Chapter 4
Turn Around is Fair Play
Ray didn't have to wait long on the other side of the hill before the three of them were reunited and planning. Standing in the dark they went over their inventory. Each had a good rifle, a dependable side arm and plenty of ammo, thanks to the company. The boys had borrowed a few boxes of shells against what they felt the company owed them.
“Well, do we go in guns a blazin’?” asked John as he pulled his revolver from its holster.
Ray laughed pulling a stick of dynamite from his saddlebags and tapped it against the palm of his hand, “I think a little quieter approach with a big bang at the end would be better, don't ya'll agree?”
From the look on each of his partner's faces he knew they were in agreement.
“Are we going to drop that among their tents?” asked Larry.
“No. What is it they need the most to keep operatin’?” Ray asked as he looked to both of his friends. “That’s where we need to hit them. And it should be somethin’ that will take time to replace.”
“What about the wagons, the big wheels and the sleds?” grinned John.
They all smiled. They knew the wagons were full of all of their supplies. The big wheels were crucial in moving the logs from the timber area out to the sleds, and with no sleds they weren't moving trees anywhere.
“I was thinkin’ the same thing,” Ray said, “but we must get them all at the same time. We won't get a second chance, and after this, they’ll have guards out in force.”
Lifting his saddlebags, Ray began to hand out the dynamite, leaving a few for later.
“I’ll whistle when I have my charges set, you whistle back as soon as you are ready to light the fuse. Make that fuse good and long. After we light them we’ll meet back here. We need to create a diversion to move the crew away from the dynamite. We don't want the powder discovered before it blows, and we don't want to send any one home in pieces, if we don’t have to.” Ray said firmly.
Each of them worked their way to the edge of the camp. The sleds and big wheels were to the right and were a distance away from the camp, making them easy prey. The five wagons on the other hand were in a small circle around a large cook fire.
“Since we belong in the camp, we'll take care of the wagons Ray, and you take the sleds and the big wheels,” offered John.
“Okay, but be careful,” Ray whispered, and they all set out.
-CKS-
The camp had six sleds used to haul logs when the roadways were icy and three big wheels used on drier ground to straddle a small pile of logs. A chain was slung around the end of a lifted log and would be hooked to the short axle between the two wheels. A team of horses was attached to pull the lumber out of the forest.
The sleds were placed three high, one on top of the other in two stacks. Ray neatly placed a couple sticks of dynamite between each sled and attached a couple of sticks to each big wheel, hoping it would be enough. He had watched dynamite being set, but had never done it himself. When he attached all the sticks to the long fuse, he moved away from his targets, knelt down, and whistled.
Ray waited for what seemed like an hour when a pair of whistles met his ears. He moved back to the wheels, lit his fuse and headed for the meeting place. John and Larry were already waiting for him when he arrived. Both were so excited Ray had to calm them down to listen to his next direction.
“You guys mount up and hold my horse ready because I’ll be comin’ a runnin’,” Ray directed.
As they headed off into the darkness Ray cocked his rifle and grabbed a stick of dynamite. Racing to the top of the ridge he hollered to the camp, “Wake up you trespassers and light a shuck if you don't want to get blown to kingdom come!” Ray lit the stick of dynamite and tossed it into the center of the camp. He fired his rifle a few times and then figuring that ought to do it, ran down the slope and away from the camp hell bent for his horse.
The three spurred their horses into a dead run before all hell broke loose. The blasts sounded like a small war had broken out and as for Ray, he guessed in a way, it had. Even at their safe distance they were struck by the wave of the explosions.
“Son of a bitch!” exclaimed Larry.
“You said a mouth full Larry. Maybe we could have used a little less dynamite to prove our point. Now let’s get the hell out of here!” Ray said.
“Aren't we gonna stick around and check out the damage we caused?” asked John.
“Every person from that camp is going to be hunting around in these woods with a vengeance. I don't think they’ll be very happy, and I don't care to run into any of them. Besides, we can check out the damage tomorrow when it's light,” Ray said as he started to turn his horse towards the campsite he had made up the day before.
“I'm sorry Ray, but I can't wait until tomorrow. Besides they won't be surprised to see Larry and me. We'll check it out and meet you later, okay?” asked John.
“Okay but you two be careful. You can find my camp due north of here along the river. I'll take your horses and gear with me and tie them off to a tree about a mile up the river for you. Wouldn’t look good after an attack like the one the camp suffered if you guys showed up ridin’ into camp on horseback,” Ray cautioned.
Larry and John headed back toward the lumber camp on foot with the excitement of children on their last day of school. After they had surveyed the damages they would only have to march through the snow for a short distance to pick up their horses.
“Don't look too happy about the carnage boys, someone might get suspicious,” Ray called out to them as he rode away.
