Hugh Pendexter

“ For the second time in his life Stanley experienced the sensation of being pursued by an implacable foe. To Bub all was well as long as he could maintain his lead; not so for his companion. The very knowledge that the cool, mysterious depths of the forest contained a man grimly following his trail unnerved the city bred youth in a degree, and although he believed Big Nick could not discover their escape for some time, yet he repeatedly glanced over his shoulder as if expecting to see the evil face. ”

“ As he finished Charlie stood with them again, coming as silently as he had gone.
“Big Nick,” he quietly informed. “Come to kill canoe, stop trip. I fool him. He shoot. I shoot. He gone.”
“Was he alone?” queried Abner anxiously.
“Alone here. Friends near,” replied Charlie. “Big canoe. Friends bring him most here. Come rest alone. Go now to find friends. Bad place to have boys. Go to sleep now.” And calmly returning to his blanket he quickly fell asleep. Abner followed his example, but Bub and Stanley remained awake for more than an hour, conversing in quivering whispers. ”

“ For the first time in his life Stanley beheld more than a hundred men eating in their shirt-sleeves, and eating as if life depended upon their finishing quickly. Only they didn’t finish but helped themselves again and again. Mountains of baked beans, hills of doughnuts, seas of strong coffee, plateaus of gingerbread, foothills of fried potato vanished and were replaced, only to vanish again. And no one spoke, except to grunt a request for some particular dish. ”

“ At last the shadows thickened and drawing a deep breath Abner dropped to the ground and with incredible quickness and quietness wormed his way some distance towards his camp. Then half rising he took advantage of a dense growth, skirting it so as to place a barrier between him and Big Nick. It was some minutes before the half-breed realized the cruiser had changed his tactics and was trying to break away. Even then he hesitated to follow, fearing some subterfuge of the white man. ”

“ Then both were horrified to hear the half-breed’s rifle explode thrice with venomous sharpness.
“The dirty hound is shooting at him,” wailed Abner, straining to increase his already swift gait. “O if he should hit him when we are so near. Shoot, Bub! Shoot! Let him have it the first sight ye git of him, and aim to kill!” yelled Abner, his voice sinking into a snarling sound as he plunged onward and found no elevation from which he could command a view of the race.
His mouth relaxed as Bub’s rifle rang out, for he knew the youth had caught a glimpse of the enemy. ”

“ Abner read his fears and quietly drawled, “Don’t git scared. We’ve got plenty of leeway. Once we reach the tap of the ridge we’ll swing due north. That’s Jim over there.” And he pointed to the rounded top of a distant mountain, masked in the dark verdure of spruce and pine.
“Funny how spruce will grow almost anywhere,” continued Abner, as if talking to himself. “Ye’ll find it where ye’d swear a root couldn’t git a hold.”
“How could you get them down from up there?” asked Stanley, to whom the rugged slopes appeared to be inaccessible to man. ”

“ When you blaze for a road you blaze a tree on each side of where you want the road to go,” answered Bub.
“Well,” decided Stanley, “I can see how Abner and Charlie have an easy time following the half-breed.”
“Stanley, you don’t mean that! It’s too good to be true,” roared Bub, now convulsed with mirth.
“Say, Bub Thomas, we’ve been good friends, but you annoy me,” exclaimed Stanley. “What have I said that is so amusing?”
“I must laugh if you kill me,”'sobbed Bub. “The idea of Big Nick, in trying to git away, stopping to kindly blaze trees to show his pursuers where he is bound for!” ”

“ I will now admit, Bub, it was hard work eating that humble pie you gave me when I learned the truth.”
“That is the way one should talk,” cried Laura, her eyes beaming with appreciation. “If I were a boy—I mean a young man—I should want just such a friend as you are to each other.”
“Can’t a young man have girl friends?” mumbled Bub, casting down his eyes.
“Can’t two young men have a girl friend—the same friend?” added Stanley, following Bub’s diffident example. ”

