Strong High School - Mussul Unsquit Yearbook (Strong, ME)

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THE MUSSUL UNSQUIT 13 Stretched a point! After what we've been through with them before? They 'll smooth that over. But we're big enough to fight and by thunder Farley, we will fight! Eh? blinked the old man. I say we 'll fight. Open the sluiceway, Dan. just then a shout made Kern turn his head up the river. An exclamation escaped his lips. Down through the foam came a plunging raft. There came a crash in the bushes behind him, and another man, hatless, coatless and breathless came running to them. Dynamite! lie gasped, Dynamite! In the name of life, save him! It's dyna- mite! At a glance one could see that the man was no riverman. Stop it, he shrieked, Stop it! He 'll be killed! It's dynamite! He stopped and the river boss shook him, saying, Speak up, man! What is it? ' The raft! Dynamite! He 'll be killed! That was enough. Kern was speeding for the shore. Farley swung on the men be- low. Off the logs, boys! he shouted. Off the logs! just before the dam the water was quieter than up above, and it was in this stretch that the raft was moving. Toward it. to stop it, Kern was now swimming. The details of the affair the boy did not know, but enough and too much he guessed at. They had intended to blow up his logs. They had sent down a dynamite raft such as was sometimes used for blasting out boulders when the current was too swift to get at them any other way. They were usually guided by ropes. but this one was free. and the person on it was fated to go up with the explosion. The men had reached the shore and were watching the boy. Sometimes it seemed that he would reach it in time, and at other times they thought that he would 11ot. Kern, now very near the raft, feared that he could not overtake the raft in time to save the logs, but with one more spurt he reached the raft and threw himself flat across it. He wrenched the wire clear from the dynamite. The day was saved by the disconnecting of that little wire. The man from the woods, now surrounded by the men from the river, broke down and confessed openly. He had seen the dyna- mite raft constructed, and afloat. He had seen the electric current adjusted to await the impact of the standing logs below. Only one man had been instructed to do this work. He had been setting the charge when the swift water had caught him, and bore him away. In making his desperate leap to reach the shore his foot caught in the logs, and he was unable to free it on his downstream flight. VVell, said Kern, VVhat do you think? This thing has been going on for a long time, You have seen it now with your own eyes, not as it looks from a city desk. I think, Rodman, answered the man, that it ought to be stopped. And stopped it was. R. i'l1UCD. S.. '27. DECEITFULNESS U DEAR, thought pretty Mary Dun- stan, as she pushed back her red- dish, bobbed hair, it 's to-morrow that we have to pass in the themes, and I haven't mine written. What shall I do? I can 't think of a thing to write. Now Mary usually had good themes and naturally got good rank, but now her imagination seemed to have gone back on her. Neither could she think of a true story to write up. She was a junior, very ambitious, a good scholar and disliked deceitfulness, but as she sat thinking about her to-morrow's English lesson, a thought came to her about a story in an old newspaper that her aunt had sent from California. Surely, she said to herself, no one has ever seen a paper like that. The blood surging to her ashamed look- ing face, she hunted for the- paper. Still more self-consciously she copied it, changed the characters' names and to a certain ex- tent, the plot. There, after it was finished, I 'm sure no one will know that story. And, trying to excuse herself, 'II couldn't think of a thing to write about.

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1? THE MUSSUL UNSQUIT the door and gently tested the latch. .Xs he did so the door opened and a man leaped upon jimmy with upraised knife. The two men went down in a writhing heap. jimmy had discarded his pack back of the cabin and was free for action. The murderer was quick as a weasel. He drove his knife at .limmy's throat. and the latter promptly jammed his clenched fist into the horrible face above him. The confiict went faster and faster. lloth were big men and in the prime of life. They fought in the snow and rose leaving bloody stains. All civilized methods of lighting were cast aside and the two fought with hands, teeth and feet. jimmy had been wounded in the beginning and began to grow weaker. As they rolled near the cliffs edge he gave his opponent a push and they hung balanced on the prec- ipice. jimmy tried to free himself but Long Knife fastened his hands in an un- breakable hold and they both crashed on the rocks below. Carewe lay dazed a moment and then staggered to his feet. He glanced at Long Knife and turned away. Mor- daunt was avenged. G. R. H., ':4. THE DYNAMITE RAFT H HICY 'I.I. meet, said Kern Rodman. VVhich means trouble. answered Dan Farley. the river boss. .Ns Farley had been working for the Rod- mans for so many years it made him seem old to count them, he ought to know. and the boy, Kern, who was only eighteen. considered that he did know. Almost the last words of his father before he died were. Trust Farley. Kern found that he needed someone to trust. and was glad to find the trust he put in Farley well placed. For about fifty miles on both sides of the river on which they were standing, the lumber belonged to the Branch Lumber fompany, a corporation whose motto was. Multiply and profit. For many years there had been a feud between the Rodmans, and the PJI'3.l1Clll Lumber Company. This trouble had cost Kern's father his life. At various points along the river dams had been constructed. These were usually just below certain bad spots where run- ning logs were inclined to stick. W'hen there was any danger the gates of the dam could be closed. and the water setting back would deepen the rapids so the big logs would ride them. The dams were the cause of the trouble between the companies be- fore Mr. Rodman's death and were in- tending to do so now. The Rodmans that year had cut on tract No. Six. They were not forest hogs that like to get rich quick by cutting everything in their path, but were the kind of men who pick out the right trees. Near No. Six were two dams. It was at the upper one that Kern and his river boss were now looking. The gates were closed, and the drive coming in be- hind it. To keep the logs from bucking the dam, a string of booms cabled together had been run across just above it. This caught the logs and enabled the men to check and Corral them. Three miles abou-, the drive of the Branch Company was com- ing down. If it should come in on top of the smaller Rodman drive it would all but swamp it. The big drive had the power to put things over the smaller one and did it. That was why the Rodmans did not like it, but they did like fair play. and did not stop it. VVell son. said Farley, what are you going to do about it? Let 'em out. answered Kern. A' They have shown us what it will cost us if we don 't. And strand their logs? If I have to. yes. The old man's eyes glistened their ap- proval. He was an old graduate of the river men. and liked to see a fighting man. If you strand them. they 'll bring suit. he said. VVe 're in the right. They have no busi- ness on this stretch until we get our logs out. True, but a good lawyer can make black appear white. and they 've got money for good lawyers. They 'll make it appear that we gave them a raw deal even if we are within our own rights. We can 't afford lawsuits. The court will say we ought to have stretched a point and let them in.

