Kitabı oku: «Five Little Starrs in the Canadian Forest», sayfa 4
CHAPTER VI
OUTDOOR FUN IN A LUMBER CAMP
SNOW and ice prevailed after the middle of November, and the cold was there to stay for the winter. The roads already cut out had frozen hard before the snow came, and that made easy travelling for the huge sledges that carried the timber from forest to riverside.
The men were now cutting close to the main road, and the walk from camp to cutting was not so tiresome for the ladies and children, and it often happened that they visited the men in the afternoon.
The children had toy hatchets and saws, and they loved to play about the felled trees, chopping off small branches or sawing off rough fragments. Then, too, it was fine sport to be lifted up on top of a high heap of huge logs and ride down to the river-bank. On the return trip they would sit down on the low braces of the sledge, and the horses would make quick time with no load to pull.
One Saturday morning the sun shone so brightly that Mrs. Starr said the children might go with Mike, to play near the cutting, but they must keep a long distance away from the actual work of the men.
The men had come across a dip in the forest which was filled with water, and this water had frozen solid during the past week. The trees had been cut before the ice was hard, and here was offered a nice spot for skating. The children slung their skates over their shoulders and planned hockey games, and tag, and other sports on the ice. When they beheld the pond, however, they soon realized that it would be impossible to play hockey, but tag! Yes, tag would be great fun, as the stumps stuck up through the ice, here and there, and the skater could dodge around these stumps to get away from the one who was "it."
Babs had her tiny shovel and hatchet to play with, and Mike sat down on a log to watch over the children. They shouted, skated and tore at each other for a long time, then wearied of the game and sat down on the log by Mike to hear a story.
Just as Mike finished telling of an adventure, a loaded sledge came down the road and Paul called to the driver.
"Give us a ride?"
"Climb up!" replied the man.
"Room for us all?" asked Meredith.
"'Nodder comin' right behind," replied the driver.
Paul looked and nodded.
"Mete, you and the kids get on this one with Mike, and Vene, Elizabeth and I will get on the next load. We'll all meet down by the river and come back together."
"Let's take our dinner with us and eat it down there. Then we can sit on the logs by the river and come back with the men on the next load," suggested Meredith.
"Good idea!" exclaimed Paul. "You get up on this and I'll run for the lunch boxes and get back before the other sleigh gets here."
So the Starr children, with Mike, climbed up and sat upon the logs of the first sledge, and the other children waited for the second load to come in sight.
The sleigh-ride over the rough road to the river was great fun, for often the sleigh would bump over a huge snow-covered stump or rock, and make the children roll against each other and cling fast to the chains that bound the logs together.
The horses went slowly, for the loads were heavy and the road hard and rough, so the ride of two miles took some time.
The children had visited the roll-ways at the river before, but had never had an opportunity to remain and understand the whole scene.
Arrived at the roll-ways, the men made quick work of unloading the logs from the sledge and rolling them down to the river's edge. In many cases, where the water was shallow, or the ice thick enough, the logs were rolled out a few feet, and piled up in tiers so that when the spring freshet came they would sink down into the water and be the first to float down stream.
In several instances, rafts had been made and floated out a short distance from the shore, and here the timber-men used to fish before the river froze over. These rafts were still there, and the ice between them and the shore was safe.
After the sledges returned to the forest, Meredith suggested that they walk out to the rafts and have their lunch there. The other children greeted the idea with glee and Mike looked carefully about to decide that it was all right.
"Mike get fire, boys take dinner out," advised Mike, as he began picking up kindlings and pieces of wood for a fire.
The children picked up their dinner boxes and started off across the ice. The largest raft held all of them, and soon Mike came over with a huge bundle of wood that he dragged across the ice to the raft.
He deftly prepared a kindling fire and placed a few of the large pine chunks upon it. In a short time the children were as warm as if it were summer time, and the smoke of the wood fire rose straight up in the clear windless air.
They enjoyed the novelty of the raft dinner so much that several loads came and the sledges returned before the children were willing to talk of going back.
"This is dandy ice – wish we could take a skate up and down," ventured Don.
"'Tis fine ice, isn't it?" abetted Meredith, looking up and down the river as far as eye could see.
"Let's! Just one spin around," said Paul.
"Mike won't like it," hinted Lavinia.
