and then, and it never struck me as quite comfortable to put
them on with half the stitching rubbed out of them. Well, washing's a
thing I'm not fond of either, and it's kind of curious that when one
man starts in at it everybody wants the coal-oil can."

They murmured languid concurrence, for, as he said, clothes must be
washed and mended now and then, and the man who has just finished a
long day's arduous toil seldom feels any great inclination for the
task. It usually happens, however, that when one sets about it his
companions do the same, and there is sometimes trouble as to who has
the prior claim on the big kerosene can in which the garments are
generally boiled.

"Well," said the chopper, "I've a proposition to make. There are quite
a few of us, and a levy of thirty or forty cents a week's not going to
hurt anybody while there's a man round here who can't chop or shovel.
Guess he has to live, and it's a blame hard country, boys, to that
kind of man. Now, it's my notion we make the fellow mender and washer
to the camp."

There was a murmur of applause, for, when they own any money, which,
however, is not frequently the case, the free companions are usually
open-handed men, and Weston was not astonished at their readiness to
do what they could for his companion. He had been in that land long
enough to learn that it is the hard-handed drillers and axmen from
whom the wanderer and even the outcast beyond the pale is most likely
to receive a kindness. Their wide generosity is exceeded only by the
light-hearted valor with which they plunge into some tremendous
struggle with flood and rock and snow.

"Make it half a dollar anyway," said one of them.

Then Weston stood up, with a little flush on his face and a curious
look in his eyes.

"Thank you, boys, but I have to move an objection," he said. "This is
a thing that concerns me."

"Sit down," commanded one of them sharply. "It's a cold business
proposition."

They silenced his objections, and sent for Grenfell, who appeared
disconcerted for a moment when he heard what they had to say. Then he
laughed somewhat harshly.

"Well," he said, "I'll be glad to do it, and I don't mind admitting
that the offer is a relief to me."

They strolled away by and by, and Grenfell made a little grimace as he
looked at Weston.

"When I can tell how the ore should pan out by a glance at the dump,
and plot just how the vein should run, it's disconcerting to find that
the o