Chapter 1

The ax blade flashed in the sun as it swung in a long arc. It was an arc that ended only after the blade had split the block of birch into two virtually identical halves, and the two semi-finished pieces of firewood had bounced away from the top of the chopping block where the ax was now embedded. Before levering the ax handle up and down to free the blade from the chopping block, the hands that had held the ax retrieved the two new semicircular pieces. One hand mounted one of the pieces on top of the chopping block, as the other hand withdrew the ax. In just a few seconds the ax flashed again, and two newly minted pieces of firewood, each one approximating a quarter of the original block, were retrieved and then tossed on the slowly growing pile of firewood. They would now stay there at rest for a while, drying and waiting for their turn to be taken on the short journey to the woodshed where they would be stacked neatly waiting for future use.

The cycle of mounting unsplit blocks, flashing ax, retrieval, and adding to the woodpile was repeated over and over. Roughly every 20 minutes the man wielding the ax, Matti McEwen, would take a break so that he could cool down from his labours, and take a few sips from his bottle of water. Matti is tall, weighs about 180 pounds, and is clean-shaven, with dark brown hair and grey eyes. Those who don’t know him sometimes find him to be a bit quiet, but amongst friends he’s known as an outgoing and happy man. He’s still single, but is quick to volunteer that he’s looking for the right woman. It sometimes seems that he’s not serious when he says that, as any matchmaking that his sister, or one of his friends, has tried, has never produced any results.

Matti had been very active mentally while he split the firewood, his mind trying desperately to figure a way out of his nearly insurmountable financial problems. As he rested, he sat on the chopping block and continued his financial deliberations. His thoughts didn’t just cover his concerns about his failing business, a small diamond drilling company that he inherited from his father. If it failed, his personal finances would probably follow the same path within a rather short time. If they did, he would likely lose the summer cottage, or camp as such places were known in Northern Ontario. It had been left to Matti and his sister Anna, and he had borrowed to buy out her share. Payments on that loan, when combined with his modest rental apartment in Thunder Bay, took the majority of the cash he was able to take each month from the profits of the drilling company.

He knew that he was probably just one major breakdown away from big trouble. The three diamond drilling rigs, and the air compressor that powered them, were getting very old and were almost worn out, and it was only because he employed a foreman with a very good mechanical aptitude that they continued to operate at all. It was a foregone conclusion that Matti’s luck, and Ernie Stewart’s know-how, would eventually not be enough to keep things going.

Retiring one of the three rigs would cure his problems in one way, as he could lay off one crew, and use that rig and equipment to supply parts to keep the other two running. It was not a decision he felt he could make, though. The three crews that ran the equipment, and did the tough work, were all long-term employees, and he considered them all to be his friends. He just couldn’t see how he could push good friends into unemployment. The even bigger problem was which crew to choose. Even worse, he had a signed contract with the junior mining company doing the exploration, and he couldn’t fulfill the contract with only two crews. If McEwen Drilling failed to keep its end of the bargain, its reputation would be damaged, and the information would soon be out that their word couldn’t be trusted. That would be the kiss of death for the business, as the mining and exploration community was known for both its secrecy and its penchant for the swift trading of industry gossip. It was likely that if McEwen Drilling announced that it couldn’t live up to its contract almost the entire industry would know about it within just a few days.

There was one other option open to Matti. He could lay off one of the men, and fly north to take his place. The catch to that idea was that he would need to hire someone part time, to order and ship parts, food, and anything else that was needed, up to the work camp. Filling that job would not be easy, as it required some knowledge of the business. At the moment it was the job that Matti performed, and while it would save a few dollars, he just didn’t think it was a feasible solution. It wasn’t that he minded doing the work, as he had grown up working on the drilling machines for his father, and he was sure he could still do any of the jobs handily. It was probably the choice he would have to make, even though it would mean giving up living at the camp, as he now did for at least a few days every week. He just had to make the final decision on who to lay off.