When he awoke the sun shone into the office and he felt stiff and cramped, but not cold.  This was strange, and he glanced at the stove, which he had expected to find nearly out.  The iron, however, glowed a dull red and he could hear the cordwood snapping.  Somebody must have put in fresh fuel, and looking at his watch he got up with a start.  The men had been at work for two hours, with nobody to superintend them.  Then he heard a movement and turning round saw one in the room.

“Feeling better, boss?” the fellow asked.  “Mr. Kerr told me to come and see if you were awake.  Said you’d find breakfast ready if you went to his place.”

“I expect you thought waiting for me to wake was easier than rolling logs,” Charnock suggested.

“Oh, well!” said the other; “you won’t find we’ve fooled away much time.”

Charnock went to Festing’s shack and the doctor nodded and indicated his comrade’s bunk.  As Charnock stopped beside it Festing turned his head.

“Things going all right, Bob?”

“They were last night,” said Charnock, with some embarrassment.  “I don’t know about this morning because I’ve just got up.  But how are you?”

Festing smiled.  “Much better; imagine I’m not knocked out yet.  You needn’t bother about being late.  The boys are a pretty good crowd, and they like you.  I’m rather glad you didn’t hustle them as much as I wanted.”

“That’s enough,” said the doctor, who followed Charnock to the door and gave him a hopeful report.

Charnock ate a very good breakfast in Kerr’s shack, but his face was grave when he began his work.  Luck had put upon him a heavy responsibility, but he must shoulder the load.  Sadie and Helen and Festing had given him much, and now the time had come to pay them back.  Moreover, with the responsibility had come a chance of proving and, so to speak reinstating, himself.  He was entangled in a coil from which there was but one way out; he must stand by his comrade and finish the contract, or own himself a wastrel.  The difficulties were obvious, but there was some encouragement.  Perhaps the hardest battle had been fought, for he had grappled with his craving for liquor and thought he had won.  Then the pain had not troubled him for some time.

The men gave him no trouble, and he imagined they worked with more energy than usual.  Now and then one or another stopped to ask, with obvious sincerity, how the boss was getting on; men from the railroad gangs, some of whom he scarcely knew, made inquiries, and Charnock felt moved.  His partner’s justice had won him respect, but he saw that some of the sympathy was meant for himself.

Two days later he heard the rumble of an approaching supply train and walked up the track to meet it.  The locomotive stopped farther off than he expected, and a woman got down.  Running forward, he saw that it was Helen.

“Stephen’s doing well; that’s the first thing you’ll want to know,” he said when they met.