"He did not. Willis was badly rattled and started for the muskeg.
Thought he might get the track thrown across the hole, perhaps! I'm
rather sorry for the kid. But what are you going to do about it?"

"Report we had two cars bogged and state the cost of labor. That's all,
I think."

Kemp nodded. "Well, perhaps there's no use in talking about the lamp.
Our business is to make good, using the tools we've got. All the same,
if they want a man somewhere else, I guess I'd recommend Willis."

He smoked quietly for a time, and then resumed: "We don't get forward
much. In fact, if the new Western irrigation company would take me on, I
think I'd quit."

Lister pondered. Since his short stop at Winnipeg he had been conscious
of a strange restlessness. He wanted something the woods could not give,
and had begun to think life had more to offer than he had known.
Besides, he was not making much progress.

"Since the double track is to be pushed on across the plains, the
department will need a bigger staff and there ought to be a chance for
some of us," he said. "Then there's the new work with the long bridges
on the lake section that will carry higher pay. We're next on turn and
have some claim. They ought to move us up."

"I doubt. We didn't come from a famous office, and it's not always
enough to know your job."