The Challenge of the North

looked up from his scrutiny of the Russian sable coat spread upon a ta

ece, too. Who is there in Terrace City that's got thirty thousand

"Mrs. Orcutt bough

bought it down

shades lighter, an' is topped an' pointed to bring it up to the b

N

ighborly on the street, an' for years we've played on opposite sides of a ball-a-hole foursome at t

iness way, an' in a bus

b money passes throug

e could have had it

eft me a matter of twenty thousand pounds sterling. When I got the money I quit the Company an' drifted around a bit until finally I bought up a big

a dozen more anchored in the harbor waitin' to haul McNabb's lumber. The van stood on this spot in the sawmill days, an' when it got too small I built a

or credit at the bank, or I had to take a big loss. I went to see Fred Orcutt-I banked with him, those days, an' he knew the fix I was in. Yes, the bank would be glad to accommodate me all right; if you could of been there an' heard Fred Orcutt lay down his terms you'd know just how damn glad they'd of been to accommodate me. It kind of stunned me at first, an' then I saw red-the man I'd befriended in more ways than one, just layin' back till he had me in his clutches! Well, I lit out an' told him just what I thought of him-an' he got it in log

vered wooden shack that I'd passed a dozen times a day an' hadn't even looked into. I'd met Bronson once or twice, but hadn't paid no attention to him, an' as I was headin' back for the store, he stood in his doorway. 'Good mornin' Mr. McNabb,' he says. I don't think I'd of took the trouble to answer him, but just then his bank sign caught my eye. It was painted in black

swers with a grin. 'M

it was more than I needed, but I thoug

ithout battin' an eye. 'But-what

o tell you what I think of the Wolverine here on the s

rivate office. 'Of course,' I says later, when I'd told him what I wanted, 'most o

n' they're layin' down the pine a damn sight faster than God Almighty can grow it, ain't they?' An' when I admitted that such was the fac

ouble, an' we've been doin'

d Hedin, after an inter

to Bronson's bank he never by so much as a word or a look let on that he even noticed it. They still have an account at the store; they can