"Oh-h-h-h-h!" moaned Emma, toppling over in a faint.
"Oh, Heavens! Look!" wailed Anne.
One of the combatants staggered and swayed. An arm was thrust out at him, but the blade that had been driven against him did not flash in the moonlight, for the body of the wielder was between it and the spectators. Even the jacks stood silent, they having halted at Tom Gray"s command, but their breathing was heavily audible.
"He"s killed! It"s Peg!" cried Grace.
The Indian"s victim, following the last thrust, had toppled over into the river below the dam. With a bound, w.i.l.l.y Horse cleared the spiling and leaped to the river bed to finish his victim.
"w.i.l.l.y! Stop!" Grace Harlowe"s voice rang out shrill and penetrating, as w.i.l.l.y, the savage instincts of his race having taken possession of his soul, raised his knife-hand above Peg Tatem, who lay on his back on the river-bed.
CHAPTER XXIV
CHRISTMAS IN THE BIG WOODS
w.i.l.l.y Horse, brought suddenly to his senses by Grace"s scream, hesitated, got slowly to his feet, and stood narrowly watching his opponent who lay, nearly covered with water, moaning faintly. There was ferociousness in the heart of the Indian, but Grace"s voice had stayed his hand.
Lumber-jacks, with Tom and Hippy, had plunged into the shallow stream the instant that Grace cried out, and were running towards w.i.l.l.y, now standing calmly awaiting them.
"Did you kill him?" shouted Hippy.
"No kill. Mebby kill bymeby," answered w.i.l.l.y Horse briefly as Tom and Hippy came puffing up to him.
"You have done enough. Let him alone!" commanded Tom, lifting the head and shoulders of the wounded man. "Fellows, carry this man ash.o.r.e, but don"t hurt him!"
Emma, having regained consciousness, was a.s.sisted up the bank by Anne and Nora, while Peg was being taken to the bunk-house by the lumberjacks. Elfreda, after a brief examination, did not believe that Peg"s wound would prove fatal, but Hippy advised her not to tell the foreman of Section Forty-three of this, saying that he wished to make the man talk, which Peg probably would not do were he to think that his wounds were trivial.
The lumberjacks were ugly, and, had they had their way, they would have promptly finished the job begun by w.i.l.l.y Horse, believing, as they did, that Peg Tatem was responsible for the present and previous disasters that had befallen the Overland Riders in the Big North Woods.
Peg Tatem regained consciousness after Elfreda and Tom had worked over him for more than an hour.
"Did the Redskin git me?" he demanded weakly.
"You"re right he did," agreed Hippy. "You might as well tell us all about it now before it is too late. We know what you have done, and that"s good and plenty, but you are now going to make a confession and swear to it."
Peg went into a violent rage at the suggestion and pounded the cot with his wooden leg until he was exhausted. Waiting until the fellow had quieted down, Hippy then informed him that in case he recovered, and had not confessed, they would see to it that he went to prison for a long term. After hours of urging, the foreman of Section Forty-three gave in and made a full confession. Elfreda wrote down his statement and made Peg swear to it, after Hippy had promised that, in the event of his recovery, there would be no prosecution.
Tatem declared that he had acted wholly under the orders of Hiram Dusenbery, of the Dusenbery Lumber Company; that it was his jacks who had turned the skidway loose on the Overland camp, and that it was Tatem himself, acting under orders, who had dynamited the big pine and tumbled it over on the Overlanders. He said that Dusenbery and Chet Ainsworth were partners in the business of timber-stealing, and that the dynamiting was Ainsworth"s scheme.
"Why did they wish to be rid of us?" asked Miss Briggs.
"They reckoned they"d spoil yer game. T"other reason was that they wanted this "ere section fer themselves."
"Good! We will send both to jail," promised Elfreda. "Now what I wish are the names of witnesses who can verify at least part of your story."
After some thought Peg named several lumberjacks, fellows who were still in the employ of the Dusenbery Company. The Overlanders then ceased their questioning to give Peg a much-needed rest, and left him in the care of two jacks, with the reminder that they would be held fully accountable for the safety and good care of the prisoner.
w.i.l.l.y Horse was started that night for the nearest fire warden"s station, there to have the warden telephone for a doctor, and also for the sheriff of the county, as it was thought best to hold Tatem as a material witness. The doctor and sheriff arrived late next day. Peg"s injuries were found to be quite serious, and it was a full week later before he could be moved to the county jail where he was a prisoner under treatment for two more weeks.
Hippy accompanied Peg, and while at the county seat swore out warrants for Dusenbery and Chet Ainsworth. At the December term of court both men were found guilty and sentenced to serve terms in prison. Peg Tatem, according to agreement with the complainants, was released and advised to seek other fields, which he did.
In the meantime a new dam had been built by Tom and Hippy, and a sawmill established twenty-five miles further down the river. The sounds of the "swampers"" axes and the "saw-gangs" were now heard in the forest from daylight until dark, where huge logs were being felled, trimmed, skidded and rolled down into the new dam, to be "boomed," and released after every thaw in early spring, and sent on their way to the mill.
