“You see,” he said, “there’s my partner. We go together.”
“I can’t help that. You have my offer. I can’t have that kind of man on our pay-roll.”
Weston stood silent for a moment or two. He had arrived at the wooden hotel too late for supper the previous evening, and, as a rule, neither blandishments nor money will secure the stranger a meal at an establishment of that kind after the appointed hour. As the result, he had eaten nothing since noon, when the sawmill hands had offered him a share of their dinner; and, having assisted Grenfell along an infamous trail most of the night, he was jaded and very hungry. Now work and food were offered him, and there was not a settlement within several leagues of the spot. He had, however, already decided that he could not cast his comrade adrift.
“Well,” he said, “perhaps there’s a way out of it. If you’ll let him camp with the boys, I’ll be responsible for his board.”
“Any relation of yours?”
“No,” replied Weston simply, “he’s just my partner.”
The other man looked at him curiously, and then made what Weston fancied was an unusual concession.
“Well,” he said, “we’ll fix it. You may go along and drill with the boys yonder in the open cut.”
Weston did as he was bidden, and spent the rest of the morning alternately holding the jarring drill and swinging a hammer. It was strenuous work which demanded close attention, for the hammer was heavy, and it is far from easy to hit a drill neatly on the head, while the man who fails to do so runs the risk of smashing the fingers of the comrade who holds it. It was not much more pleasant when he gripped the drill in turn, for, though the other man stood on a plank inserted in a crevice, Weston had to kneel on a slippery slope of rock and twist the drill each time the hammer descended. The concussion jarred his stiffened hands and arms. The distressful stitch also was coming back into his side, and once or twice his companion cast an expostulating glance at him.
“You want to speed up,” he said. “Guess that boss of ours knows just how much the most is that a man can drill, and he has to do it or get out.”