But there had always been a smouldering animosity between two of the men and this morning it threatened to burst forth into a “real knock-down rumpus,” as the lumbermen described it.
The two lumberjacks in question were named respectively Larry O’Brien and Jacques Lavine. As may be inferred from the names, the former was a strapping red-headed Irishman, with a big bull neck and small, twinkling, blue eyes.
The Canadian, on the other hand, at first glance seemed to be much the physical inferior of the two. He was a lighter man and more slenderly built, but from constant outdoor work his muscles had become like steel wires. So that if the men should at any time come to blows, as now seemed very probable, they would be a pretty evenly matched pair.
It was unusually hot weather, and that may have had something to do with the ill-temper in which the men found themselves. For another thing, work had been slack recently, and that is always bad for men who are not used to it. Indeed, the same thing may be said in regard to all of us. The man who does not have to work reasonably hard is to be pitied.
To cap the climax, the foreman was away on a trip to the distant town for supplies, and this fact further relaxed the reins of discipline.
If either of the two men had been called on to give a reason for their hatred toward each other, the chances are that they would have been hard put to it to give an adequate reply.
Their feud had started in some little slighting allusion to the other’s nationality, and small things had led to larger, until now they both felt that they must settle the question of supremacy once for all.
As is commonly the case with those who are of such an irritable and trouble-seeking nature, they were really the two most worthless men in the camp. They both drank heavily whenever they got the chance, and were continually shirking their work and picking quarrels.
It is safe to say that if they had put half as much energy and time into their work as they did into grumbling and quarreling, they would have been valuable men.
Both were strong and skillful in the handling of axes, and could bring a forest giant to the ground as soon or sooner than anyone else in the camp. It is too bad that in this world of ours there is so much misdirected energy, which if deflected into the proper channels would do so much valuable work.