mr. martin heard the murmurs of those in the automobile with him, and he knew that they might become much frightened.
truly there was danger of a collision with the load of poles, as there was not room to pass on the narrow road. and, so far, he had not been able to stop his car. but it was going slowly, for, though the brakes did not hold it completely, they held it somewhat.
“if we bump we won’t bump very hard,” said ted to his sister.
meanwhile the man driving the load of poles which he had cut in the woods, was doing his best to find some place along the narrow road where he could pull to one side. the curlytops were near enough now to see that one of the rear wheels of the wagon was sliding along in an iron “shoe.”
[111]this is what is often used in the country, and on heavy lumber or stone wagons, to keep them from going downhill too fast. the “shoe,” as it is called, is made so that the wheel fits in it. the front of the shoe is fastened by a chain to the body of the wagon, and thus one wheel is dragged along the ground, acting as a brake. it is just the same as when you may be coasting along on one roller skate, you drag the other foot to act as a brake.
nearer and nearer the automobile of the curlytops came to the wagon load of poles. and just when it seemed as if they must “bunk,” as janet called it, though perhaps the “bunk” would not be very hard—just then the driver, who was walking beside his horse, with the reins in his hand, came to a wider place in the road.
“i’ll turn in here and you can pass me!” he called.
“all right—thank you!” shouted mr. martin.
carefully he guided the automobile past the load of poles. there was just about room enough to pass, and not much more. soon after that the hill ended and they were on level ground again.
[112]“mah good land ob goodness, ah’s glad dat’s ended!” sighed lucy.
“i guess we’re all glad,” said mrs. martin. “you must have your brakes looked after, dick!”
“i will,” he said. “i thought they were all right. some sand must have gotten in them from the roads. but now we’re all right.”
they were driving along a pleasant road through the woods. all danger seemed to be over, and mr. martin said he wished he had taken the other way instead of the one the farmer had told about as being the “least mite shorter.”
“sometimes the longest way is the best,” said mr. martin. “but i think we’re all right now.”
and they were, for in about half an hour longer they were within sight of mount major, as it was called, the place where mr. martin was to set up the store for the lumbermen.
“oh, what a lovely place!” cried janet, as they caught a glimpse of it from a hill just before reaching it.
“good place to fish,” observed ted. “i see a lake and a river.”
[113]“i fish, too!” cried trouble.
“doan yo’ fall in!” warned lucy, hugging the little fellow, who, in spite of his mischief, was her special favorite.
“yes, there is plenty of water around here,” said mr. martin. “there needs to be on account of the lumber. well,” he went on, “i don’t see any of the men here yet. i guess i’m in plenty of time. i was afraid i’d be late. now we’ll unpack and get something to eat. i suppose you’re hungry, aren’t you, curlytops?” he asked, with a laugh.
“terrible!” announced ted. “can we cook dinner over a campfire?”
“maybe, some time,” his father said. “but i think there’s an oil stove in the bungalow and that will be better when we’re in a hurry.”
“where’s buffalo?” asked trouble, looking around. “i don’t see any buffalo. has him got a hump on his back?”
“you’re thinking of a camel!” laughed janet.
“no, a buffalo had a sort of hump up near his head,” remarked teddy. “but what makes him ask about a buffalo, anyhow?”
“he means bungalow—the place where[114] we’re going to live,” explained mrs. martin with a smile. “there it is, children, over under the trees. oh, what a fine place!”
there was a driveway at one side of the bungalow, which was made of logs, and, a little farther on, a shed where the automobile could be kept. leading down from the front door was a path, and this extended to a lake, the waters of which were as blue as the sky. flowing into this lake, not far from the bungalow, was a small river.
all around the lake, along the river and surrounding the bungalow were trees, trees, trees—so many that the curlytops never could have counted them all. and here and there, in cleared places where the trees had been cut down, were rough buildings, made from logs and “slabs,” that is, half-rounded pieces of wood that are sawed from logs to make the timbers square and true.
over the door of one of the buildings was a sign:
general store
seeing this janet cried:
“is that where you are going to keep store, daddy?”
