764 



AMKRICAX FORESTRY 



carried rapidly perforce downstream, 

 until some favoring eddy offered a 

 quick jump to the shore. Or often a 

 "center" being loosened from off a 

 sunken boulder, a man or two would be 

 left, knee deep, on a pedestal of rock, 

 unable even to turn around, and obliged 

 to stand there for long minutes like dis- 

 consolate cranes, waiting with what pa- 

 tience he possessed the arrival of the 

 bateaux and rescue. 



A great shout and laughter goes up 

 from the men on shore as some unlucky 

 fellow rides by, his log rolling quietly 

 back and forth as it runs through the 

 curling waves, and many sallies enliven 

 his interest to keep uppermost, such as 

 requests for dry matches, to close the 

 door after him when he goes in, or 

 carry their respects to the muskrats, etc. 

 One man who persisted in wearing a 

 derby hat, because he claimed it shed 

 water better than the usual felt, was 

 soon called "Beaver" from the spec- 

 tacle he presented when, having lost 

 his balance and gone in off a breaking 

 glut, nothing was visible of him but 

 the crown of his hat bobbing along on 

 the waves toward the bank. Many a 

 narrow chance is taken by such men 

 when, clinging to some log, they are 

 drawn swiftly sideways upon a "wing" 

 and, taught by experience or observa- 

 tion, extend full length upon the top of 

 the water to avoid the under-tow, which 

 would draw them in, as it often does 

 some poor fellow, never to emerge 

 again until the "wing" is rolled away. 

 In such a case they shoot out over the 

 top before the oncoming logs crush them 

 as in a vise. In a predicament of this 

 kind a certain wag of the camp, being 

 in a condition of equal unstability and 

 jollity, came up beneath a floating log 

 so that his head and feet protruded on 

 each side. As the men hastened in the 

 bateau to extricate him from his dan- 

 gerous position, he sung out to them : 

 'Never ye mind me, but ketch that poor 

 devil standing on his head there be- 

 yont." In the stiller water downstream, 

 where loose sticks float during the night 

 and form in gluts, deer have been found 

 strangled by the oncoming logs while 

 attempting to swim across. 



It is the danger that gives zest to the 



work, the fascination of meeting and 

 conquering Nature in her wildest form, 

 a comradeship with the tree on its last 

 long journey to oblivion, that calls to 

 the woodsman each spring with an in- 

 explicable power, once felt, never 

 wholly to leave, like the thrill of the 

 Alpine climber or the control of great 

 speed. Many an expression betrays this 

 as the loneliness of the river after the 

 logs are gone or the cheers and excite- 

 ment in the running. This tenseness of 

 interest carries men along without 

 fatigue for many hours, unconscious of 

 their exposure in the interest of the 

 advance, and end being always in view, 

 while constant opportunities for for- 

 warding the whole body in brilliant in- 

 dividual work appeals to their personal 

 pride. It is this tendency to do some- 

 thing brilliant that has constantly to be 

 checked in operation for the surety of 

 combined effort over spasmodic, unor- 

 ganized work is nowhere so evident. A 

 good illustration of this was going on 

 before us. From bank to bank the 

 stream was full for some hundred 

 yards back with a tight tangle, and near 

 the shore, to one side, a crew of ten men 

 were quietly working as one man under 

 the experienced leadership of a sub- 

 boss. Arduously they worked a chan- 

 nel along the shore, although here the 

 logs lay dry and hard. Out in the cen- 

 ter, where the whole mass was a-trem- 

 ble and gave every appearance of break- 

 ing apart in a moment, two men were 

 trying first one log and then another, 

 seeking the key which held. For a 

 moment they seemed successful as the 

 jam settled, only to come up hard 

 again on the selfsame obstruction, till, 

 of a sudden, a cheer broke the air from 

 the men at the side, and, sighting over 

 the top of the pile, it was seen to be 

 slowly moving downstream, and the 

 heaping logs, wedged together in a 

 "nose hole" until now, flattened out to 

 the sides in the channel, and shouting to 

 "keep her going," all together the men 

 pushed with might and main and used 

 their cantdogs for bunters between 

 shore and the edges of the squeezing 

 and groaning raft, till at length, due to 

 the gathering momentum, all uncer- 

 tainty was over, and onto the broad 



