THE AMERICAN FORESTS 353 



Of all the destroyers that infest the woods, 

 the shake-maker seems the happiest. Twenty or 

 thirty years ago, shakes, a kind of long, board- 

 like shingles split with a mallet and a frow, were 

 in great demand for covering barns and sheds, 

 and many are used still in preference to common 

 shingles, especially those made from the sugar- 

 pine, which do not warp or crack in the hottest 

 sunshine. Drifting adventurers in California, 

 after harvest and threshing are over, oftentimes 

 meet to discuss their plans for the winter, and their 

 talk is interesting. Once, in a company of this 

 kind, I heard a man say, as he peacefully smoked 

 his pipe : " Boys, as soon as this job 's done 

 I 'm goin' into the duck business. There 's big 

 money in it, and your grub costs nothing. Tule 

 Joe made five hundred dollars last winter on 

 mallard and teal. Shot 'em on the Joaquin, tied 

 'em in dozens by the neck, and shipped 'em to 

 San Francisco. And when he was tired wading 

 in the sloughs and touched with rheumatiz, he 

 just knocked off on ducks, and went to the Con- 

 tra Costa hills for dove and quail. It 's a mighty 

 good business, and you 're your own boss, and 

 the whole thing 's fun." 



Another of the company, a bushy-bearded fel- 

 low, with a trace of brag in his voice, drawled 

 out : u Bird business is well enough for some, but 

 bear is my game, with a deer and a California 

 lion thrown in now and then for change. There 's 



