CHAPTER VIII
THE BOSS OF CAMP TWO
Slue Foot Magee, who was to boss Camp Two, was a man of ambling gait anda chronic grumble. He arrived with the vanguard of the new crew ahalf-hour before dinner time, grumbled because grub wasn't ready,growled when he learned that the buildings at Camp Two were not entirelycompleted, and fumed because Hurley had told him to leave fifteen of hisfifty men at Camp One.
"What's the use of pickin' out a crew an' then scatterin' 'em all overthe woods?" he demanded querulously of Connie, as they stood in the doorof the boss's camp while the men washed up for dinner. "If Hurley wantsthirty-five men in Camp Two an' fifty in Camp One why don't he send CampOne's crew up to Two an' leave me have Camp One?"
"I don't know," answered the boy, and refrained from mentioning that hewas mighty glad Hurley had not ordered it so.
Slue Foot slanted him a keen glance. "Be you the kid Hurley was tellin'nailed them I. W. W.'s that he was fetchin' out of the woods when wecome in this mornin'?"
Connie nodded: "Yes, Saginaw Ed and I caught 'em."
"Purty smart kid, hain't you? What's Hurley payin' you?"
"Forty dollars a month."
"An' no rake-off on the wanagan. There's plenty room in the woods to usebrains--same as anywheres else." Slue Foot turned at the sound of thedinner gong. "Let's go eat while there's some left. When we come backI'll give you the names."
During the meal Connie furtively studied the new boss. He was fully aslarge as Hurley, and slovenly in movement and appearance. His restlesseyes darted swift glances here, there, and everywhere, and never aglance but registered something of disapproval. But it was the man'swords that most interested the boy. Why had he asked what Hurley waspaying him? And what did he mean by his observation that there was norake-off on the wanagan? Also, there was his reference to the fact thatin the woods there was plenty of room for brains. That might meananything or nothing.
"At any rate," thought the boy, as he attacked his food, "you're goingto be a pretty good man to throw in with--for a while."
Presently the man pushed back his bench and arose: "If you ever git thatholler in under yer ribs filled up we'll go over an' I'll give you thenames of the men that stays here an' the ones that goes on with me."
"'Lead on, MacDuff,'" grinned Connie, misquoting a line from a playWaseche Bill had taken him to see in Fairbanks.
"Magee's my name," corrected the man gruffly, and led the way to theoffice.
It was only after much deliberation and growling that Slue Foot finallysucceeded in rearranging his crew, but at last the task was completedand Connie leaned back in his chair.
"So you think there ain't going to be any rake-off on the wanagan?" heasked, as the man sat scowling at his list of names. Slue Foot glancedup quickly and the boy met the glance with a wink: "I thought maybe----"
"It don't make no difference what you thought mebbe!" the maninterrupted. "If you know'd Hurley like I do you'd know a whole lotbetter'n to try it." Connie looked disappointed and the boss eyed himintently.
"They's other ways of killin' a cat without you choke him to death onbutter," he observed drily, and lapsed into silence while the restlessgimlet eyes seemed to bore into the boy's very thoughts.
Suddenly the man brought his fist down with a bang upon the top of thepine desk: "Why should Hurley be drawin' down his big money, an' me an'you our seventy-five an' forty a month?" he demanded.
"Well, he's the boss, and they say he can get out the logs."
"I'm a boss, too! An' I kin git out the logs!" he roared. "I was bossin'camps when Hurley was swampin'." Again he paused and regarded the boyshrewdly. "Mind you, I hain't sayin' Hurley hain't a good logger, 'causehe is. But jest between me and you there's a hull lot about this heretimber game that he hain't hep to. Any one kin draw down wages workin'in the woods--but if you want to make a real stake out of the gameyou've got to learn how to play both ends ag'in' the middle. An' that'swhere the brains comes in."
"That's why I thought----"
"--you could soak it to 'em on the wanagan an' shove the rake-off inyour pocket," finished the man. "Well, you'd better fergit it! Somebosses would stand fer it, but not Hurley. He'd tumble to yer game in aminute, an' you'd be hikin' down the tote road with yer turkey on yerback a-huntin' a new job."
"Do you mean there's nothing in it for me but my forty dollars a month?"asked Connie, with apparent disgust.
"M-m-m-m, well, that depends," muttered Slue Foot. "Be you goin' to keepthe log book, or Hurley?"
"I am. He told me the other day he'd show me about that later."
"They'll be a little somethin', mebbe, in shadin' the cut when the timecomes--nothin' big, but enough to double our wages. Wait 'til the crewgits strung out an' layin' 'em down an' we'll fix that up."
"Will the scaler throw in with us?" ventured the boy.
"What! Lon Camden! Not on yer life, he won't! Hurley picked him, an' hepicked Saginaw Ed, too. What you an' me do we got to do alone."
Connie smiled: "Yes, but he picked you, and he picked me, too."
"He did," agreed the other, with a leer. "I don't know nawthin' aboutwhy he picked you, but he give me a job 'cause he thinks I done him agood turn onct. Over in Idaho, it was, an' we was gittin' out logs onthe Fieldin' slope. Old Man Fieldin' had a contrac' which if he didn'tfill it by a certain day, he'd lose it, an' the Donahue crowd that wasoperatin' further down would deliver their logs an' take over thecontrac'. That's when I got it in fer Hurley. Him an' me was working ferFieldin' an' he made Hurley boss of a camp he'd ort to give to me.
