Camp and Trail: A Story of the Maine Woods

  CHAPTER X.

  FORWARD ALL!

  Speculations about the journey, and in especial about the corduroy road,were rife in the boys' minds during the forty and odd hours whichelapsed between the Sunday service and the time of their start.

  The travellers met at the settler's cabin early on Tuesday morning,having broken camp shortly after daybreak. On Monday evening Cyrus andNeal, with Uncle Eb, had returned to the bark hut to pack theirknapsacks, and make ready for a forward march. On the way thither, itbeing just the hour for the deer to be running,--that is, descendingfrom the hills for an evening meal,--Neal got a successful shot at asmall two-year-old buck. This was a stroke of luck for the campers, anda necessary deed of death. It supplied them with venison for theirjourney; and, as Cyrus said, "they had already put a shamefully big holein Dr. Phil's stores, and must procure a respectable supply of meat tomake up for it."

  It also provided Tiger with plenty of bones to crunch during hismaster's absence; for the dog was left behind in charge of the hut, asindeed he often was for a week or more while Uncle Eb was away guiding.The sportsmen who engaged the latter's services were generally averse tothe creature's presence with the party, lest he should scare their game.

  Cyrus and Neal bade him a pathetic farewell, remembering the excitingfun he had given them with the raccoon. Dol sent him lots of approvingmessages, which were duly delivered, with rough pats and shakes, byUncle Eb, who fully believed that the brute understood every word ofthem. Indeed, the sign language of Tiger's expressive tail confirmedthis opinion.

  Dol had remained at the log camp with his new friends, Dr. Phil thinkingit well that he should rest his feet until the morning of the start. Hisbrother promised to bring his knapsack and rifle to the settler'scabin. Uncle Eb repossessed himself of his shot-gun, pouch, andpowder-horn, which he carried back to his hut, and left under Tiger'sprotection, telling Dol that "if he wanted to bag any more black duckshe'd have to give 'em a dose wid de rifle, for he warn't a-goin' to lugdat ole fuzzee t'rough de woods."

  It was the perfection of an October morning, sunshiny and pleasant, witha mellow freshness in the air which matched the mellow tints of theforest, when the travellers joined forces at the farm-settlement.

  Engaged in the thrilling work of felling a pine-tree to extend hisfather's clearing, they found the settler's son, a brawny fellow aboutCyrus's age, in buckskin leggings and coon-skin cap, who wielded his axewith arms which were tough and knotted as pine limbs. He bawled to themin the forceful language of the backwoods, which to unaccustomed earssounded a trifle barbaric, to keep out of the way until his tree hadfallen.

  When the pine at last tumbled earthward with a thud which reverberatedfor miles through the forest, he gave a mighty yell, waved his skin cap,and came towards the visitors.

  "Hulloa, Lin!" boomed the doctor, greeting this native as an oldacquaintance.

  "Hello, Doc!" answered Lin. "By the great horn spoon! I didn't expect tosee you here. Who are these fellers?"

  The doctor introduced his comrades. Lin greeted them with bluffsimplicity, and called them one and all by their Christian names as soonas these could be found out. Doc alone came in for his short title--ifsuch it could be called. Luckily the campers of both nationalities, fromCyrus downward, were without any element of snobbery in theirdispositions. It seemed to them only a jolly part of the untrammelledforest life that man should go back to his primitive relations with hisbrother man; that in the woods, as Doc said, "manhood should be the onlypassport," and that titles and distinctions should never be thought ofby guides or anybody else. They were well-pleased to be taken simply forwhat they were,--jolly, companionable fellows,--and to be valuedaccording to the amount of grit and good-temper they showed.

  And they learned this morning to appreciate the pioneer courage andresolute spirit of the rugged settlers who had cleared a home forthemselves amid the surrounding wilderness of forest and stream. Theirroughness of speech was as nothing in comparison with their braveendurance of hardships, their deeds of heroism, and their free-handedhospitality.

  Lin led his visitors straight to a log cabin, before which his father, aveteran woodsman, who bore the scars of bears' teeth upon his body, wasdigging and planting. This old farmer, too, greeted Doc as a friend, andwhen the wagon was talked about, was quite willing to do anything toserve him.

  "But ye must have a square meal afore ye travel," he said. "Jerusha! Icouldn't let ye go without eatin'. Mother!" shouting to his wife, whowas inside the cabin. "Say, Mother! Ha'n't ye got somethin' fer thesefellers to munch?"

