CRUISING 41 



lines, wandering over the page in reckless fashion, 

 produced nothing but what map men call "impos- 

 sible country." 



"It doesn't look very encouraging," I ventured. 



"Encouraging!" snapped the chief, "it isn't 

 worth a damn! I don't believe Wetherby ever 

 cruised before in his life. He only ran out three 

 forties to-day and took twelve hours to do it! It's 

 the limit!" 



"Now that I think of it," I said, "he never really 

 told us he'd done any actual timber work. Most of 

 his stories were rather vague in that respect, if you 

 remember." 



"But he's got all the theories," shouted Frazer, 

 thoroughly exasperated, "he can tell you all about 

 it. He must have read up on the work before he 

 came on. It makes me sick!" 



"What are you going to do about it?" I asked, 

 feeling vaguely that Frazer 's confidences boded me 

 no great good fortune. 



"Well," he said, staring at me speculatively, 

 "there's only one thing to do you'll have to get 

 busy and cruise regularly, as soon as you can learn 

 enough about it. I can't trust Wetherby on that 

 sort of work at all. I was going to put you on the 

 baseline with the axe, but Wetherby gets the job. 

 If he'll shed a part of that warehouse he carries 

 around he ought to be able at least to blaze trees." 



So next day, after a mild "bawling out," which 

 Horace took with commendable meekness, he con- 



