The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1904-11-18

cracked the artificial skin and thrust
his foot through into ley water. That
night the sprinklers stayed I'm.
The devil seemed IN &C. Men were
lying idle; teams were dolRg the same
Nothing went on but the days of the
year and four OF them had already
licked off the calendar. The deep snow
of the unusually cold autumn had now
disappeared from the tops of the
stumps. 1t even stopped ffeezing dur
Ing the night At times Overs little
thermometer marked as high as 40 de-
grees.
81 often heard this was sort "
summer resort" observed Tom Broad
head. "but hanged IL h@<sw ii was
summer resort all the year round!'
BY and by 1t got to be case of look
ing on the bright side Of the affair
from pure reAtion.
81 don't know" said Railway; sit
won't he so bad. after all. A couple OF
days OF zero weather, with all this wa
ter lying around, would fix things up
in pretty good shape. If she only
freezes tight we'll have a good solid
bottom 10 Dullu on.
The inscrutable gedssess of the will
derness smiled and calmly, relentlessly,
moved her next pawn.
1t was all so unutterahy simple and
yet so effective. 1t showed.
All night and all dag the great fakes
zigzagged softly down through the air.
! Railway plOwed away two feet OF It.
! Che surface was promptsy covered by
| a second storm. Radwuy doggedly
plowed it out again.
This time the goddess seemed TO re-
/ lent. The ground fFoHo solid. The
sprinklers became assidiious in their
! labor. Two days later the road was
ready for the first sleigh, its surface
OF thick, CLASSY ice beautiful to be-
hold, the ruts cut deep and true, the
glades sanded or sprfnkied with re-
tarding hay on the descents. At the
river the banking GROUND proved solid.
Railway breathed again, then sighed.
! Spring was eight days nearer. He was
eight days more behind.
AS soon as loading began the cook
served breakfast at o'clock. The men
worked by the light of torches, which
were often merely catchup jugs with
wicking In the necks. Nothing could
! be more picturesque than q teamster
conducting one OF his great pyramid
ical loads over the little tsse9lalities of
/ the road, in the ticklish places stand
ing atop with the bent knee of the Ro-
man charioteer, spying and forestall-
ing the chances of the way with fixed
| eye and an intense concentration that
relaxed not one inch in the miles OF
! the haul. Thorpe had become a full
fedged cant hook man.
He liked the work. There is about II
q skill that fascinatea. q man grips
suddenly with the bosk, - his strong
instrument stopping one end that the
other may slide. He thrusts the short,
strong stock between the log and the
J skid, allowing 1t to be overrun. he
stops the roll with sudden sure grasp
applied at Just the right .wsnent TO be
effective. Sometimes he allows himself
! to be carried up bodily, clinging TO the
! cant hook like an acrobat to bar, I'M
til the log has rolled once, when, his
weapon loosened, he drops lightly, cas-
/ lily to the ground. And 1t is exciting to
pile the logs on the sleigh, first a layer
{ Of five, say; then one of four smaller, of
but three, OF two, until at the very
apex the last Is dragged slowly up the
skids, poised and just as IL IS about TO
| plunge down the other side Is gripped
and held inexorably by the little men
. in blue flannel shirts.
Chains bind the loads. And If ever
! during the loading or afterward when
the sleigh is in motion ths weight of
, the logs causes the pyrarhfd to break
down and squash out, thse WOO to the
driver or whoever happens to be near.
For this reason the leaders are picked
I and careful men.
At the banking grounds, which lie in
and about the bed OF the river. the logs
are piled into gfgsattc skidway to
await the spring freshets, which will
carry them down stream 10 the "boom."
In that inclosuEs they fcznain until
sawed in the mill.