THE BROKEN BOOM
Along the Kennebec River the camps of the river drivers are located
at intervals of from ten to twelve miles. Each of these camps
supports a crew numbering from twenty to forty men according to the
condition of the river. It is the duty of each crew to see that all
logs get safely by their allotted territory.
The first of the Golden logs had been started down the river before
the camps were filled, as Mr. Golden was anxious to get the first
lot down as soon as possible to avoid all danger of forfeiting his
contract with the paper company. He had figured that the drivers
would be on the job before they got very far on their way, and he
had ordered Jean Lamont and his small crew to go straight through
with the logs to Waterville. It was time now for the different crews
to be in the cabins, and he fully expected that, from now on, he
would have all the help needed.
About two and a half miles down the river from The Forks, is an
island lying nearly in the middle of the stream. It is a bad place
for a jam to form, as the island, occupying a good part of the
river, forms a natural barrier. Still there is little danger of a
jam forming, provided the safety boom is in good shape and does not
give way. This boom is made in the shape of a V, the apex pointing
up the river and fastened securely to a log driven into the river
bed. The sides of the V inclose the island and are firmly secured to
rocks or logs sunk into the river bottom. So long as this boom is in
proper shape, the logs, as they reach the point of the V are shunted
to the channels, on either side of the island. But once let the boom
give way and a jam is inevitable.
As soon as Mr. Golden saw that the jam was really broken and that
there was little danger of another being formed, he called to Jean.
“You’d better get down to the island as soon as you can with your
men. The boom there was all right when I came by yesterday, but, as
you know, there’s a certain man who will do almost anything to hold
back those logs. He said he’d be up here along about noon with a
crew and get them started out of the jam and goodness knows what he
may have done to that boom at the island.”
“Oui, we go ver’ queek, an’ eef heem break that boom heem bet’ look
out,” and the Frenchman’s face, for the moment lost its cheerful
smile.
“I don’t want you to have any trouble with any of his men if it can
be prevented,” Mr. Golden cautioned him.
“Trust Jean for that,” Bob laughed, “But,” he added, “if trouble is
thrust upon him, look out for fireworks.”
“I guess we might as well go along with him,” Jack proposed.
“Now, boys, I want you to be careful and avoid trouble,” Mr. Golden
said soberly. “I’ve got to go back home at once and have just time
to drive to Solon and get the afternoon train. I wish I could stay
and see those logs through, but there’s an important meeting of the
bank directors tomorrow morning and I have to be there, so I’ll have
to leave it to you.” Then, turning to Rex, he asked, “How long can
you stay with the boys?”
“Why, I suppose I ought to go home right away, but you see, sir,
this is all new to me and it’s so interesting that I’m going to stay
a day or two longer, that is, if they want me to,” Rex replied with
a sly glance at the two boys.
“If you stay as long as we want you to you’ll stay till we go back
to college,” Bob laughed as he shook hands with his father.
“Well, stay as long as you can, Rex,” Mr. Golden said as he bade
them goodbye.
“How are we going to get down to that island?” Rex asked after Mr.
Golden had left.
“Go down on the logs, of course,” Jack replied. “You see,” he
explained, “that’s the quickest way to get there. Of course if we
had a boat in the river ahead of the logs we could make better time,
but as we haven’t we’ll have to make the best of it. But Rex ought
to have a pair of calked boots if he’s going to ride the logs down,”
he added turning to Bob.
“That’s so,” Bob agreed. “I guess we can pick up a pair at Sim’s,
but we’ve got to make it snappy.”
They started for the store on the run and, having found a pair of
boots to fit Rex they were back in almost no time, as Jack put it.
“Come on, now, let’s go,” Bob cried as they reached the river, now
filled with the floating logs. “Now Rex, you want to be careful,” he
added. “You can’t slip with those boots on, but, if you step on a
small log its apt to turn on you. Better stick to the big ones.”
They had been running rapidly from log to log while Bob was
speaking. Rex had some trouble at first in keeping his balance, but
he was quick to catch on to the knack and by the time they had
reached the head of the drive, he insisted that he was as good as
any of them.
“I’ll be an old stager in another day,” he laughed as he began to
dance on a giant spruce.
Jean and his men with the exception of the cook, who had been sent
back to follow the drive down in the big scow, were on the foremost
of the logs.
