Ted and Trouble promised that they would, and they teased their father so hard to take them to the sawmill now that, after he had looked over the groceries and other supplies, he consented.
Leading from the mill down into the lake was a sort of small railroad track, sloping like a little hill. And in the middle of the track, and extending up into the mill, was a big chain.
“What’s that for?” asked Ted.
“That chain pulls the logs up from the river, along this inclined runway, into the mill,” answered Mr. Martin. “Once the logs are in the mill they are put on a sort of platform, or on a traveling cradle, and then machinery pushes them close to the big buzz saw and they are cut up into boards.”
“Is it a cat’s cradle?” Trouble wanted to know.
“Well, not exactly,” laughed Mr. Martin. “Come in and I’ll show you. The mill isn’t running now, but it soon will be.”
“Does the chain pull the logs up all by itself?” Ted asked.
“No,” his father replied. “A steam engine winds the chain up on what is called a drum, just as a rope is wound up on a derrick. In fact, this runway is like a derrick, only it is stretched out on the ground instead of being up in the air.”
The boys were much interested in looking over the machinery of the lumber mill, and they wished for the day to come when it would start—when the engine would puff and clouds of smoke and steam would pour from the big stack in the roof.
“I think I hear your mother calling,” said Mr. Martin, after a while. “We’d better have something to eat.”