Sandy, the big Airedale, was gravely watching the boys when the men with the tar paper arrived, and one of them seeing the dog, remarked:
“How would you chaps like to go coon hunting tonight, that is if your pup will trail a coon?”
This was just what the boys did not want to do that night, so Garry hastily made the excuse that they were tired from their march and the work of throwing up the shanty, but said they would be glad to go the following night.
This seemed all right to the men, who proceeded to make friends with Sandy, that is as much as that sedate dog would let them, for an Airedale makes few friends outside of his own family circle.
The work of putting up the shanty was done in a short time since there were so many workers, and the addition of two bunks made it complete.
Barrows volunteered the information that there was a spare table in the office, and a bench and a couple of chairs that could be taken from the dining room.
“Then all we have to do is to cut some balsam boughs for our bunks and we will be as snug as bugs in a rug,” announced Phil.
Phil and Dick were dispatched to get the boughs, while Garry talked of inconsequential matters with Barrows until their return.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in wandering about the cutting. It was a revelation to the boys, the sight of the great timber falling in the exact direction that it was wanted. The boys noted that the cut was made just as Howells had told them, and they wondered whether or not any spikes would be encountered.
The felling of a tree is an interesting process. The swing begins on the side where the cutters do not want the tree to fall. Then when the saw is better than two-thirds of the way through the trees, the swampers or axemen take their stand at either side of the tree, and make a cut a trifle under the line where the saw is coming through. This is done to cause the tree to fall on that side. The axemen work like clockwork, using a double bitted axe,—that is one that has two blades,—and make the chips positively fly, one drawing his axe away just in time to let the other man make a blow. Just as the moment comes for the tree to fall, the cry of “tim-ber-r-r-r” is raised by one of the axemen and this is the signal for all to be out of the way as the great tree falls with a crash that shakes the ground for many feet around.