o his waist in a
current bearing the rotten ice of the first break-up, or endures the
drenching of an early spring rain, or battles the rigours of a
belated snow with apparent indifference. You or I would be exceedingly
uncomfortable; would require an effort of fortitude to make the plunge.
Yet these men, absorbed in the mighty problems of their task, have
little attention to spare to such things. The cold, the wet, the
discomfort, the hunger, the weariness, all pass as shadows on the
background. In like manner the softer moods of the spring rarely
penetrate through the concentration of faculties on the work. The warm
sun shines; the birds by thousands flutter and twitter and sing their
way north; the delicate green of spring, showered from the hand of the
passing Sower, sprinkles the tops of the trees, and gradually sifts down
through the branches; the great, beautiful silver clouds sail down
the horizon like ships of a statelier age, as totally without actual
existence to these men. The logs, the river--those are enough to strain
all the faculties a man possesses, and more.
So when, as now, a chance combination of circumstances brings them
leisure to look about them, the forest and the world of out-of-doors
comes to them with a freshness impossible for the city dweller to
realise. The surroundings are accustomed, but they bring new messages.
To most of them, these impressions never reach the point of coherency.
They brood, and muse, and expand in the actual and figurative warmth,
and proffer the general opinion that it is a damn fine day!
Another full half hour elapsed before the situation developed further.
Then Tom North's friend Jim, who had gathered his long figure on the top
of a stump, unclasped his knees and remarked that old Plug Hat was back.
The men arose to their feet and peered cautiously through the brush.
They saw Reed, accompanied by a thick-set man whom some recognised as
the sheriff of the county, approach the edge of the dam. A moment later
the working crew mounted to the top, stacked their tools neatly, resumed
their coats and jackets, and departed up the road in convoy of the
sheriff.
A gasp of astonishment broke from the concealed rivermen.
"Well, I'll be damned!" ejaculated one. "What are we comin' to? That's
the first time I ever see one lonesome sheriff gather in ten river-hogs
without the aid of a gatlin' or an ambulance! What's the matter with
that chicken-livered bunch, anyway?"
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