[115]“i’m not exactly going to keep store,” her father replied. “i came up here to get the store started and to show the men how to run it. they will be cutting lumber here the rest of the summer and all winter, and they will want to buy things from the store, as some of the lumbermen are bringing their families with them.”
as yet none of the lumbermen had arrived, for the camp was not to open for a few days. it was needful to start the store first so the men would have something to eat when they should arrive.
piled about the building that was marked with the store sign were many boxes and barrels. the curlytops had seen such packages before at their father’s store in cresco, and they knew what the boxes and barrels held—sugar, canned goods, dried fruits, tea, coffee, oatmeal, overalls, hats and all the things that go to make up a general store. all these goods must be taken out of their packages and arranged on the shelves.
“couldn’t we help in the store, daddy?” asked ted, as his father started toward the bungalow, to open it with a key he had.
“oh, yes, i guess so,” was the answer.[116] “i expect a couple of men up to do the heavy work. they ought to be here now.”
the bungalow was opened and the curlytop family went inside. the more they saw of the place the better they liked it. there was a large living-room with a great fireplace, a dining-room and a kitchen on the first floor, and upstairs were bedrooms.
“and there are dishes in the pantry, too!” announced janet, as she came back from having looked around.
“is there anything to put on the dishes?” asked ted, laughing. “i mean anything to eat?”
“that’s what i want to know, too,” laughed mr. martin.
“i’ll soon have something ready,” promised mrs. martin. “come, lucy, we must feed these hungry animals.”
“i am bear—that’s what i is!” cried trouble, and he pretended to growl like a bear to show how hungry he was.
“i’ll go over and take a look at the store,” announced mr. martin. “there’s wood already cut for the fire,” he said.
“we’ll attend to things,” said mrs. martin. “just bring in the food from the auto and we’ll soon have a meal ready.”
[117]mr. martin and ted brought in the baskets of victuals that had been brought along, and then the curlytop boy and his father, with trouble trailing after them, went toward the building that soon was to be made into a store for the lumbermen to trade at. janet remained in the bungalow to help her mother and lucy.
mr. martin had a key to the store building and, opening it, he and the boys went inside. all there was to be seen now were empty shelves and counters.
“but this will be a busy place in a few days,” said mr. martin. “if those men were here now i could put them to opening the boxes and barrels. maybe they’ll come after dinner.”
he went outside to count how many boxes and barrels there were piled up around the steps of the store, and while he was doing this ted and trouble roamed about the clearing in the woods where the different buildings were put up. some were for the men to sleep in, another was a kitchen, where food would be prepared, and at the sight of one large building, with a smoke stack sticking through the roof, ted cried:
“oh, is that the sawmill?”
[118]“that’s the sawmill,” his father answered. “but you must never go in there unless i am with you. it’s dangerous.”
“couldn’t we go with mother?” ted wanted to know.
“well, yes, with your mother. but there is a very big saw in there to cut up the logs, and it would not only cut off your finger, if you got too close, but it would do worse. so keep away!”
ted and trouble promised that they would, and they teased their father so hard to take them to the sawmill now that, after he had looked over the groceries and other supplies, he consented.
leading from the mill down into the lake was a sort of small railroad track, sloping like a little hill. and in the middle of the track, and extending up into the mill, was a big chain.
“what’s that for?” asked ted.
“that chain pulls the logs up from the river, along this inclined runway, into the mill,” answered mr. martin. “once the logs are in the mill they are put on a sort of platform, or on a traveling cradle, and then machinery pushes them close to the big buzz saw and they are cut up into boards.”
[119]“is it a cat’s cradle?” trouble wanted to know.
“well, not exactly,” laughed mr. martin. “come in and i’ll show you. the mill isn’t running now, but it soon will be.”
“does the chain pull the logs up all by itself?” ted asked.
