FOREST LIFE. 105 



applies the rule, and the result gives either the one or the other 

 party "whereof to glory." If not " teetotalers," the vanquished 

 "pay the bitters" when they get down river. Men love and 

 will have excitement ; with spirits never more buoyant, every 

 thing, however trifling, adds to the stock of " fun alive" in the 

 woods. Every crew has its " Jack," who, in the absence of other 

 material, either from his store of "mother-wit" or "greenness," 

 contributes to the merry shaking of sides, or allows himself to hQ 

 the butt of good-natured ridicule. 



But while the greater part of swamp life is more or less merry, 

 there are occasional interruptions to the joyousness that abounds. 

 Logging roads are generally laid out with due regard to the con- 

 veniences of level or gently descending ground. But in some 

 instances the unevenness of the country admits only of unfavor- 

 able alternatives. Sometimes there are moderate rises to ascend 

 or descend on the way to the landing; the former are hard, the 

 latter dangerous to the team. I kncAV a teamster to lose his life 

 in the following shocking manner : On one section of the main 

 road there Avas quite a " smart pitch" of considerable length, on 

 which the load invariably " drove" the team along on a forced 

 trot. Down this slope our teamster had often passed without sus- 

 taining any injury to himself or oxen. One day, having, as usual, 

 taken his load from the stump, he proceeded toward the landing, 

 soon passing out of sight and hearing. Not making his appear- 

 ance at the expiration of the usual time, it was suspected that 

 something more than usual had detained him. Obeying the im- 

 pulses of a proper solicitude on his behalf, some of the haiids 

 started to render service if it were needed. Coming to the head 

 of the hill down which the road ran, they saw the team at the 

 foot of it, standing with the forward oxen faced about up the 

 road, but no teamster. On reaching the spot, a most distressing 

 spectacle presented itself; there lay the teamster on the hard 

 load, with one of the sled runners directly across his bowels, which, 

 E 2 