“How do they tell which of these logs belong to who?” Rex laughed.
“That’s easy,” Bob replied. “If you’ll look you’ll see that each log
is marked or rather cut with a certain brand See that X on the end
of that log you’re standing on? Well, that means that the log
belongs to Mr. Ben Donahue, better known as Big Ben.”
“Same’s they brand horses out West,” Rex said. “What’s your mark?”
“All our logs are marked with a T,” Bob explained. “You see it has
to be a mark that can be easily made with an axe.”
“About how fast are we going?” Rex asked, eager to learn all he
could.
“Between two and three miles an hour, I should judge,” Bob replied.
“Don’t the water run faster than that?”
“Some,” Bob replied. “But you see there’s a lot of friction with the
logs rubbing against each other and butting into the banks all the
time and that slows them down so they never quite keep up with the
water. I suppose a single log or two out in the middle would go as
fast as the current, but a big lot together like these never do.”
“Look,” Jack cried at that moment. “Jean and Pierre are going to go
ahead and get down beforehand.”
Rex looked as Jack pointed and saw the two men, one on each end, of
what seemed to him a pretty small log to carry two heavy men, in the
act of pushing the log ahead with their peaveys.
“Why, don’t they take a big one?” Rex asked.
“Because they can make a little one go faster,” Jack laughed.
Rex soon saw that what Bob had told him was true, for as soon as the
single log was well away from the rest it began to forge ahead.
True, its pace was increased by the fact that the two Frenchmen were
using their peaveys for paddles, but he could see that their log had
drawn away from the main drive even before they had began to paddle.
“I’ll say they’re clever,” he declared as he noted the ease with
which the two kept their balance.
“They don’t make ’em any better, not on this river anyway,” Jack
declared with pride.
“That’s nothing,” Bob broke in. “I only hope we can get Jean to have
a log rolling contest with someone before you go back. Then you’d
see something that really is clever.”
“I say, Bob,” Jack said as Jean and his fellow voyager disappeared
around a bend in the river, “If that crew of Ben’s is going to get
up to The Forks by noon it’s funny we haven’t seen anything of them,
don’t you think?”
“Just what I was thinking,” Bob declared. “But,” he added, “you know
that if Ben said they’d be there today some time next week would
more likely be the time they’ll arrive.”
“You’re about right there,” Jack agreed.
“I say, but we’re leaving a lot of logs behind along the shore,” Rex
declared as he glanced about him.
“Sure we are,” Jack agreed. “But that can’t be helped. You see,” he
explained, “we started out with a lot more than enough to make up
the first delivery. The crew’ll get those logs which stick later on
and if enough get by to fill the bill the rest can poke along
later.”
“The crew which belongs on this beat ought to be here in a day or
two at the latest,” Bob broke in, “and they won’t be long in getting
them going again. Speed for the main bunch is what we’re after now.”
By this time they had reached the curve in the river and as they
swept around it they had a clear view of the stream for a distance
of nearly a mile.
“See! There’s the island,” Jack shouted.
The island was in plain view about a mile ahead and, about half way
between them and it they could see the two Frenchmen riding their
log.
“They’re making some time,” Jack said as he caught sight of them.
“Sure are,” Bob agreed.
“I never would have believed that they could make a log go that
fast,” Rex declared.
“I’ll bet there’s something wrong with the boom and they’ve spotted
it,” Jack said. “You know Jean can see about twice as far as most
men with those eagle eyes of his.”
“I’m afraid you’re right because they are certainly making the dust
fly,” Bob declared soberly.
“I’m afraid you’re getting your figures of speech mixed a bit,” Rex
said as he glanced at Jack. “I don’t see anything particularly dusty
about this river.”
“I stand corrected,” Bob laughed. “But I guess you know what I
mean.”
“Oh, we get the idea all right,” Jack assured him.
“Well, dust or no dust, they’re certainly getting that log through
the water at a faster rate of speed than I would have believed
possible,” Rex insisted.
For some time after this no one spoke but all kept their eyes fixed
on the two men ahead. The distance was too great for them to see
much except that they seemed to be making strenuous efforts to get
the utmost speed possible out of their primitive craft, and the
distance was, of course steadily increasing.
“There must be something the matter with that boom,” Jack insisted
as he shaded his eyes with his hand, “They wouldn’t break their
necks to get there so quick if it was all right.”