“ Abner whispered between the two bowed heads. “He knows we couldn’t have moved far without making a noise. Remember, a single sound will mean a shot. Now follow me.”
With the same deliberation Abner felt his way through the forest. Never once did his foot descend so that even Stanley behind him could hear it. Once their way was blocked by a mass of alders, and Abner retraced his steps towards the foe until both Stanley and Bub began to feel an icy tickling about the roots of the hair. ”

“ Bub nudged him and whispered, “That’s better. I have some hopes for you. Remember, you are only a kitchen boy for the present. If you ain’t got nerve enough to be that and be it right you’ll never amount to shucks at anything else up here.”
“Let’s get out of here,” was Stanley’s answer.
Bub looked ruefully at his plate, recently refilled, but stifling a sigh rose and ushered his new friend, not to the outer air, but to the kitchen.
“You must meet the cook. He’s your boss. Try and be pleasant. You won’t disturb him any if you’re not, but he’ll have a new kitchen boy.” ”

“ How did you know you couldn’t git a job if you didn’t ask for one?”
“I looked in the doors and saw that all the men were loafing. I knew there would be no work for me when the help had nothing to do. Even the big wheels in the engine room were idle.”
Bub’s facial expression first alarmed and then angered Stanley. For beginning with a strained, swollen look that puffed out the cheeks and made the dark eyes to fill with tears, it finally exploded in a shriek of laughter. “O my poor child! If you only knew how green you are! I shall never live to git to the mills. Men and wheels idle! ”

“ Stanley examined his portion with his nose wrinkling in disgust. “Why, it’s covered with ashes,” he complained. “And part of it isn’t cooked at all.”
“It is rather rare in spots,” admitted Bub, taking a mouthful. “But it will keep us alive for a while. By this time to-morrow you’d be glad to eat the whole bird, feathers and all. Why don’t you try? Things are never as bad as they look.”
“This is; it’s worse,” grimaced Stanley, nibbling at a charred morsel. “Why! Bub, it doesn’t taste like the other partridge. Are you sure it isn’t some poisonous bird?” ”

“ But the first stealthy glimpse revealed the half-breed had disappeared. He might be within a few feet of the hiding place, but he was no longer on the rock.
“These ledges will be losing some of their darkness in a little while,” reminded Bub, to whom the faintly illumined rock piles appeared to be bathed in brightest light.
“And Big Nick can see like a cat in the night,” regretted Abner. “Yas, I guess we’d better be moving. For if he really believes we’re hid up ’round here he’ll stick till he starves us out. If we can git to the woods we can worm our way quite a distance before daylight.” ”

“ Noisy Charlie could doctor you for almost any illness just from what he knows of plants.”
“I take off my hat to the Maine woods,” humbly declared Stanley. “Instead of being a play-ground, or a lumber center I can now appreciate they are the backbone of the state. Everything depends upon them; water, food and clothing. But while I’ve been day-dreaming over this endless fairy-book you’ve been opening for me I’m reminded now to ask, What of Nick?”
Bub frowned. “It’s time I was thinking of him,” he admitted. “Wait till I shin up this tree. I can get a good look at our back trail.” ”

“ Only so many men can work around a lumber pile, or pass pulp squares into a car. You’d take up as much room as an able-bodied man without doing the man’s work. It ain’t what we call economy. If you had a boss that could only pull a colt’s load you’d not waste time by hitching him up with a real worker, eh? Of course not. Where’ve you been working?”
“In the kitchen,” bitterly replied Stanley, his hopes now down to zero.
“Then I’d advise you to dig back to the kitchen,” curtly said McPherson. ”

“ I know but little of the woods. There are many other lovely and valuable things to be found in the rocks and woods that are fascinating to think of.”
“I say, Bub, think of having a spruce gum mine and making lots of money in the winter,” cried Stanley.
“But I’m tired of the woods; think of finding great big amethysts,” returned Bub.
“And it’s time for me to think of poor Mr. Whitten and father waiting to find dinner on the table while I am gossiping with you two,” added Laura, quickening her steps to return to the house.
“She’s a stunner!” admired Bub, after she had left them. ”

