CHAPTER XIV
"Those young fellows are lost!"
Such was the cry from more than one old lumberman standing on the river bank, as Dale and Owen disappeared from view amid the flying spray and upheaving timbers of the log jam.
That it was a dangerous position, fully as perilous as that from which old Herrick had emerged but a short while before, was beyond question. The drive behind was extra large, and the logs were piling up with a rapidity almost indescribable.
As Dale went down, flat on his back on two of the largest of the logs, he gave a shudder he could not repress. Like a flash he had a mental vision of being hurled under the drive, and of the others finding his crushed body long afterwards—his body and that of his chum, too.
But life is sweet to every one, and Dale did not intend to give up without a struggle. As quickly as he could he turned over, and clutching at a log that was rising above the others, he pulled himself up. Then his arm touched Owen's shoulder, and he grabbed his chum.
"Get up, quick!" he gasped. "We must get to shore somehow, or we'll go under!"
"All right, come on!" came pantingly from Owen, and off they started across the logs.
The drive was shifting in all directions, and logs rose and fell in front and on each side of them. Often they would be on the point of taking a step, when the log would bob out of sight, leaving nothing but water in its place. Then a timber would turn on them just as they hopped to another. Once Dale straddled a log, but Owen got him up in time to save him from having his leg crushed. So they kept on, gradually drawing closer to the shore.
Logs rose and fell in front and on each side of them.
Logs rose and fell in front and on each side of them.
Logs rose and fell in front and on each side of them.
"By George! they are out of it!" cried Andrews. "This way, boys, this way!"
They saw him waving his hand, and turned in that direction. It was well they did this, for the drive was shifting, so that one section near the shore swung around to the middle of the stream. But their danger was now at an end, and in a few seconds more they stood on solid ground, dripping from head to feet, and with their hearts thumping wildly in their breasts.
"Kind of a close call for you," remarked Andrews. "I wouldn't have been in your place for a thousand dollars."
"It was a close call," answered Dale. His face was pale, and he felt a strange sinking sensation all over him.
"Better rest for a spell, you and Owen too," went on Andrews, and they followed his advice and did not move on again until half an hour later. The boat contained some dry clothing, and this, when donned, made them feel fairly comfortable.
The remainder of the drive occurred without anything unusual happening, and a week later found the two young lumbermen in Bangor, where they put up at a cheap but comfortable boarding house, at which Owen was already known. The proprietors of several houses of low reputation tried to get them to take rooms elsewhere, but they would not.
"They can't catch me for a fool," said Owen. "They've got some of the poor chaps, and those fellows will be penniless in less than a month," and so it proved. Many lumbermen are reckless, and their wages are spent in drinking and gambling as soon as received. But conditions are gradually improving, and it is to be hoped that some day these boarding-house "sharks," as they are called, will be banished altogether, not alone from this territory, but also from every other Down-East lumber district.
The savings of the two young lumbermen, including the gift from Mr. Jefferson Wilbur, amounted to over three hundred dollars, a sum which both surveyed with delight, and Owen with positive astonishment.
"Three hundred and twenty-four dollars," cried Owen. "And half of it belongs to me. Why, I never dreamed I could save so much."
"It only shows what you can save if you put your mind to it," answered Dale. "We've saved this and we haven't deprived ourselves of very much either, have we?"
"Not a great deal, Dale. Once in a while I wanted some extras, but I'm just as well off, I reckon, as if I'd had 'em. What do you think we'd best do with this cash? It isn't safe in the trunk. The house might burn down."
"Let's each open a bank account of one hundred dollars," answered Dale, and this was done. They were very proud of their bank books, and looked at them a long while before stowing them away.
"The interest on a hundred dollars each year won't be much, but it will be enough to buy a fellow a good pair of boots," said Owen.
While they were in Bangor looking around for another situation, they heard news from up the river. On the day he was to be tried in court Baptiste Ducrot had escaped from jail. Where he had gone nobody knew, but the report was that he had jumped aboard a fast freight on the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and taken his flight to the Far West. Link Axton had been tried and sentenced to two years in the State penitentiary.
"Ducrot won't dare show himself here for a good many years," said Owen. "And it may be that he'll never come back."
"Well, I guess Maine can get along without him," answered Dale. "I never want to see or hear of him again."
Bangor was alive with lumbermen, and the two soon found out that the mills had all the help they wanted, and even the yards could take on no additional hands. Then they tried Oldtown, and half a dozen other places, with like result.
"We are out of it," said Dale, on Wednesday evening, after a long and unsuccessful trip. "If nothing turns up by Saturday, I'll be for going to Larson's and Odell's next Monday," and so it was arranged.
