e to the floor with a thump.

"Well, I'm damned!" he said, staring.

Stiffy came quickly out of his little box to see what was up.

"How are you?" began the stranger youth diffidently.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Mahooley.

"Sam Gladding."

"Is the York boat in? Nobody told me."

"No, I walked around the lake."

Mahooley looked him over from his worn-out moccasins to his bare head.
"Well, you didn't bring much with you," he observed.

Sam frowned to hide his rising blushes. He offered the rabbit-skin
robe to create a diversion.

"Musq'oosis sent it, eh?" said Mahooley. "Put it on the counter."

Sam came back to the red-faced man. "Can you give me a job?" he asked
firmly.

"Hey, Stiffy," growled Mahooley. "Look what's askin' for a job!"

Stiffy laughed heartily. Thus he propitiated his irritable partner. It
didn't cost anything. Sam, blushing, set his jaw and stood it out.

"What can you do?" Mahooley demanded.

"Any hard work."

"You don't look like one of these here Hercules."

"Try me."

"Lord, man!" said Mahooley. "Don't you see me here twiddling my
thumbs. What for should I hire anybody? To twiddle 'em for me, maybe."

"You'll have a crowd here soon," persisted Sam. "Four men on their way
in to take up land, and others following. There's a surveying gang
coming up the river, too."

"Moreover, you ain't got good sense," Mahooley went on. "Comin' to a
country like this without an outfit. Not so much as a chaw of bacon,
or a blanket to lay over you nights. There ain't no free lunch up
north, kid. What'll you do if I don't give you a job?"

"Go to the company," returned Sam.

"Go to the company?" cried Mahooley. "Go to hell, you mean. The
company don't hire no tramps. That's a military organization, that is.
Their men are hired and broke in outside. So what'll you do now?"

"I'll make out somehow," said Sam.

"There ain't no make out to it!" cried Mahooley, exasperated. "You
ain't even got an axe to swing. There ain't nothin' for you but
starve."

"Well, then, I'll bid you good day," said Sam stiffly.

"Hold on!" shouted the trader. "I ain't done with you yet. Is that
manners, when you're askin' for a job?"

"You said you didn't have anything," muttered Sam.

"Never mind what I said. I ast you what you were goin' to do."

The badgered one began to bristle a little. "What's that to you?" he
asked, scowling.

"A whole lot!" cried Mahooley. "You fellows have no consideration.
You'