“ Abner had no time for words. Throwing aside his rifle he sprang forward.
“He’s going to set a back fire,” cried Bub. “Nick has started his at the edge of the swamp, intending to burn up the mountain, not only destroying our timber but our lives. Git busy over by that boulder and start a blaze. For your life don’t let it eat up the mountain.” ”

“ White man Pete,” informed Charlie.
“Did you kill them?” gasped Bub, beginning to feel a trifle faint.
“No luck,” grumbled Charlie. “Kill each other. They hunt for someone; you, mebbe. They separate. White man see me, but I hide before he fire. Then Nick come through and White man think Nick me and fire. Nick dying git mad and fire back. Both dead. Good shooting.”
“Charlie, I want to shake hands,” humbly announced Stanley as they pursued their way to a point where strains of a logging song were emanating. ”

“ Instantly Nace saw himself investing in the Great Northern and becoming one of its heads. “Why, I guess I could scare up a hundred thousand pretty quick,” he lazily replied.
“I see,” mused Thaxter. “Very well; we’ll have to proceed on that theory. You will give Noisy Charlie, the Indian guide, the sum of ten thousand dollars. You will give a like amount to Abner Whitten. You will divide a third ten thousand between my nephew and Mr. Thomas.”
“Give thirty thousand dollars!” gasped Nace in a dazed voice.
“Yes; no man can say I ever bore down too severely,” returned Thaxter. ”

“ If it had been any but Big Nick the veteran cruiser would have lost him long before this. But Nick, like Noisy Charlie, was not to be deceived by the ordinary deceptions of a woodsman and hounded his prey most skillfully.
“Can’t we stop and hide somewhere?” panted Stanley, his heart drumming painfully against his ribs.
“Not yet,” replied Abner’s low voice. “We must take every advantage of the darkness. Even Old Nick, let alone his child in the rear, can’t foller us once it gits black. ”

“ As Stanley was preparing the lean-to, this time in an opening, he was struck with the uselessness of going through the daily grind of cutting poles and gathering spruce or pine boughs.
“Why isn’t it more sensible to take a tent along?” he impatiently inquired, irritated by some remarks from Bub.
“Don’t want a tent,” grumbled Abner, still lamenting the loss of the flour. “If it had been in that canoe when we was spilled it would be soaked and heavy as lead. A tent ain’t the easiest thing in the world to pack ’round through the woods. ”

“ I came here to discuss my Flat-Top ridge holdings.”
“I don’t want to buy your holdings,” said Thaxter. “Your timber is sparse and too high up the ridge. We have all we care for on that watershed.”
“But my eighty acres,” muttered Nace.
“If you mean the timber you have claimed against us, the courts will settle that title if you do not relinquish your claim within a day or so.”
“Never!” shouted Nace, now thoroughly enraged and bewildered. “You talk like a crazy man with your demands on my pocketbook. You can be—”
“Show him the bark,” directed Thaxter. “He annoys me with his coarse ways.” ”

“ The old-growth now gave way to a tangle of smaller evergreens and Big Nick cursed fluently under his breath as he realized he had lost a golden opportunity. His only hope now lay in running the old man down. If he could tire him out he would have him at his mercy. He redoubled his efforts as he noted Abner’s course was ever towards Briar stream. This led him to deduce that Abner was making for a canoe and had hopes of escaping him by water. It might also mean that in the canoe was a rifle; for it must be remembered Big Nick as yet knew nothing of the boys or their camp. ”

“ All you have to do is to keep the black growth in front of you. On each side it is light and one would have to be a blind man to leave the ridge. It would be like quitting the peak of a roof. Couldn’t you find your way up without the blaze?”
“Land of sin,” cried Abner, “I’d hoped better of ye. Can’t ye see I am making a back blaze? No one coming up the mountain can see these signs. They’re to be used when we come down, if we want to come this way.” ”

