CHAPTER XIV
THE BIG TREE
The Bobbsey twins saw, just ahead of them, a stream of water sparklingin the sun. They also saw a place that had been cleared of trees,which had been cut down, making a vacant place in the woods. And inthis clearing, or vacant place, near the small river, were a number ofrough-looking buildings. It was from one of these "shacks," as Bertafterward called them, that the screeching sound came. And puffs ofsteam coming from a pipe sticking out of the roof of this shack showedthat there was an engine there.
"Is this the lumber camp that I am to own?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as shelooked ahead and saw the buildings, the piles of logs, and the stacksof boards.
"This is the place," said Mr. Bobbsey. "It is bigger than I thought.We will have to get some one to look after it for you, Mother. You andI can't be running out here to see that the men cut down the treesright, and make them into boards. Yes, we shall have to get some oneto help us."
"Couldn't I help?" asked Bert. "Maybe I'd rather be a lumberman than acowboy."
"You'll have to grow some before you'll be of much use around a lumbercamp," said the driver of the wagon. "It's hard work chopping downtrees."
"Do you ever have a fire here?" Freddie demanded suddenly.
"Sometimes, my little man," the driver answered. "Why? Do you like tosee fires? I don't, myself, for they burn up a lot of good lumber."
"I don't like to see fires, but I like fire engines," said Freddie."And I have a fire engine at home, and it squirts real water. But Icouldn't bring it with me 'cause it was too heavy to carry. But ifthere was a fire here maybe I could watch the engines--I mean the bigones."
"We don't have fire engines in lumber camps," said the driver, whosename was Harvey Hallock. "When it starts to burn we just have to lether burn. But I guess--"
However, no one heard what he said, for at that moment the saw musthave come to another hard knot in a log, for there was that same loudscreeching sound like a wild animal yelling.
Nan covered her ears with her hands, but Bert and Freddie and Flossieseemed to like the noise.
"Mercy me!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, "I hope that doesn't happen veryoften."
"Well, I might as well tell you it does," said Mr. Hallock. "We keepthe sawmill going all day, but of course we shut down at night. Itwon't keep you awake, anyhow."
"That's good," said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "I don't believe I'dwant to own a lumber saw if it kept me awake with a noise like that."
Certainly this sawmill in the midst of the big lumber tract was verydifferent from the small one in Mr. Bobbsey's place at Lakeport. Thechildren often watched the men sawing up boards at the yard theirfather owned, but the work there was nothing like this.
The saw cut through the hard knot and the screeching sound came to anend, at least for a time.
"This is where you folks are going to stay," said Mr. Hallock, as hestopped his team in front of a building, at the sight of which Bertand Nan gave shouts of joy.
"It's a regular log cabin! Oh, it's a regular log cabin!" cried Bert,as he saw where they were to live during their stay in the lumbercamp.
"So this is to be our cabin, is it?" said Mr. Bobbsey as he got downand helped his wife, while the driver lifted out the children and thenthe baggage.
"Yes, the boys fixed this up for you," answered Mr. Hallock. "We hopeyou'll like it."
"I'm sure I shall," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as she looked inside the logcabin, for it really was that, the sides being made of logs piled oneon the other, the ends being notched so they would not slip out.
"Isn't it cute!" exclaimed Nan, as she followed her mother inside thecabin. "It has tables and chairs and a cupboard and everything!"
"And it's all made of wood!" cried Bert. "Say, the Boy Scouts wouldlike this all right."
"I believe they would," agreed his father. "As for everything beingmade of wood, it generally is in a lumber camp. Now we must getsettled. Where can I find the foreman?" he asked of the driver of thewagon who had brought the Bobbseys over from the railroad station.
"He's outside somewhere in the woods," was the answer. "I'll find himand tell him you're here. I'll send the cook over to see if he can getyou anything to eat. Are you hungry?" he asked the children.
"I am!" admitted Bert.
"And so am I!"
"And I!" echoed Flossie and Freddie.
"Well, that's the way to be!" said Mr. Hallock. "Children wouldn't bechildren unless they were hungry. We've got plenty to eat here, suchas it is. Not much pie and cake, perhaps, but other things."
