Logs rose and fell in front and on each side of them.
"By George! they are out of it!" cried Andrews. "This way, boys, this way!"
They saw him waving his hand, and turned in that direction. It was well they did this, for the drive was shifting, so that one section near the shore swung around to the middle of the stream. But their danger was now at an end, and in a few seconds more they stood on solid ground, dripping from head to feet, and with their hearts thumping wildly in their breasts.
"Kind of a close call for you," remarked Andrews. "I wouldn't have been in your place for a thousand dollars."
"It was a close call," answered Dale. His face was pale, and he felt a strange sinking sensation all over him.
"Better rest for a spell, you and Owen too," went on Andrews, and they followed his advice and did not move on again until half an hour later. The boat contained some dry clothing, and this, when donned, made them feel fairly comfortable.
The remainder of the drive occurred without anything unusual happening, and a week later found the two young lumbermen in Bangor, where they put up at a cheap but comfortable boarding house, at which Owen was already known. The proprietors of several houses of low reputation tried to get them to take rooms elsewhere, but they would not.
"They can't catch me for a fool," said Owen. "They've got some of the poor chaps, and those fellows will be penniless in less than a month," and so it proved. Many lumbermen are reckless, and their wages are spent in drinking and gambling as soon as received. But conditions are gradually improving, and it is to be hoped that some day these boarding-house "sharks," as they are called, will be banished altogether, not alone from this territory, but also from every other Down-East lumber district.