other with scared eyes and spoke in undertones.

"After this maybe he won't want to follow orders. Maybe he'll get sort
of free and easy and independent."

"If he does, you watch Dad give him his marching orders. Dad won't
have no one lifting heads agin' him."

"Neither will I," snapped Joe. "I guess we own this house. I guess we
support that big hulk. I'm going to try him right quick."

He went back to the door of the shack. "Bull, they ain't any wood for
the stove tonight. Go chop some quick."

The floor squeaked and groaned under Bull's weight as he rose, and
again the brothers looked to each other.

"All right," came cheerily from Bull Hunter.

He came through the door with his ax and went to the log pile. The
brothers watched him throw aside the top logs and get at the heavier
trunks underneath. He tore one of these out, laid it in place, and the
sun flashed on the swift circle of the ax. Joe and Harry stepped back
as though the light had blinded them.

"He didn't never work like that before," declared Joe.

The ax was buried almost to the haft in the tough wood, and the steel
was wrenching out with a squeak of the metal against the resisting
wood. Again the blinding circle and the indescribable sound of the