The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-19

ounce of utility retained.
Il show" said the Indian-and he
did. Thorpe learned the Indian tan.
The Indian appeared to intend max
ing the birch-knoll his permanent
headquarters. Thorpe was at first a
little suspicious Of his new compan-
ion, but the man appeared scrupu-
lousy honest, was never Intrusive,
and even seemed genuinely DESTROYS of
teaching the white little tricks of the
woods brought to their perfection by
the Indian alone. He ended by liking
him. The two rarely spoke. They
merely sat near each other. and smok-
ed. One evening the Indian suddenly
remarked:
You look 'um tree"
What's that?" cried Thorpe. star
tied.
You no hunter, no trapper You
look 'um tree, for make 'um lumber"
What makes you think that, Char
ley?" he asked
You good man in woods" replied In
jun Charley sententiously, Il tell by
way you look at him pine"
Thorpe ruminated.
Charley" said he. why are you
staying here with me?"
big frien'," replied the Indian
promptly.
why are you my friend? What have
l ever done for your
you gottum chiefs eye" replied his
companion with simplicity.
Thorpe looked at the Indian again
There seemed to be only one course.
Eyes, I'm a lumberman," he con-
fesed, and I'm looking for pine. But,
Charley, the men up the river must
not know what I'm after"
They gettum pine" interjected the
Indian like a flash.
Exactly" replied Thorpe, surpris-
ed afresh at the others perspicacity.
Good" exclaimed injun Charley,
and fell silent.
With this, the longest conversation
the two had attempted in their long
est conversation the two had attempt
cd in their peculiar acquaintance,
Thorpe was forced to be content
Three days later he was intensely
thankful the conversation had taken
place.
After the noon meal he lay on his
blanket under the hemlock shelter,
smoking and lazily watching Injun
Charley busy over the making of a
birch-bark canoe.
So idly intent was Thorpe on this
piece of construction that he did not
notice the approach of two men from
the downstream side They were
short, alert men, plodding along with
the knee-bent persistency of the woods
walker dressed in broad hats, flannel
shirts, coarse trousers tucked in high
laced cruisers" and carrying each a
bullying meal sack looped by a cord
across the shoulders and chest Both
were armed with long slender scalers'
rules. The first intimation Thorpe re-
ceived of the presence of these two
men was the sound of their voices.
"Hullo Charley" said one of them,
what you doing here?" Amt seen
you since the Sturgeon district"
MAX 'um canoe" replied Charley
rather obviously.
SO l see. But what do you expect
to get in this God forsaken country ~
Beaver, muskrat, mink, otter"
Trapping, eh?" the man gazed keen
ly at Thorpe's recumbent figure.
who's the other fellow"
Thorpe held his breath; then exhal-
ed it in a long sigh of relief.
Him white man. Injun Charley was
replying, him hunt too. He max 'um
buckskin."
The landlooker arose lazily and
sauntered toward the group.
'Howdy," he drawled, "got any
smokin?"
How are you" replied one of the
scalers, cycling him sharply, and ten
dering his pouch. Thorpe filled his pine
deliberately, and returned it with a
heavy-lidded glance of thanks. To all
appearances he was one of the lazy.
shifHess hunters of the back woods.
Seized with an inspiration, he said.
what sort of chances is they at your
camp for little -four? Me and Char
ley's about out. I'll bring you meat;
or I'll make you boys moccasins.
got some good buckskin."
1t was the usual proposition.
Pretty good, / guess Como nm apd
see, advised the scaler. THE crews
right behind u.s."
I'm send up Charley" drawled
Thorpe, I'm busy now maxim traps. "
he waved his pipe, calling attention to
the pine and rawhide dead-falls.
They chatted a few moments. Then
two wagons creaked lurching by. fol-
lowed by fifteen or twenty men. The
last of these, evidently the foreman,
was joined by the two scalers.
lnJun Charley was setting about the
splitting of cedar log.
You see," he remarked, ct big
frien'."
In the days that followed, Thorpe
cruised about the great woods 1t was
slow business. but fascinating. He
knew that when he should embark on
ms attempt to enlist considerable cap
ltal in an insight unseen" invest
ment, he would have to be well sup
piled with statistics
First of all he walked over the coun-
try at large. to find where the best
timber lay. This was matter of
tramping though often on an eleva-
ton he succeeded in climbing tall
tree whence he caught bird's-eye
views of the country at large. He all
ways carried his gun with him, and
was prepared at a moments notice
to seem engaged in hunting.
Next he ascertained the geographical
location of the different clumps and
forests, entering the sections, the
manifestations, even the separate
forties in his notebook; taking in only
the descriptions" containing the best
pine.
Finally he wrote accurate notes con-
corning the topography of each and
every pine district,-the lay of the
land; the Mills, ravines, swamps, and
valleys; the distance from the river:
the character of the soil. In short. he
accumulated all the information he
could by which the cost of logging
might be estimated.
For this he had really too little ex-
perience. He knew it. but determined
to do his best. The weak point of his
whole scheme lay in that it was going
to be impossible for him to allow the
prospective purchaser a chance to ex-
anime the pine. That difficulty Thorpe
hoped to overcome by inspiring per
sonal confidence in himself. If he fail
ed to do so, he might return with a.
landlooker whom the investor trusted
ana the two could re-enact the comedy