The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-02-25

camp. 1t looked strangely wet and
sodden and deserted. In fact. Thorpe
found bare half dozen people In it,
l,ndway. tho cook and four men who
were helping to pack up the nlovables.
The jobber showed strong traces Of
the str,iin he had undergone. but greet
ed Thorpe almost iovinlly.
"fIcllo. young man, he shouted at
Thorpc's mud spiaslcd figure. Come
back to view the remains? All well
again, heigh? That's good!'
81 didn't know you were through"
explained Thorpe. 'and came to see
II could get job"
"Well. now. ain sorryv' cried Rad
way. "You Gun turn in and help,
though, II you want Co."
Thorpe greeted the cook and old Jack.
sou Hines. the only two whom he
knew, and set to work to tie up bum
iles Of blankets and TO collect axes,
peavies and tools Of all descriptions.
That evening the seven dined together
at one end of the long table. The big
room exhaled already the atmosphere
of desertion.
"Not much like old times, is sher'
laughed Radway. Cant you Just shut
your eyes ana hear Baptiste say, Max
hcem de soup one tam more for mef
She's pretty empty now."
jackson Hines looked whimsically
down the bare board. "More room
than God made for geese In Ireland"
was his comment
After supper they sat outside for q
little time to smoke their pipes chair
tilted against the logs Of the cabins,
but soon the chill of melting snow
drove them Indoors. The four team
stcrs played seven up in the cook camp
by the light of a barn lantern, while
Thorpe and the cook wrote letters.
Thorpe's was 10 his sister.
II have been In the hospital for
about month";" he wrote. Nothing
serious--a crack on the head, which is
all right now. But cannot get home
this summer. nor. | am afraid, can we
arrange about the school this year. I
am about $40 ahead of where I was
last fall, so you see 1t Is slow business.
This summer | am going into mill,
bnt the Wages for green labor are not
very high there either" and so on.
When Miss Helen Thorpe. aged sew
erteen. received tiiis document she
stamped her foot almost angrily.
You'd think he was day laborer!''
she cried WHY doesn't he try for a
clerkship or something in the city
where he'd have chance to use his
brainsf'
And thus she came to feeling rebel
liously that her brother had been lit
tie selfish In his choice of an occupa-
TOM, ,that hc had sacrificed her inclina-
tioiS TO his own.
After finishing the letter Thorpe lit
his pipe and stsollad ont into the dark
ness. Opposite the little Office he
stopped amazed.
Through tie narrow window he could
see Radway seated III front of the
stove. He lad sunk down into his
chair until nc rcs.cd on almost the
small of his back. lis legs We're stuck
straight ont in front OF him. his chin
rested on his brr.st. ;:nd his two arms
hung listiess ut his side. a pipe half
falling from the fingers of one hand.
All the facetiOus lines had turned to
pathOs.
whats the matter with the boss.
anyway" asked Thorpe in low voice
of Jackson Hines when the seven up
game was finished.
"Hain't ye heardW inquired the old
man In surprise.
WHY. 10. W'hat?' 'u5
Busted" said the old men senten.
tiously
"IIow? What do you meanT
What ! say. He's busted. That
frcshet caught him too quick. They's
more than Il million and half logs
left In the woods that can't be got out
this year, and us his contract calls for
n finished iJJ he don't get nOthin' for
what he's done"
That's II queer rig" commented
Thorpe. Hes done a lot Of valuable
work here. The tinber's cut and skid
dcd anyway. and he's delivered good
deal of 1t TO The main drive. The NJ.
& ID. outfit get all the advantage Of
that"
''rhey do. my son. When old Days
hand gets near anything It cramps.
don't know how the old man come to
make such contrac'. but he did. Re
suit is he's out his expenses and time"
The exceptionally early break mp of
the spring, cor'bined with the fact
that owing 10 the series Of incidents
nd accidents already sketched the ac-
tual cutting ana skidding had fallen SO
far behind. caught Rndway unnwares.
He saw the rollways breaking out
while his teams were still hauling in
the woods. I'm order to deliver to the
mouth OF the Cass branch the 1900. 900
already BANKED he was forced to drop
everything else and attend strictly to
the drive. This left still. as has been
stated. a million and half on skid
ways. which Rndway knew he would
he unable to get ont that year.
In spite of the iobber's certainty that
his claim was tins annulled and that
he might rs well abandon the enter
prise entirely for all he would ever get
out Of II. he finished the drive" con-
sclentiorsly and sn"ed to the company
the logs already banked. Then he had
Interviewed DAILY, The latter refused
to pay him one cent
The next day Radway and Thorpe
walked the ten miles OF the river trail
together, while the tcaInsters and the
cook drove down tile five teams. On
der the influence of the solitude and q