“Well, I hope they will be able to get it fixed, whatever it is,
before we arrive,” Bob declared. “They’ll have just about twenty
minutes I should judge,” he added a moment later.
It was about ten minutes later when Jack declared that the two
Frenchmen had arrived at their destination.
“They’ve found something wrong,” he announced a little later as he
shifted his position to another log.
By this time both Bob and Rex could see that Jack was right. It was
plainly evident that the two men were busily engaged in repairing
the boom.
“I told you it would be broken,” Jack said. “And what’s more I’ll
bet my last year’s straw hat that I can name the party who is
responsible for it. Any takers?”
“Nothing like betting on a sure thing,” Bob laughed. “I haven’t a
mite of doubt, but that you are right, but we’ll hope that Jean and
Pierre get it fixed in time. They certainly are doing their best all
right.”
Now they could see that both men were in the water up to their
waists, pulling the logs of the broken boom into place and fastening
them with bits of rope which they had had the presence of mind to
take with them.
“They’re not going to get it done in time,” Jack groaned.
“I’m afraid you’re right,” Bob agreed. “They’ve only got about five
minutes more at the most.”
Unfortunately the river narrowed slightly just opposite the head of
the island, so that, should the logs catch in the island, a jam
would be inevitable. Jean and Pierre were working as rapidly as
possible, but much still remained to be done and the head of the
drive was now close upon them.
“Eet is no go,” Jean declared as he finished tying two logs
together.
He was correct for, before he could fasten the peak of the boom to
the tying post, the front of the drive struck.
“Never mind, fellows,” Bob shouted as he sprang to the shore. “You
did the best you could.”
“Oui, we try ver’ hard, but some man cut most all the tie pieces and
we no have time to geet all feexed.”
Fortunately the current at this point is not swift and there was no
piling up of the logs. They came to a stop, being wedged into the
two channels on either side of the island, as gently as a feather,
as Jack described it.
“It’ll simply be a case of picking them out one by one until we get
a space big enough to string that boom,” Bob explained to Rex, as
they stood looking up the river.
“Some job,” the latter declared.
“Oh, it won’t take so long as you’d think when we get thirty or
forty men at it,” Jack said as he joined them.
“Ben’s crew ought to be along any time now, though you never can
tell about what he’s up to,” Bob remarked as he glanced toward the
shore.
“Here comes Sam with the grub,” Jack shouted a little later as he
spied the cook coming down the river on the logs carrying a big
basket in his hand.
“There’s a camp over to the right of the island and I move we go
there and get dinner the first thing. It must be about noon,” Bob
proposed.
“Just twelve o’clock and I second the motion,” Jack responded as he
started to lead the way.
Sam soon had a roaring fire going in the cook stove, with which the
cabin was equipped, and Jean and Pierre crowded as close to it as
they could get in order to dry their wet clothes.
“Aren’t you afraid you’ll catch cold?” Rex asked as he joined them.
“Non, we no geet cold. We tough,” Jean grinned, and Pierre nodded
assent.
They had just finished their lunch when the sound of voices were
heard outside.
“Guess that’s Ben’s crew,” Bob said as he started for the door.
He was right and in almost no time, the crew, numbering some thirty
men, had taken possession of the camp. They were a happy-go-lucky
crowd of half-breeds and Irish, in charge of a big Irishmen by the
name of Pat Murphy.
The boys knew Pat slightly and he greeted them with a great show of
cordiality.
“So yez got the jam away from The Forks, did yez?” he asked as he
shook hands with them.
“But we didn’t get very far,” Bob said dryly.
If Pat Murphy noticed the tone of his remark he showed no indication
of it.
“Oh, well, and it’s us as’ll have ’em agoin’ agin before yez know
it,” he promised, as he glanced out of the window toward the river.
“There’s no head ter thot jam and they’ll be after starting aisy I’m
thinkin’.”
It was well after two o’clock before the crew had finished dinner.
“Sure and it’s no use tryin’ ter make them fellers do iny work till
they git filled up,” Pat assured them as he came out of the camp and
joined the boys who were sitting on a log in front of the building.
“I suppose not,” Bob agreed.
“No use at all at all,” Pat repeated. “But we’ll be after gitting at
’em pretty soon now.”