"Mike won't care. We are perfectly safe on such thick ice," said Don, looking out of the tail of his eye in Mike's direction.
Mike squatted on the raft smoking his pipe, but he said nothing. He was thinking over the words the children had spoken.
"Mike, guess we'll take a spin over the ice," said Paul.
"Mike no like him – pouf! full of holes of air!" said Mike, making a sound to show the children the danger of air-holes.
"We know an air-hole when we see it – and I can't see any of them around here," replied Paul.
"Besides, we are only going to skate around the raft," said Don.
"Mike no like him, big boys like him, what Mike can do?" said the Indian helplessly, as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Mike, I won't go – neither shall Dot," said Lavinia.
"Oh, but I am, Viney! Don't think that I am going to sit here like a baby when Don is off streaking across the ice or doing the 'outer edge,'" retorted Dot, taking her skates from the bag and unbuckling the heel straps.
Two sledges had finished unloading and the drivers called out to Mike.
"Comin' back this trip?"
"Nah! we're going to have a skate on the ice," shouted Paul, waving the men back to the forest.
The boys and Dot put on their skates while Lavinia and Babs sat beside the fire and watched them. Mike had gone on shore to find something.
After the boys were off, Mike returned dragging a long slender birch tree along the ice. He placed it near the raft and sat down on the edge of one of the logs, saying nothing about his errand.
For half an hour, enjoyment of skating made the forest depths echo with laughter from the children. Then they got tired and Paul made a suggestion.
"Let's go out to that log that sticks end up out of the ice, and starting from that, skate back to see who can win a race."
The idea appealed to the others, but Meredith ordered Dot to go back to the raft.
"I, wa-wa-nt to race too! I do-do-n't wa-a-nt to g-go back!" chattered Dot, with blue lips.
"You've got to! You're so cold now you can't talk straight!" exclaimed Meredith.
"Ah, go on, Dot! You're spoilin' my fun!" cried Don, turning to give Dot a little shove toward the raft.
"No, I won't," pouted Dot, dropping upon the ice in sheer contrariness.
"All right, sit there, if you want," said Meredith, starting off, followed by the other two boys.
Dot watched them for a while, but feeling too uncomfortably cold she slowly skated back to the raft and crouched near the fire.
Mike heard her telling Lavinia what the boys were going to do, and he jumped up, grabbed the end of the birch tree and ran swiftly across the ice with his sure-footed buck-skins helping him.
"Hi! Hi!" cried Mike, trying to get the boys' attention. But the wind was against him.
"Him channel! Big hole! Water swish!" yelled Mike, in an agony of fear lest the boys reach the channel-mark before he could get there.
Paul and Meredith were swift skaters and soon outstripped Don, but just as they came near the log which was the goal, Paul's skate loosened and he fell down on the ice. Meredith came over to assist him, and they found that a screw was loose.
"Don's got a broken knife blade that we can use for a screw-driver. We'll wait for him," said Meredith.
Don soon skated up and produced the knife with the broken blade, and Paul tried to fasten the screw in place again.
So intent were they over the repairing of the skate that neither of them heard an ominous crack along the ice as soon as Don's extra weight came near the log.
A few more dull cracks sounded as the ice seemed suddenly to become lined with crooked white lines. Before Paul could fasten his skate on again, however, Mike's voice reached them.
"Back! Back! Big channel by log!"
At the same time, a grinding crack went directly under the boys' feet and Don shot back toward Mike, screaming for Meredith and Paul to come back.
Meredith saw the danger and tried to help Paul up and away, but Paul's skate was still loose and it made him stumble. As he fell down again, the ice, now all ready to yawn for its victim, slowly sunk down with the weight placed upon it, and Paul was almost submerged before Meredith could drag him over to the piece upon which he clung.
At the same time, Mike ran the birch tree over the ice and advised the boys to cling to it for all they were worth.
Paul had all he could do to cling fast to the trunk, for the suction of the channel waters under his stomach and legs was awful!
After some struggling, however, Mike and Don dragged on their end until the boys were pulled over out of the danger zone of the channel.
During this interval, Lavinia sat spell-bound with fear, but Babs was too busy poking twigs in the embers to notice her sister's white face.
As Mike drew the two boys over the ice, Lavinia heaved a mighty sigh and started to cry softly.
