Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-12-30

small tri-weekly mail boat. For fifty
or sixty miles below Quebec the coun-
try, sparsely inhabited though 1t is,
and primitive, contains settlements
with shingled houses, hotels, tourists
DIN season; and it was not until the st.
Lawrence widened into the Gulf that
Hilary realized. almost with surprise,
that the ship was sailing into terri
tory as primitive as it had been score
of years after Jacques Cartier landed
Something of the primeyai nature OF
the land entered Hilary's heart and
gripped it, He had never known what
1t was he wanted. But he knew now:
1T WAS to take hold of virgin land
and tame il, to grapple with life, not
among the men of cities, but some
where with the smell of the pines and
ing the deck of the little ship, he felt
that his desires had come to light at
the moment when their fulfillment had
become possible.
de looked about him with approval
when he stood upon the porch of the
tiny hotel at ST. Boniface. Nobody
else had got off the boat, and evident
ly the landlord of the little hotel ex-
pected nobody. After an Intellectual
attempt to enter into conversation with
him., in which hardly word was mu-
/ tually ineligible, Hilary gave up the
effort and started up the hill road
which led, he surmised, toward the
lumber mill.
The whole settlement was gathered
about the shores of the little bay. Be
yond it were the mountains, on either
side the forest-clad hills, broken, on
the east. by an inlet, and on the west
by the deep cleft of the Rocky river,
whose mouth, closed by boom, was
"a congested mass of logs.
Hilary crossed the bridge and APP
preached the mill. Two or three men,
lounging outside the store, looked at
him without any sign of interest.
Everything was very still and peace
full; there was hardly sound to be
heard except the distant hum of the
mill machinery.
Between the dam and the store,
upon a terrain heaped with tin cans
and miscellaneous debris, were piles
of wood in four-foot lengths, each COM
prising about two hundred cords.
kneeling at the narrow end of one of
these piles was little man, whose
clean-shaven upper lip, the wilderness
of which contrasted with a sun-biack-
ened face, indicated that a mustache
had grown there recently. He was
scaling. or measuring, the pile, and
muttering as he added up his figures.
Hilary surveyed the lumber. 1t was
unrossed, and most of 1t was black
spruce; there was also some white
spruce and little pine. The mass in
the river, if II consisted of wood of
| the same quality, hardly substantiated
Lamartine's statements.
you seem to have some good spruce
on the seigniory." said Hilary.
The little man leaped to his feet,
waving his arms. "What you want
here?' he demanded. Strangers are
not permitted on the company's prop
erty. If you want to buy at the store,
you go by the road"
Hilary looked down coolly at the
excited little man. 'I'm Mr.. Askew,
and I've come to take charge of my
property" he answered.
The little man was bereft of vocal
powers for quite some time.
"But Mr. Morris, he amt here," he
gasped at length.
well, he ought to be here. That's
what I'm paying him for" said Hilary.
whats your name?"
"Jean-Marie Baptiste,"
perhaps you didn't expect me, Mon
sieur Baptiste?"
"Holy Name, mol 1t was said that
you had sold out to the company"
"What companyT demanded Hilary.
1.-THE company at Ste. Marie. Mon
sieur Brousseau's company"
"See here, Baptiste," said Hilary,
taking the other by the arm. let Us
begin by understanding each other !
know nothing about any company ex-
cept myself l own this district, the
land, the timber, the mill. Have you
got that?"
Jean-Marie gaped again, and then
automatically disengaged himself.
Il guess you want to see Mr.. Con-
nell, the foreman" he said. st amt
my job. You'll find Mr. Connell in the
store"
Bring him here" said Hilary. "Tell
/ him I'm waiting for him."
The little man departed at q trot,
quite evidently startled and scared,
and casting back comical looks from
time to time over his shoulder as he
went.
His statement in the store must have
created good deal of sensation. for
| presently two clerks, as well as the
two loungers. who had gone inside,
came to the door and stared. Olsen
gaging himself from among these came
the foreman, tall, lean, lanky New
Englander, whose deliberate SLOUGH
and typical bearing warmed Hilary's
/ heart instantly He knew the type,
knew it as only one with the New Eng
land blood knows his own.
I'm LATE Cornell, ar your service,
Mr.. Askew," said the foreman, coming
up to Hilary and standing respectfully
before him.
Il suppose should have let you peo-
| pie know that l was coming" said
/ Hilary.
He wondered why LATE Connell
whistled; he knew nothing about
Brousseau's telephoned warning.
81 guess you'll find things upset a
little" said ConnelI Mfr Morris has
bee- away for couple of weeks. see
ing to his other interests. and l can't
exactly do much for you till ne comes
back. It's our slack month. you know,
Mr.. Askew. The men don't go into
the woods until September, and we
don't keep large force employed on
/ the mill work."
''Tomorrow's soon enough to start
in" said Hilary. I'm pleased to have
met you, Mr.. Connell"
ssWaff a rnfnutar said the foreman q.