The Connecticut labor press., 1920-01-03
CHAPTER II.
afe ConnelI Explains.

DQggY ana STartoU out WILL A-nAO' '"
 the intention of covering portion O
 the limits and seeing the operations O
 the jobberS; he also meant to keei
 his eyes open as to the nature O.
 the timber.
 The buggy surmounted a hill. ant
 another hill appeared in the distance
 Here and there. scattered along tht
 roadside, were solitary cabins, witt
 little patches of cultivated ground
 about them.
 And on the right of the road Is the
 Ste. Marie territOry?' asked Hilary.
 "Yep, MT. Askew. The two runs neck and neck back into them noun fains. We turn off presently. We haven'1
 touched this district yet"
 Hilary noted the first-growth spruce along the banks. "Why don't we cut
 this. anyway, if the rest is mainly fir2" he asked. There's enough lum Der here to fill our dam instead o1 the Ste. Marie company's logs"
 Lafe answered vOlubiy. but did not meet Hilary's eyes.
 You see. MT. Askew," he began tO explain. tits this way. There's a good deal of fir on our property, and what pine and spruce there is is small ish. There was a big fire over this district fifteen years or so ago. Now Mfr. Morris calculates that if we go slow for q while and give the trees a chance to grow, they'll be worth twice as much in a few years. We're de veloping the property slowly. Mr. Askew-"
 Hilary's hand fell on Lafe's shoul- der. 'ConnelI," he said, 'I brought you up here with me to learn the truth from you. You're going to sign on again on October first, and it's me you're going to sign with, not MT. Morris Now tell me the facts about all this"
 Lafe stammered and hung his head like a schoolbOy caught in wrong doing. But HtIary's hand was grip ping his shoulder, and at last Lafe raised his head and looked straight At EIary.
 ''If I thou@i.r you'd stick here," he said. "T guess 4 pack you to the liln- if But you1l never stand for St. Boniface. MT. .Askew. They're so in- formally slow here. they ain't got hu- man ways. sir. And they're crooked. I thought, when I heard you was com ing. you'd be like MT. Morris-I mean wise to the game-but you ain't. guess most business is crooked every where, but here it's crooked all through. You'l be selling out to Mr. BrDusseau in a months time, and that1l be my finish"
 You're dead wrong. Connell," an- swered Hilary. ''I like the looks of this country, and I'm here to stay. Now suppose you forget about MT. Brousseau for a while and consider yourself to be what you are, my paid employee. And you can count on my standing by you"
 He held his hand out For a mo- ment Lafe Councils keen gray eyes met his searching inquiry; then he took Hilary's hand and wrung it.
 ''I believe you mean what you say, Mir. Askew," he returned. And you can reckon on me so far as my duty goes"
 ''I suppose that tale about the Ros- ny seigniory being nothing but fir is a lie, Connell?" asked Hilary pres ently, as the pony ambled through a valley Overgrown with red pine. 4 Mostly" said Lafe. "There is a deal of fir. but there's enough spruce and pine to make the concession pay, if Mir. Morris wanted 1t to-"
 "So Morris has been playing double?"
 Lafe nodded. You see, MT. Askew, It's this way" he said. "When Morris came up here I believe he meant to run straight. But he'd been a lumber man in a small way up in Ontario, and he wasn't wise to the game as it's played here. Here it's graft, and it's never been nothing else. So when Morris found your uncle didn't know nothing about the business, and left | 1t in his hands. he naturally fell for the game BrOusseau was playing.
 "Brousseau is the big man up here | and he'd had his eye on the Rosny seigniory for long time He wanted to buy, but ROsny was sore on him. and he closed the deal with your uncle 1 instead. But afterward Brousseau got rhe mortgage on the Chateau and the little bit of land round 1t, to keep hold | Dn ROSny.
 +Well, the Rosny sefgniory is the only piece of freehold up this way. Be | Yond it's government land, and all | round it's government land. Brous- sean started in to squeeze your uncle l put. And Morris went with him. He | 1layed double as you were saying, | MT. Askew. The point of the whole | game was to freeze out your uncle 1 apd get the property for a song. That's how it stands. Here we turn )ff into MT. Leblanc's lease"
 l"WhO's he?
 ''Your chief jobber," said Lafe.
 The buggy turned off through the 'orest along a new road. Here was 'ome splendid timber, black and white 'pruce and tall white pine. The sound If axes began to be audible, and pres sntly they reached a clearing. in which humber of frame Shacks were under Experimenting the work vaF a tall, rather fair man of about nrty wears, with a cast in one eye; fDd with him was short. thickset