"Him big hole! Mike know river oop and down. Mike lil' Injun, so big, Mike take canoe oop and down," explained the trapper, holding his hand down to his knees to show the boys how long he had been acquainted with the treacherous channel.
Paul was soaked and Meredith partially wet, so the boys ran over to the raft where a hot fire was soon blazing to dry off their outer clothing. Mike made the older children sit close together facing the fire, while he took the dry coats of Don, Lavinia and Dot, and spread them over the backs of the five, then he hung the wet coats upon a sapling near the heat to dry.
In half an hour a shout came from the shore and two more sledges were emptied of logs and waiting for the children to go back. In a few moments, they were all sliding and running across the ice and clambered up the bank to get aboard the sleighs.
Dot was eager to tell all about the accident and rescue, but Mike shook his head, and Lavinia placed her hand over her sister's mouth.
The horses were tired after a long day's hauling and moved slowly back to the forests where the men were still cutting timber.
From there, Mike hurried all of his party along the road toward camp and told the girls not to speak of the incident then.
Meredith and Paul were taken to Cookee's cabin and made to sit near the fire while their clothes were hung up to dry. Lavinia went to their bunks and brought clean underclothes to Mike, and so no one knew of it until several days after.
Don and Dot strolled over to the office while the others were in the kitchen, and sat down by the table to have a game of dominoes.
After playing several games, Don made a remark.
"Those rafts will make fine play this spring."
"We won't be here when the river thaws," replied Dot.
"Maybe – who knows how long Daddum'll have to stay."
"Well – s'pose we do, what then?" asked Dot, curiously.
"They're chained fast to the logs – can't break away. We can have heaps of fun playin' on them and paddlin' them back and forth to the shore."
"Ye'es, I s'pose so! But I won't play on 'em until I see for myself whether the chains are rusty or good," retorted Dot, thinking of all the other scrapes her twin had led her into, in which she generally got the worst of the bargain.
CHAPTER VII
CHRISTMAS AT THE LUMBER CAMP
CHRISTMAS was seldom made much of among the timber-jacks, but this winter they were to have such a celebration as they had never dreamed of before.
Mr. Starr had held several secret meetings with his wife and the Latimers, and the result was that one day in the early part of December, he took the fastest team and the sleigh and drove to town.
Mr. Starr went directly to the express office of the little station and made inquiries.
"Has any box come for me from Grand Forks?" asked he.
"Yaas, guess that's what you're lookin' fer," replied the man who was ticket-agent, baggage-master and express agent, all three in one.
"That's it!" smiled Mr. Starr, taking his money out to pay the charges.
"All paid, and nuthin' to c'lect," laughed the man.
"Ho, that so? Well, then, just keep this and buy the kiddies some Christmas," said Mr. Starr, handing the man a dollar.
A whole dollar for a present meant more to this man out in the wilderness than a hundred dollars would to one in the city.
The box was set up in front of Mr. Starr's feet in the cutter, and the horses pranced away with sleigh-bells jingling like a veritable Santa Claus!
Several stops were made at stores where candy, pop-corn, trimmings for trees, fruit, and toys were sold. Mr. Starr then drove his team to the stable and left word to be called for an early start in the morning. He went into the house, greeted the hotel keeper who had never before had a transient guest in the winter, and had supper with the family. Early that night he went to bed, leaving orders to be called at five.
By six o'clock the next morning, Mr. Starr, with all of his shopping piled in the back, under the seat, and in front of the sleigh, was flying back to the lumber camp.
The weather held good, and late that night the camp heard the jangle of bells as Mr. Starr drove over to the stables.
Great secrecy and whispers were the result of that trip to town. And many hours, while the children were at school, Mrs. Starr and Mrs. Latimer were busy sewing.
Finally, the great festival time arrived, and everyone wondered what sort of Christmas fun could be had out in the woods.
The two ladies had spent several days in the kitchen showing Cookee some marvelous things! He had never seen a plum pudding cooked before, but he declared he could make one like it, after having watched Mrs. Starr prepare an immense one.
High, flaky cakes, with chocolate or jelly between the layers, were baked and stood hidden in the closet back of the table.
The timber men had come across a cranberry swamp in the early days of cutting and Mrs. Starr had quietly appropriated the pretty red berries for a future use. Now they reappeared as cranberry sauce.
