"That pays, doesn't it?" I asked with a smile, more to arouse his sense of humor.
"Yes, of course it pays, but haven't we got something more important—at that, it won't pay half as much as sawing logs from the river—and we can let the Government have the lumber," he replied—somewhat mollified.
"Hiram, you will have to go—but let's get some breakfast while we talk it over there."
We went below to where a darky was frying two big slabs of ham and a dozen eggs, also watching a large coffee pot steaming on a three-dollar gasoline stove. He prepared to serve the breakfast on a table made of the head of a tobacco tierce, with three square sticks for legs, placed in an open space back of the engine. The chairs were a four-inch cut-off from the end of a log, accoutered with legs as was the table, but all cleaned and trimmed, with good rustic effect. The entire hold of the boat had been washed, cleaned, and put in perfect order, and the men at that moment were scrubbing the upper deck. He must have everything clean and orderly.
Hiram sat down opposite me at this rustic round table, and placed two bare arms upon it. A deep pink rim about his eyelids was the only evidence of fatigue after twenty-four hours of continuous work without sleep, and while he had combed his hair with his fingers, and still needed a shave, a novice could see in him a big man, with tremendous energy that chafed at delays.
"Well——?" He looked eagerly the question as if to save words.
"Hiram, have you stopped to take stock lately? Don't you think we have made pretty good progress in the last ten days?"
"Indeed we have, Ben—don't think I am finding fault—what bothers me is—could we have done more?—have we worked up to the limit?—and it does worry me to think we have not done away with this man Becker, and squared away to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities, and—and you know the other thing—perhaps you cannot understand how fearfully anxious I am to go back to Anna Bell, clean—and successful."
"I do believe I understand. We—well, I'd rather say you—you have done it pretty much yourself—you have been successful."