The syndicate, therefore, remained in
Victoria, or Vancouver, or San Francisco, and said of Tom that he was
a rustler from "Way back, and as lively as they make 'em."
It will be guessed that Tom's principal difficulty was engaging men.
Having engaged them, he was certain to get plenty of work out of them,
and they couldn't leave till they had earned sufficient money to take
themselves elsewhere. All the boys came to Tom stoney-broke; otherwise
they would never have "signed on." To be treated like a hog, to root
assiduously for Tom, or to starve, stared several able-bodied men in
the face. One genial Californian remarked, "It's a choice between
Death and Damnation."
You will now understand why Tom smiled when Dennis Brown asked for a
job.
He knew that Dennis was a cow-puncher, and not a star performer on his
own pitch, and he had only to look at the man to realise how unfitted
he was for the rough work of a logging-camp. A derisive chuckle
gurgled from his huge, hairy throat as he growled out--
"Say! This ain't like teachin' Sunday-school."
"I know it ain't," said Dennis cheerfully.
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