"Huh! who'd a'thought them sour little balls'd made sich a fine juice!" exclaimed Cookee, smacking his lips after a taste of the sauce.
"That's to go with the venison on Christmas Day," said Mrs. Latimer.
"Didn't yeh know? Heven't yeh hearn what Mike cotched?" asked Cookee eagerly.
"No, what?" asked the ladies, expectantly.
"Couple of wil' turkeys! Dey was roostin' near his trap, and Mike ain't never had a catch in it this year, so he was feelin' like a mighty poor kind of a trapper, when dese turkeys lit on a line wid his eye. It was some job to cotch bote on em, 'cause one allus flies away soon's a sound is hearn. But, Mike – he jest says to hisself, 'By gum! I'll git bote on yer or chase yer all over the Nort!'" and Cookee laughed as he thought of Mike's determined manner when he threw down both turkeys.
"Why, how perfectly lovely! We will have a real Eastern dinner after all," cried Mrs. Starr.
"An dat ain't all dere is to it, nuther! Mike, he's gone duck shootin' to-day an 'spects to bring back several brace of ducks to hep out on de turkeys," said Cookee, grinning at the way he gave away Mike's secrets for Christmas dinner.
"We'd better save the venison steak for New Year's, then," suggested Mrs. Latimer.
"Huh, huh! I will," replied Cookee, who was a favored mortal in camp, for timber-jacks could do without sleep but not without food.
"Now's we got the juice done, an' the cakes baked, I'll jes' show you what I done made fer the feast," said Cookee, leading the ladies into a lean-to shed that he had built up against the cabin, to store his cooked foods safely away from men and children.
In the spare minutes between meals when he had to cook and serve food for more than fifty hungry men, Cookee had delighted in baking cookies of every conceivable shape. These were for the children.
From the ankle bones and hoofs of the deer he had boiled out the jelly and flavored it with lemon and nutmeg and made a mould of jelly that looked exactly like calf's-foot jelly, but tasted much better. It shook upon its platter like the showpiece in any caterer's window.
He had cored large apples, and, with a concoction of beaten eggs, molasses, nuts and a bit of mint to flavor it, filled the gaps and baked them. The apples were soft and shiny when they came forth from the oven, and immediately, Cookee poured some melted sugar over them and allowed them to crystallize in the cold.
Several other unique side dishes had been made by the ingenious cook, and the ladies were most generous in their praise.
For several nights preceding Christmas Eve, the children had been sent to bed as soon as supper was over, to give the elders plenty of time to string pop-corn, make paper trimmings, and arrange generally for the great tree they were to have in the clearing if the day was fair, or in the dining-room if it stormed.
Christmas Eve was very clear and not too cold to be enjoyable out of doors. So, the men planted the tree in the middle of the clearing in the morning, and the children wandered about it all that day, trying to figure out how it ever would get trimmed.
"Tause," said Babs to Dot, "Dere ain't any chimbley fer Santy to come down!"
"But, we are almos' up in his home an' mebbe he don't use chimbleys at the North Pole," ventured Dot, who was somewhat suspicious of fat old Santa ever creeping down their chimneys at Oakwood.
That afternoon, Mike was told that the driver of one of the sledges would be free to take the children on a sleigh-ride party to the place where he knew the holly and mistletoe grew. The children were eager to go, and soon were out of the way.
The moment the coast was clear the elders hurried out of the cabins with huge bundles of trimmings for the tree and started to dress it up in all manner of finery. Long chains of white and colored pop-corn, fancy cut and fluted tissue-paper chains, paper flowers, rosy apples, numerous paper bundles that meant gifts for everyone, tinsel threads everywhere from tip to tip of the branches, and last of all large candles that would not blow out in a light breeze and would burn a long time.
Huge pine torches were stuck in safe places all about the clearing, and the large lanterns that hung on poles were ready for the illumination.
The timber men came in early that day, for they knew of Santa Claus' visit early that night, and washed and dressed for the occasion.
The sledge with the children returned about four o'clock laden with vines and berries for trimming the dining-room.
The moment the children came toward the clearing, however, they gave shrieks of pleasure. Everyone ran out to see the cause of the joy and everyone was surprised (?) to find the tree all ready for lighting.
