Silent men and whirring saws, whose strident scream changed to a deeper humming as they rent into the great redwood trunks, alike did their work with swift efficiency, and once more the girl glanced with a little wonder at the man who had organized it all.
"This appears to be a remarkably well-laid-out mill," said her father.
Alton laughed a little.

"We shall have a bigger one by and by," he said.

"The only thing I'm proud of is the planer, and she cost me a pile of dollars.

I had to cut down all round before I could buy the thing, and then I pulled her all to pieces, and fixed her up myself." Alice Deringham followed her father towards a big, humming machine that was tearing off the surface of the planks fed to it and flinging them out polished into whiteness.

Alton glanced at it admiringly.
"Yes, I'm proud of that," he said.