Woodsmen of the genuine sort are never talkative; and Thorpe, as has been explained, was constitutionally reticent.

In the course of their disjointed remarks Thorpe explained that he was looking for work in the woods, and intended, first of all, to try the Morrison & Daly camps at Beeson Lake.
"Know anything about logging ?" inquired the stranger.
"Nothing," Thorpe confessed.
"Ain't much show for anything but lumber-jacks.

What did you think of doing ?" "I don't know," said Thorpe, doubtfully.

"I have driven horses a good deal; I thought I might drive team." The woodsman turned slowly and looked Thorpe over with a quizzical eye.
Then he faced to the front again and spat.
"Quite like," he replied still more dryly.
The boy's remark had amused him, and he had showed it, as much as he ever showed anything.

Excepting always the riverman, the driver of a team commands the highest wages among out-of-door workers.