“no,” his father replied. “a steam engine winds the chain up on what is called a drum, just as a rope is wound up on a derrick. in fact, this runway is like a derrick, only it is stretched out on the ground instead of being up in the air.”
the boys were much interested in looking over the machinery of the lumber mill, and they wished for the day to come when it would start—when the engine would puff and clouds of smoke and steam would pour from the big stack in the roof.
“i think i hear your mother calling,” said mr. martin, after a while. “we’d better have something to eat.”
ted and trouble had been so eager to look around that for a time they had forgotten about being hungry. however, as their father now spoke of it they hurried on to the bungalow. in the door stood lucy,[120] beating on the bottom of a tin pan with a big spoon.
“dish yeah am de dinnah gong,” she explained.
“hurray!” cried teddy, for he felt so glad and happy at coming to camp in the woods that he wanted to stand on his head.
mrs. martin, with the help of janet and lucy, had gotten a fine meal ready, and they were all so hungry that they greatly enjoyed it. when it was almost over janet, looking from the open door out toward the lake, saw a boat approaching, in which were two men.
“oh, two tramps are coming!” she murmured. “will you give them something to eat, mother?”
mr. martin looked to where his little daughter pointed.
“those aren’t tramps,” he said.
“they have terribly ragged clothes on,” said janet.
“you mustn’t think because a man wears old and ragged clothes that he is always a tramp,” went on mr. martin. “i think those are the two lumbermen who are coming to help me set up the store. and on account of their rough work, lumbermen[121] cannot go about dressed up. yes, they’re lumbermen,” he said, as he saw the two step from the boat, carrying their axes and some big hooks, with long, heavy handles, by which logs are turned over and put into place.
“is this mr. martin?” asked one of the men, as the father of the curlytops walked down the path toward the lake to meet them.
“that’s my name,” was the answer.
“well, we were sent to help you in the store,” went on one of the men. “the rest of the crowd will be over to-morrow. my name is jack nestor and this is my partner, henry hart,” he concluded.
“glad to know you,” replied mr. martin. “well, there is plenty to do, and the sooner we get started the better. come on, i’ll show you what’s to be done.”
while mr. martin was busy with those who were to be his helpers, and while mrs. martin, lucy and janet were clearing away the dinner things, ted and trouble wandered off through the woods. it was a most delightful place, ted decided.
“the best one i’ve ever been to on vacation,” he said.
trouble, too, seemed to like it, running[122] here and there in the woods. then the little fellow had one of his many ideas.
“can you make me a whistle?” he asked his brother. “i want a whistle.”
“yes, i guess i can make you a willow whistle,” said ted, as he took out his knife. “there’s a willow tree growing over there.” he pointed to one near the bank of the lake, and soon he and trouble were sitting on a mossy log under the drooping willow tree while ted cut a branch and was fashioning it into a whistle for his brother.
ted cut the bark around and pounded it to soften it so it could be slipped off, for this must be done if a whistle is rightly made. ted used the handle of his knife to pound the bark lightly. then he laid his knife down on the log and began to twist off the piece of bark.
while waiting for his brother to do this trouble had wandered about the little clearing under the willow tree. before ted knew it trouble was out of his sight, and, hearing the little fellow tramping in the underbrush, ted started up after him.
“here, come back!” he called to trouble.
trouble was headed for the lake, and he had been told he must not go there alone.
[123]“come back here, you little tyke!” cried ted. “first you know you’ll fall in and i’ll have to fish you out.”
“aw right, i come back,” agreed trouble, stopping short. he feared if he did not mind he would get no whistle. “i just go to see maybe if fish in lake,” he said.
“you can’t tell by looking at a lake if it has fish in it or not,” said teddy. “now you stay by me if you want that whistle.”
as the boys started back toward the log on which they had been sitting, they saw a strange sight.
“look! look!” cried trouble, pointing with a chubby finger toward the log. “look at black bird takin’ my whistle!”
“no, he isn’t taking your whistle, i have that here!” said teddy. “but it’s a crow and he’s after something. oh, he’s got my knife!” he cried a moment later, as the big, black bird rose from the log, with something glittering held fast in his bill.