Ray took the horses and rode up along the river for about a quarter of a mile where he tied off the boys’ horses.
Once at his campsite, he took up a nearby position on top of a hill in a group of birch trees. There, Ray had a good field of vision of anyone approaching. Hours had passed and he was beginning to think John's plan had been a bad one when finally he saw his comrades. Ray could hear the two of them laughing and slapping each other on their backs from up on his rise. He had to laugh. What a pair to draw to. These two old friends were going to be his entire army against a huge lumber company of angry men.
“God help us,” Ray thought with a smile.
Ray slid down the side of the hill and stopped just a few feet above the path. As the two rode nearly beneath him, he leaped from his position down on to the two riders and knocked them from their mounts. The two jumped from the snow covered ground swinging at ghosts. Larry and John’s eyes were wide with fear, cussing a blue streak and trying desperately to free their guns out from under their thick coats. Slipping and sliding in the snow and ice Larry fell to the ground again knocking John off his feet and down a small slope burying him in deep snow bank.
Ray stood up from the ground laughing so hard at the dance before him that his sides hurt. John stood up in snow up to his knees and a pile of snow on his head and shoulders. Larry was still slipping around on the ice trying to stand.
“What the hell are you tryin’ to do, get yourself shot?” yelled Larry as he spit the snow from his mouth.
“You’re lucky we didn't take you for an Indian and club you over the head!” panted John as he tried to catch his breath and wipe snow off the back of his collar.
Through tears of laughter, Ray choked out, “If I was an Indian, I'd have been riding out of here with two horses and two ugly scalps.”
John and Larry looked at each other and after realizing what green horns they’d been they both started laughing.
“Okay, Okay we see what you mean, but damn it Ray you should see the hole we created in that lumber company back there!” laughed John.
“Those assholes will never log another tree out of these woods!” announced Larry. “Everything is in pieces and spread out for a country mile!” Larry waved his arms in the air in celebration.
They were both talking over each other with excitement.
“You want to hear the best part? That Miss Fo
ster…” started John,
“Yeah, tell him this part, Ray listen to this, it’s the funniest thing I ever saw, tell him John,” interrupted Larry.
“I’m trying to, any way she had gone to the woods to take care of some business and she was squattin’ only a few feet from one of the wagons. When the wagon blew it knocked her back into her own business, but not only that, it was the chuck wagon…” started John.
“Yeah, she was covered in flour and beans. She stumbled out half dressed back into the middle of the camp, yellin’ at anyone who’d listen. All she could scream was, “What… what… what happened?! Even with all the smolderin’ debris the entire camp busted up laughing at her,” interrupted Larry again as he filled his eyes with laughing tears.
“That's when she realized she was undressed and covered in flour, beans, and shit. She started crying and ran for her wagon, except it wasn't there no more,” cried John.
“Yeah, we dun blew it up. I’m telling ya Ray you should have seen it, you would have loved it,” squawked Larry, holding his stomach.
Ray smiled at the picture he envisioned but couldn’t laugh; after all, she had played a big part in the death of his Pa. “Did anyone get hurt?” Ray asked.
“Cuts and bruises only, no one was killed. It was perfect,” said John.
“Okay we'll cook up some grub and then break camp,” Ray said.
“Why are we breakin’ camp? This looks like a great spot?” said Larry
“Because, Larry, you two left a trail a blind man could follow. I figure some of those boys may not like the idea of having dynamite thrown at them and would like to pay back whoever did it in spades,” explained Ray.
“I'm afraid to say you're right again Ray,” said John climbing back up to where Larry and Ray were standing on the trail, “We'll have to be more careful.”
“If you want to last the winter, you will,” Ray said while he tried to brush some of the snow off of John’s shoulders. “I hope most of those boys will leave the lumber camp now they know what they’re up against. But some will stick ‘cause they need the money and see an opportunity to make some extra cash.”
“What do you mean extra money, Ray?” asked Larry
“Well the company isn't goin’ to give up on this timber. They’re gonna need men who’ll not only be willin’ to cut trees but look over their shoulder the entire time. The company will be buyin’ axes and guns. That’ll cost ‘em money. Now come on, let's eat that venison stew on the fire and plan our next ambush.”
But even as he said it Ray knew the company would no longer be caught by surprise.
The next attack would carry a much higher level of danger, perhaps even result in their deaths. And then like a bolt of lightning it came to him. “Boys, I've got an idea!”
“Here we go again,” chuckled Larry
“We're gonna eat our stew, stuff our bed rolls, and make a nice big fire.”
“But if we do that, they'll know where we are and come a running” said Larry, question marks in his eyes.