"Oh, Mumzie, I thought Santa never came until night!" cried Dot, disappointed to find that her plot to catch him had failed.
"That is the way down home, of course; but here, why I suppose this will be his first stop as we are so near his home," replied Mrs. Starr.
Babs stood gaping at the tree and never saying a word.
"Say, Mumzie, you jus' said 'Would be his first stop' but he's been and done it!" exclaimed Don.
"Oh, but he hasn't distributed the gifts. Don't you think he will want to hand them about himself?" asked Mrs. Starr.
"Maybe he won't have time, you know. He has to go so far to-night. Maybe that's why he hung them here so early – so's we could he'p ourselves," ventured Dot, thoughtfully.
"Well, we will wait until dark and see. If he hasn't returned by five-thirty or six o'clock, I guess we will do the giving," said Mrs. Starr, leading Babs away to the cabin to be dressed for Santa in case he should come.
"I'm goin' to put on my best dress, too, Mumzie," said Dot, and Don whispered that he wanted to put on his Sunday suit.
"All right, dearies, but hurry so you will be here if he comes," returned Mrs. Starr, smiling with anticipation.
Now, the postman who brought mail and any shopping from the town to the camp, every week, had been engaged to keep up the delivery all winter for very good pay, and he willingly took the risk of getting caught in a storm for the salary he got. He had a brother who was the very image of a Santa Claus – short, fat, with white beard and ruddy complexion; jolly as could be, too. Mr. Starr talked with him while he was in town and arranged for both of the men to spend Christmas Day at the camp where the jolly one was to play Santa Claus for the children.
Mr. Starr had purchased material for clothing and the ladies cut and sewed them. The jolly man would have to hide himself all evening, so Babs and the twins would not see him and thus find out the trick played upon them. But, he could reappear the next morning in costume and remain so until time for the brothers to return to town. This would make the whole Christmas Day one of bliss for the three little ones – to think that Santa stayed with them a whole day on the return trip to the North Pole, after his night's work was done!
The children were dressed and warmly wrapped up by the time a horn was heard. Heads popped out of cabin-doors, and everyone looked in the direction of the tree. It was wonderfully illuminated, every candle flickering brightly in the dark. All about the clearing the great pine knots flared and the lanterns burned steadily, making the entire place a glow of light.
"Oh, Dot, run, run!" called Don, dragging his sister out by the hand.
"O-oh! isn't it grand!" sighed Dot, standing with clasped hands.
The others came out of their cabins and hurried over to the tree.
"Santa's come again and lit de lights!" cried Babs, ecstatically.
"Did he, Daddum?" asked Don, doubting that Santa did the lighting.
"I didn't do it, and I don't believe anyone of the men did it – did you?" asked Mr. Starr, turning to the group of smiling men.
"I didn't, and I know not one of the timber-jacks did it," said Mr. Latimer, soberly.
Suddenly, Babs, who was seeking under a branch for a tempting ball of pop-corn that hung low, gave a shriek of mingled fear and joy.
"Oh, he's here! He's sleeping in here!" cried she, pointing her chubby fingers toward the tree.
"Who? What?" demanded the twins, running over to Babs.
Meredith and Paul hurried over also and stood surprised to see real Santa Claus come out from under the branches, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
"Well, well, well, friends! I must have taken a nap! I am so tired from working nights over all the dolls and toys! But, now I will soon have to go!" chuckled the jolly old fellow.
Babs stood as still as could be, but Don and Dot danced a frenzied dance and shouted with joy to find dear old Santa really there with them.
"Oh, Santa, we are so glad to see you," they cried, while everyone smiled and repeated the welcome.
"And I'm glad to be with you. I made up my mind that I would try to stop early on my way to the other children. Now, if you want me to give you these gifts, I'd better be busy for I have a long way to travel to-night, you know. But I may stop over in the morning and see how you like your presents."
This was too much for the twins' cup of happiness, and they ran up and clung to their beloved friend.
The distribution of gifts then took place and everyone from Mike to Mr. Latimer was remembered.
The children knew there was no place toys could be had in that faraway forest, so of course Santa Claus had brought them when he came!
The revelation that there was a really and truly Santa Claus gave Dot and Don more happiness than anything else, for, at home, some of the boys and girls said it was all make-believe.
