The smaller logs he pa.s.sed over as quickly as possible; on the larger he paused appreciably. Bobby was interested to see how he left behind him a wake of motion on what had possessed the appearance of rigid immobility.
The little logs bobbed furiously; the larger bowed in more stately fashion and rolled slowly in dignified protest. In a moment Jimmy was back again, grinning at Bobby"s admiration.
"Look here," said he.
He took his station sideways on a log of about twenty inches diameter, and began to roll it beneath him by walking rapidly forward. As the timber gained its momentum, the boy increased his pace, until finally his feet were fairly twinkling beneath him, and the side of the log rising from the river was a blur of white water. Then suddenly with two quick strong stamps of his caulked feet the young riverman brought the whirling timber to a standstill.
"That"s birling a log," said he to Bobby.
They walked out on the main boom still farther. The smaller part.i.tions between the various enclosures were often nothing but single round poles chained together at their ends. On these Bobby was not allowed to venture.
"How deep is it here?" he asked again.
"Bout thirty feet," replied Jimmy Powers.
Bobby for an instant felt a little dizzy, as though he were on a high building. All this fabric on which he moved suddenly seemed to him unreal, like a vast cobweb in suspension through a void. It was a brief sensation, and little defined in his childish mind, so it soon pa.s.sed, but it const.i.tuted while it lasted a definite subjective experience which Bobby would always remember. As he looked back, the buildings of the river camp, lying low among the trees, had receded to a great distance; apparently at another horizon was the dark row of piling that marked the outer confines of the booms; up and down stream, as far as he could see, were the logs. Bobby suddenly felt very much alone, with the blue sky above him, and the deep black water beneath, and about him nothing but the quiet sullen monsters herded from the wilderness. He gripped very tightly Jimmy Powers"s hand as they walked along.
But shortly they turned to the left; and after a brief walk, mounted the rickety steps to the floor of the hut where dwelt old man North, and the winch for operating the swinging boom. Old man North was short, dark, heavy and bearded; he smoked perpetually a small black clay pipe which he always held upside down in his mouth. His conversation was not extensive; but his black eyes twinkled at Bobby, so the little boy was not afraid of him. When he saw the two approaching, he reached over in the corner and handed out a hickory pole peeled to a beautiful white.
"The wums is yonder," said he.
Bobby put a fat worm on his hook and sat down in the opposite doorway were he could dangle his feet directly over the river. Where the shadow of the cabin fell, he could see far down in the water, which there became a transparent fair green. Close to the piles, on the tops of which the hut was built, were various fish. Jimmy leaned over.
"Mostly suckers," he advised. "Yan"s a perch, try him."
Bobby cautiously lowered his baited hook until it dangled before the perch"s nose. The latter paid absolutely no attention to it. Bobby jiggled it up and down. No results. At last he fairly plumped the worm on top of the fish"s nose. The perch, with an air of annoyance, spread his gills and, with the least perceptible movement of his tail, sank slowly until he faded from sight.
"Better let down your hook and fish near bottom," suggested Jimmy Powers.
Bobby did so. The peace of warm afternoon settled upon him. He dangled his chubby legs, and tried to spit as scientifically as he could, and watched the waving green current slip silently beneath his feet. Beside him sat Jimmy Powers. The fragrant strong tobacco smoke from North"s pipe pa.s.sed them in wisps.
"I"d like to walk on logs," proffered Bobby at last, "It looks like lots of fun."
"Oh, that"s nothin"," said Jimmy Powers, "You ought to be on drive."
The boys fell into conversation. Jimmy told of the drive, and the log-running. Bobby listened with the envy of one whose imagination cannot conceive of himself permitted in such affairs. He was entirely absorbed. And then all at once the peace was shattered.
"Yank him, Bobby, yank him!" yelled Jimmy.
"Christmas! he"s a whale!" said old North.
For, without wavering, the tip of the hickory pole had been ruthlessly jerked below the water"s surface, and the b.u.t.t nearly pulled from Bobby"s hands.
