About a quarter to eight a man appeared where the lane from the
road debouched into the clearing. He walked towards the shed, to
disappear presently behind it. Almost immediately blue smoke began
issuing from the metal chimney in the shed roof. It was evident he
had come before the others to get up steam.

In about half an hour those others arrived, about fifteen men in
all, a rough-looking lot in laborers' kit. They also vanished
behind the shed, but most of them reappeared almost immediately,
laden with tools, and, separating into groups, moved off to the
edge of the clearing. Soon work was in full swing. Trees were
being cut down by one gang, the branches lopped off fallen trunks
by another, while a third was loading up and running the stripped
stems along a Decauville railway to the shed. Almost incessantly
the thin screech of the saws rose penetratingly above the sounds
of hacking and chopping and the calls of men.



"" trees
trees ""
"" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"" >>>>>>>>> trees
Observation Point (X) "" >
"" __ lane to**********
"" [__] sawmill road ************
"" >
"" >
"" CLEARING >