Lillian Elizabeth Roy

“ Then, toward dusk, he shook hands with everyone in camp and said he had to start for the North Pole.
"Come again, Santa!" called Babs, as she waved her hand at the old fellow.
"I'll try to, Baby," said Santa Claus as he went toward the stable. [169]
"Gee, Dot, we never thought to peep in the stable and see his reindeers and sleigh," whispered Don.
Mrs. Starr suspected what Don had said, however, and replied, "No, of course not! Do you suppose we want Santa to think we are such ill-bred people as to be curious? Let the dear old man depart in peace." ”

“ Latimer called out, "Youngsters' bedtime!"
"Why we never have to go so early as this," said Don.
"In a lumber camp every man goes to bed at nine o'clock, sometimes earlier, if the day is long. We are up at five, you see, and work [51] from six. Just wait until you see us work some nights until long after your tired eyes have closed," explained Mr. Latimer.
"Crickets! From five until night! I guess I wouldn't like that life!" announced Don, emphatically.
"No, indeed," added Meredith, while everyone laughed at Don's honest confession. "Don loves his warm bed in winter." ”

“ She hugged the immense trunk of the pine while she poked her yellow head out to see if the bear was in sight, but he had not yet come into view.
She stood behind the tree until wearied of inaction, and as the noise could no longer be heard, crept out of hiding, and Babs started off in a direction she hoped would bring [71] her to Mike. She stumbled and fell over roots, got up and went on again; dodged between the thick growth of pine trees, and finally came to the road that was broken out by the men when they first came to camp—the road that led to the trail running into town. ”

“ Don pushed and pushed for all he was worth and managed to propel the clumsy raft further toward shore. Every foot made it easier, for the water was shallower and the current less. Within a few feet of shore, Dot flung her chain out, bound to have her way about a rescue. As the chain shot out, Dot slipped on the wet logs, and fell into the water. ”

“ The next day a caravan hove into sight coming slowly along the new road leading in from the old trail. As the first team came to the road broken out from the timber to the river, some of the lumbermen spied it. They shouted and soon every man that could get away from his job gathered about the interesting machinery. There were four trucks and four horses to each truck. The machinists who came from Grand Forks to put the different parts of the skidder together, jumped down from the driver's seats and shook hands with the bosses. ”

“ An' don' they just love Mike!" said the cook to himself, as he started to roll out the biscuit dough.
"Hello, Mike! when did you get back?" cried both Don and Dot as they rushed into the cabin.
Without waiting for an answer, both children saw the two furry balls on the bunk and stepped softly over, to see what they were.
"Oh, the cuties! what are they, Mike?" cried Dot.
"Cubs; old bear's babbies!" said Mike, smiling at the twins as they hugged and cuddled the cubs. [185]
"Oh, Mike! they will never grow up to hurt anyone, will they?" asked Dot, doubtfully. ”

“ Babs will be their only child," explained Don.
"Then who are we?" asked Dot.
"Me and you? Why, we are the Indians that hold up the wagon and shoot everyone," replied Don, trying to look savage.
"Oh, dear, if we had only known this we could have worn our Indian suits that we left home," sighed Dot.
"Never mind; I'll pin on this horse-blanket that's under the seat, and you can wrap this linen dust-coat about you," said Don, dragging [32] the blanket out from its hiding place. ”

“ Cookee was at the window of his kitchen waving a pail of boiling water about. The older children were shut in the office with faces pressed close against the panes of glass, but [193] Don and Dot were in his own cabin which had but one small pane of glass let in the front of the door. The door was closed, but a ponderous shaggy bear stood snuffling at the crack at the bottom, and uttering, ever and again, the most terrifying growls.
The people had sought safety wherever they had been caught at the time the bear marched into the clearing, after following the scent of his dead mate's body. ”

“ Mike had been gone from camp two days, and the children were not yet aware of his presence, but Cookee saw him lope across the clearing and enter his cabin.
"Cookee, give us some crackers?" asked Don, as Dot and he rushed into the kitchen after the cook.
"Crackers! what fer? to feed Mike?" teased Cookee.
"Mike? No, for ourselves. Wish Mike was back, though, 'cause Paul said the other old bear might kill him." ”

“ The "breaking out" of the road through the virgin forest kept on in this way until the men were some distance farther on than they were when the children first came upon the scene. When Mr. Latimer returned to take them back to camp they were quite willing to go. [48]
That evening the children had a great deal to tell their mothers and Don added, "Guess I'll be a lumberman when I'm big."
"Have you decided to give up the canal-boat life that you promised Molly you would lead?" asked his father, teasingly.
"Well, a man can run a canal-boat and be a lumberman, too, can't he?" ”

“ The timber-jacks were cutting way back beyond the road that ran past the clearing, and the twins had every opportunity to get down to the river without being seen. Even the road that had been cut from the forest to the river was now abandoned by the teamsters, for they had cut a new road some miles the other side of the old one and had it paved with logs to keep the wheels of the low truck from sinking into the soft thawing earth. ”

“ It takes two men with hooks to pull them out," said Dot.
Nevertheless, Don made up his mind to get one log in the river at any cost. He couldn't stand the [220] thought of being defeated by an inanimate log.
He found that, the large ice-floe being out of the pathway to shore, he would have to jump from one small cake to another and follow the bank of the river until he reached a small land-jetty about fifty feet down stream.
This he did while Dot watched him breathlessly, expecting every moment to see the ice sink and slide him into the stream. ”

