They finished cutting on section seventeen during Thorpe's second week. It became necessary to begin on section fourteen, which lay two miles to the east. In that direction the character of the country changed somewhat.
The pine there grew thick on isolated1 "islands" of not more than an acre or so in extent,--little knolls2 rising from the level of a marsh3. In ordinary conditions nothing would have been easier than to have ploughed roads across the frozen surface of this marsh. The peculiar4 state of the weather interposed tremendous difficulties.
The early part of autumn had been characterized by a heavy snow-fall immediately after a series of mild days. A warm blanket of some thickness thus overlaid the earth, effectually preventing the freezing which subsequent cold weather would have caused. All the season Radway had contended with this condition. Even in the woods, muddy swamp and spring-holes caused endless difficulty and necessitated5 a great deal of "corduroying," or the laying of poles side by side to form an artificial bottom. Here in the open some six inches of water and unlimited6 mud awaited the first horse that should break through the layer of snow and thin ice. Between each pair of islands a road had to be "tramped."
Thorpe and the rest were put at this disagreeable job. All day long they had to walk mechanically back and forth7 on diagonals between the marks set by Radway with his snowshoes. Early in the morning their feet were wet by icy water, for even the light weight of a man sometimes broke the frozen skin of the marsh. By night a road of trampled8 snow, of greater or less length, was marked out across the expanse. Thus the blanket was thrown back from the warm earth, and thus the cold was given a chance at the water beneath. In a day or so the road would bear a horse. A bridge of ice had been artificially constructed, on either side of which lay unsounded depths. This road was indicated by a row of firs stuck in the snow on either side.
It was very cold. All day long the restless wind swept across the shivering surface of the plains, and tore around the corners of the islands. The big woods are as good as an overcoat. The overcoat had been taken away.
When the lunch-sleigh arrived, the men huddled9 shivering in the lee of one of the knolls, and tried to eat with benumbed fingers before a fire that was but a mockery. Often it was nearly dark before their work had warmed them again. All of the skidways had to be placed on the edges of the islands themselves, and the logs had to be travoyed over the steep little knolls. A single misstep out on to the plain meant a mired10 horse. Three times heavy snows obliterated11 the roads, so that they had to be ploughed out before the men could go to work again. It was a struggle.
Radway was evidently worried. He often paused before a gang to inquire how they were "making it." He seemed afraid they might wish to quit, which was indeed the case, but he should never have taken before them any attitude but that of absolute confidence in their intentions. His anxiety was natural, however. He realized the absolute necessity of skidding12 and hauling this job before the heavy choking snows of the latter part of January should make it impossible to keep the roads open. So insistent13 was this necessity that he had seized the first respite14 in the phenomenal snow-fall of the early autumn to begin work. The cutting in the woods could wait.
Left to themselves probably the men would never have dreamed of objecting to whatever privations the task carried with it. Radway's anxiety for their comfort, however, caused them finally to imagine that perhaps they might have some just grounds for complaint after all. That is a great trait of the lumber-jack15.
But Dyer, the scaler, finally caused the outbreak. Dyer was an efficient enough man in his way, but he loved his own ease. His habit was to stay in his bunk16 of mornings until well after daylight. To this there could be no objection--except on the part of the cook, who was supposed to attend to his business himself--for the scaler was active in his work, when once he began it, and could keep up with the skidding. But now he displayed a strong antipathy17 to the north wind on the plains. Of course he could not very well shirk the work entirely18, but he did a good deal of talking on the very cold mornings.
"I don't pose for no tough son-of-a-gun," said he to Radway, "and I've got some respect for my ears and feet. She'll warm up a little by to-morrow, and perhaps the wind'll die. I can catch up on you fellows by hustling19 a little, so I guess I'll stay in and work on the books to-day."
"All right," Radway assented20, a little doubtfully.
This happened perhaps two days out of the week. Finally Dyer hung out a thermometer, which he used to consult. The men saw it, and consulted it too. At once they felt much colder.
"She was stan' ten below," sputtered21 Baptiste Tellier, the Frenchman who played the fiddle22. "He freeze t'rou to hees eenside. Dat is too cole for mak de work."
"Them plains is sure a holy fright," assented Purdy.
"Th' old man knows it himself," agreed big Nolan; "did you see him rammin' around yesterday askin' us if we found her too cold? He knows damn well he ought not to keep a man out that sort o' weather."
"You'd shiver like a dog in a briar path on a warm day in July," said Jackson Hines contemptuously.
"Shut up!" said they. "You're barn-boss. You don't have to be out in th' cold."
