always the dark, menacing fringe of the forest behind. The great
saw mill, with its tall stacks and its row of water-barrels--
protection against fire--on top, was the dominant note. Near the
mill crouched a little red-painted structure from whose stovepipe a
column of white smoke rose, attesting the cold, a clear hundred feet
straight upward, and to whose door a number of men were directing
their steps through the snow. Over the door Thorpe could distinguish
the word "Office." He followed and entered.

In a narrow aisle railed off from the main part of the room waited
Thorpe's companions of the night before. The remainder of the
office gave accommodation to three clerks. One of these glanced up
inquiringly as Thorpe came in.

"I am looking for work," said Thorpe.

"Wait there," briefly commanded the clerk.

In a few moments the door of the inner room opened, and Shearer
came out. A man's head peered from within.

"Come on, boys," said he.

The five applicants shuffled through. Thorpe found himself in the
presence of a man whom he felt to be the natural leader of these
wild, independent spirits. He was already a little past middle
life, and his form had lost the elastic vigor of youth. But his eye
was keen, clear, and wrinkled to a certain dry facetiousness; and
his figure was of that bulk which gives an impression of a subtler
weight and power than the merely physical. This peculiarity