Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-04-02
the position Of barn boss when Thorpe


of me. Up there it's colder than hades
on 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 good wood
butcher (carpenterl," explained Shear
er. Four teams is all we. ought to
keep going alta clip. If we need
few axmen we can pick 'em up at Mar
quette. I think this gang IL stick. I
picked 'em."
There was not young man in the
lot. They were 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,
hard 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 a slight Difference. 1t was as
much as to say. you're the boss. but
I'm as good man as you any day."
Constituting the elite of the profess
sion. as they did, Thorpe might have
wondered ut their consenting to work
for an obscure little camp belonging to
a 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 camp, but it is generally
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
ticipate in a fight. He retold Thorpe's
story artistically. The men agreed that
the young fellow had sand enough
for a lake 'front.'" After that there
needed but little skillful maneuver-
ing to inspire them with the idea that
it would be great thing to take a
hand. to make 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 rep,..
tation at the outset, Suith TiR shiiHself
believed in IhaiR blindly. So he had
no fears
. A little incident at the beginning of
the voyage did much TO reassure him.
Thorpe had given orders that no
whisky was to be brought aboard.
Soon after leaving dock he saw one of
the teamsters drinking from a pint
flask. Without q word he stepped
briskly forward, snatched the bottle
from the mans lips and threw it over
board. Then he turned sharp on his
heel and walked away without trou-
bling himself as to how the fellow
was going TO take IL.
The occurrence pleased the men, for
It showed tAem they had made no mis-
take. But It meant little else. The
chief danger really was lest they be-
come too settled in the protective atti-
tude. AS they took it. they were about,
good naturally, to help along worthy
greenhorn. This they considered ex-
ceedingly generous on their part. and
in their own minds they were inclined
to look on Thorpe much as a grown
man would look on child.
Fine weather followed them up the
long blue reach Of Lake Huron, into
the noble breadth of the Detour pas
sage, past the opening through the
Thousand islands of the Georgian bay,
into the st. Mary's river. They were
locked through after some delay on &C.
count of the grain barges from Duluth
and at last turned their prov west
ward in the Big Sea water, beyond
which lay Hiawatha's Po-ne-mah, the
Land Of the Hereafter
Next morning by daybreak every
man was at work. The matches were
opened, ana soon Delween-uecks WIS
numbered with boxes, packing cases,
barrels and crates. In their impro-
vised stalls the patient horses seemed
to catch a hint Of shore going and
whinnied. By 10 o'clock there doomed
against the strange coast line of the
Pictured rocks shallow bay and what
looked to be a dock distorted by the
northern mirage.
"Thats her," said the captain.
Two hours later the steamboat slid
between the yellow waters Of two out
lying reefs and with slackened speed
moved slowly toward the wharf Of log
cribs filled with stone.
Thorpe knew very well that the
structure had been erected by and be-
longed to Morrison & DAILY, but the
young man had had the foresight to
purchase the land lying on the deep
water side of the bay. He therefore
anticipated no trouble in unloading, for,
while Morrison & DAILY owned the pier
itself. the land on which it abutted be-
longed to him.
From the arms of the bay be could
make out dozen figures standing near
the end of the wharf. When, with pro-
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