Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-10-21
\ ETWEEN the men of Pinerift
( lumber camp and those of
Camp Seven, farther up the

river, there at all times was q
strong rivalry. 'Velvet Joe," the
biggest and possibly the toughest
Pinerift man, averred it existed ION
gin'ral principles"
Did Camp Seven perform some par
ticularly hazardous feat in jam-b break
Ing, Pinerift took no peace until it
had equaled and, if possible by any
known means, eXcelled the Camp
Seven achievement. Had Pinerift the
champion team for hauling, Camp
Seven bestirred itself diligently until
1t had matched the champion. The
feeling extended even to the cooks
and the choreboys.
Honors had for long time been
about evenly divided between the two
camps, but at last Camp Seven had
won victory, to its great and osten-
tatious delight Tom Patengill, the
son Of Camp Seven's foreman, a
strapping young fellow of eighteen,
had on two distinct occasions per-
formed feats of jam-b breaking which
even the older men of either camp
mad found it impossible to excel. Ger
tainly none of the Pinerift young fel-
lows had equaled the exploits of
young Patengill, and Camp Seven
claimed the championship with noisy
acclaim. Heretofore the Pinerift men
had fully held their own, and this,
their first unmistakable defeat
ranked.
IF old Turner only had a son now,
stead Of that gal-boy of his that's
afraid of the waterr" growled Velvet
Joe to his mates in great disgust.
"But shucksr'
That's so, Joe, all right enough"
assented Pete Adams, grizzled
driver. "Dicky Turner would be
afraid of wettin' his fete, let alone
riding lot of rollin' logs"
Turner, the foreman, himself felt
the loss Of prestige that the camp had
received, and several times Dick
Turner caught his fathers eyes fixed
upon him half-reproachfully. Dick
was quiet young fellow, with square
shoulders and a broad. deep chest that
showed plenty Of power to endure.
On the whole, he had perhaps more
than ordinary courage, but he had an
uncomfortable aversion to-perhaps 1t
would not be too harsh to say fear of
the swift, swirling waters of the
river. The feeling had been born
with him, and try as he might, he
could not overcome it.
"Well, now, if the critter amt
skeered of the water" Velvet Joe had
said, in a tone of mingled pity and
disgust when the truth was first
borne in upon him. And he expressed
the sentiment of the camp. Young
Turner, the only young fellow in
their camp with sufficient strength
and quickness to attempt to pick up
Tom Patengill's gauntlet, was "skeered
Of the water"
Unable to understand in the least
this "queerness,' rs the men termed
1t, they had come to feel contempt for
the quiet young fellow. Half-hidden
hitherto, out of respect to the sturdy
foreman, the feeling now began to
show outright. Dick Turner under
stood. and it cut him to the quick,
but he gave no sign.
There We're things which he could
do, If he could not drive logs on the
river, and one thing he could do es-
pecially well. He had wonderful
gift for handling and training horses.
This talent he had doubtless inherited
from his father.
About a year before the foreman
had bought noted stallion, which
for size, strength and beauty was fam
GUS far and near. The splendid ami
NAL also had the well-earned reputa-
ton OF being in disposition the ugliest
brute that ever paved the turf
He was said to have killed one
trainer, and to have been under
sentence of death therefor when
Turner bought him. But the dauntless
lunmberman believed he could train
the horse into submission.
But after several futile attempts
and two or three narrow escapes from
death. he had acknowledged himself
stallion to be shot. 1t seemed a pity.
At least, so Dick Turner thought.
Never had so gallant an animal been
seen in that part Of the country. And
the boys heart, like that of q certain
illustrious horse tanner of old, swelled
with the desire to conquer and subdue
the handsome, terrible creature.
Reluctantly, and only after the
young fellow had demonstrated some
thing of his skill and power, did his
father consent and give the horse into
his care.
No one knew Dicks methods, no
one understood. not even the father,
his mystic power, for most of the
boys work was done alone, but GER
tain 1t is that n few weeks after the
lumbermen were astonished to see that
ugly Mack" acknowledged master
Just one in all the world.
For few days the incident was