Chapter VII.



Cranky Jack.


It was early in the day. Traveller after traveller was trudging by Shingle
Hut. One who carried no swag halted at the rails and came in. He asked
Dad for a job. "I dunno," Dad answered--"What wages would you want?"
The man said he would n't want any. Dad engaged him at once.

And SUCH a man! Tall, bony, heavy-jawed, shaven with a reaping-hook,
apparently. He had a thick crop of black hair--shaggy, unkempt, and full
of grease, grass, and fragments of dry gum-leaves. On his head were two
old felt hats--one sewn inside the other. On his back a shirt made from
a piece of blue blanket, with white cotton stitches striding up and down
it like lines of fencing. His trousers were gloom itself; they were a
problem, and bore reliable evidence of his industry. No ordinary person
would consider himself out of work while in them. And the new-comer was
no ordinary person. He seemed to have all the woe of the world upon him;
he was as sad and weird-looking as a widow out in the wet.

In the yard was a large heap of firewood--remarkable truth!--which Dad
told him to chop up. He began. And how he worked! The axe rang
again--particularly when it left the handle--and pieces of wood scattered
everywhere. Dad watched him chopping for a while, then went with Dave