The Riverman

The time was the year 1872, and the place a bend in the river above a long pondterminating in a dam. Beyond this dam, and on a flat lower than it, stood a two-story millstructure. Save for a small, stump-dotted clearing, and the road that led from it, all else wasforest. Here in the bottom-lands, following the course of the stream, the hardwoods grewdense, their uppermost branches just beginning to spray out in the first green of spring. Farther back, where the higher lands arose from the swamp, could be discerned thegraceful frond of white pines and hemlock, and the sturdy tops of Norways and spruce. A strong wind blew up the length of the pond. It ruffled the surface of the water, swooping down in fan-shaped, scurrying cat's-paws, turning the dark-blue surface as oneturns the nap of velvet. At the upper end of the pond it even succeeded in raising quiterespectable wavelets, which LAP LAP LAPPED eagerly against a barrier of floating logs thatfilled completely the mouth of the inlet river. And behind this barrier were other logs, andyet others, as far as the eye could see, so that the entire surface of the stream was carpetedby the brown timbers. A man could have walked down the middle of that river as down ahighway. On the bank, and in a small woods-opening, burned two fires, their smoke ducking andtwisting under the buffeting of the wind. The first of these fires occupied a shallow trenchdug for its accommodation, and was overarched by a rustic framework from which hungseveral pails, kettles, and pots. An injured-looking, chubby man in a battered brown derbyhat moved here and there. He divided his time between the utensils and an indifferentyouth-his "cookee." The other, and larger, fire centred a rectangle composed of tall racks, built of saplings and intended for the drying of clothes. Two large tents gleamed whiteamong the trees. About the drying-fire were gathered thirty-odd men. Some were half-reclining before theblaze; others sat in rows on logs drawn close for the purpose; still others squatted likeIndians on their heels, their hands thrown forward to keep the balance. Nearly all weresmoking pipes. Every age was represented in this group, but young men predominated. All wore woollentrousers stuffed into leather boots reaching just to the knee. These boots were armed onthe soles with rows of formidable sharp spikes or caulks, a half and sometimes even threequarters of an inch in lengt