The Blazed Trail

to a round stove, big as a boiler, into which the cripple dumped huge logs of wood from time to time. After breakfast Thorpe r

r affair, built of lumber, mostly unpainted, with always the dark, menacing fringe of the forest behind. The great saw mill, with its tall stacks and its row of water-barrels-protection against fire-on top, was the dominant note. Near the mill crouched a little red-painted str

companions of the night before. The remainder of the office gave accommoda

g for work,"

briefly comman

ner room opened, and Shearer came o

, boys,"

ression of a subtler weight and power than the merely physical. This peculiarity impresses us in the portraits of such men as Daniel Webster and others of the old jurists. The manner of the man was easy, good-natured, perhaps a little facetious, but these qualities were worn rather as garments than exhibited as characteristics. He could afford them, not because he had few

a littered desk. In the close air hung the smell

is?" he asked the

e lumberman. "Have you got

l-owner

Shearer. Did you vote f

epishly. "I don't know, s

ng to the next two in the line. "All right, report to Tim. Do you want work?" he inqu

wered the latte

do y

nt-hook m

ave you

an & Stebbins on the C

Report at 'seven,' and if they don'

r of finality. The lumberman still lingere

want?" asked

I want three days off and fifty dollars to bury my mother, I wish

uckled

b," said he, "

to Thorpe with the last flic

careless familiarity, because, potentially, he might be more of a force to deal with. He underwent, too, the man's

for work," T

kind o

earn something about

died him keenly f

ny other busine

on

e you bee

thi

man's eyes

is place and slop some over the sides. We do not pretend or attempt to teach here. If you want to be a lumberman, you must learn the lumber business more directly

purpose, their capacity for knowledge, nor their perseverance in anything. That a man of twenty-six should be looking for his first situation was in

on lumbering seems to be singularly limited. Still he knew the trees, and had sketched an outline into which to paint experience. He said nothing of this to the man before him, because of that strange streak in his nature which prompted him to conceal what he felt most strongly; to leave to others the task of guessing out his attitude;

business man had whir

to do in the woods, then

Daly over h

e wen

t five dollars in his pocket, he made the elementary discovery that even in chopping wood skilled labor counts. He did not know where to turn next, and he would not have had the

ich a boss retains his moral supremacy in a lumber country,-repels that too great familiarity which breeds contempt, without imperiling the trust and comradeship whic

the Cass Branch. He needs men for roadin', I kn

it?" ask

for th' supply team, Friday. If you try to make her your

consi

" he said at

replied the walking-boss

oarding-house ke

he trumpeted

ng up to Radway's with the supply team. Now quit

ke that ax and split some dry wood

o you," began Thorpe to

rupted the latter, "some