The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-11-30

! few axmen we can pick EN- up at Mar
quette. I think this gangn stick.
picked 'em." =
There was not a young man in the
lot. They were most of them in the
prime of middle life, between 80 and
40. rugged in appearance, .eoeky7 in
manner, with the wager and the oath
of so many buccaneers, hard as nails
Altogether Thorpe thought them about
as rough a set of customers as he had
ever seen Throughout the day they
/ played cards on deck. and spat tobacco
! Juice abroad, and swore necessarily.
Toward himself and Shearer Their man
ner was an odd mixture of independent
/ equality and a slight Difference. 1t was
| as much as 10 say, You the boss,
but I'm as good a man as O any
day"
Constituting the elite of the profess
sion. as they did, Thorpe might have
wondered at their consenting to work
for an obscure little camp belonging TO
a g~reenhorn- Loyalty to and pride IN
the firm for which he works is a strong
characteristic of the lumber-jdck- For
this reason he feels that he owe ii TO
his reputation to ally himself only with
/ firms of c~reditable size and efficiency.
The small camps are for the young
sters- Occasionally you viii see two or
three of the veterans in such a camp,
but it is generally a case of lacking
something better.
The truth is. Shearer had managed
to inspire in the minds of his cronies
an idea hat they We're about to par
ticipate in a fight. He retold Thorpe's
! story artistically. The men agreed that
| the .'youn fellow had sand enough for
q lake 'front.' After that there needed
but a little skillfuf m~aneuvering to in
spire them with the idea that it would
be a great thing to take a hand, to
make a camp in spite of the big con-
Germ up-river.
Shearer knew tina this attitude was
tentative. Everything depended on
how well Thorpe lived up to- his repu-
tation at the outset. But Tim himself
believed in Thorpe blindly. S. he had
no fears.
A little incident at the beginning of
the voyage did much to reassure him.
Thorpe had given orders that no
whisky was to be brought aboard. Soon
after leaving dock he saw one of the
teamsters drinking from a pint flask.
Without a word he stepped briskly for
ward. snatched the bottle from the
mans lips and threw it overheard.
Then he turned sharp on his heel and
walked way. without troubling himself
as to how the fellow was going to
take it.
The occurrence pleased the men, for
It showed them they nae made no mis-
take. But it meant little else. The
chief danger really was lest they be-
come too settled in the protective atti-
tude. As they took it. they were about.
good-naturedly. to help along a worthy
greenhOrn. This they considered eX-
ceedingly generous on their part, and in
their own minds they were inclined to
look on Thorpe much as a grown man
would look on a child.
Fine Weather followed them up the
long blue reach of Lake Huron; into the
noble breadth of the Detour Passage,
past the opening through h Thousand
Islands of the Georgian bay; into the
st. Mary's river. They were locked
! through after some delay on account of
the grain barges from Duluth. and at
last turned their PROV westward in the
Big Sea water, beyond which lay Hia-
watha's Po-ne-mah, the Land of the
Hereafter
Next morning by daybreak every man
was at work. The matches were opened,
and soon between decks was numbered
with boxes, packing cases. barrels and
crates. In their improyised stalls. the
patient horses seemed to catch d hint
Of shore going and whinnied. BY 1o
O'clock there doomed against the
strange coast line OF the Pictured
to be a dock distorted by the northern
mirage.
That's her." said h captain.
Two hours later the steamboat slid
between the yellow waters of two out
lying reefs, and, with slackened speed
| moved slowly toward the wharf of log
, cribs filed with stone.
Thorpe knew very well that the
structure had been erected by and be-
1onged to Morrison & DAILY, but the
l young man had had the foresight to
purchase the land lying on the deep
l water side of the bay. He, therefore,
I anticipated no trouble in unloading,
: for. While Morrison & DAILY owned the
) pier itself, the LAND on which il abutted
/ belonged to him.
From the arms of the bay he could
make out a dozen figures standing near
I the end Of the wharf When. with pro-
[ pelIer reversed. the Pole Star bore
! slowly down towards her m0orlngs
? Thorpe recognized Dyer at the e OF
eight or ten woodsmen. 1t looked sus-
z picious.
Catch this Iinel" sang out the mate
hurting the coil of a hand-line on the
} wharf.
l No one moved. and the little rope
after a moment. slid overheard with q
T splash.
The captain. with a curse. signaled
full speed astern.
1 Captain Morse," cried Dyer, step
ping forward. MY orders are that
you are to land here nothing but NJ
, & D. merchandise"
1 nave az rlSnL TO idEQ,
! Thorpe. The shore belongs to me-.
This dock doesn't" retorted the
other sharply, and you can't set foo
! on her"
I You have no legal status. You had
no business building in the frs
place" began Thorpe, and Their
stopped with a choke of anger at TIL
futility Of arguing legality in such {
case.
The men had gathered interestediy il
the waist of the ship, cool. impartial
l severely critical. The vessel swung he
bow in owards the dock. Thorpe rar
swiftly forward, and during the in
slant of rubbing contact, leaped.
? He alighted squarely upon his feet
> Without an instant's hesitation HI
( rushed on Dyer. and with one full
: clean IN blow stretched him stunned
f on the dock. For a there wa
a pause of astonishment. Then tn,
! WOOdsmen closed upon him.
! During that instant Thorpe had be
come possessed of a weapon. 1t cam
! hurting through the air from above I,
fall at his feet. Shearer, with the COO
: calculation of the pioneer. had seei
that it would be impossible to follow
> his chief. and so had done the mex
best thing-thrown him a heavy iroI
Delaying pin.
: Thorpe hit with all his strength an
quickness- He was conscious once O
\ being on the point of defeat Then h
had cleared q little space for himself
savagely than ever. One fellow evel
succeeded in hitting him a ~glancins
! blow on the shoulder
The. aaD,n - Gr11znr, arA-L VI