th the others could get the timber out during the winter--we have
worked in the snow before--and I would join you in the spring. That,
however, again raises a point that must be settled once for all. Are we to
hold on to our first ambition, or turn contractors?"

Again there was a silence through which the roar of the river reached us
brokenly, and for some minutes I breathed the smell of hot dust and
resinous twigs that entered the open doorway.

"I hold on to the first," I said finally.

"And I stand by you," answered Harry.

Simultaneously we glanced at Johnston, who looked up with the same gay
indifference he had manifested when we floundered half-fed, knee-deep in
slush of snow. "I'll save you unpleasant explanations," he said. "I'm a
stormy petrel, and the monotonous life of a farmer would pall on me, so
I'll see you through the railroad contract, and then--well, I'll thank you
for a space of pleasant comradeship, and go on my way again. The mountain
province is sufficiently good for me, and some day I'll find either a gold
mine in it, or, more likely, a grave. If not, you can count on a visit
whenever I am hard up and hungry."

The words were typical of the man, though their undercurrent of melancholy
troubled me; but, for we knew he spoke the truth in regard to the farming,
the matter was settled so. I should much have preferred that Harry return
to Fairmead, but it was clear that the task most suited me. Perhaps
Johnston guessed my reluctance, for he said playfully: "Is not banishment
worse than snow slides or the high peak's frost, and what are all the
flowers of the prairie to the blood-red rose of the valley that was
grafted from Lancastrian stock?"

Thereupon Harry deftly dropped an almost-empty flour bag on his head, and
the consultation broke up amid a cloud of white dust.

"This," remarked Johnston, "is the beginning of riches. Two days ago, he
would have carefully swept up the fragments to make flapjacks."

Thus it came about that the next morning I boarded the main line express,
and traveled first-class with a special pass, while as luck would have it
the conductor, who evinced an unusual civility when he glanced at the
autograph thereon, was the same man I had worsted the memorable night when
I arrived a penniless stranger on the prairie. "If you want anything in
these cars, just let me know," he said.

"I will," I answered, thrusting back the wide-brimmed hat as I looked at
him. "The last ti