The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1904-12-16
By STEWART
EDWARD
WHITE

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 down stream side. They were
short, alert men, plodding along with
the knee-bent persistency Of the wood
walker, dressed In broad hats, flannel
shirts, coarse trousers tucked in high
laced CRUISERS" and carrying each
bulglng meal sack looped by q 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.
Hello. Charleyv' said one of them.
what you doing here? Amt seen you
since the Sturgeon district"
MAX 'um canoe" replied Charley
rather obviously.
$50 see. But what do you expect 10
get in this God forsaken countryT
Beaver, muskrat, mink, otter"
Trapping, eh?" the man gazed keen
ly at Thorpe's recumbent figure. who's
the other fellowT'
Thorpe held his breath, then exhaled
Ii in long sigh of relief.
"IIim white man." Injun Charley
was replying. Him hunt too. He
max 'um buckskin."
The land locker arose lazily and
sauntered toward the group
"Howdy" he drawled. Got any
smokin?"
How are your replied one of the
scalers, eying him sharply and tender
ing his pouch. Thorpe filed his pipe
deliberately and returned 1t with a
heavy lidded glance of thanks. To all
appearances he was one of the lazy,
shiftless hunters OF the backwoods.
Seized with an inspiration, he said:
What sort of chances is they at your
camp for little -four? BE and Char
I'll make you boys moccasins. I got
some ROOu DucKSKln.
II was the usual proposition.
pretty good. guess Come up and
see," advised the scaier "The crews
right behind u.s."
'I'll send Charley" drawled Thorpe.
I'm busy now maxim traps" He
waved his pipe, calling attention TO the
pine and rawhide deadfalls.
.aho taA
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.
Injun Charley was setting about the
splitting Of cedar log.
You See" he remarked. Il big
frien."
In the days that followed Thorpe
cruieed about the great woods. It was
show business, but fascinating. He
knew that when no should embark on
his attempt to enlist considerable cap
ital in an ''unsight, 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 tim
Der lay. This was a matter Of tramp
Ing, though often on an elevation he
succeeded In climbing a tall tree
whence he caught blrdseye views of
the country at large. He always car
ried his gun with him and was pre-
pared at moments notice to seem en-
gagged in hunting.
Next he ascertained the geographical
location of the different clumps and
forests, entering the sections, the quar-
ter sections. even the separate forties,
in his notebook. taking in only the "de-
scriptions" containing the best pine.
Finally he wrote accurate notes con-
eerning the topography of each and
Every pine district-the lay of the land,
The hills. ravines, swamps and valleys,
ihe distance from the river, the char
acter of the soil. In short. he accumu-
lated all the information he could by
which the cost of logging might be es-
timated
For this he had really too little ex-
2erience. He knew ii. but determined
20 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 chance to OK
anime the pine. That difficulty Thorpe
hoped to overcome by inspiring per-
sonal confidence in himself. IL ne
failed to do so he might return with a
land locker whom the investor trusted,
and the two could re-enact the comedy
Of this summer. Thorpe hoped. how
ever, to avoid the necessity. He set
about rough estimate of the timber.
One evening just Mt sunset Thorpe
was helping the Indian shape his craft.
The two mon bent there at their task,
the dull glow OF evening falling upon
them. Behind them the knoll stood
out in picturesque relief against the
darker pines. The river rushed by
with q never ending roar and turmoil.
Through its shouting one perceived. as
through a mist. the still lofty peace of