The Yale expositor., 1916-01-06
CHAPTER discontinued.

Out of the near gloom. which was
tightening a bit with dawn. the log
trail rose. an aggressive snakeike
trough climbing uncompromisingly at
an angle of SO degrees, it's center a
straight pine log sunk to its surface,
which was polished like ivory. its
slightly curving sides the same. How
many tapering trunks had gone into
its two miles would be hard 20 say, for
in some places they had sunk and
been covered-in the dip. say. over the
ridge where the real mountain began.
at the turn where il wound around the
Shoulder
Before ten minutes Sandry was
breathing heavily, though he said
nothing and kept close al Daily's
heels. The logger strobe forward and
upward with an easy, climbing lift
that rippled every muscle in his loose
body while the man from the cities
strained and heaved in painful labor,
clipping on the wet earth. 1oundering
In the rotten bark and brush that
lined the way. They climbed beside
the trail not in IT, Ahead of them the
gang of men had long since disap-
peared from sight and hearing
The forenoon that followed was the
opening page in a new chapter OF his
life, and Sandry bent all his faculties
TO a grasp Of outlines.
He stood silently watching the work
go forward They had reached the
| cutting. Here in a wide dip high
above the world. it seemed TO the
| Fastener, was a huge circle of activ-
| lty. Close beside the built trail a sec
ond donkey engine fused and
! screamed, reaching out uncannily on
all sides for the great logs. 70 haul
them in with screech Of spool and
strain of cable and turn them over to
| the .,terious steel rope that came
constantly crawling back on rs trav
cling line This was called the yard
/ ing sngiue"-th~ one at the foot Of
! the trail beside the rollway and the
| track being known as the "roader"
The mOnotonous song of the cross
cut saws had begun where the buck
ers were converting several hundred
and-hfty-foot trunks into handling
! sections
A little below. two foot.wlde planks
some five or six feet long had been set
into a giant yellow pine about eight
feet from the ground, one on either
side, and on these two men were stand
/ ing, their flannel shirts open at the
throat, their sleeves rolled up from
( arms OF steel and leather. their heads
| bare Sandry watched the bending Of
/ thelT bucks. every muscle outlined
under the Clinging shirts. the play of
their knees. the whole easy ripping
/ of their entire bodies with the regular
! give and take OF the long saw. The
/ boards. known as springboards. rose
and dipped with the even motion.
These men were fallers. and pres
emily they would lay the towering
monarch of the great woods to the
fraction OF an inch in a given place.
ready for the buckers, the hook-tender
and the cable.
In the meantime the logs already
down were swiftly stripped of their
limbs. cut into thirty and forty foot
lengths, rolled into the trail with
peavey and cant hook and sent up and
over the ridge to the accompaniment
of shrill toots from the whistle-bob S
restless cord, the straining Of rigging
and the squeak of fiber on polished
fiber.
The built trail ended here in the
swallow hollow between the first
ridge and the great mountain beyond
though up the face Of the latter ii was
prolonged by a cleared path sharply
defined among the dense growth of
the timber.
He was impresseu by the magnitude
Of the country. yin every hand the
lifting hills were osothed in trees, close
packed and of such girth and height
as to seem almost grotesquely impos-
sible. Humanity was dwarfed to in
significance, like an ant crawling on
a cathedral column.
Sandry looked around. Up 10 this
distance the woods wereodotted with
cuttings where the great stumps
/
anil the debris of slashings and trin
nings which combined with the fern
and hazel brush and other under.
growth 10 make perfect tangle But
beyond. along tho new-cut trail. was
nature, dense and untouched waiting
Tor the hand NJ pygmy man to come
ma take her 3 ish treasures.
BY nine O'Clock the sun was shining
above the peaks and the fog had van
lshed from the valleys. and altho Ugh
II was late fall there was no feeinI
OF the death of the year. On the con
trary. there was a sense OF hustle and
hurry and work beginning with The
advent of the RAINS The Underwater
slough was bankfull and mud brown
With thick grass and water CROWNS
along its esses The strs~Ee7 uneon
sciously drew great broaths OF th'
,wset siY of the high hills and hegsI