Deringham knew a little about a good many things, including sword-play, and he realized as he watched the whirl and flash of blades, precision of effort, and exactitude of time, that this was an example of man's mastery over the trenchant steel.
Presently the man with the saw rose and touched his shoulder.

"I fancy we had better draw aside a little," he said.

"She will come down in another minute just here." Now Deringham had seen trees wedged over and drawn down by ropes in England, and wondered a little when the man pointed to the spot where he was standing.
"If you don't resent the question, how do you know ?" he said.
The other man laughed a little.

"Harry told me, and he's seldom more than a foot out," he said.
There was a groaning of fibres as Deringham drew aside, but the two figures on the springy planks still smote and swung, until simultaneously they flung the axes down and, sprang.

Then the great fir quivered a little, toppled, lurched, and fell, and the hillside resounded to the thud it made.