"Jake will have that plate pinned down before your spikes are in!" called one.
"Are you going to let the boys from across the creek get ahead of you?" protested another.
A third ran forward with both hands full of nails.
"They're catching you up!" she shouted. "Get them in! I can't have the laugh put on my man."
Husband, sweetheart and brother responded gallantly, and the pace became faster still, until at length Thorne shouted and waved his hand.
"We're through. It's time to quit," he said. "You've done 'most twice as much as I ever figured on your getting in to-night."
They had worked willingly, but it was evident that most of them were as willing to stop. Hammers, saws, and axes were flung together, and the men stood in groups, hot and gasping, in the early dusk. Thorne walked up to their leader.
"I can only say 'Thank you!' though that doesn't go far enough," he said. "What makes the thing seem more to me is that I haven't the least call on one of you."
There was a murmur of denial and then they waited until he turned to Mrs. Farquhar, though he addressed the company generally.
"Now," he invited, "I'll ask you to come in and look at my place."