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I4 THE MUSSUL UNSQUIT Next morning her chum, Helen, called on her way to school. mediately began to in a natural voice. XK'hy, exclaimed Mary, He always screeches at me so, but you seem to have made friends with him. livery time you come in. he 'll talk nice to you. l've just tried to make him talk to me, but he only makes horrihle noises. You get angry with him, Mary, said llelen. 'l'hat's why. maybe. Have you your theme written yet? l have. l.et's swap to read them. To her surprise Mary began to cry. XYhy, Xlary, what's the matter? To her Mary told the whole story, hut without trying to excuse herself. lnstead she said. I woke up early this morning and lay thinking. There are lots of things to write up now, but l left my Latin for the tirst two periods. lf it wasn't for that l could wi'ite one then. l'nt so sorry, Mary, Helen tried to l'oll, the parrot, im- say Good morning soothe her. l 'ni su1'e you 'll never do it again. Come. dry your tears: it 's time for school. .Ns they left the house they could hear the parrot sputtering. ,Xt noon Rlary came rushing up to Helen. U Helen. she cried. you know we don't have lfnglish until afternoon so l left lily theme honle, on the table. .Xnd what do you think? That dear parrot that I talked so innch about this morning, got out of his cage and tore my theme all to pieces. l told Bliss Henderson and she said l could have until to-morrow. lsn't that line? Now I can write up an original one. l've a dandy all thought out. And l'll never do that again if I live forever. S. ll. ill., ':7. TEACHING A LESSON H lxNt NY l can get along with him. l'm very sure. said Ruth llridges. Nobody could get along with him! chorused the three Kliss llridges, in uni- son. lfncle john, the personage of whom they spoke. was a crabbed, ill-tempered. little old man, who lived in an old fash- ioned town in the Rockies. He had money to leave, hut his nieces believed it would he easier to go to Cali- fornia and dig a fortune. than to remain and earn one hy making themselves accept- able' to an old man who was just an old grouch. Helen lflridges had tried it First. She was a soft-voiced, slender girl. with a com- plexion as fair as a lilv. No one can help Mrs. Bridges, as she good-by. lint in three weeks frightened out of her wits. He scolds all the l couldn't stay there richest lady of the land. Martha llridges went next: but Martha, although a fine slender girl, with a will of her own. returned in less than a week. l 'd rather wash dishes in a boarding house, said she, than be L'ncle john's loving Helen. said kissed her daughter Helen returned half time, said Helen. if it made me the heiress. livelyn llridges, undiscouraged by her sisters' failures, departed for Hrownvillc-. lint she returned in three days. lt's scold. snarl, snarl. scold. from morning 'till night! said livelyn. Oh you can't imagine what a terrihle old grouch Uncle john is! llere Ruth, the' youngest, tallest and prettiest of the four girls spoke np: l 'll go. she said. You don't know what you 'rc up against. said Helen. He 'd wear out a stone in a day, said Martha. He's a terrihle grouchf' said Evelyn. l 'll try anyway, said Ruth hrightly. So she packed her trunk and went to lirownville. lt was dusk. when she walked up the walk to the house. Uncle john stood on the steps. So you are Ruth, said he. Yes, l aiu Ruth, said the girl. as she gave him a hearty kiss. You're late, said Uncle john. I am late. said Ruth. That terrihle old stage: l thought l'd never get here. It was just jog. jog, all the way. lt's a hot day, growled Uncle john. l'm nearly baked. sighed Ruth.