“Exactly, once it’s dark we’ll light up a big fire and then move up onto the ridge where we’ll wait. When they attack the camp we’ll have a little surprise for ‘em.”
“I like it, they'll think they have us and rush in” said John, understanding washing over his face.
“I hope so,” said Ray. “They gotta figure they’re up against a young greenhorn boy who would make a mistake like building a big fire to stay warm.”
The boys started the large fire so it could be seen from some distance away, but they didn’t feed the fire because they wanted it to burn down some. By the time the lumbermen arrived it would have to appear that in the shadows of the remaining fire the three boys were asleep in their bedrolls. Too much light may give away their ruse, which could cost them their lives.
-CKS-
Ray’s plan didn't seem as good to him now as it did when he was warm. It was a cold dark night up on that ridge, too damn cold to spend the night sitting in a snow bank. Larry sat about twenty feet from Ray’s right with John about the same distance to his left. Their spot afforded them a great view of their camp from where they sat.
Ray was shocked out of his freezing thoughts by the snap of a twig. It came from behind them, higher up on the hill. Ray sunk as low as he could into his snowdrift and saw what looked like eight figures working their way down the slope. Ray waved to John and Larry to stay down and out of sight. The figures crept within about forty feet of them as they stalked the three empty bedrolls. On the edge of the camp the eight laughing lumbermen raised their rifles. “Take this you sons a bitches!” one of the attackers yelled. With that they opened fire on the bedrolls. The firing was deafening in the stillness of the night. They had almost emptied their rifles before realizing they had just murdered a lump of dirty clothes.
“Gentlemen, nice shootin’, but the targets you were lookin’ for are up here!” Ray called out.
In one motion, the eight men turned and fired off a round of shots toward Ray and his party. But it was too late. They were firing into the darkness and couldn’t find their targets. Ray, John and Larry opened up. The campfire behind the attackers outlined them for the boys. It only lasted a few minutes, and then the silence of the forest closed in around them.
“That's it boys, we’re done.” Ray said as he rose from his position.
They found the lumbermen’s mounts and brought them into the camp nearer the fire.
The next morning the boys removed any ammo from the eight dead men, strapped them over their saddles and with a slap on the horse’s rumps sent the invaders home.
“Time to move!” said Ray. They rode for several hours before they decided to stop and make camp. It was getting colder and the snow had started to fall. They backed the camp up against a rocky out cropping that was about sixty feet above the Fox River. There would be enough room for the three horses, riders and a warm fire. With venison cooking over the fire and hot coffee in their mugs, they decided this was a good place to wait out the storm. The cover was good, the smoke from the fire was dispersed by the over-hang, and they had a good view of any approaching riders. They sat quietly staring out across the Wisconsin landscape. The beauty of the endless forest appeared before them, with the rivers that cut against the rocky walls creating inspiring rock formations. Ray remembered the rolling line of hills near his home that were formed by the glaciers coming down from the north, so he had been told. His grandpa on the other hand told him they were the backbones of giant monsters that came after naughty little boys.
The memories of his family brought Ray’s thoughts back to his Pa and his Pa's land and his stomach clinched with emotion. Ray laid awake most of the night knowing that unless he came up with another plan he was never going to get that land back. The snow had stopped falling and the night sky was brilliantly clear. He stared into the heavens and prayed for a plan. He must have nodded off near sunrise and was awakened by John's firm grip on his arm.
“What is it John?” Ray said as he sat up.
“Ray, we got company.”
“There must be about ten of ‘em. They’re tryin’ to follow our tracks. Thank God the snow covered them up,” said Larry as he covered his eyes against the bright morning sun.
“Lucky for us or we would have been feedin’ them breakfast this mornin’,” Ray said.
“We still may be able to feed them a nice hot dish of lead and bacon,” smiled John.
The riders were still about a mile out but heading in their direction. It wouldn't be long before they stumbled upon the boys’ camp.
With the realization that this battle maybe endless. Ray said dispassionately, “this just isn't gonna end is it boys? I can't win this fight, can I? He has money, power, and influence. I'll bet he’s already got his attorneys workin’ on a way to move the ownership of the land over to the company. If we get through this one, I believe I’m gonna pay Mr. Foster a visit.”
“You mean, WE’LL pay him a visit,” sai
d John and Larry in unison.
“We can wait for them to find us out and then shoot it out with them, but I don't think anything good would come of it. Foster will just keep sendin’ more men,” said Ray, “I‘ve been thinkin’ about what my Pa told me once: “when you’re fighting against a snake you'll only make him shorter by cutting at the tail, but if you want to kill him, it's the head you have to take.’”
Larry and John looked at each other and said in unison, “Well I guess that means we're goin’ home.”
“Mount up boys,” said Ray. “I believe we’ll be doin’ some visitin’.”