CHAPTER XVIII BOUND FOR THE GREAT LAKES "There is a chance for you, Owen," remarked Dale, as the reading of the letter was finished. "So it would seem," was the slow reply. "It isn't every fellow who has the chance of becoming a foreman." "That is true. If Mr. Paxton made the offer, I would jump at it." "What's the matter? Don't you want to work for your uncle?" "You know what I told you before, Dale. Uncle Jack Hoover is the hardest man to work for that I know of." "Perhaps he isn't so bad as he used to be. Anyway, you could give him a trial. You wouldn't have to stay with him if you didn't want to." "And there's another thing. You----" "Oh, don't mind me!" "I shan't go without you, Dale." "Then, I'll go along. He says he wants more hands." Owen's face brightened. "If you'll do that I'll take him up, and write a letter to him to-morrow. I'll tell him to keep places open for both of us, and that we want to work together." "It may not suit him to keep us together." "He'll have to do it--if he wants us at all. This is a combination that can't be broken, remember." "All right, then, have your own way. But if we're to be there by the first of next month, we can't stop for canal boats and slow lake lumber boats." "That is true. Perhaps we can get cut-rate tickets to Buffalo or Cleveland, and then get a cheap lake trip to Detroit. We can find out about that matter after the letter is written." The communication to John Hoover was prepared the next morning, immediately after breakfast. Owen insisted that Dale help on the letter, and the result was that Dale wrote one sheet while his chum wrote another. Owen told his uncle what a close friend Dale was, and that they meant to work together in the future. He added that both had worked for Mr. Paxton, and that that lumberman had been equally satisfied with their labors. Dale's letter was more in the nature of an application, and he referred John Hoover to John Larson, Peter Odell, and several others by whom he had been employed. As the letter was an important one to them, the young lumbermen did not drop it into a box, but took it direct to the post-office. They were just coming from the building when they came face to face with Mrs. Wilbur and her husband. "Oh, Jefferson, there they are now!" cried Mrs. Wilbur. "How fortunate we are to meet them!" She caught Dale by the arm and brought him and Owen to a halt, and introduced them. In a minute more Jefferson Wilbur was shaking each by the hand. "We were trying to hunt you up," said the lumber merchant. "Have you an hour to spare? If you have, I'd like both of you to come over to our hotel with us. I want to talk to you." "We can spare you all the time you wish," said Owen, with a laugh. "We are out of work just now, so time is no object." "Yes, I heard Paxton had closed down," replied Jefferson Wilbur. "So you are out, eh? I thought you used to work in one of the sawmills?"