42 REDWOOD LUMBERING. 



dogs, the team is slowly straightened out, till the line of steel 

 couplings from front to rear are tightened to a perceptible 

 strain. Presently our man from Maine or Brunswick, with 

 the goad-stick elevated to about his chin (something after the 

 style of an operatic impressario in his introductory), speaks in 

 low tones to the near leader, " Come, Star," to the off leader, 

 " You, Nig," and so on down the line to the wheelers, calling 

 each by name. At a little brisker gait, with voice increased, 

 he walks back up the line, tapping with his rod first this one 

 then that, and setting their necks squarely into the bows. 

 Now, in distinct and commanding voice, one that the brute 

 has learned to obey, he calls upon " Star " and " Nig," 

 " Duke," '' Line," and so on, from one end of the team to the 

 other. Perhaps it is a hard pull. He calls upon his pets in 

 tones that reverberate through the forest, and startle the 

 squirrel in the tree top. His body, arms and legs all seem to 

 participate in the struggle. He drops upon his knees in his 

 apparent excitement, as though every muscle was strained to 

 its greatest tension. The animals have sufficient intelligence 

 from past experience to know that their master is growing 

 desperate in his efforts to move the weight. Their sympa- 

 thies extend to him, his to them, and every ounce of power 

 is brought into requisition. The effort is a success, and the 

 log once under way is soon on the "skid road," slipping along 

 easily, with the aid of frequent applications of lubricants 

 at hand by the bucket-man, to the landing or dumps. With 

 the exception of excitement exhibited by our hero of the goad- 

 stick upon an occasion here described, his voice is modulated 

 to an ordinary conversatianal measure, while he cheerily 

 speaks words of commendation to his dumb companions. 



