The Yale expositor., 1905-01-20

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 peaceably as
though at home in their own stables.
Jackson Hines had helped select them
from the stock of firms changing local
ity or going out of business. His judg-
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' old, and the rheumatics
amt what you might call abandonin'
OF me. Up there it's colder than hades
on q stokers holiday"
So Shearer had picked out a 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 n blacksmith, q cook, four
! transfers, half dozen cant hook men
and as many handy with AK or saw.
1.-THE blacksmith is also q good wood
butcher carpenter" explained Shear
| er. "Four teams is all we ought to
keep going at clip. If we need a
few axmen we can pick 'em up at Mar
quette. 1 think this gang III stick.
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
Of
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 at 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 a camp, but 1t is generally q
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 q fight. He retold Thorpe's
story artistically. The men agreed that
the young fellow had sand enough
for d 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 q camp" in spite of the
big concern up river.
Shearer knew that this attitude was
tentative. Everything depended on
how we'll Thorpe lived up to his repu-
tation at the outset. But Tim himself
believed in Thorpe blindly. So he had
no fears.
A little incident at the beginning of
the voyage did much 10 reassure him.
Thorpe had given orders that no
whisky was to be brought aboard.
Soon after leaving dock he saw one Of
the tcemsters drinking from a pint
fash. Without q word he stepped
briskly forward, snatched the bottle
from the mans lips and threw 1t 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 it.
The occurrence pleased the men, fol
It showed them 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 q grown
man would look on q child.
Fine weather followed them up the
long blue reach of Lake Huron, into
| Tue IODlc lhC AJCNOuA 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 nc.
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, and soon between-decks was
numbered with boxes, packing cases
barrels and crates. In their impro
vised stalls the patient horses seemed
to catch q hint of shore going and
whinnied. BY 10 o'clock there doomed
against the strange coast line of tho
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
| -. 49,