“You are right, sir,” David replied, speaking for the first time.  “There will certainly be marvellous changes all over this country in a year or two.  You will hardly know the place then.”

“That is interesting.  And can you tell me who will perform these wonders of which you speak so confidently?”

“The falls will do it,” and David stretched out his right arm.  “Light and power will come from there to transform city and country.  Living will be made far more tolerable in both.”

“But who are the men back of all this?” Mr. Sinclair asked.  He felt sure now that he was on the verge of a new discovery.

“I am the man,” and David stood proudly erect.  “It was my plan which suggested the movement.”

“I know all that,” and Mr. Sinclair rose impatiently to his feet.  “But where does the money come from? and, who are the men who form the company?  That is what I want to know.”

“That I cannot tell you, sir.  And why should it matter?  I am concerned about the improvements and not where the money comes from.”

“H’m, that’s a queer way to do business,” was the disgusted reply.  “Well, I must be off up the brook.  I’ve wasted too much time already.  Look out for your big rock, little girl, and see that no one disturbs it.”

“Oh, I guess it’ll stay there all right,” Betty replied with a laugh.  “My friends never leave me.”

They stood and watched Mr. Sinclair until the tree hid him from view.

“I don’t like that man,” and Betty stamped her small foot upon the ground.  “He makes me feel creepy all over just like I always do when I see a snake or a rat.  Let’s go home.”

About an hour after they had left the place, Peter Sinclair drew near, and stood looking at the big rock across the brook.  Then he walked along the bank until he came to the smaller rock of which Betty had spoken.  He next turned his eyes northward and pointed with the forefinger of his right hand as if tracing an imaginary boundary line.  As he did so a smile of satisfaction lighted his face, and when he left the brook and started homeward, his step was quicker and more elastic than it had been for many a day.

CHAPTER XIII

THE DISTURBING LETTER

It took Jasper longer than he had expected to get everything ready for his fall and winter lumbering operations.  He found it hard to obtain as many teams as he needed, and greater difficulty still to procure the right kind of men.  He offered good wages, but the choppers held out for more.  Although such matters had been left to Jasper, yet he did not feel inclined to pay such wages as were demanded.  At length, however, he succeeded in rounding together a band of men upon whom he felt he could depend, and he hoped in a few days to begin work upon the building of the cabins for the men and the stables for the horses.