The Blazed Trail | Page 5

general direction, and preserving always the
requisite level or down grade. Radway had no vantage point from
which to survey the country. A city man would promptly have lost
himself in the tangle; but the woodsman emerged at last on the banks of
the stream, leaving behind him a meandering trail of clipped trees that
wound, twisted, doubled, and turned, but kept ever to a country without
steep hills. From the main road he purposed arteries to tap the most
distant parts.
"I'll take it," said he to Daly.
Now Radway happened to be in his way a peculiar character. He was
acutely sensitive to the human side of those with whom he had dealings.
In fact, he was more inclined to take their point of view than to hold his
own. For that reason, the subtler disputes were likely to go against him.
His desire to avoid coming into direct collision of opinion with the
other man, veiled whatever of justice might reside in his own
contention. Consequently it was difficult for him to combat sophistry or
a plausible appearance of right. Daly was perfectly aware of Radway's
peculiarities, and so proceeded to drive a sharp bargain with him.

Customarily a jobber is paid a certain proportion of the agreed price as
each stage of the work is completed--so much when the timber is cut;
so much when it is skidded, or piled; so much when it is stacked at the
river, or banked; so much when the "drive" down the waters of the river
is finished. Daly objected to this method of procedure.
"You see, Radway," he explained, "it is our last season in the country.
When this lot is in, we want to pull up stakes, so we can't take any
chances on not getting that timber in. If you don't finish your Job, it
keeps us here another season. There can be no doubt, therefore, that
you finish your job. In other words, we can't take any chances. If you
start the thing, you've got to carry it 'way through."
"I think I can, Mr. Daly," the jobber assured him.
"For that reason," went on Daly, "we object to paying you as the work
progresses. We've got to have a guarantee that you don't quit on us, and
that those logs will be driven down the branch as far as the river in time
to catch our drive. Therefore I'm going to make you a good price per
thousand, but payable only when the logs are delivered to our
rivermen."
Radway, with his usual mental attitude of one anxious to justify the
other man, ended by seeing only his employer's argument. He did not
perceive that the latter's proposition introduced into the transaction a
gambling element. It became possible for Morrison & Daly to get a
certain amount of work, short of absolute completion, done for nothing.
"How much does the timber estimate?" he inquired finally.
"About five millions."
"I'd need a camp of forty or fifty men then. I don't see how I can run
such a camp without borrowing."
"You have some money, haven't you?"
"Yes; a little. But I have a family, too."

"That's all right. Now look here." Daly drew towards him a sheet of
paper and began to set down figures showing how the financing could
be done. Finally it was agreed. Radway was permitted to draw on the
Company's warehouse for what provisions he would need. Daly let him
feel it as a concession.
All this was in August. Radway, who was a good practical woodsman,
set about the job immediately. He gathered a crew, established his
camp, and began at once to cut roads through the country he had
already blazed on his former trip.
Those of us who have ever paused to watch a group of farmers working
out their road taxes, must have gathered a formidable impression of
road-clearing. And the few of us who, besides, have experienced the
adventure of a drive over the same highway after the tax has been
pronounced liquidated, must have indulged in varied reflections as to
the inadequacy of the result.
Radway's task was not merely to level out and ballast the six feet of a
road-bed already constructed, but to cut a way for five miles through
the unbroken wilderness. The way had moreover to be not less than
twenty-five feet wide, needed to be absolutely level and free from any
kind of obstructions, and required in the swamps liberal ballasting with
poles, called corduroys. To one who will take the trouble to recall the
variety of woods, thickets, and jungles that go to make up a wooded
country--especially in the creek bottoms where a logging road finds
often its levelest way--and the piles of windfalls, vines, bushes, and
scrubs that choke