As soon as loading began, the cook served breakfast at three o'clock. The men worked by the light of torches, which were often merely catsup jugs1 with wicking in the necks. Nothing could be more picturesque2 than a teamster conducting one of his great pyramidical loads over the little inequalities of the road, in the ticklish3 places standing4 atop with the bent5 knee of the Roman charioteer, spying and forestalling6 the chances of the way with a fixed7 eye and an intense concentration that relaxed not one inch in the miles of the haul. Thorpe had become a full-fledged cant-hook man.
He liked the work. There is about it a skill that fascinates. A man grips suddenly with the hook of his strong instrument, stopping one end that the other may slide; he thrusts the short, strong stock between the log and the skid8, allowing it to be overrun; he stops the roll with a sudden sure grasp applied9 at just the right moment to be effective. Sometimes he allows himself to be carried up bodily, clinging to the cant-hook like an acrobat10 to a bar, until the log has rolled once; when, his weapon loosened, he drops lightly, easily to the ground. And it is exciting to pile the logs on the sleigh, first a layer of five, say; then one of six smaller; of but three; of two; until, at the very apex11, the last is dragged slowly up the skids12, poised13, and, just as it is about to plunge14 down the other side, is gripped and held inexorably by the little men in blue flannel15 shirts.
Chains bind16 the loads. And if ever, during the loading, or afterwards when the sleigh is in motion, the weight of the logs causes the pyramid to break down and squash out;--then woe17 to the driver, or whoever happens to be near! A saw log does not make a great deal of fuss while falling, but it falls through anything that happens in its way, and a man who gets mixed up in a load of twenty-five or thirty of them obeying the laws of gravitation from a height of some fifteen to twenty feet, can be crushed into strange shapes and fragments. For this reason the loaders are picked and careful men.
At the banking18 grounds, which lie in and about the bed of the river, the logs are piled in a gigantic skidway to await the spring freshets, which will carry them down stream to the "boom." In that enclosure they remain until sawed in the mill.
Such is the drama of the saw log, a story of grit19, resourcefulness, adaptability20, fortitude21 and ingenuity22 hard to match. Conditions never repeat themselves in the woods as they do in the factory. The wilderness23 offers ever new complications to solve, difficulties to overcome. A man must think of everything, figure on everything, from the grand sweep of the country at large to the pressure on a king-bolt. And where another possesses the boundless24 resources of a great city, he has to rely on the material stored in one corner of a shed. It is easy to build a palace with men and tools; it is difficult to build a log cabin with nothing but an ax. His wits must help him where his experience fails; and his experience must push him mechanically along the track of habit when successive buffetings have beaten his wits out of his head. In a day he must construct elaborate engines, roads, and implements25 which old civilization considers the works of leisure. Without a thought of expense he must abandon as temporary, property which other industries cry out at being compelled to acquire as permanent. For this reason he becomes in time different from his fellows. The wilderness leaves something of her mystery in his eyes, that mystery of hidden, unknown but guessed, power. Men look after him on the street, as they would look after any other pioneer, in vague admiration26 of a scope more virile27 than their own.
Thorpe, in common with the other men, had thought Radway's vacation at Christmas time a mistake. He could not but admire the feverish28 animation29 that now characterized the jobber30. Every mischance was as quickly repaired as aroused expedient31 could do the work.
The marsh32 received first attention. There the restless snow drifted uneasily before the wind. Nearly every day the road had to be plowed33, and the sprinklers followed the teams almost constantly. Often it was bitter cold, but no one dared to suggest to the determined34 jobber that it might be better to remain indoors. The men knew as well as he that the heavy February snows would block traffic beyond hope of extrication35.
As it was, several times an especially heavy fall clogged36 the way. The snow-plow, even with extra teams, could hardly force its path through. Men with shovels37 helped. Often but a few loads a day, and they small, could be forced to the banks by the utmost exertions39 of the entire crew. Esprit de corps40 awoke. The men sprang to their tasks with alacrity41, gave more than an hour's exertion38 to each of the twenty-four, took a pride in repulsing42 the assaults of the great enemy, whom they personified under the generic43 "She." Mike McGovern raked up a saint somewhere whom he apostrophized in a personal and familiar manner.
He hit his head against an overhanging branch.
"You're a nice wan44, now ain't ye?" he cried angrily at the unfortunate guardian45 of his soul. "Dom if Oi don't quit ye! Ye see!"
