He looked closer.

The letters were very faintly and badly cut.

He could only make out the first three of them; and even of those he was not quite certain.

They looked like C L A--if they looked like anything.

He threw down the strip of wood irritably.
"D--n the fellow (whoever he is) who cut this! Why should he carve _that_ name, of all the names in the world ?" He paused, considering--then determined to go on again with his self-imposed labor.