This was true. So Jackson's intervention23 went for a little worse than nothing.
"It ain't lak' he has nuttin' besides," went on Baptiste. "He can mak' de cut in de meedle of de fores'."
"That's right," agreed Bob Stratton, "they's the west half of eight ain't been cut yet."
So they sent a delegation24 to Radway. Big Nolan was the spokesman.
"Boss," said he bluntly, "she's too cold to work on them plains to-day. She's the coldest day we had."
Radway was too old a hand at the business to make any promises on the spot.
"I'll see, boys," said he.
When the breakfast was over the crew were set to making skidways and travoy roads on eight. This was a precedent25. In time the work on the plains was grumblingly26 done in any weather. However, as to this Radway proved firm enough. He was a good fighter when he knew he was being imposed on. A man could never cheat or defy him openly without collecting a little war that left him surprised at the jobber27's belligerency. The doubtful cases, those on the subtle line of indecision, found him weak. He could be so easily persuaded that he was in the wrong. At times it even seemed that he was anxious to be proved at fault, so eager was he to catch fairly the justice of the other man's attitude. He held his men inexorably and firmly to their work on the indisputably comfortable days; but gave in often when an able-bodied woodsman should have seen in the weather no inconvenience, even. As the days slipped by, however, he tightened28 the reins29. Christmas was approaching. An easy mathematical computation reduced the question of completing his contract with Morrison & Daly to a certain weekly quota30. In fact he was surprised at the size of it. He would have to work diligently31 and steadily32 during the rest of the winter.
Having thus a definite task to accomplish in a definite number of days, Radway grew to be more of a taskmaster. His anxiety as to the completion of the work overlaid his morbidly33 sympathetic human interest. Thus he regained34 to a small degree the respect of his men. Then he lost it again.
One morning he came in from a talk with the supply-teamster, and woke Dyer, who was not yet up.
"I'm going down home for two or three weeks," he announced to Dyer, "you know my address. You'll have to take charge, and I guess you'd better let the scaling go. We can get the tally35 at the banking36 grounds when we begin to haul. Now we ain't got all the time there is, so you want to keep the boys at it pretty well."
Dyer twisted the little points of his mustache. "All right, sir," said he with his smile so inscrutably insolent37 that Radway never saw the insolence38 at all. He thought this a poor year for a man in Radway's position to spend Christmas with his family, but it was none of his business.
"Do as much as you can in the marsh, Dyer," went on the jobber. "I don't believe it's really necessary to lay off any more there on account of the weather. We've simply got to get that job in before the big snows."
"All right, sir," repeated Dyer.
The scaler did what he considered his duty. All day long he tramped back and forth from one gang of men to the other, keeping a sharp eye on the details of the work. His practical experience was sufficient to solve readily such problems of broken tackle, extra expedients39, or facility which the days brought forth. The fact that in him was vested the power to discharge kept the men at work.
Dyer was in the habit of starting for the marsh an hour or so after sunrise. The crew, of course, were at work by daylight. Dyer heard them often through his doze40, just as he heard the chore-boy come in to build the fire and fill the water pail afresh. After a time the fire, built of kerosene41 and pitchy jack pine, would get so hot that in self-defense he would arise and dress. Then he would breakfast leisurely42.
Thus he incurred43 the enmity of the cook and cookee. Those individuals have to prepare food three times a day for a half hundred heavy eaters; besides which, on sleigh-haul, they are supposed to serve a breakfast at three o'clock for the loaders and a variety of lunches up to midnight for the sprinkler men. As a consequence, they resent infractions of the little system they may have been able to introduce.
Now the business of a foreman is to be up as soon as anybody. He does none of the work himself, but he must see that somebody else does it, and does it well. For this he needs actual experience at the work itself, but above all zeal44 and constant presence. He must know how a thing ought to be done, and he must be on hand unexpectedly to see how its accomplishment45 is progressing. Dyer should have been out of bed at first horn-blow.
One morning he slept until nearly ten o'clock. It was inexplicable46! He hurried from his bunk, made a hasty toilet, and started for the dining-room to get some sort of a lunch to do him until dinner time. As he stepped from the door of the office he caught sight of two men hurrying from the cook camp to the men's camp. He thought he heard the hum of conversation in the latter building. The cookee set hot coffee before him. For the rest, he took what he could find cold on the table.
On an inverted47 cracker48 box the cook sat reading an old copy of the Police Gazette. Various fifty-pound lard tins were bubbling and steaming on the range. The cookee divided his time between them and the task of sticking on the log walls pleasing patterns made of illustrations from cheap papers and the gaudy49 labels of canned goods. Dyer sat down, feeling, for the first time, a little guilty. This was not because of a sense of a dereliction in duty, but because he feared the strong man's contempt for inefficiency50.
