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It was the pathetic savagery and haggardness of the young girl that had moved the woodmen to let her off with her booty; and now, the boss declared, if Gillsey were dismissed without his wages as was customary, in addition to other punishment the family would surely starve, cut off from the camp pork-barrel. It was decided to give the culprit his wages up to date.
Then, as the men yelled with delight, the mass of dark branches would sweep down with a soft, windy crash into the snow, and Gillsey, pale and nervous, but adorned with that unfailing toothless smile, would pick himself out of the débris and slink off to camp.
At a given signal the legs all straightened out with tremendous force, and poor Gillsey shot right across the "deacon-seat" and brought up with a thud upon the stove. With a yell, he bounced away from his scorching quarters and plunged into his bunk, not burnt, but very badly scared. After that he eschewed the "deacon-seat." At last the unfortunate wretch was caught purloining the pork.
The girl threw herself upon the food like a famishing animal, devoured huge mouthfuls, and then, gathering all promiscuously into her scanty skirt, darted off alone through the gloom. As soon as she had disappeared with her stores, Gillsey was captured and dragged back to camp.
The game would be kept up till the bunks were screaming with laughter, and poor Gillsey bathed in perspiration and anxiety. Then the boss would interfere, and Gillsey would be set free.
Blame the'r skins!" murmured Gillsey to himself. Then, seeing that he was not gaining on the child, he seemed to gulp something down in his throat, and finally he shouted: "I'll go, sis, honest I'll go. Yer kaint do it yerself. Come back home!" The girl stopped, turned round, and walked back, saying to her father, "They've kep' us the winter. Yer must git thar in time, dad!"
One Sunday night he was tracked to a hollow about a mile from camp, where he was met by a gaunt, wild, eccentric-looking girl, who was clearly his daughter. The two proceeded to an old stump concealed under some logs in a thicket, and out of the hollow, of the stump Gillsey fished a lump of salt pork, together with a big bundle of "hard-tack," and a parcel or two of some other kind of provender.
The girl she was a mere overgrown child of fourteen or fifteen looked thoughtful a moment, and then darted toward the woods. "Whar yer goin', sis?" called Gillsey, in a startled voice. "Warn 'em!" said the girl, laconically, not stopping her pace. "Stop! stop! Come back!" shouted her father, starting in pursuit. But the girl never paused. "Blame the'r skins!
A family so afflicted as to own Gillsey for husband and sire appeared to them deserving of the tenderest pity.
After waking all the other hands, the conspirators would retire to their bunks. Presently some one would give a smart tug on one of the strings, and pass it over hastily to his neighbor. Gillsey would wake up with a nervous yell, and grabbing his toe, seek to extricate it from the loop. Then would come another and sharper pull at the other toe, diverting Gillsey's attention to that member.
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