For the Allinson Honor

with a table and one or two chairs; the wooden house was small but pretty. In front a plot of grass, kept green throughout the hot summer by an automatic sprinkler, ran, unfenced, to

th domestic duties also reached him now and then; and a lad who had greeted him pleasantly as he passed sat on the neares

son," he said. "A ha

d to envy you,"

glanced half wistfully at a map on the table. "For all

lace, I wouldn't stu

d it a solace to recall what I used to do. However, I've inconsistently practised prudent self-denial in other ways. There was a moose head-a beast I shot-I took o

iled across it. He felt that he was not acting consi

the marches you ha

r on the map, moving

with the dogs playing out and the timber wolves on my trail for the last few days. This lake ends in a big muskeg, and we snagged our canoe there one fall. As she'd ripped her bilge open, we left her and spent a day and a half floundering through two or three feet of water and tall reeds, and carrying loads of sixty pounds." He paused and indicated a line th

id thoughtfully, "One to ma

ghed, rath

fair start, with prospects of going farther than I have done, and my responsibility is lightening. A winter up there would satisfy me-I'm afr

d laid it aside, and soon afterwar

nson in. It's g

hung on the varnished board walls. The lamp, though obviously cheap, was of artistic design; the rug on the stained floor and the hangings were of harmonious hue. Mrs. Graham, a little, faded woman with a cheerf

he had more in common with the silent dwellers in the lonely wilds. These are, for the most part, sentimentalists of a kind; loving the wilderness, not for what can be made out of it, and untouched by the materialistic ideas of the towns, where the business chance is the chief thing sought. Their gifts become most manifest when the ice breaks up on the rivers across which they must get th

fast; we'll soon have to light the basement heater." She turned to Andrew. "This

. "It's not often too fierce, and in a place like the Landing there's g

surface, but we expect to send off a good lot of ore for experimental reduct

That man's surely on to a soft thing. I s'pose you

lanced at her

nson in that manner, Jim. He's a good deal

n doesn't look as if he minded. Anyway, he doesn't know as much as I do abo

edly; "I like the work better tha

in rolling rocks about or standing in wet slickers

doing it for amusem

ay. You don't get rich by knowing ho

true," Andrew resp

ther fellows to do the rough work. They break up the rocks and cut the mi

ter interposed. "If nobody were willing to live in the logging camps

le who like doing that kind of

ned to Andrew. "It's the latest fashion among the

so dear, one is forced to be practical," Mrs. Graham remarked feelingly.

nt," Jim replied. "We don't let our imag

Take your prospectors, for example; they often face risks that couldn't be justified by a return in money. I heard of one fellow crossing a lake in a savage storm in a leaky canoe, to keep the ti

the barrens he has talked about as long as I remember; but if he found it I believe he'd be content with that and se

rning set out for the mine, where he worked very hard for a few weeks. They were still using the old adit, though the new one was being driven toward the lower level. Then he and Carnall

d and somber, stood out with harsh distinctness against the first thin snow; and the river flowed, a dark-colored riband

nger hadn't got through, and we'll hardly make the mine before midnigh

mised to let me know the results they got and the le

metal would throw a useful light on the prospects of the mine. The last analysis of specimens selected to

aid. "If I'd expected this kind of weat

freely, the mine was expensive to work, and of late Watson had grown morose and reserved. Even when Andrew pressed him, he had avoided giving h

y heard a faint, regular splashing, made by canoe poles. A shout answered their ha

g Andrew some letters. "Now that I'

me on to the

et there to-night and we can make a Mapp

im," Carnally suggested. "We'l

ompare the report with our books and get Watson

they could see the glimmer of the floes that drifted down, though it was not always possible to avoid them. Once or twice there was a crash as a heavy mass struck the canoe, which was too lightly

n open when they came down, but now the channel made by the current was glazed with thin ice, through which they could h

it will be late to-morrow befor

to it as long as we can," Carnally replied. "It's rough trav

pper edge of the rapid, they drove her out. For a minute or two they made no progress, and Andrew, straining at his pole, feared that they would be swept down the wild, foaming rush; but they found slacker water and the ominous roar of the rapid died away. Then snow began to fall

rnally. "Head for the s

ng the bank when Andrew felt his knees grow wet. Feeling with his hand,

explained. "We can't bale her and u

d, and he had gone several yards before it seemed strong enough to bear

ile or two," he said. "It's rough country-st

h the roar of water and the wailing of the trees. However, he held on for some time; and then suddenly felt no support for his foot. It was too late to stop; the next moment he was in the water. The shock took his breath away; he had a horrible fear

he ice crack, but his weight was now well distributed and he crawled forward

n't mean to run again. If it had been

rce a passage through the snow-laden needles. Some had been partly blown down and leaned on one another in tangles which would have been difficult to traverse in daylight. How Carnally kept his line Andrew could not tell, for they had lost the sound of the river, and the snow was thick; but he steadily pushed on and af