"I escaped by the sk—skin of mu—mu—my teeth," was the chattered-out answer. "Help me get to wha—wha—where it's wa—wa—warm!"
"That I will!" answered Dale, and took one of Owen's arms while Andrews took the other. Between them they ran the young lumberman into the camp and up to the cabin, where they stood him close to the stove while they took off his water-filled boots and his soaked garments.
"I don't know how I got into the hole, exactly," said Owen, when the chill had passed. "I saw the hole, and the log behind me, and the next minute I was in over my head. It was a close shave, and phew! but wasn't that water icy!"
"Why didn't you jump over the log?" asked one of the men.
"It's a good t'ing he didn't dun try dat," put in Jeff, the cook. "Yeah befo' las' poor Ike Madden dun try jumpin' ober a log wot was a-rollin' down hill an' he dun got bof laigs broke an' his nose in de bargain!"
"I didn't stop to think of jumping," answered Owen. "All I knew was to get out of the way, and that at once."
"After this we'd better have a signal when we start to roll logs," said Dale, and Joel Winthrop agreed that this would be a good thing. Fortunately Owen did not suffer in the least from his unexpected bath.
The end of the year was now approaching and soon came Christmas, a cold, clear day, with the thermometer down close to zero.
"Merry Christmas!" shouted Dale to Owen, on rising, and "Merry Christmas!" rang out all over the camp.
Of course there was no work that day, and the men did what they could to amuse themselves, while Jeff was given orders to serve the best dinner the larder of the camp could afford. Several of the men had gone hunting the day before and brought in some partridges and other game, including two wild turkeys, and fish from the pond and river were not wanting. For dessert the men had a big plum-pudding, and pie was served, as on many other festal occasions, morning, noon, and night.