Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-15

| her into the air. Tell me-" he cried,
holding up the child with two dripping
arms above him, what you will do for
me if l bring you and mamma safe
home againP'
"Give you a free pardon" said Syl-
| via; "and papa shall make you his SER
vanH" Frere burst out laughing at
this reply; and Dawes, with a choking
sensation in his throat, put the child
upon the ground, and walked away.
In the morning, however, Rufus
Dawes was first at work, and made no
|. allusion to the scene of the previous
evening. By dint of hard work they got
the four goats skinned, and the entrails
cleaned ready for twisting, by breakfast
time; and having broiled some of the
flesh, made a hearty meal. Mrs. Wick
ers being no better, Dawes went to see
her, and seemed to have made friends
again with Sylvia, for he came out Of
the hut with the child's hand in his.
Frere, who was cutting the meat in long
strips to dry in the sun, saw this, and it
added fresh fuel to the fire of his un-
reasonable envy and jealousy.
Rufus Dawes took two of the straight .
est and most taper Of some celery-top
pines which Frere had cut on the pre-
vious day, and lashed them tightly to-
gether, with the butts outward. He thus
produced a spliced stick about twelve
feet long. About two feet from either
end he notched the young tree until he
could bend the extremities upward; and
having 80 bent them, he secured the
bent portions In their places by means
of lashing of rawhide. The spliced trees
now presented the rude outline of the
section of a boat, having the stem, keel
and stern all in one piece. This having
been placed lengthwise between the
stakes four other poles, notched in two
places, were lashed from stake to stake,
running crosswlre to the keel, and form
ing the knees. Four saplings were now
bent from end to end of the upturned
portions of the keel that represented
stem and stern. Two of these four were
placed above, as gunwales; two below, as
bottom rails. At each intersection the
sticks were lashed firmly with fishing
line. The whole framework being COM
plete, the stakes were drawn out, and
there lay upon the ground the skeleton
Of boat eight feet long by three broad
Frere, whose hands were blistered and
sore, would fain have rested; but the
convict would not hear of 1t. "Let US
| fnish," he said regardless Of his own
fatigue; "the skins will be dry II we
stop"
''I can work no more" said Frere.
sulkily; "I can't stand. You've got mus
cles Of iron. I suppose. I haven't"
'They made me- work when couldn't
80 TA l.
what spirit the cat gives man. There's
nothing like work to get rid Of aching
muscles-so they used to tell me-"
'Well, what's to he done newY'
"Cover the boat There. you can set
the fat to melt and sew these hides to-
gether, two and two. do you see? and
then sew the pair at the necks. There
Is plenty of catgut yonder."
Don't talk to me as IL were a dogw
says Frere, suddenly. "Be civil, can't
you"
But the other, busily trimming and
cutting at the projecting pieces of sap
ling made no reply. 1t is possible that
he thought the fatigued lieutenant be-
meath his notice. About an hour before
sundown the hides were ready. and
Rufus Dawes, having In the meantime
interlaced the ribs of the skeleton with
wattles stretched the skins over It, with
the hairy side inward Along the edges
of this covering he bored holes at inter-
vals, and passing through these holes
thongs Of twisted skin, he drew the
whole to the toprail of the boat One
last precaution remained. Dipping the
pannikin into the melted tallow, he
plentlfully anointed the seams of the
sewed skins. The boat thus turned
topsy -turvy, looked like huge walnut
shell covered with red and reeking hide.
or the skull of some Titan who had been
scalped. ''Therer' cried Rufus Dawes,
triumphant. Twelve hours in the sun
to tighten the hides, and she'll swim like
a duck"
The next day was spent in minor prep
aratiOns. The jerked goat-meat was
packed securely into as small a compass
as possible. Water bags were impro-
vsed out of portions of the intestines of
the boats. Rufus Dawes, having filed
these with water, ran wooden skewer
through their mouths and twisted it
tight, tourni1uet fashion. He also strip
ped cylindrical pieces of bark. and hav-
ing sewed each cylinder at the side fit
ted to it bottom Of the same material,
and calked the seams with gum and pine
tree resin. Thus four tolerable buckets
were obtained. One goat skin yet re-
mained, and out of this 1t was determin-
ed to make sail. "The current was
strong" said Rufus Dawes "and we
shall not be able to row far with such
oars as we have got. If we get breeze
II may save our lives" 1t was impos-
sible to "step" a mast in the frail bas-
ket structure, but this difficulty was over
come by simple contrivance. From
thwart to thwart two poles were bound,
and the mast lashed between these poles
with thongs of rawhde. was secured by
| shrouds of twisted fishing lina runr,no