along the railroad track, but as soon as you leave it you'll find no
paint required. The settlers use logs or shiplap and leave them in the
raw. The trip won't pay you."

"Well, I'll see the country, and find out something about the
coniferous gums."

"They're soft and resinous. Don't you get the material you make good
varnish of from the tropics?"

Harding laughed.

"You people don't know your own resources. There's 'most everything a
white man needs right on this American continent, if he'll take the
trouble to look for it. Lumber changes some of its properties with the
location in which it grows, I guess. We have pines in Florida, but
when you get right up to their northern limit you'll find a difference."

"There's something in that," the sawmill man agreed.

"If you're going up to their northern limit, you'll see some of the
roughest and wildest country on this earth," declared the Hudson Bay
agent. "It's almost impossible to get through in summer unless you
stick to the rivers, and to cross it in winter with the dog sleds is
pretty tough work."

"So I've heard." said Harding. "Well, I'm going to take a smoke. Will
you come along?"

They declined, and when he left them one smiled at the other.