Page:Hugh Pendexter--The young timber-cruisers.djvu/30

 peppery people don’t git on very well up here: Shouldn’t think they would in the city.”

“I suppose not,” wearily conceded Stanley; “but this is all new to me and I’ve had a tough time this last week.”

“Well, well,” soothed Bub, studying his companion with new interest; “let’s cheer up. Your Uncle Thomas is going to take you in hand. But it’s mighty queer about the paper mill. Did you git huffy? Did you talk high-falutin with the boss?”

“I talked with no one,” replied Stanley coldly.

Bub’s eyes opened very wide, and he halted and faced the other in amazement. “Let’s git this straight. How did you know you couldn’t git a job if you didn’t ask for one?”

“I looked in the doors and saw that all the men were loafing. I knew there would be no work for me when the help had nothing to do. Even the big wheels in the engine room were idle.”

Bub’s facial expression first alarmed and then angered Stanley. For beginning with a strained, swollen look that puffed out the cheeks and made the dark eyes to fill with tears, it finally exploded in a shriek of laughter. “O my poor child! If you only knew how green