“Hello, Hoop-la! you ornery ol’ skate!” bellowed Gillis.
The big man turned. “Here he is fellers!” he shouted.
In a moment Gillis was surrounded by this picturesque crew, howling tumultuous greetings.
Donald was subjected to crushing hand-clasps as he was introduced to each and every one of this crowd of husky loggers.
As Donald studied them he did not wonder at Gillis’s pride in these men. With the exception of Blackie, there was none under six feet in height, and they carried themselves with a loose swing that was almost a swagger. Many of them were well past middle age, some quite grey about the temples. They were all filled with the sparkling health of the great outdoors, their skins the colour of mahogany.
“We don’t call them bunk-houses any more, we have dormitories,” corrected Gillis as he nudged Donald slyly.
“A what?” questioned the puzzled Blackie.
Blackie glowered at his boss. “What are you runnin’, a ladies’ seminary?” he questioned sarcastically.
“And another thing, you don’t need your blankets. Company furnishes ’em,” informed Gillis.
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing right now,” declared ‘Crazy’ Jack, “I ain’t goin’ to sleep in a pair of blankets that forty smelly bohunks has wrapped themselves in. What kind of a joint you brought us to, Jack?”
“What I want to tell you fellers,” said Gillis, ignoring ‘Crazy’ Jack’s remarks, “is this: I want you to stay all summer. None of this running to town to get your teeth fixed, or a new suit, see the ball game, or to meet your sister who’s comin’ out from the East, and all that old bunk. We got more orders——”
“Can that chatter,” interrupted ‘Fighting’ Jack with a wide grin. “We’re all goin’ to town on Dominion Day, ain’t we, boys?”
Gillis shrugged his shoulders resignedly. “Thought you fellers was gettin’ old enough to have a little sense,” he said.
“Too much kick in us yet, Jack,” demurred Blackie.
“Where is this door-mee-tory, Jack?” asked Hoop-la.
Gillis pointed to the long building, and the boisterous crowd moved noisily up the hill. The men dropped their packs to the ground outside the door, and, shouldering each other, peered in. The long rows of white beds stood immaculate against the walls, and two white-coated flunkeys were sweeping the glossy varnished floor.