But, as Bob predicted, one excuse followed another and it was nearly
four o’clock before they actually got to work, and even then, it was
plainly evident to the boys that they were instructed to accomplish
as little as possible.
“The lazy loafers,” Rex said after he had watched them for a few
minutes.
“It isn’t that,” Bob explained. “They’re under orders from Big Ben
to hold those logs here as long as they can without coming to a
showdown. If we could prove that they were holding them
intentionally we could make him pay for it as it’s against the law,
but there’s little chance of doing that. They’ll just doddle along
and put up a big front of working and at the same time do just as
little as possible. Oh, he’s a sharp one all right.”
“But we’ve got the best of him more than once and we may this time,”
Jack declared.
Both Jean and Pierre were working with the crew and the boys could
see that they were doing their utmost to make them work faster but
with little success.
At five o’clock they knocked off for the day and Jack declared
bitterly, “They haven’t loosened up enough logs to make a good bunch
of shingles.”
“Them logs are packed in tighter nor I thought,” Pat declared as he
came up the bank.
“I hope none of your men over-exerted themselves,” Bob said looking
him full in the eyes.
Pat turned his head away.
“Well, yez see, they’ve had a long tramp the day and I guess they’re
kinder tired, but we’ll be after showin’ yez some action
ter-morrer.”
Supper was a hilarious meal. The men were in excellent spirits and
jokes and stories ran around the table, interspersed with frequent
snatches of song.
“They know they’ve got a soft thing of it for a few days at least,”
Bob whispered to Rex.
As soon as supper was over the men went outside and gathered in
groups and talked, sang songs and smoked in the twilight.
It was about an hour later when Bob announced that he was going for
a drink of water from a small spring a few rods back in the woods.
He had known of that spring for a long time and often declared that
there was no water quite so good as that.
“Anybody coming along?” he asked.
But both Rex and Jack decided that they were not thirsty, so he
started off alone.
A few feet back of the camp was a small shed used as a store house
for tools. On his way to the spring Bob had to pass close to it and,
as he approached, the sound of voices reached him. He stopped for a
moment and listened. Two men, it was evident, were in the shed
talking earnestly. Under ordinary circumstances Bob would have
scorned the thought of being an eavesdropper, but he had recognized
the voice of one of the men as that of Pat Murphy. He was quite sure
that if Pat Murphy had brought one of his men out to the shed for a
private conversation the matter under discussion concerned him and
his father. So his conscience gave him no pricks as he crept closer
until he was directly beneath a small window at the back of the
shed. He could now hear distinctly all that was being said although
the men were talking in low tones.
“Yez see,” Pat was saying, “we can’t hold them logs here much
longer. ’Tis a cinch ter git ’em started and Jean Larue well knows
thot same.”
“But there’s only six of ’em,” the other man declared, “and what kin
they do wid us? Dem city kids don’t count.”
“I know,” Pat explained, “but Baptiste Lamont and his crew of forty
or more Canucks will be up here sometime tomorrow and Baptiste don’t
stand for no funny work. He thinks as how the sun rises and sets fer
Golden.”
“Wall, an’ whot is it ye want me ter do?” the other asked.
“Ye will pick out three men ye kin trust and go down the river till
ye git ter the rips. It’s only about two miles down. Ye know the
water’s mighty fast thar where the river narrows and if we kin git a
jam thar they’ll pile up till it’ll take all of a week ter get ’em
started agin.”
“But how we goin’ ter start a jam thar?”
“Sure and it’ll be aisy enough. Ye’ll find a scow jest forninst a
big pine thot’s so big ye can’t miss it. The water’s only two or
three fate deep out in the middle thar, and there’s some mighty big
rocks out thar. Now all ye have ter do is ter git out thar wid yer
peaveys and build up a pier like of rocks. Build it up till thar’s
only about three or four inches of water running over it an’ it’ll
do the trick all right.”
“Huh, talk’s cheap, an’ aisy,” the other sneered. “I spose as how ye
think it’ll be a reg’lar picnic wirkin’ in the ice water out thar.”
“Don’t I know it’ll be cold,” Murphy snapped. “Ye dont think as how
I’m expectin’ ye ter do it fer nuttin,’ does yez? It’ll be twenty
dollars fer yez and ten fer each of the men, if ye git a jam thar.
