RIVER DRIVING 



767 



handed when off duty and believes in a 

 short life and a merry one. 



Our advance guard had done their 

 work well, and the thin walls left at 

 the front, where the wings had lain, 

 crumble at a touch and vanish down- 

 stream, so that, after an hour's hard 

 work, this difficult part of the river was 

 clean and the forward march taken up 

 again with new vim. Hardly from this 

 point could we follow the winding 

 shore or detour around some intercept- 

 ing bayou fast enough to keep abreast 

 of the moving "rear," and after an 

 unusually long advance, would come 

 out upon some point where a long view 

 was to be had of the river, only to see 

 far above us a thin line of forms filing 

 along the shore like Indian warriors, 

 partially hidden in the intercepting 

 foliage, or again, on nearer approach, 

 like their enemies, the stern Puritan 

 musketeers, marching with matchlocks 

 over the shoulders, as the cantdogs 

 shone in the sun. 



The long shadows of the pointed firs 

 were creeping fast up the eastern bank 

 of the stream when the rattle and 

 clamp of the camp outfit is heard ap- 

 proaching through the stillness of the 

 evening wood. Soon it drew in sight, 

 piled high and well corded upon a large 

 dray, sounding along the road to the 

 merry tinkle of the pails and pans and 

 passes us drawn by four straining 

 horses. The men exchange shouts with 

 the "toter" and a retinue of camp fol- 

 lowers, whose appearance augured well 

 for the advance, nor could they now 

 turn back, for was it not to be set up 

 at the very mouth of our stream and 

 goal of victory? Following it ahead to 

 the forks, no immediate sign was seen 

 of the other drive but a messenger who 

 had been sent ahead secretly as a scout 

 reported them at great endeavor not far 

 away. Thither we turned to estimate 

 chances. Their progress had been slow 

 but sure. Each winding turn and "pole 

 logan" had been systematically searched 

 and the logs therein gathered into rafts, 

 towed out and sent adrift in the main 

 channel. Their certainty of arriving 

 that night had been figured out to a 

 nicety and no possible chance was sup- 

 posed to have enabled our division so 

 to do. But now that we were known 



to be approaching, the inert logs moved 

 all too slowly in the meandering water, 

 and the alders held back stray sticks 

 with pernicious obstinacy, trying to the 

 patience and spirit of the men. Near 

 the mouth, a widening of the stream 

 at the turn of a bend formed an im- 

 mense eddy where the logs swing round 

 and round in a circle, and six boats 

 were feverishly engaged at this time in 

 trying to sweep this maelstrom. Every 

 time the great mass swung around two 

 men jumped from each boat onto the 

 logs at the outer edge and gathered as 

 many together as could be reached and 

 bound with the long pick-poles, while 

 the crew in the boat waited expectantly 

 on their oars until all toilet IHT, at the 

 command "head boat," tin--.- churned 

 the water to foam to tow out their 

 small glut from the vortex and guide 

 it down stream. For a critic; 1 .' moment, 

 each boat, as it came around in suc- 

 cession, hung in a balance against the 

 might of the current and tin- slightest 

 turn of a stroke determined their sepa- 

 ration. High up on the hank at one 