"I sort of pounded my ear a little long this morning," he remarked with an unwonted air of bonhomie.
The cook creased51 his paper with one hand and went on reading; the little action indicating at the same time that he had heard, but intended to vouchsafe52 no attention. The cookee continued his occupations.
"I suppose the men got out to the marsh on time," suggested Dyer, still easily.
The cook laid aside his paper and looked the scaler in the eye.
"You're the foreman; I'm the cook," said he. "You ought to know."
The cookee had paused, the paste brush in his hand.
Dyer was no weakling. The problem presenting, he rose to the emergency. Without another word he pushed back his coffee cup and crossed the narrow open passage to the men's camp
When he opened the door a silence fell. He could see dimly that the room was full of lounging and smoking lumbermen. As a matter of fact, not a man had stirred out that morning. This was more for the sake of giving Dyer a lesson than of actually shirking the work, for a lumber-jack is honest in giving his time when it is paid for.
"How's this, men!" cried Dyer sharply; "why aren't you out on the marsh?"
No one answered for a minute. Then Baptiste:
"He mak' too tam cole for de marsh. Meester Radway he spik dat we kip off dat marsh w'en he mak' cole."
Dyer knew that the precedent was indisputable.
"Why didn't you cut on eight then?" he asked, still in peremptory53 tones.
"Didn't have no one to show us where to begin," drawled a voice in the corner.
Dyer turned sharp on his heel and went out.
"Sore as a boil, ain't he!" commented old Jackson Hines with a chuckle54.
In the cook camp Dyer was saying to the cook, "Well, anyway, we'll have dinner early and get a good start for this afternoon."
The cook again laid down his paper. "I'm tending to this job of cook," said he, "and I'm getting the meals on time. Dinner will be on time to-day not a minute early, and not a minute late."
Then he resumed his perusal55 of the adventures of ladies to whom the illustrations accorded magnificent calf-development.
The crew worked on the marsh that afternoon, and the subsequent days of the week. They labored56 conscientiously57 but not zealously58. There is a deal of difference, and the lumber-jack's unaided conscience is likely to allow him a certain amount of conversation from the decks of skidways. The work moved slowly. At Christmas a number of the men "went out." Most of them were back again after four or five days, for, while men were not plenty, neither was work. The equilibrium59 was nearly exact.
But the convivial60 souls had lost to Dyer the days of their debauch61, and until their thirst for recuperative "Pain Killer," "Hinckley" and Jamaica Ginger62 was appeased63, they were not much good. Instead of keeping up to fifty thousand a day, as Radway had figured was necessary, the scale would not have exceeded thirty.
Dyer saw all this plainly enough, but was not able to remedy it. That was not entirely his fault. He did not dare give the delinquents64 their time, for he would not have known where to fill their places. This lay in Radway's experience. Dyer felt that responsibilities a little too great had been forced on him, which was partly true. In a few days the young man's facile conscience had covered all his shortcomings with the blanket excuse. He conceived that he had a grievance65 against Radway!
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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knolls
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| n.小圆丘，小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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necessitated
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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mired
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| abbr.microreciprocal degree 迈尔德（色温单位）v.深陷( mire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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skidding
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| n.曳出，集材v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的现在分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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antipathy
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| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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hustling
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| 催促（hustle的现在分词形式） | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sputtered
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| v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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delegation
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| n.代表团；派遣 | |
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precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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grumblingly
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| 喃喃报怨着，发牢骚着 | |
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jobber
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| n.批发商；(股票买卖)经纪人；做零工的人 | |
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tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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quota
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| n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额 | |
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diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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morbidly
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| adv.病态地 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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tally
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| n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致 | |
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banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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expedients
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| n.应急有效的，权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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kerosene
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| n.(kerosine)煤油，火油 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cracker
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| n.（无甜味的）薄脆饼干 | |
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gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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inefficiency
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| n.无效率，无能；无效率事例 | |
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51
creased
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴 | |
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52
vouchsafe
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| v.惠予，准许 | |
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peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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54
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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55
perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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56
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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58
zealously
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| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
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equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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convivial
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| adj.狂欢的，欢乐的 | |
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debauch
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| v.使堕落，放纵 | |
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ginger
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| n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气 | |
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appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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64
delinquents
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| n.（尤指青少年）有过失的人，违法的人( delinquent的名词复数 ) | |
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grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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