Page:Hugh Pendexter--The young timber-cruisers.djvu/62

 stuff is piled squarely,” kindly directed the man.

In a few moments Stanley jumped down from the door and announced, “No use of me in there. Everything is squared up beautifully.”

“Then git over on that pile of boards and keep tally till I call you,” snapped the man.

Then Stanley appreciated that he had found a new friend, who was trying to find a way to allow him a breathing spell. His heart swelled with gratitude and for thirty minutes he enjoyed the luxury of complete relaxation.

“Hi! going to loaf all day?” bawled the man at last.

Stanley leaped to his feet, his eyes blazing his thanks, and with renewed zeal assailed the ever arriving squares of pulp.

That night he slept the sleep of the exhausted and did not have to go to work until seven o’clock in the morning. The next few days were a repetition of the first, only now his muscles began to harden and respond more quickly and less painfully to the call made upon them. Then he was shifted to the lumber gang and underwent new torture.

The boards were long and heavy and his hands filled with splinters until the boss