Take it or lave it.”
“Now ye’re sayin’ sumpin’,” the man replied more enthusiastically.
“I’ll take the job an’ we’ll make ’em jam up all right.”
“All right,” Pat said, and Bob could hear him moving as though about
to leave the shed.
“Guess it’s about time I was making a get-away,” he thought as he
moved carefully off toward a thick clump of pines a short distance
from the shed.
As soon as he was certain that he was out of sight from the camp the
hoot of an owl sounded through the woods. The sound was repeated
three times and as the third hoot ended Jack, who was sitting on a
log, a few feet from the door of the camp, whispered to Rex, who was
beside him.
“Listen. I think that’s Bob.”
A moment later the cry came again, whoo, whoo, whoo—whoo, whoo,
whoo—whoo, whoo, whoo.
“That’s Bob and he wants us,” Jack asserted, all doubt gone. “Now
follow me and be mighty careful. Just walk about slowly as though we
were not going anywhere in particular,” he whispered as he got to
his feet.
Taking hold of Rex’s arm he led him slowly about among the groups of
men talking carelessly. Little by little the two worked away until
they were some distance from the camp. It was nearly dark by this
time and Jack felt sure that he had aroused no suspicions in the
minds of any of the men.
“We’ll stand here and talk a few minutes till it gets a bit darker,”
he said.
In another five minutes he felt safe in making a break and with a
word to Rex, he quickly led the way off from the river.
“Just wait a minute, and I’ll find out where he is,” he said after
they had gone a few yards into the thick woods.
“Whoo, whoo, whoo.”
“Whoo, whoo, whoo.”
“He’s right over there,” Jack declared as he turned to the left.
“Got away all right, did you?” Bob’s voice greeted them close at
hand.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“There’s a lot up, or there soon will be if we don’t prevent it,”
Bob declared in a low tone, and he told them what he had heard.
“What do you know about that?” Jack sputtered as soon as he had
finished.
“It’s no more than you would expect, is it?” Bob asked.
“Guess not, but it’s pretty dirty work at that.”
“I should say so,” Rex broke in. “I didn’t suppose they did such
things as that now-a-days.”
“You don’t know Big Ben Donahue,” Bob told him.
“Well, what about it? I suppose it’s up to us,” and Jack waited for
Bob’s answer with an anxious mind.
“I’ve been thinking about it while waiting for you and Rex to get
here, and it seems to me that there’s but one thing to do. Of course
we could get Jean and the rest of our men together and go down and
try to stop them but you know that will mean a fight and I think it
can be avoided.”
“Fight’s our middle name,” Jack laughed. “But if you say no fight,
why no fight has it.”
“I never believe in fighting when there’s a better way out,” Bob
declared. “Now here’s my plan. We’ll let them build up the pier and
then all we have to do is to take that scow, after they have
returned to the camp, and go out and tear it down. It ought not to
be very hard work to do it and I believe we can do it from the boat
without getting into the water at all. What do you think about it?”
“I’ll say it’s a good idea,” Jack quickly agreed. “You certainly
have the thinking apparatus of this firm working in good shape.”
“S-hh,” Bob whispered as his ears caught the sound of steps.
“Someone’s coming.”
In another minute low voices were heard coming nearer and soon four
men, talking in low tones, passed within six feet of them. The boys
kept perfectly still until the men were out of hearing.
“I guess those are the fellows who are to do the dirty work,” Jack
whispered.
“No doubt about it,” Bob agreed. “We’ll wait about an hour and by
that time they ought to be at work. Then we’ll get some peaveys and
follow them down. We can hide in the woods till they get through.”
The weather had turned warm during the day and they were not
uncomfortable as they waited. They could hear the laughter and songs
of the men as they sat around a small fire which they had started a
few yards from the door of the camp. But in the woods men go early
to bed and as the fire died down, by twos and threes they sought
their bunks and, by the time the hour had passed, all about the camp
was silence.
There was no moon and the night was very dark.
“Got your flash with you?” Jack asked.
“Yep, I just happened to have it in my pocket,” Bob replied.
“That’s luck. Mine’s in the camp.”
“Well, let’s get the peaveys and then we’ll be on our way,” and Bob
led the way back to the shed.
But securing the peaveys proved a more difficult task than they had
anticipated.