The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1904-07-07

barge Pole Star sailed down
the reach Of Saginaw bay.
~ Thorpe had received letters
from Carpenter advising him of a
credit to him at a Marquette bank and
inclosing a draft sufficient for current
expenses. Tim Shearer had helped
make out the list Of necessaries. In
time everything was loaded, the gang
plank hauled in, and the little band of
argonauts set their faces toward the
point where the Big Dipper swings.
The weather was beautiful Each
morning the sun rose out Of the frosty
blue lake water and set in a sea of
deep purple. The moon, once again at
the full, drew broad paths across the
painless waste. From the southeast
blew daily the lake trades, to die at
sunset and then to return in the soft
still nights from the west.
The ten horses in the hold munched
their hay and oats as peaceabIy as
though at home in their own stables.
Jackson Hines had helped select them
from the stock of firms changing local
ment in such matters was infallible,
but he had resolutely refused to take
the position of barn boss which Thorpe
offered him.
"No,' said he, "she's too far north.
I'm gettin' DID,, and the rheumatics
amt what you might call abandonin'
of me. Up there it's colder than hades
on a stoker's holiday
So Shearer had picked out barn
boss of his own. This man was i'm
portant, for the horses are the main
stay of logging operations. He had Sc
lected also a blacksmith, cook, four
teamsters, half dozen cant hook men
and as many handy with ak or saw.
1.-The blacksmith is also a good wood
butcher (carpenter)," explained Shear
er. -Four teams is all we ought to
keep going at a clip. If we need a
rev aXmen we can pick 'em up at Mar
quette. l think this gang III stick. I
picked 'em.''
There was not a young man in the
lot They We're most Of them in the
prime Of middle life, between thirty
and forty, rugged in appearance.
"cocky' in manner, with the swagger
and the oath of SO many buccaneers.
nard 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 him
self and Shearer their manner was an
odd mixture Of independent equality
and slight Difference 1t was as
much as to say, You're the boss. but
I'm as good a man as you 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
greenhorn. Loyalty to and pride in
the firm for which he works are
strong characteristics Of the lumber
jack. For this reason he feels that he
owes it to his reputation to ally him
self only with firms of creditable size
and efficiency. The small camps are
for the youngsters. Occasionally you
will 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 that they were about to par
Hcipate in fight. He retold Thorpe's
story artistically. The men agreed that
the young fellow had sand enough
for lake front" After that there
needed but a little skillful maneuver-
ing to inspire them with the idea that
it would be great thing to take a
hand, to make a camp in spite of the
big concern up river.
Shearer knew that this attitude was
tentative. Everything depended on
how well Thorpe lived up to his repu-