The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-09
(Continued.)

A whistle of astonishment escaped Howland's lips.
 Jackpine had half opened the door, and for moment the engineer caught a glimpse of his dark, grinning face looking back over his shoulder. He hesitated, as if about to speak, and then with a mouthful of his inimitable chuckles, he went out.
 After bolting the door Rowland lighted small table lamp, entered the sleeping room and prepared for bed
 Got to have little sleep no matter if things are going off like a Fourth of July celebration" he grumbled and rolled between the sheets.
 In spite of his old habit of rising with the breaking of dawn it was Jack pine who awakened him few hours later. The camp was hardly astir when he followed the Indian down among the log cabins to Thorne's quar- ters The senior engineer was already dressed.
 "Sorry to hustle you so, Howland," he greeted, "but I've got to go down with the mail. Just between you and me I don't believe the camp doctor is much on his job. I've got a deuced bad shoulder and a worse arm, and I'm going down to a good surgeon as fast as can."
 For an hour after breakfast the two men were busy with papers, 1aaps and drawings relative to the camp work. Before that hour had passed he was certain of at least one other thing that it was not incompetency that was taking the two senior engineers back to the home office. He had half ex- pected to find the working end in the same disorganized. condition as its chiefs. But if Gregson and Thorne had been laboring under a tremendous strain of some kind it was not reflected in the company's work, as shown in the office records which the latter had spread out before him.
 That's big six months work" said Thorne when they had finished. Good Lord, man, when we first came up here a jack rabbit couldn't hop through this place where you're sitting, and now see what we've got-ffty cabins, four mess halls, two of the biggest warehouses north of Winnipeg, post office, a hospital, three blacksmith shops and-a shipyard!'
 "A shipyardr' exclaimed Rowland in genuine surprise.
 "Sure, with a fifty ton ship half built and frozen stiff in the ice. You can finish her in the spring, and you'll find her mighty useful for bringing supplies from the head of the Wekusko. We're using horses on the ice now. Had a deuced hard time in getting fifty of 'em up from Le Pas. And, besides all this, we've got six miles of roadbed built to the south and three to the north. We've got a sub-camp at each working end, but most of the men still prefer to come in at night" He drag ged himself slowly and painfully to bis feet as a knock sounded at the door. That's Macdonald, our camp super intendent," he explained. ''Told him to be here at 8. He's a corker for talk ing hold of things"
 A little, wiry, red headed man hop ped in as Thorne threw open the door. The moment his eyes fell on Rowland he sprang forward with outstretched hand, smiling and bobbing his head.
 "Howland, of coursew he cried. ~G1ad to see you! Five minutes late awful sorry-but they're having the devils own time over at a coyote we're going to blow this morning, and that's what kept me-"
 From Rowland he whirled on the senior with the sudden movement of a cricket.
 Flows the arm, Thorne? And if there's any mercy in your corpus tell me if Jackpine brought me the ciga- rettes from Le Pas. If he forgot them, as the mail did, I'll have his life as sure"-
 "He brought them," said Thorne. "But how about this coyote, Mac? thought it was ready to fire"
 ''So it is--now. The south ridge is scheduled to go up at 10 o'clock. Wen blow up the big north mountains some t'-1e tonight. It'll make a glo- rious f. .works-125 barrels of powder and four fifty-pound cases of dyna- mite-and if you can't walk that far, Thorne. we'll take you up on sledge. Mustn't allow you to miss itp'
 Sorry, but I'll have to, Mac. I'm going south with the mail"
 Macdonald seemed to be the life and law of the camp, and he wondered more and more at Thorne's demeanor. He began to note that there was strange nervousness about Thorne when they were among the men, an uneasy alertness in his eyes, as though he were looking for some particular face among those they encountered.
 "I want Rowland to see this south coyote go up," said Macdonald. "Can you spare him? We'll be back before noon."
 Certainly" replied Thorne. "Come ,nd take dinner with me at 12"
 Rowland fancied that there was a certain tone of relief in the seniors voice, but he made no mention of it to the superintendent as they walked swiftly to the scene of the blowout The coyote was ready for firing when they arrived. The coyote itself-a tun- nel of fifty feet dug into the solid rock of rhe mountain and terminating in q charupef packed with xp!os1yes-wSs rln yV,c 0fI rock