  Forthwith a big, rosy woman, who had herself fought a bear in her time,and had shot him, too, before he attacked her farmyard, hustled round,and got up such a meal as the travellers had not tasted since theyentered the woods. They had a splendid "tuck-in," consisting of friedham, boiled eggs, potatoes, hot bread, yellow butter, and coffee. Andthe meal was accompanied with thrilling stories from the lips of the oldsettler about the hardships and desperate scenes of earlier pioneeringdays. Doc coaxed him to relate these for the boys' benefit. And manyeyes dilated as he told of blood-curdling adventures with the "lunksoos," or "Indian devil," the dreadful catamount or panther, which wasonce the terror of Maine woodsmen.

  "So help me! I'd a heap sooner meet a ragin' lion than a panther," saidthe old man. "My own father came near to bein' eaten alive by one when Iwas a kid. He was workin' with a gang o' lumbermen in these forests attimber-makin', and was returnin' to their camp, when the beast bouncedout of a thicket all of a suddint. Poor dad was skeered stiff. The thingscreeched,--a screech so turrible that it was enough to turn a man'ssweat to ice-water, an' a'most set him crazy. Dad hadn't no gun withhim; so he shinned up the nighest tree like mad, an' hollered fit tobust his windpipe, hopin' t'other fellers at the camp 'ud hear him.

  "But the panther made up another tree hard by, an' sprang 'pon him. Fustit grabbed dad by the heel. Then it tore a big piece out o' the calf ofhis leg, an' devoured it. Think of it, boys! Them's the sort o' dangersthat the fust settlers an' lumbermen in these woods had to face.

  "Wal, dad reckoned he was a goner, sure. But he managed to cut a limbfrom the tree with his huntin'-knife, an' tied the knife to the end ofit. With that he fought the beast while his comrades, who had heard hismad yells, were gittin' to him. With the fust shot that one of 'em firedthe catamount made off.

  "Dad was the sickest man ye ever saw fer a spell. His wound healed aftera bit, under the care of an Injun doctor; but his hair, which had beensoot-black on that evenin' when he was returnin' to camp, was as whiteas milk afore he got about again; an' he was notional and narvous-likeas long as he lived.

  "He said the animal was like a tremenjous big cat, about four feet highan' five or six feet in length. It was a sort o' bluish-gray color. An'it had a very long tail curled up at the end, which it moved like acat's.

  "Boys, that catamount is the only animal that an Indian is skeered of.Ask a red man to hunt a moose, a bear, or a wolf, an' he's ready tofollow it through forest an' swamp till he downs it or drops. But askhim to chase a panther, an' he'll shake his head an' say, 'He all onebig debil!' He calls the beast, in his own lingo, 'lunk soos,' whichmeans 'Injun devil;' an' so we woodsmen call it too."

  It was at this moment that Lin put his head in at the cabin-door, andannounced that "the wagon an' hosses war a' ready."

  "Wal, boys, I swan! it's many a long year since a panther was seen inthese forests, so ye needn't feel skeery about meetin' one," said theold settler, as he stood outside his log home, and watched his guestsstart. "I'll 'low ye won't find travellin' too easy 'long the olecorduroy road. Come again!"

  There was much waving of hats as the wagon, a roomy, four-wheeledvehicle, moved off, with a creaking in its joints as if it weresquealing a protest against its load, which consisted of the five lads,together with knapsacks, guns, tents, and the camp duffle.

  "Forward, all!" shouted Dr. Phil, who had been chosen to act as captainof the two companies during the few days while they jour
neyed together.

  Lin, who was charioteer, cracked a long whip above his horses. The boyscheered, while Doc, Cyrus, and the two guides fell behind, choosing tofollow the wagon on foot for the first few miles of the journey.

  "Where did you buy that, Lin?" asked Neal, climbing over to a perchbeside the driver, and pointing to a heavy Colt's revolver which theyoung settler was buckling round his waist.

  "Didn't buy it. I traded a calf for it at Greenville more'n a year ago,"was the reply. "Fust-rate gun it is, too, I vum! I've stood at ourcabin-door, and killed many a buck with it. On'y 'tain't much good fortackling a bear. Wish't the bears ud get as scarce as the panthers! Thenwe'd be rid o' two master pests. Hello! Don't y'u git to tumbling outjist yet! That's on'y a circumstance to the jolts there'll be when westrike a bit o' corduroy road."

