skandinavia, and wasn't pouching two hundred and