"I don't suppose you do—you are not that kind; I can tell that by your looks."
"You've given us more than was coming to us already," added Dale.
"But I want to do something, I tell you. My children are very dear to me, and if they had been burnt up——" Mr. Wilbur could not finish.
There was an awkward pause, neither Dale nor Owen knowing what to say. If the truth must be told, each wished he was out on the street again, so he might get away from the gentleman, who seemed bound to reward them for their services.
"You're out of work, you say," went on Jefferson Wilbur. "As you know, I own an interest in a lumber company operating in Oregon. How would you like to go out there?"
"To Oregon!" repeated the pair.
"Yes. I think I could give you steady situations at good wages, if you cared to go. Of course it is a long distance from here, but the openings are better, I think, than they are here."
"I might go, if Owen would go too," came from Dale. "But we have just sent a letter to his uncle in Michigan, saying we might come out there to work for him."
"Then your uncle is a lumber dealer?" said Jefferson Wilbur, turning to Owen.
"Yes. He owns several tracts of land in Michigan, and has an interest in the Gamoine Lumber Company."