"We don't want pie and cake when we're camping in the woods," declaredBert. "We didn't have it at Blueberry Island--that is, not every day."
"All right! I guess you'll get along!" laughed the driver, as he wentoff through the trees to find the cook and some of the men of thelumber camp.
Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were looking about the log cabin that was to betheir home for about a week, and the children were playing aboutoutside, watching some squirrels and chipmunks that were friskingabout in the trees, when a voice called:
"Well, I see you got here all right!"
Mr. Bobbsey and his wife, who were putting some of their baggage inone of the inner rooms, came to the outside door. They saw a bigbearded man, wearing heavy boots, with his trousers tucked in the topsof them, smiling at them.
"Are you the foreman?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"No, I'm Tom Jackson, his helper," was the answer. "Mr. Dayton will beover in a few minutes. He's seeing about some big trees that are beingcut down."
"I don't want to take him away from his work," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"Oh, he's coming over, anyhow, to see how you stood the trip out tothis rough place," said Mr. Jackson. "Of course it isn't as rough asit is in the winter time, when we do most of our tree-cutting, butit's rough enough, even now."
"We are used to roughing it," said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile. "Welike it, and the children think there is no better fun than campingout."
"Well, that's what this is--camping out," said the foreman's helper."But here comes the cook, and he looks as if he had something for youto eat."
A little bald-headed man, with a white apron draped in front of him,was coming along a woodland path with some covered dishes on a trayheld on one hand, while in the other he carried what seemed to be acoffee pot.
"Just brought you folks some sandwiches and a pot of tea," he said, ashe set the things down on the table in the log cabin. "This is teaeven if it's made in the coffee pot. But I washed it out good first,"he said to Mrs. Bobbsey. "Mostly the lumber men like coffee, though inwinter they're fond of a hot cup of tea. I give 'em both, andgenerally I have a teapot, but I can't find it just this minute. Ibrought some fried cakes for the children, too."
"I thought he said there wasn't any cake in a lumber camp," said Bert,looking out toward the driver who was going off with his team.
"Well, generally I don't get much time to make fried cakes," said thelittle bald-headed man who acted as cook. "But I made some speciallyfor you youngsters to-day," and he lifted off the cover of one dishand showed some crisp, brown doughnuts, which he called "fried cakes."
"Oh, I want some!" cried Freddie.
"So do I!" echoed Flossie.
"There's enough for all of you," remarked the cook. "Now, then, Mrs.Bobbsey, you'll have a cup of tea, I know," and he poured out a hot,steaming cup that smelled very good.
Mr. Bobbsey ate some of the sandwiches and had a cup of tea, and,after they had taken the edge off their hunger on the doughnuts, thechildren also ate some of the bread and meat.
While their father and mother were talking to the assistant foremanand the cook, who said his name was Jed Prenty, the four Bobbsey twinswandered outside the log cabin. It stood on the edge of a clearing inthe forest, and not far away there were other log buildings, most ofthem larger than the one where the Bobbseys were to live. These otherbuildings were where the lumbermen slept and ate, and one was whereJed Prenty did his cooking. In anot
her building, farther off, thehorses were stabled.
"Let's take a walk in the woods," said Bert to Nan. "I want to see 'emcut down trees."
"So do I," she said. "We can take Flossie and Freddie with us. Wewon't go far."
"Are there any cowboys here?" Freddie wanted to know.
"Not any, I guess," laughed Bert. "We'll find them when we get toCowdon, where mother's ranch is."
Before they knew it the Bobbsey twins had walked quite a little wayalong a path into the woods. They heard the sound of axes being usedto chop down trees, and they were eager to see the lumbermen at work.
"Oh, look at this big tree!" called Freddie to Bert. "Some one cut italmost down!" He and Flossie had, for the moment, wandered away fromBert and Nan, though they were still within sight. At Freddie's callBert looked up and toward his small brother.
Bert saw the two small Bobbsey twins standing beside a big tree which,as Freddie had said, was partly cut down. Just then came a puff ofwind. The big tree slowly swayed and began to fall over. And Flossieand Freddie were standing near it, right where it would crash down onthem!