fortune. From Ollie and his golden prospects, it was an easy way
to Sammy Lane and her coming marriage.

Buck Thompson was just concluding a glowing tribute to the girl's
beauty of face and form when Young Matt reached for an axe lying
near the speaker. Said Buck, "Preachin' Bill 'lowed t'other day
hit didn't make no difference how much money th' ol' man left
Ollie he'd be a poor sort of a man anyhow; an' that there's a heap
better men than him right here in th' hills that Sammy could a'
had fer th' askin'."

"How 'bout that, Matt?" called a young fellow from the river.

The big man's face flushed at the general laugh which followed,
and he answered hotly, as he swung his axe, "You'd better ask Wash
Gibbs; I hear he says he's the best man in these woods."

"I reckin as how Wash can back his jedgment there," said Joe.

"Wash is a sure good man," remarked Buck, "but there's another not
so mighty far away that'll pretty nigh hold, him level." He looked
significantly to where Young Matt was making the big chips fly.

"Huh," grunted Joe. "I tell you, gentlemen, that there man, Gibbs,
is powerful; yes, sir, he sure is. Tell you what I seed him do."
Joe pulled a twist of tobacco from his hip pocket, and settled
down upon his heels, his back against a post. "Wash an' me was a
goin' to th' settlement last fall, an' jest this side th' camp
house, on Wilderness Road, we struck a threshin' crew stuck in th'
mud with their engine. Had a break down o' some kind. Somethin'