The first to break the long silence was Jim Boone, with "Who brings in the wood ?" And Black Gandil answered: "We'll match, eh ?" In an outburst of energy the day before he disappeared Garry Patterson had chopped up some wood and left a pile of it at the corner of the house.

It was a very little thing to bring in an armful of that wood, but long-riders do not love work, and now they started the matching seriously.

The odd man was out, and Pierre went out on the first toss of the coins.
"You see," said Gandil.

"Bad luck to everyone but himself." At the next throw Jacqueline was the lucky one, and her father afterward.

Gandil rose and stretched himself leisurely, yet as he sauntered toward the door his backward glance at Pierre was black indeed.