"The Donahue crowd worked politics an' got holt of the water rights onElk Creek, an' Fieldin' couldn't float his logs. It looked like it wasgood-night fer Fieldin' an' his contrac' but Hurley grabbed all the menhe could git holt of an' started buildin' a flume. Old Man Fieldin' saidit couldn't be done, but fer Hurley to go ahead, 'cause he was ruintanyhow. So Hurley worked us night and day, an' by gosh, he built theflume an' got his logs a-runnin'!
"When the flume was up the Donahues seen they was beat, so they come tome an' offered me a bunch of coin if I'd blow it up. It was resky 'causeHurley was expectin' some such play, an' he had it guarded. But I got onguardin' nights an' I planted the dynamite and got the wires strung, an'it was all set. Then I went an' overplayed my hand. I thought I seen thechanct to git even with Hurley, as well as Old Man Fieldin', an' make mea nice little stake besides. So I tips it off to Hurley that I seen afellow sneakin' around suspicious an' he'd better take the shift whereI'd be'n, hisself. You see, I made it up with the Donahues to send threeof their men over to explode the shot so I'd have a alibi, an' Ifiggered that Hurley'd run onto 'em, an' they'd give him an' awfullickin'." The man paused and crammed tobacco into his pipe.
"And did he?" asked Connie, eagerly
"Naw, he didn't he!" growled the man. "He run onto 'em all right--an'when the rookus was over the hull three of 'em was took to thehorspital. When it comes to mixin' it up, Hurley, he's there. He foundthe dynamite, too, an' after that the guards was so thick along thatflume that one couldn't do nawthin' without the next ones could see whathe was up to.
"Fieldin's logs was delivered on time an' the old man handed Hurley acheck fer twenty-five hundred dollars over an' above his wages. Hurleyslipped me five hundred fer tellin' him--but I'd of got five thousan' ifI'd of blow'd up the flume. I had to skip the country 'fore them threegot out of the horspital, an' I've swore to git even with Hurley eversince--an' I'll do it too. One more winter like last winter, an' theywon't no outfit have him fer a boss."
It was with difficulty Connie refrained from asking what had happenedlast winter but he was afraid of arousing the man's suspicion bybecoming too inquisitive, so he frowned: "That's all right as far asyour getting even with Hurley, but it don't get me anything."
Slue Foot leaned forward in his chair: "I see you've got yer eye on themain chanct, an' that shows you've got somethin' in your noodle. Folkscan talk all they want to, but the only thing that's any good is mon
ey.Them that's got it is all right, an' them that hain't got it is nowhere.Take Hurley, he's got the chanct to make his everlastin' stake righthere, an' he's passin' it up. The owner of this here trac' lives up inAlaska or somewheres, an' he hain't a loggin' man nohow--an' here Hurleywould set and let him git rich--offen Hurley's work, mind you--an' allHurley gits out of it is his wages. An' if you throw in with him you'llgo out in the spring with yer forty dollars a month minus yer wanagantab."
"Guess that's right," agreed the boy. "I'd like to make a lot of money,but it looks like there's nothin' doing in this camp."
"Oh, I don't know," replied the man. "I'm a-goin' to git mine, an' theway things is, I kin use a party about your size that kin keep his eyesopen and his mouth shet. Looks like, from here, they might beconsiderable in it fer you, long about spring." He paused and glancedabout the office. "You sleep in here don't you?" Connie nodded, andSlue Foot seemed satisfied, "I kin use you, 'cause you're right here onthe job where you kin keep tab on the boss, an' Saginaw, an' LonCamden." The man paused abruptly and peered through the window.
"What's the game?" asked Connie boldly. "I can't do any good going itblind."
The man silenced him with a gesture: "Shet up! Here comes Saginaw.That'll keep 'til later. Meanwhile, it don't pay fer me an' you to seemnone too friendly. When any one's around I'll kick an' growl about thebooks and you sass me back." He rose from his chair and was stampingabout the room when Saginaw entered.
"Here it's took a good hour to git them names down that any one withhalf sense had ort to got down in fifteen minutes! If you can't check inthem supplies no quicker'n what you kin write down names, the grub willrot before we git it onloaded. Come on, we'll go up to the camp an' gitat it."
The man turned to greet the newcomer. "Hello Saginaw! I hear you're aboss now. Well, good luck to you. How's the new camp, 'bout ready?"
"Yes, a couple of days will finish her up. Yer storehouse an' men'scamp, an' cook's camp is done, so you can go ahead an' move in."
Slue Foot scowled: "I seen Hurley comin' out an' he says I should leaveyou fifteen men out of my crew, so I done it. Seems funny he'd give agreen boss the biggest crew, but he's got you right here where he kinkeep his eye on you, so I s'pose he knows what he's doin'."
"I 'spect he does," agreed Saginaw. "When you git to camp send them menback with mine."
Slue Foot nodded. "Well come on, kid," he ordered, gruffly. "We'll go upon the tote wagon."
Connie picked up his book and followed, and as he went out the door heturned to see Saginaw regarding him curiously.