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"The other day the hull Tribe j'ined to attack an' capture a big Grizzly and was licked bad, when the War Chief Sapwood came to the rescue an' settled the owld baste with one kick on the snoot. Deeds like this is touching. A feller that kin kick like that didn't orter be called Sapwood nor Saphead nor Sapanything. No, sirree! It ain't right.
Throwing down his bundle of creepers, Saloo now took up one of the pointed pegs, and, standing by the trunk of the durion, drove it into the soft sapwood, a little above the height of his own head. The axe, which was a light one, and had a flat hammer-shaped head, served him for a mallet.
All the sapwood was adzed off; the ends were "checked" so that they would interlock. Far too weighty to lift, the logs were toilfully transported inch by inch on rollers with a crowbar as a lever.
"Make him let me 'lone," whimpered Sapwood. "We'll let ye off this time if ye find that Woodchuck. It's near two days since we've had a skirmish." "All right," and he went. Within five minutes he came running back, beckoning. The boys got their bows and arrows, but fearing a trick they held back. Guy dashed for his own weapons with unmistakable and reassuring zest; then all set out for the field.
Caleb's delight at its recovery, though not very apparent, was boundless. He had not been able to buy himself another, and this was as warmly welcomed back as though a long-lost only child. "Say, Caleb, let's try a shot. I bet I kin beat the hull gang," exclaimed Sapwood. Caleb got some cartridges and pointed to a white blaze on a stump forty yards away.
The aim was true to a hair and the block flew open. "Hooray!" shouted Little Beaver in admiration. "Pooh!" said Sapwood. "That was just chance. He couldn't do that again." "Not to the same stick!" retorted Yan. He recognized the consummate skill and the cleverness of knowing that the cup of water was just what was needed to rob the wood of its spring and turn the balance.
Yan went around to the mud albums and got some things he could not make out and a new mark that gave him a sensation. He drew it carefully. It was evidently the print of a small sharp hoof. This was what he had hungered for so long. He shouted, "Sam Sam Sapwood, come here; here's a Deer track." The boys shouted back, "Ah, what you givin' us now!" "Call off your Dog!" and so forth.
Loud cries of "How How How," led by Yan. "We gave a sun-dance for his benefit, but he didn't brown seemed too green so we called him Sapwood. From that time he has fought his way up from the ranks and got to be Third War Chief " "How How How."
Indeed the last half-century has seen the good white pine of the world pretty nearly used up, certainly all the best of it, for woodworking purposes. Fifty years ago it was the cheapest New England wood, today it is the highest-priced, and the old-time clear pine, free from knots and sapwood is almost impossible to obtain at any price.
"'Train! says I. 'Pooh. I'll bet that's Guy Burns getting a new licking." "Guess I'll well up now," said War Chief Sapwood, so stripped his foot, revealing a scratch that would not have cost a thought had he got it playing ball. He laid the rags away carefully and with them every trace of the limp, then entered heartily into camp life. The vast advantage of being astir early now was seen.
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