Jack thought for a moment before he replied to this proposition. "I'll tell you," he finally said, "tomorrow night the literary society meets. We will attend the meeting, leaving these men here. They would not be interested, and while we are there we can take the matter up with those we want to see." "But how about the contract?" asked Gully. "Ought it be signed, or can it wait a day or two?" "Let it wait," replied Jack. So they went together where the strangers were waiting, and in a short time, two tents were raised, and made fairly comfortable, and the strangers had taken up their quarters. Mr. Palmer, with a rough board table, and his suit case containing maps and papers occupying one, and Dugan and Stevens with their surveying instruments, the other. CHAPTER XVIII. It was now approaching the Holiday season, and there was as yet no indications of a severe winter. There had been sufficient frost to kill the grass, but stock was doing nicely on the range and little feeding was required. No especial arrangements had been made for the seasons entertainment, everyone seemed to be interested in the progress of the preparations for work on the big contract. It was generally known that it was secured by Gully and Norton and the neighbors were anxiously awaiting the time for actual work to begin. The call for help among them on the night of the literary meeting, had been gladly responded to, and almost daily requests for work were being received from persons who lived many miles distant. The deal had been successfully consummated and Mr. Palmer had returned to the East. The surveyors Dugan and Stevens were eagerly endeavoring to complete their part of the work, in order to return to their homes in time for the Holiday festivities. Travis Gully and Jack Norton who had secured additional teams, were busily hauling material for the erection of shelters, and feed, to the point on the company's land, that had been selected for the establishment of the main camp. Fresh water was to be hauled daily from Gully's well in a huge tank that had been constructed for this purpose, and everything was to be gotten in readiness for work to begin immediately after the new year. Jack Norton and Dugan became great friends, and the latter spent many nights with Jack when they would sit for hours by the roaring sheet iron stove, while Jack listened in boyish eagerness to the older mans accounts of his experiences while in Alaska with the Geological survey. Dugan soon discovered that Jack's hobby was geology, and he could talk learnedly on that subject, so it welded their friendship all the stronger.