XVII
Sam's Woodcraft Exploit
Sam's "long suit," as he put it, was axemanship. He was remarkableeven in this land of the axe, and, of course, among the "Injuns" hewas a marvel. Yan might pound away for half an hour at some block thathe was trying to split and make no headway, till Sam would say, "Yan,hit it right there," or perhaps take the axe and do it for him; thenat one tap the block would fly apart. There was no rule for this happyhit. Sometimes it was above the binding knot, sometimes beside it,sometimes right in the middle of it, and sometimes in the end of thewood away from the binder altogether--often at the unlikeliest places.Sometimes it was done by a simple stroke, sometimes a glancing stroke,sometimes with the grain or again angling, and sometimes a compound ofone or more of each kind of blow; but whatever was the right stroke,Sam seemed to know it instinctively and applied it to exactly theright spot, the only spot where the hard, tough log was open toattack, and rarely failed to make it tumble apart as though it were atrick got ready beforehand. He did not brag about it. He simply tookit for granted that he was the master of the art, and as such theothers accepted him.
On one occasion Yan, who began to think he now had some skill, waswhacking away at a big, tough stick till he had tried, as he thought,every possible combination and still could make no sign of a crack.Then Guy insisted on "showing him how," without any better result.
"Here, Sam," cried Yan, "I'll bet this is a baffler for you."
Sam turned the stick over, selected a hopeless-looking spot, one asyet not touched by the axe, set the stick on end, poured a cup ofwater on the place, then, when that had soaked in, he struck with allhis force a single straight blow at the line where the grain spread toembrace the knot. The aim was true to a hair and the block flew open.
"Hooray!" shouted Little Beaver in admiration.
"Pooh!" said Sapwood. "That was just chance. He couldn't do thatagain."
"Not to the same stick!" retorted Yan. He recognized the consummateskill and the cleverness of knowing that the cup of water was justwhat was needed to rob the wood of its spring and turn the balance.
But Guy continued contemptuously, "I had it started for him."
"_I_ think that should count a _coup_," said Little Beaver.
"Coup nothin'," snorted the Third War Chief, in scorn. "I'll give yousomething to do that'll try if you can chop. Kin you chop a six-inchtree down in three minutes an' throw it up the wind ?"
"What kind o' tree?" asked the Woodpecker.
"Oh, any kind."
"I'll bet you five dollars I kin cut down a six-inch White Pine in twominutes an' throw it any way I want to. You pick out the spot for meto lay it. Mark it with a stake an' I'll drive the stake."
"I don't think any of the Tribe has five dollars to bet. If you can doit we'll give you a grand coup feather," answered Little Beaver.
"No spring pole," said Guy, eager to make it impossible.
"All right," replied the Woodpecker; "I'll do it without using aspring pole."
So he whetted up his axe, tried the lower margin of the head, found itwas a trifle out of the true--that is, its under curve centred, not onthe handle one span down, but half an inch out from the handle. A naildriven into the point of the axe-eye corrected this and the chiefswent forth to select a tree. A White Pine that measured roughly sixinches through was soon found, and Sam was allowed to clear away thebrush around it. Yan and Guy now took a stout stake and, standingclose to the tree, looked up the trunk. Of course, every tree in thewoods leans one way or another, and it was easy to see that thisleaned slightly southward. What wind there was came from the north, soYan decided to set the stake due north.
Sam's little Japanese eyes twinkled. But Guy who, of course, knewsomething of chopping, fairly exploded with scorn. "Pooh! What do youknow? That's easy; any one can throw it straight up the wind. Give hima cornering shot and let him try. There, now," and Guy set the stakeoff to the north-west. "Now, smarty. Let's see you do that."
"All right. You'll see me. Just let me look at it a minute."
Sam walked round the tree, studied its lean and the force of the windon its top, rolled up his sleeves, slipped his suspenders, spat on hispalms, and, standing to west of the tree, said _"Ready_."
Yan had his watch out and shouted "_Go_."
Two firm, unhasty strokes up on the south side of the tree left aclean nick across and two inches deep in the middle. The chopper thenstepped forward one pace and on the north-northwesterly side, eighteeninches lower down than the first cut, after reversing his hands--whichis what few can do--he rapidly chopped a butt-kerf. Not a strokewas hasty; not a blow went wrong. The first chips that flew wereten inches long, but they quickly dwindled as the kerf sank in. Thebutt-kerf was two-thirds through the tree when Yan called "One minuteup." Sam stopped work, apparently without cause, leaned one handagainst the south side of the tree and gazed unconcernedly up at itstop.
"Hurry up, Sam. You're losing time!" called his friend. Sam made noreply. He was watching the wind pushes and waiting for a strong one.It came--it struck the tree-top. There was an ominous crack, but Samhad left enough and pushed hard to make sure; as soon as the recoilbegan he struck in very rapid succession three heavy strokes, cuttingaway all the remaining wood on the west side and leaving only athree-inch triangle of uncut fibre. All the weight was now northwestof this. The tree toppled that way, but swung around on the uncutpart; another puff of wind gave help, the swing was lost, the treecrashed down to the northwest and drove the stake right out of sightin the ground.
"Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! One minute and forty-five seconds!" How Yandid cheer. Sam was silent, but his eyes looked a little less dull andstupid than usual, and Guy said "Pooh? That's nothin'."
Yan took out his pocket rule and went to the stump. As soon as he laidit on, he exclaimed "Seven and one-half inches through where you cut,"and again he had to swing his hat and cheer.
"Well, old man, you surely did it that time. That's a grand coup ifever I saw one," and so, notwithstanding Guy's proposal to "leave itto Caleb," Sam got his grand Eagle feather as Axeman A1 of the SangerIndians.
Two Little Savages Page 48
