United States or Cuba ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
What with them two pilgrims that called theirselves sawyers not bein' able to dodge a kick-back, an' Gibson pickin' a down-hill pull on an iced skidway for to go to sleep on his load, an' your gettin' pinched, an' the cook curlin' up an' dyin' on us, an' the whole damned outfit roarin' about the grub, there's hell to pay all around."
"Then you must die. It will be considered an accident, and no one will suspect my hand in the affair." Again the young convict poised his weapon for deadly work. On the instant the rumble of wheels met the ears of Martin Skidway. A wagon containing two men was in sight, moving down a road that ran parallel with the railway at this point.
She wished now with all her heart that she had not confided in her aunt, and a dozen times she caught herself on the point of rushing to his defense. Not since that morning on the skidway had the two met. Bill deviated not one whit from the regular routine of his duties, and the girl purposely avoided him. She hated him.
The driver, close to her tail, held fast the slender steel chain by an ingenious hitch about the ever-useful swamp-hook. When Jim shouted "whoa!" from the top of the skidway, the driver did not trouble to stop the horse, he merely let go the hook. So the power was shut off suddenly, as is meet and proper in such ticklish business.
You will observe that they have cut a channel or 'travoy, as it is called, through which the logs will roll after leaving the skidway, and pass on to the stream. This 'travoy' is pretty well grown over with second growth, but the logs will roll the growth down, and when they do you would think that all the tremendous forces of nature had been let loose."
He saw in this daring young fellow much talent, that had it been rightly directed, might have made an honorable place in the world for Martin Skidway. "I am helpless to arrest your steps just at present," groaned the detective.
It was evident that the occupants of the vehicle had seen Skidway, and to strike now would but add to the vengeance of pursuit and punishment. With a curse, he dropped the iron bolt and turned to flee. "Dyke Darrel, if you inform on me, I will kill you at another time!" hissed the convict. Then he rushed from the spot and disappeared.
The Overlanders, dismounting, inhaled deeply of the air, heavily pungent with the odor of the pine, then set to work with a vim to pitch their camp. Tom, in the meantime, climbed the bank to look at a huge pile of logs that lay on a skidway above their camping place. "Someone got left last spring," he said upon his return to his companions.
When this harness got wet it would stretch so much that the oxen could travel clear to the landing and the load would not move from the skidway in the woods. Brimstone would fasten the harness with an anchor Big Ole made for him and when the sun came out and the harness shrunk the load would be pulled to the landing while Bill and the oxen were busy at some other job.
When Molly and Fabian had travoyed the log to the skidway, they drew it with a bump across the two parallel skids, and left it there to be rolled to the top of the pile. Then Mike McGovern and Bob Stratton and Jim Gladys took charge of it. Mike and Bob were running the cant-hooks, while Jim stood on top of the great pile of logs already decked.
Word Of The Day