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 am employed by that company in addition to my duties as state fire-warden. My orders are to help and aid any who come my way, let alone my inclination to entertain.”

Miss Laura nodded happily and explained, “You have no idea how pleasant it is for us to have someone drop in—or, I should say, drop up—no, come up. There! Sometimes we see no one for many weeks. Of course we have the telephone, but it isn’t like real visiting.”

“But the extra work,” reminded Stanley. “It doesn’t seem right that a slip of a thing like you should be cooking for three strange men.”

She laughed softly. “A strange man and two boys,” she corrected. “Besides, Mr. Whitten is no longer a stranger to us, we’ve heard so much about him.”

“Ye git out,” bashfully protested Abner, yet reddening with pleasure. “Guess ye never heard no good of me.”

“Mr. Whitten is fishing for compliments,” she quizzed. “And I’ll pay him none.” Then seriously, “But I’ll say that I know how he saved the lives of three men up north of Parmachena two winters ago in the midst of the worst blizzard of the year. It was simply noble the way he went out and found them, when