56 WILD BROTHER 



close to the door of the cave. If the fire should 

 come, it would take them only a few minutes, they 

 said, to stock and provision their place of refuge. 

 To be sure, the log cabin would go, but they would 

 be safe; in a few hours the fire would spend itself 

 and pass on. 



It seemed foolhardy for anyone to take such 

 chances, but there was money to be made by the 

 cutting and getting out of cedar trees. A good stand 

 of this timber grew close by, and cedar is valuable 

 for railroad ties and telegraph poles. Only three 

 men were now at the camp. The rest of the crew 

 had left when the river-driving was over. 



Bruno was an active member of the Weldon fam- 

 ily. He could climb like a squirrel, and if the tree 

 were hollow, he liked to crawl inside and from a hole 

 watch his comrades at their games, as if he were 

 playing hide and seek with them. Another one of 

 his favorite pastimes was trying to help when the 

 cook was splitting kindling wood, though Mr. 

 Weldon considered him more of a hindrance than 

 a help, for Bruno would rush in from behind and 

 try to pull away a piece of wood that was being 

 split, and sometimes was in great danger of losing 

 his paws, for the axe was sharp. He loved to pick 

 up the small pieces as they fell from the chopping- 

 block. Holding them in his mouth, he would 

 prance about like a puppy, chasing up and down 