Bobby knew the proper thing to do. In such cases you heaved strongly.
The fish flew from the water, described an arc over your head, and lit somewhere behind you. He tried to accomplish this, but his utmost strength could but just lift the wriggling, jerking end of the pole from the water.
"Give her to me!" cried Jimmy Powers.
"Le" me "lone," grunted Bobby.
He planted the b.u.t.t of the pole in the pit of his stomach, and lifted as hard as ever he could with both hands. His face grew red, his ears rang, but, after a first immovable resistance, to his great joy the tip of the bending, wriggling pole began to give. Slowly, little by little, he pulled up the fish, until he could make out the flash of its body darting to and fro far down in the depths.
"Black ba.s.s!" murmured Jimmy Powers breathlessly.
And then just as his size and beauty were becoming clearly visible, the line came up with a sickening ease. The interested spectators caught a glimpse of white as the fish turned.
Bobby let out a howl of disappointment.
"Oh _gee_, that"s hard luck!" cried Jimmy Powers.
"Bet he weighed four pounds," proffered North curtly.
But at this instant a faint clear whistle sounded from about the wooded bend of the river above.
"Boat coming," said North, "Clear out of the way, boys."
He began at once to operate the winch which drew the long slanting swing boom out of the channel, for the River was navigable water, and must not be obstructed. In a moment appeared the _Lucy Belle_, a shallow-draught, flimsy-looking double decker, with two slim smokestacks side by side connected by a band of fancy grill-work, a walking beam, two huge paddle boxes and much white paint. She sheered sidewise with the current around the bend, and headed down upon them accompanied by a vast beating of paddle wheels. Bobby could soon make out atop the walking-beam, the swaying iron Indian with bent bow, and the piles of slabs which const.i.tuted the _Lucy Belle_"s fuel. Almost immediately she was pa.s.sing, within ten feet or so of the hut. The water boiled and eddied among the piles, rushing in and sucking back. A fat, ruddy-faced man in official cap and citizen"s clothes leaned over the rail.
"Well, you made her to-day," shouted North.
"Bet ye," called the man with a grin. "Only aground once."
The _Lucy Belle_ swept away with an air of pride. She made the trip to and from Redding, forty miles up the River, twice a week. Sometimes she came through in a day. Oftener she ran aground.
Now Bobby reverted to his original idea.
"I"d like to walk on the logs," said he.
"Well, come on, then," said Jimmy Powers.
They retraced their steps along the booms until near the sh.o.r.e.
"You don"t want to try her where she"s deep," explained Jimmy Powers, ""Cause then if you should fall in, the logs would close right together over your head, and then where"d you be?"
Bobby shuddered at this idea, which in the event continued to haunt him for some days.
"There"s a big one," said Jimmy Powers. "Try her."
Bobby stepped out on a big solid-looking log, which immediately proved to be not solid at all. It dipped one way, Bobby tried to tread the other. The log promptly followed his suggestion--too promptly. Bobby soon found himself about two moves behind in this strange new game. He lost his balance, and the first thing he knew, he found himself waist deep in the water.
Jimmy Powers laughed heartily; but to Bobby this was no laughing matter.
The penalties attached both by nature and his mother were dire in the extreme. He foresaw sickness and spankings, both of which had been promised him in the event of wet feet merely, and here he was dripping from the waist down! In any other surroundings or with any other company he would have wept bitterly. Even in the presence of Jimmy Powers his lower lip quivered; and his soul filled to the very throat with dismay.
Jimmy Powers could not understand his very evident perturbation. If took a great deal of explanation on Bobby"s part; but finally there was conveyed to the young riverman"s understanding a slight notion of the situation. To the child the day seemed lost; but Jimmy Powers was more resourceful. He surveyed his charge thoughtfully.
"You"re all right, kid," he announced at last. "Your collar"s all right, and your hair ain"t wet. The rest"ll dry out so n.o.body will know the diff"."
Bobby brightened.
"Won"t I catch cold?" he asked doubtfully.