The shantymen had not yet arrived, Mr. Stewart always making a point of
being at the depot some days in advance of them, in order to have plenty
of time to prepare his plans for the winter campaign. Noting Frank's
inquiring look, he laughed, and said,--

"Oh, there are none of them here yet--we're the first on the field-but by
the end of the week there'll be more than a hundred men here."

A day or two later the first batch made their appearance, coming up by
the heavy teams that they would take with them into the woods; and each
day brought a fresh contingent, until by the time Mr. Stewart had
mentioned the farm fairly swarmed with them, and it became necessary for
this human hive to imitate the bees and send off its superfluous
inhabitants without delay.

They were a rough, noisy, strange-looking lot of men, and Frank, whose
acquaintance with the shantymen had been limited to seeing them in small
groups as they passed through Calumet in the autumn and spring, on their
way to and from the camps, meeting them now for the first time in such
large numbers, could not help some inward shrinking of soul as he noted
their uncouth ways and listened to their oath-besprinkled talk. They
were "all sorts and conditions of men"--habitants who could not speak a
word of English, and Irishmen who could not speak a word of French;
shrewd Scotchmen, chary of tongue and reserved of manner, and loquacious
half-breeds, ready for song, or story, or fight, according to the humour
of the moment. Here and there were dusky skins and prominent features
that betrayed a close connection with the aboriginal owners of this
continent. Almost all bad come from the big saw-mills away down the
river, or from some other equally arduous employment, and were glad of
the chance of a few days' respite from work while Mr. Stewart was