"Be the gate of Hivin!" he shouted, when he opened the door of mornings and discovered another six inches of snow, "Ye're a burrd! If Oi couldn't make out to be more of a saint than that, Oi'd quit the biznis! Move yor pull, an' get us some dacint weather! Ye awt t' be road monkeyin' on th' golden streets, thot's what ye awt to be doin'!"
Jackson Hines was righteously indignant, but with the shrewdness of the old man, put the blame partly where it belonged.
"I ain't sayin'," he observed judicially46, "that this weather ain't hell. It's hell and repeat. But a man sort've got to expec' weather. He looks for it, and he oughta be ready for it. The trouble is we got behind Christmas. It's that Dyer. He's about as mean as they make 'em. The only reason he didn't die long ago is becuz th' Devil's thought him too mean to pay any 'tention to. If ever he should die an' go to Heaven he'd pry47 up th' golden streets an' use the infernal pit for a smelter."
With this magnificent bit of invective48, Jackson seized a lantern and stumped49 out to see that the teamsters fed their horses properly.
"Didn't know you were a miner, Jackson," called Thorpe, laughing.
"Young feller," replied Jackson at the door, "it's a lot easier to tell what I AIN'T been."
So floundering, battling, making a little progress every day, the strife50 continued.
One morning in February, Thorpe was helping51 load a big butt52 log. He was engaged in "sending up"; that is, he was one of the two men who stand at either side of the skids to help the ascending53 log keep straight and true to its bed on the pile. His assistant's end caught on a sliver54, ground for a second, and slipped back. Thus the log ran slanting55 across the skids instead of perpendicular56 to them. To rectify57 the fault, Thorpe dug his cant-hook into the timber and threw his weight on the stock. He hoped in this manner to check correspondingly the ascent58 of his end. In other words, he took the place, on his side, of the preventing sliver, so equalizing the pressure and forcing the timber to its proper position. Instead of rolling, the log slid. The stock of the cant-hook was jerked from his hands. He fell back, and the cant-hook, after clinging for a moment to the rough bark, snapped down and hit him a crushing blow on the top of the head.
Had a less experienced man than Jim Gladys been stationed at the other end, Thorpe's life would have ended there. A shout of surprise or horror would have stopped the horse pulling on the decking chain; the heavy stick would have slid back on the prostrate59 young man, who would have thereupon been ground to atoms as he lay. With the utmost coolness Gladys swarmed60 the slanting face of the load; interposed the length of his cant-hook stock between the log and it; held it exactly long enough to straighten the timber, but not so long as to crush his own head and arm; and ducked, just as the great piece of wood rumbled61 over the end of the skids and dropped with a thud into the place Norton, the "top" man, had prepared for it.
It was a fine deed, quickly thought, quickly dared. No one saw it. Jim Gladys was a hero, but a hero without an audience.
They took Thorpe up and carried him in, just as they had carried Hank Paul before. Men who had not spoken a dozen words to him in as many days gathered his few belongings62 and stuffed them awkwardly into his satchel63. Jackson Hines prepared the bed of straw and warm blankets in the bottom of the sleigh that was to take him out.
"He would have made a good boss," said the old fellow. "He's a hard man to nick."
Thorpe was carried in from the front, and the battle went on without him.
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1
jugs
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| （有柄及小口的）水壶( jug的名词复数 ) | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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ticklish
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| adj.怕痒的；问题棘手的；adv.怕痒地；n.怕痒，小心处理 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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forestalling
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的现在分词 ) | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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skid
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| v.打滑 n.滑向一侧；滑道 ，滑轨 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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acrobat
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| n.特技演员，杂技演员 | |
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apex
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| n.顶点，最高点 | |
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skids
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| n.滑向一侧( skid的名词复数 )；滑道；滚道；制轮器v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的第三人称单数 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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grit
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| n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关 | |
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adaptability
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| n.适应性 | |
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fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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virile
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| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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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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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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extrication
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| n.解脱；救出，解脱 | |
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clogged
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| （使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞 | |
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shovels
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| n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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repulsing
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| v.击退( repulse的现在分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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generic
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| adj.一般的，普通的，共有的 | |
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wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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judicially
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| 依法判决地，公平地 | |
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47
pry
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| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
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invective
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| n.痛骂，恶意抨击 | |
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49
stumped
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| 僵直地行走，跺步行走( stump的过去式和过去分词 )； 把（某人）难住； 使为难； （选举前）在某一地区作政治性巡回演说 | |
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50
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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51
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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52
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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sliver
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| n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开 | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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rectify
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| v.订正，矫正，改正 | |
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ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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satchel
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| n.(皮或帆布的)书包 | |
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