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With their short peaveys, the drivers were enabled to prevent the timbers from swirling in the eddies one of the first causes of a jam. At last, near the foot of the flats, they abandoned them to the stream, confident that Moloney and his crew would see to their passage down the river. In three days the rollways were broken. Now it became necessary to start the rear.
The few rollways that were broken out, however, were sufficient to cause a nasty jam, and far below where the girl stood the men of both crews worked furiously among the high-piled logs. Weird and unreal it seemed to Ethel as she gazed down upon the flare of huge fires built upon the bank, the tiny flash of lanterns and the flicker of torches, where the men swarmed out upon the uncertain footing.
After long delays Crane and Keith made pretense of building camps and starting to log. But one difficulty after another descended on their operations. In the spring, when each of them should have had several millions of feet of spruce ready to roll into the water, not a log was on rollways.
"They's been some jobbing done way below our rollways," said Roaring Dick, "and the mossbacks have been taking 'em out long before our drive got this far. Them few deadheads we've picked up along the line; mossbacks left 'em stranded. They ain't very many." "I'll send up a marking hammer, and we'll brand them. Finders keepers." "Sure," said Roaring Dick. He nodded and ran out over the logs.
At daylight men crowded the bank, the bend watchers strung out and took up their positions, and white-water men stood by with sharp axes to break out the rollways. The first rollway broke badly.
"Why? "Then they might obstruct the river?" "Certainly." "I thought so!" cried Newmark, with as near an approach to exultation as he ever permitted himself. "Now, just one other thing: aren't Heinzman's rollways below most of the others?" "Yes, I believe they are," said Orde. "And, of course, it was agreed, as usual, that Heinzman was to break out his own rollways?" "I see," said Orde slowly.
An ice-house was built and filled upon the bank of the river. Trees were felled, and the logs ranked upon miniature rollways, where all through the short days the Indians busied themselves in the rude whip-sawing of lumber.
Somewhere in the distance, sounding faint and far, came the shouts of men. Unconsciously she wandered toward the river. On the edge of a high bluff overlooking the rollways and the rushing waters she paused, leaning wearily against the bole of a giant birch. Thanks to the quick action of Bill Carmody Moncrossen's scheme of fouling the upper drive had taken no toll of human life.
Thus it was literally true that each one of these men was called upon almost daily to wager his personal skill against his destruction. In the meantime the rear was "sacking" its way as fast as possible, moving camp with the wanigan whenever necessary, working very hard and very cold and very long. In its work, however, beyond the breaking of the rollways, was little of the spectacular.
For, among all occupations of men, log driving stands unique for its hardships of peril, discomfort, and bone-racking toil. From the breaking out of the rollways until the last log slips smoothly into its place in the boom-raft, no man's life is safe.
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