Then he explained that the ground beneath was soft and marshy, and that without the logs the wagon would sink to the hubs. He said the lumbermen built such roads that they could draw out their great loads of logs which they cut far back in the forest. The boys became interested at once and asked about these men and their work. The guide finally promised that some time he would take them to a lumber camp, where they could see these things for themselves.
Suddenly Ben stopped his story and stood up, pulling on the reins and shouting orders to his team. Almost before Ed and George realized what had happened, the wagon plunged down a steep bank and was bumping its way through the racing waters of a fair-sized river. The ponies tugged and splashed, the wagon rocked and creaked, and Ben yelled and plied his whip. The river roared angrily, and great white-crested waves broke over the side of the wagon-box.
Then came a jolt that almost tumbled the boys off into the water. They clutched each other in panic as they saw one of the ponies fall to its knees, and felt the wagon swung around by the powerful current. The guide was plying his whip unmercifully, for they were tipping dangerously over on one side. He finally got the pony on its feet again, and his wagon straightened out and made the opposite bank in safety; and the boys yelled with delight.
A little farther on, however, they came to real grief, for the forward wheels sank over the hubs into a bog-hole, and in trying to drag them out one of the ponies became mired in the black, oozy ground.
Shouting to the lads to throw off such parts of the load as they could lift before the weight of it sent the wheels deeper, Ben jumped down and quickly unhitched the other horse. Taking a stout rope from beneath the wagon-seat, he made one end fast to the free pony and tied the other end to the bemired animal. Urging and helping the straining horse, he at length freed the imprisoned pony.
Then assisting the boys, who had been working with a will, the guide unloaded the balance of the baggage. He told the lads to collect some rocks and pile them near the sunken axle. Next he took his ax and chopped down a small spruce-tree, from which he trimmed the branches. Fastening the ponies together again, he led them forward the full length of the rope until they stood on firm ground. Then he cut a number of stout poles, which the boys carried and placed across the road in front of the wheels, so that when once released they would not sink again, but might travel over the improvised “corduroy” to solid ground.
After much hard work everything was in readiness for an attempt at moving the wagon. Ben ordered the boys forward to guide the team, and cautioned them not to start the horses until he gave the word. Then, using the ax for a shovel, he dug the earth away from before the forward wheels. He placed the spruce pole between the pile of rocks and one of the forward hubs, to serve as a lever or prop.
Ben gave the word to start and, as the boys urged the ponies forward, threw his weight on the end of the pole. The wheels came up, lurched forward upon the bridge of poles, and the wagon bumped its way safely along to solid ground, where it was repacked.
Tired, but elated at the thought that they had been of actual use in their first real difficulty, the boys resumed their places with much satisfaction. They blushed with pride when Ben turned and complimented them on their behavior.
Several times they flushed grouse, which rose with a great roar of wings and thundered away between the tree-trunks. George declared they looked like chickens. To which Ben added, “And taste better.”