“I sent the jacks down on the engine with Jim.” Then, with the freedom of the woods, he turned to the boys. “So long as you looked Jonson in the eye, you had him. He saw you had the heart to face him and it funked him. Men like him are more animal than human, and I suppose you know that if you ever get into a tight place with an animal, the thing to do is to stare it straight in the eyes.”
“Will that work with b’ars, Steve?” inquired the storekeeper.
“Sure, even with grizzlies. But you must keep perfectly still. Once you move, you’ve got to act lively. You chaps going to be here long?”
“Several days,” replied Phil.
“They’re friends of Si. Come in on 64,” explained Peleg.
“And our name is Porter; that’s Phil and I am Ted,” supplemented the latter.
“Glad to know you, especially after this evening. If you have time, you must come up to camp, if you’d like to see how we get out logs in Washington.”
“Indeed we should,” exclaimed both boys.
“Then why not go up with me in the morning?”
Eagerly the young homesteaders accepted the invitation, and after talking awhile, Ted went into the store to instruct Jennie in the mysteries of the alphabet, while the foreman went to his cabin, promising to call for them at five in the morning.