  Lin Hathaway grabbed young Farrar by the elbow while he spoke, and heldhim steady with the horny hand which had swung the axe against thedoomed pine-tree. For Neal had shown a sudden inclination to pitchheadlong out of the wagon, as its right wheels were hoisted a foot ormore above the left ones by rolling over a mossy bump in the ground.

  For the first five miles the forest road had been simply constructedthus: First, the bushy undergrowth had been cut away and thrown to oneside, the space cleared being about eight feet wide; then all treesgrowing in the range of this track had been sawn off close to theground, and windfalls which barred the way were removed. It was a rudehighway, with plenty of deformities, such as ends of rotting stumps,twisted roots, ridges and bumps which had never been levelled; yet itwas beautiful beyond any smooth, well-graded road which the travellershad ever seen. As it wound along in graceful curves through the woods,it was shaded now by an emerald arch of evergreens, now by a royalcrimson canopy of maple branches, while patches of buff, orange, anddull red commingled where other trees interlaced with these to whisperwoodland secrets.

  But the boys soon understood what Doc meant when he spoke of theirhaving "a bracing ride in more senses than one;" for the motion of thewagon was a giddy series of jolts and bounces, with just sufficientinterval between each shock for them to brace themselves, with stiffenedbackbones, for the next upheaval. They had already begun, as Royal said,"to have kinks in all their limbs," when Lin suddenly announced,--

  "Yon's a bit o' corduroy road, I declar'!"

  He pointed with his whip ahead, and the travellers shot out their necksto see this novel highway. It extended for about a quarter of a mileover a swamp, and spoke volumes for the energy and ingenuity of thehardy lumbermen who constructed it.

  These brawny heroes, who are fine types of American grit and manhood,when clearing a broad track over which their great timber logs could behauled from the depths of the forest to the landing on some big river,had found the swampy tracts an impassable obstacle for animalstrammelled with harness and a heavy load.

  They bridged them by laying down logs cut to even lengths in a slightlyslanting position across the way for the entire extent of miry ground.Each piece of timber was tightly wedged in by its fellow; nevertheless,there was a space of several inches between their rounded tops. Hencethe track presented a striped appearance, which suggested to somespirited genius among woodsmen its name of "corduroy road."

  "Well, Neal, do you think you can tell your folks a thing or two aboutforest travelling when you get back to England?" asked Doc, when theorder of march was changed, young Farrar and the Sinclairs turning outto do their share of tramping, while the doctor, Cyrus, and the guidesbenefited by "a lift."

  "I rather think I can," answered Neal; "but goodness! I feel as if therewere aches and bruises all over me. Once or twice my head seemed jumpingstraight off my shoulders. No more going in a wagon over corduroy roadsfor me! I'd rather be leg-weary any day."

  The travellers halted that evening about five o'clock on the banks of alonely stream. The guides pitched the two tents--Joe had provided onefor his party--facing each other on a patch of clearing, with a space ofabout fifteen feet between them, in the centre of which blazed a roaringcamp-fire. Now all the axes and knifes among the band were in demand forcutting and sharpening stakes and ridge-poles on which to stretch theircanvas.

  Moreover, no evergreen boughs could be procured for beds; and the boyshad to work with a will, helping Uncle Eb and Joe to cut bundles of thelong, rank grass that grew by the water to form a bed for their tiredbodies.

  Every one was camp-hungry, as they had not halted for a meal sinceleaving the settlement. After a splendid supper of venison, broiledover sizzling logs, bread, and fried potatoes,--for they had added totheir stores at the farm,--they had a glorious social hour by thecamp-fire. Joe got off any amount of "ripping" stories; and the sound ofmany a jolly chorus, led by Cyrus, and swelled by the musical efforts ofthe entire crew, mingled with the lonely rustle of the night wind amongfaded and drifting leaves.

  When Doc's summons came to turn in, they stretched themselves upon thegrassy beds, not undressing, as the night was chilly and the temporaryquarters were not so snug as their previous ones. Still in their warmjerseys, trousers, woollen stockings, and knitted caps, with the heatfrom the piled-up camp-fire streaming under the raised flaps of thetents, they slept as cosily as if they lay on spring mattresses,surrounded by pictured walls.