ng eye.

O'Brien, too, looked up. The tree had begun to lean, and two of the
guides were straining taut. He wondered. He wondered if the men at the
guides were used to the work. Now, for the first time, he realized
that the crest of the tree had a vast overhang of foliage on one side,
and mighty misshapen limbs. He regarded it speculatively.

Then he glanced at the lumbermen. They were still looking up at the
lean of the tree. Suddenly he found himself expressing his opinions
aloud, as he ominously shook his head.

"They're raw hands, or--jest mill hands," he muttered. "They sure
ain't sawyers."

And again his eyes lifted to the ominous overhang.

A further scrutiny enlightened him. They were endeavoring to fell the
tree so that its crest should drop somewhere on or near the trail
toward the new church. This made its fall in the direction of, but to
the south of, the old Meeting House. This was obviously for the
purpose of simplifying haulage. Good enough--if all went well.

The lumbermen seemed satisfied and turned again to their wedges. As
they did so a gleam of smiling irony began to grow in O'Brien's eyes.
He had detected a slight swing in the overhang of the crest, and the
strain on the two guides was unequally distributed. The greater strain
was on the _wrong_ guide.

The swing of the tree was slightly out of its calculated direction,
and inclining a degree or two nearer the direction of the Meeting
House.

As the heavy strokes of the mauls fell he glanced over the faces of
the onlookers. What a picture of expectancy, what idiotic delight he
saw there!

A crack, sharp and loud, echoed over the clearing. The double team
were straining mightily on their heavy tugs. The lumbermen had stood
clear. The strain on the _wrong_ guide had increased.

O'Brien looked up. The swing had changed several more degrees, further
out of its direction.

The expression of the upturned faces had changed, too. Now it was
evident that others had realized what O'Brien had discovered already.
Loud voices began to point it out, and the lumbermen stared stupidly
upward. The tree was in the balance, and slowly moving, bearing all
its crushing weight upon that single _wrong_ guide.

There was a rapid movement near O'Brien, and Mike and Danny Jarvis
joined him hurriedly.

"Say," cried the latter, "the blamed galoots'll bust up the whole
durned shootin' match."

Which remark warned O'Brien that Danny had awakened to the threate