shall
I do with Thornton, Don? We must find a niche for him somehow."

Donald reflected a moment.

"Had you thought, father, of trying him up-stairs?" he asked.

"No, I hadn't. We need a foreman up there, but I had not considered
Thornton for the position. That is a happy inspiration, son. We will
give him a try. He may make good yet."

Accordingly Thornton was sent to the upper floors of the warehouse,
where the wool was stored. Here were great piles of loose wool reaching
from floor to ceiling. Some piles contained only the finest wool; other
piles that which was next-best in quality; still other piles were made
up of the coarser varieties. There were piles of scoured wool, piles of
South American and Australian wool--wool, wool, wool everywhere!

With keen interest Thornton looked about him. He wandered from one vast
pyramid of fleeces to another, catching up handfuls of the different
varieties and examining them. Then he walked to where the men were busy
opening the first spring shipments of wool from Crescent Ranch. The
wool was emptied from the sacks onto the floor in great heaps, and crews
of men--skilled in judging the fiber--set to work to sort it, separating
the different qualities into piles. Donald, who was looking on, saw a
smile pass over Thornton's face--the first smile that had brightened it
in days. Then, almost instinctively, the ranchman rolled up his sleeves
and began to grade wool with the other men. He worked rapidly, for he
was thoroughly familiar with what he was doing.

The next day when Donald went up-stairs he found Thornton directing a
lot of green hands who were packing the sorted, or graded wool, in bags.
Later in the week it chanced that the man who weighed the wool fell ill
and the Westerner took his place at the scales, seeing that the sacks of
wool were correctly weighed and recorded, that they were sewed up
strongly, and marked for shipping.

Gradually the men, recognizing Thornton's ability, began to defer to his
judgment. The month was not out before Clark & Sons began to wonder
what they had done before Thornton came. So familiar did he make himself
with the stock that even Mr. Clark sent for and consulted him about
orders and shipments.

"He is proving himself a thoroughly useful man, Don," declared Mr. Clark
rubbing his hands with satisfaction. "His knowledge of the ranch and of
the wool itself is invaluable. It is just a case of putting the peg into
the proper hole. Thor