The men often worked in sets of fours, and when this happened Dale and Owen's usual companions were Andrews and a short, stout French-Canadian named Jean Colette. Colette was good-natured to the last degree and full of fun in the bargain.
"Vat is de use to cry ven de t'ing go wrong," he would say. "My fadder he say you mus' laugh at eferyt'ing, oui! I laugh an' I no geet seek, neffair! I like de people to laugh, an' sing, an' dance. Dat ees best, oui!"
"You're right on that score," said Owen. "But some folks would rather grumble than laugh any day."
"Dat is de truf. Bon! You play de feedle, de banyo; he play de mout' harmonee an' sing, an' yo' are happy, oui? I like dat. No bad man sing an' play, neffair!" And the little man bobbed his head vigorously.
"What a difference between a man like Colette and that Ducrot!" said Dale to Owen, later on. "Yet they come from the same place in Canada, so I've heard."
"Well, there are good men and bad in every town in Maine," answered Owen sagely. "Locality has nothing to do with it."
The fact that Dale and Owen could play and sing was a source of pleasure to many in the camp, and the pair were often asked to "tune up," as the lumbermen expressed it. There was also another violin player at hand, and many of the men could sing, in their rough, unconventional way, so amusement was not lacking during the cold winter evenings. More than once the men would get up a dance, jigs and reels being the favorite numbers, with a genuine break-down from Jeff, the cook, that no one could match.
Winter came on early, as it usually does in this section of our country, and by the end of October the snow lay deep among the trees of the forest, while the pond and the river presented a surface of unbroken ice, swept clear in spots by the wind. For many days the wind howled and tore through the tall trees, and banked up the snow on one side of the cabin to the roof. The thermometer went down rapidly, and everybody was glad enough to hug the stove when not working.
"This winter is going to be a corker, mark my words," observed Owen.
"I know that," answered Dale. "I found a squirrel's nest yesterday and it was simply loaded with nuts. That squirrel was laying up for a long spell of cold."