But on Friday came an offer from Mr. Paxton which both accepted without hesitation. The lumberman had taken a strong liking to Dale and Owen, and now he asked them to go back to the camp that had been left, and, along with several others, begin the task of cutting a road from the old camp, across the hills to Pine Tree Lake.
"I have purchased the Roxtell claim on the lake," said Mr. Paxton, "and I want to have a good road there before we begin to cut next fall. I'll pay you the same wages that I've been paying, and twenty cents an hour for overtime, if you want to make more."
"That suits me exactly!" cried Dale. And he added to Owen: "It will give us a chance to do some hunting and fishing."
As soon as they could make a few necessary purchases the two young lumbermen started up the river once more, and ten days later found them back at the old camp and at work on the road Mr. Paxton had had marked out.
Summer was now at hand, and the weather was clear and warm. The spring had been rather wet, but since that time the rainfall had been very slight, and, as a consequence, the forest was almost as dry as tinder and getting drier every day.
"We'll have to look out for forest fires now," observed Gilroy, who had charge of the men. "Don't make a fire anywhere unless you put it out thoroughly when you are through with it."
"It's not the lumbermen you've got to caution," answered Andrews, who was also present. "It's the fool hunter who makes a fire and then moves away without giving it a second thought."
The work was hard, and during the middle of the day the men often had to knock off for an hour, for the sun beat down mercilessly, and there was not a breath of air stirring.
"Phew! but this is like an oven," said Dale.
"What must it be down in the city?" returned Owen. "I wouldn't be living there now for double wages."
During those hot days bathing was very much in order, and Dale and Owen patronized the pond or the river, both morning and evening. Each was a good swimmer, and they consequently got a good deal of sport out of the plunges.
The building of the road occasionally took them to the vicinity of Mr. Wilbur's lodge, and they soon learned that Mrs. Wilbur had arrived there, accompanied by her two children, a little curly-haired girl of five, named Gertrude, and a manly chap of six, named Bertie. Later on a number of relatives and visitors were expected, and with them Mr. Wilbur, who was now in the West looking up his lumber interests in that locality.
"They ought to have a good time," remarked Owen. "They haven't got a thing to do but to enjoy themselves."
"I don't know that I want to be idle all the time," replied Dale. "I wouldn't know what to do with myself."
"That's true, too. But I'd like to take a day off when I felt like it."
One day the young lumbermen were coming along the lake road when they espied the Wilbur children coming toward them. They were on a run, hand in hand, and came to a halt directly in front of the team.
"Give us a ride?" shouted both, in their childish treble. "Give us a ride?"
"To be sure we'll give you a ride," answered Owen good-naturedly, and brought the horses to a stand. Then he jumped to the ground and lifted up first Gertrude and then Bertie, and Dale made them safe and comfortable on the broad seat.
"Oh, let me drive!" came from Bertie, and he grasped one of the lines. Gertrude immediately secured the other, and away went the lumber wagon once more, both Owen and Dale keeping watch that nothing should go amiss.
"I'd like to be a big lumberman," observed Bertie.
"My papa is one," came from Gertrude. "He makes wood for houses, an' railroad trains, an' everyfing!"
"Good for him!" laughed Dale. "Well, maybe your brother will be a lumberman when he grows up."
"I'm 'most growed up now," came from the brother. "Aunt Fanny says when I'm all growed up I'm going to be a six-footer."
"What's a six-footer?" queried the sister. "Has it got six feet?"
"No, a six-footer is a giant," answered Bertie. "I'm going to be one."
"I don't like giants," answered Gertrude, and then turned her attention again to driving.
It was not long before they came in sight of the lodge, and here Owen wanted to drop the little passengers. But they begged to be taken "just one step further, just one little tiny step," and so to please them they went on to the end of the grounds.
They were just halting again when a burly man came rushing from the lodge. He was an Englishman, with a beefy face and a manner that showed he was exceedingly over-bearing.
"Hi! hi! stop!" he roared. "Put those children down! What do you mean by carrying them along on such a dirty wagon as that?"
"Come, we'll have to put you down now," said Owen to the little ones, and helped them to alight, without paying attention to the newcomer.
"I say, what do you mean by putting those children on your dirty wagon?" went on the Englishman wrathfully.
"They wanted a ride and we gave it to them," answered Dale.
"Well, don't you do it again." The man turned to the little ones. "Run to the house now. Your mamma is looking all over for you."
"You are very civil, I must say," said Owen dryly, and then he drove off, with Dale beside him, leaving the Englishman gazing after them with a countenance that was more wrathy than ever.