“ He had one large trap set several miles from camp, but as yet had not caught anything in it.
The day before the warm spell set in, Mike sniffed the air and took note of various signs in the woods that told him a thaw was on the road. Consequently he knew that, if it was of a long enough period of time, many of the animals that sleep during the winter months would be tempted to come out and look about.
Finding nothing to eat, they would be led to seek farther afield, for they would be hungry after a long sleep. ”

“ At the fourth side, opposite the dining-room and kitchen, was a commodious office with three rooms. Here the clerical force worked, and the bosses planned and ordered the work of the company.
This sort of life suited Don and Dot perfectly, and they peeped into every bunk, and hovered about the kitchen, with the satisfaction of having reached the great goal in life.
"This bunk is for the children—Don and Dot, Venie and Babs," explained Mr. Starr, showing the bunks adjoining the hut which would be occupied by himself and wife.
"Can't Dot and I have a hut all [38] to ourselves?" ”

“ Latimer to the children.
While the children danced over the frozen ground showing the Indian the way to the office, the elders [63] gathered in the Starr's log hut and discussed the value of the trapper.
"Everybody knows Mike for hundreds of miles around this part of the country, and he knows every foot of ground, the depth of waters, the bog-lands, and the haunts of wild animals. He is as true and honorable as any white man, and more trustworthy than many," explained Mr. Starr.
"He is almost too old a man to continue trapping, I should think," remarked Mr. Latimer. ”

“ Mike almost cried as he said good-bye to the children, but he had had a fine winter's income, and the sale of the cubs would give him enough [237] money to keep him with care, in old age.
As the carry-all, filled with children and the ladies, started out of camp, the timber-men waved their hats and yelled after the disappearing vehicle, making the children feel that they were leaving good friends behind.
So the Five Little Starrs left their Winter Camp in the Canadian Forest and went home. We next hear of them in the book "Five Little Starrs on a Motor Tour." ”

“ One day, Mike went off alone, with his rifle over his shoulder. Babs had to remain indoors that day as she had fallen into a pool of water and had to have all of her clothes dried in the kitchen. That night Mike came into camp with a medium sized deer slung over his back. Everyone was interested in the event and watched Mike hang it up by the legs, while he went to his tiny log hut and brought out a sharp [75] knife. The deer was soon skinned and the meat cut up into steaks and chops which were sent over to the cook. ”

“ Don and Dot clambered up the steps of the carry-all trying to mimic the real scalpers, but Mrs. Starr caught each one by an arm and bade them sit down and not get out again without her permission.
Meredith had witnessed the whole performance from the cart and laughed teasingly at the climax of the raid.
The journey took two days; the first day, at five o'clock, Mr. Latimer called a halt for camp. This part of the trip was great sport for the children for they roamed about the woods while the men cut fir branches for beds, and watched the [35] cook prepare a fine dinner out in the wilderness. ”

“ Mike go to mountain on trapper day and set traps. Watch much. Get big pelt and come back soon; Mike make more money here with white man," spoke Mr. Starr, taking a roll of bills from his pocket and counting out fifty dollars upon the table, giving Mike to understand that the money was his if he would remain in camp until December 15, which day [61] was generally Trapper's Day in the North.
The Indian looked about at the faces and saw only the kindly desire to have him remain, and his eyes became misty at the unusual welcome from the white men. ”

“ They enjoyed the novelty of the raft dinner so much that several [134] loads came and the sledges returned before the children were willing to talk of going back.
"This is dandy ice—wish we could take a skate up and down," ventured Don.
"'Tis fine ice, isn't it?" abetted Meredith, looking up and down the river as far as eye could see.
"Let's! Just one spin around," said Paul.
"Mike won't like it," hinted Lavinia.
"Mike won't care. We are perfectly safe on such thick ice," said Don, looking out of the tail of his eye in Mike's direction. ”

“ Starr, going out of the office to inquire about Mike at the cook's quarters.
As Mike had not been seen about for an hour, there was no doubt that Babs and he were out together.
Now Mike had loped silently over the frozen ground toward the direction of the timber cutting, without ever looking behind him. Had he glanced back he might have seen a tiny little girl making great efforts to follow after him. Mike was too entirely a creature of nature to walk in a beaten path when a short-cut through the woods saved [69] so many steps. ”

“ Mike, but he disliked dwelling on it: the bear might scent the man who stole the babies and follow him. Mike knew of cases where a mother bear had followed her cubs for miles and miles and then fought with the thief.
Therefore, Mike was very observing as he crept through the woods and started through the glade where the trap was set. He saw tracks, which had been recently made, all over the soft top ground, for the thaw had melted the snow that bore the she-bear's tracks and soaked the ground enough to soften it for half an inch into the frost ”

“ Mr. Latimer made a queer noise, halfway between a shriek and a groan, and fell up against Cookee. It was so unexpected and sudden that Cookee was toppled off of his feet and the door swung halfway open again. In that second the bear came down from the window and thundered at the door, but Mike was [201] too agile an Indian to have that door open, and before the bear could get his nose through the crack, the door slammed shut again, and Mr. Starr was stationed there to hold it.
"Meester Don an' Doot, say, 'Keep bear live for park,'" explained Mike, waiting orders from the bosses. ”

“ Latimer, pleasing the men by the suggested praise of their work. [78]
"What's a skidder, Daddum?" asked Dot.
"Why do you call it a she?" added Don.
While many who heard Don's question, laughed, Mr. Starr tried to explain to the twins what a skidder was and what use it was.
"Then the engineer has to drive her, eh?" asked Don, eagerly looking over at Jim.
"Yes, he has to steer her, watch over her steam works, and keep her from going into the crooked paths of evil," laughed Mr. Latimer.
"She sure does get into evil ways, sometimes," added Jim, laughingly. ”