gs there
are in the saw-mill boom."

"Oh, Jack!" exclaimed Mary, in a low suppressed voice. "I wish that I
were you! It's a great day for you!"

He had sprung to the saddle while his father was speaking, and he felt
it was out of his power to utter a word in reply. He did not need to
speak to the horse, for the moment Mr. Ogden released the bit there was
a quick bound forward.

"This horse is ready to go," said Jack to himself, as he felt that
motion. "I've seen her before. I wonder what's made her so excited?"

There was no need for wonder. The trim, light-limbed sorrel mare he
was riding had been kept in the hotel stables until that day. She had
been taken out to a neighboring stable, at the morning alarm of fire,
and when the blacksmith went to borrow her he found her laboring under
a strong impression that things in Crofield were going wrong. She was
therefore inclined to go fast, and all that Jack had to do was to hold
her in. The blacksmith's son was at home in the saddle. It was not
yet dark, and he knew the road to the Four Corners. It was a muddy
road, and there was a little stream of water along each side of it.
Spattered and splashed from head to foot were rider and horse, but the
miles vanished rapidly and the Four Corners was reached.

A smaller village than Crofield, further up among the hills, it had a
higher dam, a three times larger pond, a bigger grist-mill, and a large
saw-mill. That was because there were forests of timbers among the yet
higher hills beyond, and Mr. Ogden had been thinking seriously about
the logs from those forests.

"I know what father means," said Jack aloud, as he galloped into the
village.

There were hardly any people stirring about its one long street; but
there was a reason for that and Jack found out what it was when he
pulled up near the mill.

"Everybody has come to watch the dam," he exclaimed. "No use asking
about the logs, though; there they are."

The crowd was evidently excited, and the air was filled with shouts and
answers.

"The boom got unhitched and swung round 'cross the dam," said one eager
speaker; "and there's all the logs, now,--hundreds on 'em,--just
a-pilin' up and a-heapin' up on the dam; and when that breaks, the
dam'll go, mill and all, bridge and all, and the valley below'll be
flooded!"

The moon was up, and the clouds which had hidden it were breaking away
as Jack looked at the threatening spectacle before him.

The sorr