第53章

"You're a tough sucker, now, ain't yeh?" said Tim, through his shut teeth, addressing the block. We'll try yeh this way." He laid the end of the block upon a log and plied the axe with the full strength of his slight body, but the block danced upon the log and resisted all his blows.

"Say! you're a tough one now!" he said, pausing for breath.

"Let me try that," said Cameron, and, putting forth his strength, he brought the axe down fairly upon the stick with such force that the instrument shore clean through the knot and sank into the log below.

"Huh! that's a cracker," said Tim with ungrudging admiration. "All you want is knack. I'll slab it off and you can do the knots," he added with a grin.

As the result of this somewhat unequal division of labor, there lay in half an hour a goodly pile of fire wood ready for the cooking.

It caught Haley's eye as he came in to breakfast.

"I say, Missus, that's a bigger pile than you've had for some time.

Guess my new man ain't so slow after all."

"Huh!" puffed his wife, waddling about with great agility, "it was Tim that done it."

"Now, Ma, ye know well enough he helped Tim, and right smart too," said the daughter, but her mother was too busy getting breakfast ready for the hungry men who were now performing their morning ablutions with the help of a very small basin set upon a block of wood outside the kitchen door to answer.

There were two men employed by Haley, one the son of a Scotch-Canadian farmer, Webster by name, a stout young fellow, but slow in his movements, both physical and mental, and with no further ambition than to do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. He was employed by the month during the busier seasons of the year. The other, Perkins, was Haley's "steady" man, which means that he was employed by the year and was regarded almost as a member of the family. Perkins was an Englishman with fair hair and blue eyes, of fresh complexion, burned to a clear red, clean-cut features, and a well knit, athletic frame. He was, as Tim declared, a terror to work; indeed, his fame as a worker was well established throughout the country side. To these men Cameron was introduced as being from Scotland and as being anxious to be initiated into the mysteries of Canadian farm life.

"Glad to see you!" said Perkins, shaking him heartily by the hand.

"We'll make a farmer of you, won't we, Tim? From Scotland, eh?

Pretty fine country, I hear--to leave," he added, with a grin at his own humour. Though his manner was pleasant enough, Cameron became conscious of a feeling of aversion, which he recognised at once as being as unreasonable as it was inexplicable. He set it down as a reflection of Tim's mental attitude toward the hired man.

Perkins seized the tin basin, dipped some water from the rain barrel standing near, and, setting it down before Cameron, said:

"Here, pile in, Scotty. Do they wash in your country?"

"Yes," replied Cameron, "they are rather strong on that," wondering at the same time how the operation could be performed successfully with such a moderate supply of water. After using a second and third supply, however, he turned, with hands and face dripping, and looked about for a towel. Perkins handed him a long roller towel, black with dirt and stiff with grease. Had his life depended upon it Cameron could not have avoided a shuddering hesitation as he took the filthy cloth preparatory to applying it to his face.

"'Twon't hurt you," laughed Perkins. "Wash day ain't till next week, you know, and this is only Wednesday." Suddenly the towel was snatched from Cameron's hands.

"Gimme that towel!" It was the girl, with face aflame and eyes emitting blue fire. "Here; Mr. Cameron, take this," she said.

"Great Jerusalem, Mandy! You ain't goin' to bring on a clean towel the middle of the week?" said Perkins in mock dismay. "Guess it's for Mr. Cameron," he continued with another laugh.

"We give clean towels to them that knows how to use 'em," said Mandy, whisking wrathfully into the house.

"Say, Scotty!" said Perkins, in a loud bantering tone, "guess you're makin' a mash on Mandy all right."

"I don't know exactly what you mean," said Cameron with a quick rising of wrath, "but I do know that you are making a beastly cad of yourself."

"Oh, don't get wrathy, Scotty!" laughed Perkins, "we're just having a little fun. Here's the comb!" But Cameron declined the article, which, from its appearance, seemed to be intended for family use, and, proceeding to his room, completed his toilet there.

The breakfast was laid in the kitchen proper, a spacious and comfortable room, which served as living room for the household.