The Overland girls still lingered. After some discussion they had decided to remain in the woods until after Christmas. By Christmas time the ground and the trees were white with snow, and Tom closed his "cruising" for the season. w.i.l.l.y Horse was absent much of the time, trapping for himself and hunting game for the table of the lumberjacks.
The girls were now living in a real log cabin which the jacks, hearing them express a wish that they might have one, had built. Logs blazed in the fireplace, and there the Overland girls, after long hikes in the forest, and occasional rides on their ponies, spent many happy hours.
At Nora"s suggestion, an elaborate Christmas celebration, including a Christmas tree, was planned by the girls for the jacks and themselves.
Tom, obliged to go to St. Paul on business, more than a week"s journey in itself, was commissioned to purchase the supplies and Christmas gifts for the celebration, and returned in a sleigh from Bisbee"s Corners, reaching the Overland camp by way of a new trail that his men had cut.
He was a regular Santa Claus, except that he rode "behind mules instead of reindeers," as Emma Dean expressed it. Then began the real preparations for Christmas, with many conferences in the log cabin.
Two Christmas dinners were to be laid Christmas evening, one in the new modern bunk-house that had been recently erected, where the old original gang of lumberjacks and a few selected newcomers were then living. Many additional men had been taken on during the early part of the winter when the lumbering operations began on a large scale, and efforts were made to instill into the new men the spirit of the Overland outfit, which the old men long since had absorbed.
The great day arrived. The old and faithful jacks were to sit down with the Overlanders to the spread that was in preparation all that day, Joe Shafto, after much grumbling, laying aside her feud against all lumberjacks and helping the regular cook in his work of preparing the dinner. This was supervised by Grace and Elfreda, while their companions attended to laying the tables and decorating the bunk-house with greens brought in by the jacks.
At seven o"clock that evening, the jacks, who had been put out of the new bunk-house without ceremony, were told to enter. They thumped in, and gazed in amazement at the transformation of their home, at the festoons of pine cones and greens, at the gaily colored lanterns, at the red, white, and blue candles on the table, and at the big American flag suspended from the rafters at the lower end of the room.
The girls disposed themselves about the table so that they might sit with their guests. Hippy took the head of the table, with Spike, who was known by no other name, at his right. Grace had never been able to banish the disagreeable impression that she felt on first setting eyes on the big red-haired lumberjack, and that feeling now seemed to take hold of her more strongly than ever as Spike, shoulders slouched forward and eyes lowered, shuffled to the seat a.s.signed to him.
"Sit down!" ordered Hippy, and all hands sat, Tom taking the seat at the lower end of the table.
There was real turkey, with cranberry sauce, squash, creamed onions, mashed potatoes, celery and a variety of other vegetables, brought from the city by Tom. w.i.l.l.y Horse acted as waiter, Mrs. Shafto declining to unbend to the extent of waiting on "them varmints."
"I"ll fodder white folk, and I"ll sling a bone to a bear or a bull pup, but no timber houn" of a lumberjack"s goin" to git "chuck" from the paws of Joe Shafto, and that"s the end of the argefyin"," she declared, challenging the girls with a threatening glare through her big horn-rimmed spectacles.
There were only a few jacks present, outside of the "original" crowd, as Tom called them, all the others having a dinner of their own in the old bunk-house.
The "talk" at the table was mostly confined to the Overland Riders, their efforts to make conversation with their partners, the lumberjacks, eliciting little more than grunts. The jacks were busy, very busy, and when the time came for dessert, every platter and every plate was empty.
"Pudding! Fetch on the pudding," cried Hippy.
There followed a few moments of waiting while the girls were clearing the table of used dishes, then w.i.l.l.y Horse was seen entering, bearing a huge platter, on the platter a great mound of blazing plum pudding.
The jacks gasped.
"Fire!" yelled a lumberjack.
Every jack in the room leaped to his feet and the next instant they were blowing great, long-drawn breaths at the blue flame that, as they thought, was consuming something that was good to eat. With strong breaths, and vigorous slaps from ham-like hands, they soon put out the "fire," w.i.l.l.y Horse, in a rage, kicking out with his feet at every shin within reach. The Overland Riders were convulsed with laughter, as the jacks solemnly filed back to their seats at the table.
"That"s plum pudding, you poor fish!" groaned Hippy.
"Ain"t nothin" now," grumbled Spike. "Purty nigh burned up."
Grace composed her face and tried to explain that burning the plum pudding was an old English custom, and that, instead of destroying the pudding, it added to its flavor, but the jacks shook their heads, probably thinking that she was saying this to make sport of them. After the pudding had been served, the jacks tasted it gingerly, then smacking their lips they quickly devoured it. Coffee and nuts followed, and the meal came to an end.
"We will now view the Christmas tree," announced Hippy. "Outside there are millions of Christmas trees, all dolled up with fancy spangles, but they aren"t like this tree, as you will see. Pull the string, Emma!"