“Why?” asked Wentworth, returning the smile.

“Pulp-wood has gone up since that contract was made.  If the stuff were to revert to us we could do much better with it.”

“How much better?”

Cameron shot a keen glance at his questioner.  “Well, considerably,” he answered non-committally.

“A dollar an acre?”

“Two of them.”

A brief silence ensued, during which Wentworth was conscious that the eyes of the other were upon him.  “Seven dollars an acre,” he said.  “Pretty high, isn’t it, when you consider the inaccessibility to your markets?”

Cameron laughed.  “Inaccessibility to markets don’t seem to be worrying McNabb any.  Bringing his paper mills into the woods seems to have solved that problem.  I was talking to the engineer in charge of his road construction day before yesterday——­”

“Engineer in charge of road construction!” exclaimed Wentworth.  “What road construction—­where?”

“Why, north of here.  You knew he was building a tote-road, didn’t you?  I followed the blazed trail clear down to the rapids of the Shamattawa.  And he’s pushing it, too—­got twenty-five or thirty miles of it ready for traffic.”

“No—­I didn’t know he had begun construction,” admitted Wentworth.  “I knew there was to be a road—­laid it out myself.  But I did not know that the work had started.”

“Well, it has, and we may as well conclude out business.”

“But the options do not expire until noon of July first.”

“No, but what is to be gained by waiting here until the last minute?  He intends to close the deal, so why not get at it?  I suppose you were provided with the necessary funds to make the initial payment?”

Wentworth shook his head.  “No,” he answered.  “In fact I have nothing whatever to do with the transaction.  I am an engineer sent up here to locate the mill site, lay out the tote-road, and incidentally, to make a survey of additional pulp-wood holdings.  I am surprised to hear that McNabb has begun construction of the road.”

Cameron stared at the man in astonishment.  “What do you mean?” he asked, “that McNabb has added the expense of road construction to the money he put into the options, without making provision for acquiring title to the property?  That does not sound like McNabb—­what I’ve heard of him.”

“He has until noon of the first,” reminded Wentworth.

“Yes, but where is he?  He knows the North, and the hundred-an’-one things that can happen to upset a schedule.  If I had as much invested in this thing as he has, you may believe I would have been here with plenty of time to spare.”

Wentworth nodded.  “So would I. But in case he does not show up, what then?  The first man that offers seven dollars an acre, and is prepared to make a substantial payment takes the property?”

“Just so.  If McNabb, or his representative, is not here on the stroke of twelve, the day after to-morrow, with tender of a cash payment of ten percent. of the purchase price as stipulated in his contract, then he is out of the reckoning altogether.  But why do you ask?  You speak as though there were some doubt in your mind as to McNabb’s appearance?”