They Did
Not Deal With The Boats Themselves, And The Profits Were Eaten Up
By The Middleman.
He, the middleman, had a good thing of it,
because he could cheat the captains of the boats in the measurement
of the wood.
The chopper was obliged to supply a genuine cord of
logs - true measure. But the man who took it off in the barge to
the steamer could so pack it that fifteen true cords would make
twenty-two false cords. "It cuts up into a fine trade, you see,
sir," said the young man, as he stroked back the little girl's hair
from her forehead. "But the captains of course must find it out,"
said I. This he acknowledged, but argued that the captains on this
account insisted on buying the wood so much cheaper, and that the
loss all came upon the chopper. I tried to teach him that the
remedy lay in his own hands, and the three men listened to me quite
patiently while I explained to them how they should carry on their
own trade. But the young father had the last word. "I guess we
don't get above the fifty cents a day any way." He knew at least
where the shoe pinched him. He was a handsome, manly, noble-
looking fellow, tall and thin, with black hair and bright eyes.
But he had the hollow look about his jaws, and so had his wife, and
so had his brother. They all owned to fever and ague.
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