“ If they saw any uncut gems in the house they would know we got them around here. Sometime I’ll show you the mine.”
“I never knew such things could be found in Maine,” said Stanley.
“Why, this state is the richest in the Union in gems,” cried Laura. “I do not believe that such a variety can be found anywhere as here, aside from the precious stones. There are men here who make much money mining amethysts, tourmalines and the like. Did you know many fresh water pearls are found in our brooks and rivers?” ”

“ Bub started convulsively. Then warned, “Don’t budge if a wasp gets at you. One just stung me on the hand. We must have picked a place right under their nest.”
“One stung me,” gritted Stanley. “We can’t remain here and be stung to death without making a noise. Let’s crawl back.”
“Wait,” murmured Bub. “I see the nest. Keep quiet and we won’t be troubled. See that gray bunch in the tree about the size of a hat. That’s it.”
He was pointing to the tree in the middle of the opening, under which Ben and Joe were standing. Even as he indicated the dark grey bunch the men sank to the ground again. ”

“ But youth will have its way and before the little craft had chugged a mile on its course Stanley and Bub were evidencing their high spirits by a rapid fire of questions and jokes. Even Abner melted a bit beneath their sallies, while Charlie expanded his nostrils and stared dreamily at the hill covered shores. ”

“ Bub puckered his brows thoughtfully and admitted, “I feel empty under the belt, too. Wonder if you could manage to eat raw partridge?”
“No, no,” protested Stanley, making a face.
“Then you can stand it a while longer. A man isn’t starving till he can eat raw meat.”
“I could eat with a relish a whole partridge if we had it and it was cooked,” insisted Stanley.
“Most any man could,” smiled Bub. “Perhaps we could run the risk of a small blaze at that. I could pick out some sticks that would make practically no smoke. Now, keep quiet and we’ll see if we don’t run across a booby.” ”

“ Big trees, too. Nowadays they saw them into boards and city people buy them, believing they’re spruce or some other kind.”
“Bub,” cried Stanley despairingly, “is there anything about the woods you don’t know?”
“What! me? I mean—I!” exclaimed Bub in genuine amazement. “Why, my son, I know nothing about the woods. I’m simply trying to learn.”
“Then what chance do I have to master that information?” asked Stanley.
“Not a chance in the world to master it,” quickly replied Bub, now speaking earnestly. “In the first place you are not cut out for a woodsman. ”

“ Nace hesitated, his eyes shining with a cunning light as he greed in canvassed his prospects. “Why, of course, I’m hot under the collar,” he explained, rolling his eyes virtuously. “It’s natural I should get mighty mad over the way the Great Northern has abused me. Still, I hope I am not a hard man. I want to be fair, even when I’ve been treated unfairly. I should say that if the company paid me fifty thousand dollars, for the slanders and for my actual money damages I would then be willing to give it an option on the timber. ”

“ No bird calls gladdened their path; no unseen forms crashed away in alarm as they advanced. Only the monotonous drip-drip accompanied them. Under the spruce and pine they found something of shelter, but when the hardwood growth was penetrated Abner’s hand in pushing aside limb or bush sent a shower-bath over the two behind, and by the time they reached the foot of the ridge they were thoroughly drenched.
“Can’t we build a little fire and dry out?” asked Stanley. ”

“ Should he hasten to camp, triumphantly bearing the strip of bark as his first impulse urged him; or should he proceed more cautiously and prudently?
“Now, let’s get this thing right,” he pondered, frowning at the bark. “If I leave this here it will be almost too dark to fetch Abner to this spot to-night. I’ve got to tell him to-night or I’d go crazy. If I take it with me and anything should happen a half of my proof and the best half would be lost. For Nace could claim he committed the forgery on this beech, while everyone would know he couldn’t grow this bark so as to tell a lie. ”