The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-23

wave of whitenesS swept over hin The boss had not even turned his hea 70 see the deformitv pointed out [ him. He had used the possessiv. When he said my man" the huncr. ,eart of Freckles went reaching ou ,fter him. The boy drew a quiverin; breath. Then he whipped off his ole hat and beat the dust from it care, fully. With his left hand he caugh. the right sleeve, wiped his sweaty face. and tried to straishten his hair with his fingers. He broke a spray of ironwort beside him and used the pur- pie blossoms to beat the dust from his shoulders and limbs.
 Mclean was Scotchman. The men of his camps had never known him to be in hurry or to lose his temper Discipline was inf1exible. but the boss always was kind. He shared camp life with his gangs. The only visible signs of his great wealth consisted of a big, shimmering diamond stone of ice and fire that glittered and burned on one of his fingers and the dainty, beautiful, thoroughbred mare he rode
 No man of McLean's gangs could honestly say that he had ever been overdriven or underpaid. They all knew that up in the great timber city several millions stood to his credit.
 He was the only son of that Me Lean who had sent out the finest ships ever built in Scotland. That his son should carry on this business after his death had been the fathers ambition. He sent the boy through Edinburgh university and Oxford and allowed him several years travel.
 Then he was ordered through south ern Canada and Michigan to purchase a consignment of tall. straight timber for masts and down into Indiana for oak beams. The young man entered these mighty forests. parts of which still lay untouched since the dawn of the morning of time. The intense si- dral. fascinated him. He gradually learned that to the shy wood crea- lures that darted across his path or peeped inquiringly from leafy ambush he was brother. He found himself approaching. with feeling of rever- ence, those majestic trees that had stood through ages of sun, wind and snow. Soon it became difficult thing to fell them. When he had fill ed his order and returned home he was amazed to find that in the swamps and forests he had lost his heart, and it was calling, forever calling him.
 When he inherited his fathers prop erty he promptly disposed of it and, with his mother. founded home in a splendid residence in the outskirts of Grand Rapids. With three partners he organized a lumber company. His work was to purchase. fell and ship the timber to the mills. Marshall managed the milling process and pass ed the lumber on to the factory. From the lumber Barthol made beautiful and useful furniture. which Uptegrove scattered all over the world from a big wholesale house.
 Mclean faced young man. still un- der twenty. tall, spare. heavily framed, thickly freckled and red haired, with a homely Irish face. but in the steady gray eyes. straightly meeting his searching ones of blue. there were un- swerving candor and a look of long ing not to be ignored.
 You are looking for work?" ques- toned Mclean.
 "Yis," answered Freckles.
 'I am very sorry," said the boss, 'but there is only one man l want at hs Eolt xrvSf n stout heart and strong body. hoped that you would do, but l am afraid you are too young and hardly strong enough"
 And what was it you thought l might be doingY' asked Freckles.
 The boss could scarcely repress a start. Somewhere back of accident and poverty had been an ancestor who used cultivated English. even with an accent. The boy spoke in mellow Irish voice. sweet and pure. It was scarcely definite enough to be called brogue. yet there was trick in the turning of the sentence. the wrong sound of a letter here and there, that was almost irresistible to Mclean He was of foreign birth. and. despite years of alienation. in times of strong feeling he. fell into inherited sins of accent and construction.
 'It's no child's job." answered Me Lean. '1 am the field manager of a lumber company. We have just leased 2.0O0 acres of the Limberlost. Many of these trees are of great value. We can't leave our camp. six miles south for almost year yet. so we have blazed a trail and strung barbed wires securely about the extent of this lease Before we return to our work l must put this LimbTlost lease in the hands of a reliable. brave. strong man wh, will guard it every hour of the da. and sleep with one eye open at night l should require the entire length oi the trail to be walked at least twice every day. to make sure that our line were up and no one had been tres passing"
 "But why wouldn't that be the finest job in the world for mef' pleaded Freckles. "I am never sick. coui' walk the trail twice three times ever, day. and I'd be watching sharp all tn while"
 "It's because you are little more thar a boy. and this will be a trying jol for work hardened man." answered Mclean. "Y0u would be afraid. In stretching our lines we killed six rat.