The storm had given way to sunshine that made all the trees and bushes glisten as if burnished with silver. From the hilltop an expanse of country, many miles in extent, could be surveyed--a prospect that never grew tiresome to Dale, for he was a true lover of nature, even though occupied in destroying a part of her primeval beauty. "Just think of the days when this country was full of Indians," he said to Andrews. "It's not so very many years ago." "Right you are; times change very quickly. Why, the first sawmill wasn't built on the Penobscot until 1818, and in those days Bangor was only a small town and many of the other places weren't even dreamed of. The Indians had their own way in the backwoods, and they used to do lots of trading with the white folks when they felt like it." "Yes, and fought the white folks when they didn't feel like it," laughed Dale. "But then the red men weren't treated just right either," he added soberly. "I can remember the time when these woods were simply alive with game of all sorts," went on the older lumberman. "If you wanted a deer all you had to do was to lay low for him down by his drinking place. But now to get anything is by no means easy. That moose you and Webb got is a haul not to be duplicated." The work at the hilltop progressed slowly, but at the end of two weeks all the small trees and brushwood in the vicinity were cut down and disposed of, and then a road to the edge of the hill was leveled off and packed down. In the meantime one of the sleds had been at work among the trees cut down just back of the edge, and these trees were now piled up in several heaps. "We'll try some of the logs this afternoon," said Gilroy, one Friday morning, and the trial was made directly after dinner. Four logs were pushed over the edge, one directly after the other, and down they went, with a speed that increased rapidly and sent the loose snow flying in all directions. At the bottom they struck several trees left standing for that purpose and came to a stop with thuds that could be heard a long distance off. "Hurrah! That beats sledding all to pieces!" cried Dale. "We can roll down a hundred logs while a sled is taking down a dozen." "We can roll down all we have up here to-morrow," said Gilroy. "And the sled can go to the cut below. The biggest logs are in the hollow and it will take every team we have to get 'em out." Yarding had already begun at the edge of the pond, and Saturday found Owen at work among a number of small trees and thick brushwood which Mr. Paxton had ordered cut away, for the head lumberman loved to see everything around his camp in what he termed "apple-pie order." This is nothing unusual among the better class of lumbermen in Maine, and they often vie with each other as to which camp presents the best appearance and whose cut of logs foots up the cleanest.