In the Van or The Builders Part 27

"Immediately after mess."

"Another thing, Captain, we must not forget that Mrs. Manning is here to stay. One of our first buildings must be for herself and her husband."

"I thought of that. How would it do to put up a house at once big enough to hold them and the officers, too?"

"You might throw up a little cottage for them and a larger one for ourselves. That would be better than the double combination. Then we could wait a bit. For that matter, we might build the new fort of stone."

In another hour a score of axes were at work. Busy hands swung them from morning until evening for many successive days. Saws were used to cut the logs into necessary lengths, while the little Frenchmen with their teams snaked the logs out of the woods into the clearing where the houses were to be built.

Some of the men cleared the ground of underwood and dug cellars with bevelled edges for the coming dwellings; others, discovering a spring, hollowed out the surface, put in a cedar block curb and turned it into a flowing well; while another gang felled clear stuff white pines, sawed them into short lengths and split them into s.h.i.+ngles.

And so, under control of Captain Payne, this complex host of industry busied itself day after day, from early dawn until the darkening. The weather was in every way propitious, and though it thawed in day time, it always froze at night. The sun, in a clear sky, daily reached a loftier alt.i.tude and shed a warmer ray, melting the snow until the water ran in ripples to the lake. But the tightening each night saved the situation. Every body knew that warm weather was coming, and with so much impending, not a moment was lost. So the time pa.s.sed until one afternoon a man was squaring the b.u.t.t-end of a log when Captain Payne joined him.

"Can you have all ready for the raising by Monday morning?" he asked.

"For the first cottage, yes," the man answered, resting for a moment upon his broad-axe. "It's the little one for the lady. Bateese and Bouchere are both good hewers, and they will have the logs for the other by the time we have the first up."

"That's satisfactory. I'm glad you are prompt. We are going to have rain."

"Bateese says it will come inside of two days," replied the man, glancing at the hazy mist which was gradually darkening the sky.

"Oui, monsieur, rain sure," cried Bateese from the end of a log he was hewing. "Dem leetle clouds lak sheep-wool all de sam, wid haze where she touch de ice sure sign, sure as shooting, sure as de diable."

"How can you tell? You were never here before, Bateese."

"Sure all de same. Place make no difference. Jess as it was in Kebec."

"You had better push things anyway, Blake," said the Captain. "He is probably right. Come what will, we must have both houses s.h.i.+ngled before the storm breaks."

"And so we shall, if the good Lord will only keep it off a bit longer.

But there's a pile of work to do yet. The s.h.i.+ngles are ready, but the roof slabs have to be split. We'll need more men, sir."

"You can have twenty more for the barrack gang," said Payne.

"That's all we've room for, but they'll be needed. Let us have 'em soon, sir."

"All right, my man."

At this moment there was a wild yell in the woods, following a crash among the trees, and from different directions men rushed to the spot from which the sound came; while at the same time a messenger hurried in.

"What's the matter?" cried Sir George.

"Teddy Barnes is killed. He is dead sure! Oh! where is the Doctor?"

But Beaumont had heard, and with long strides was hastening to the spot.

Though unconscious, the man was not dead. A big s.h.i.+ngle tree in falling had brought down a slanting spruce, pinning Teddy down in the snow without killing him outright. When the Doctor arrived the men were trying clumsily to extricate him.

"Sacre," screamed the Doctor. "Stop, I say! There's only one chance to save him. The log must be cut. Bateese, you are the man. Swing your axe for your life. Now, all take hold and lift the tree bodily till he cuts it loose."

The shrill words of Beaumont calmed the excitement and brought order out of chaos. Every one sprang to his post and the mighty effort of the men in direct line preceptibly raised the upper end of the heavy tree. On examination, the Doctor was convinced that the deep snow in the hollow in which he lay had saved the man from instant death.

With prodigious energy Bateese swung his axe. Every blow sank deep in the soft, green wood. Quickly the bevelled notch in the one side was cut, followed in similar fas.h.i.+on on the other. In a few minutes the work was done, the axe penetrating from side to side through the upper half.

"Now, reedy--leeft, garcons, leeft!" cried Bateese. "Steddy."

With a bound the Frenchman was at the Doctor's side, and while the men lifted till the timber snapped, the two gently drew out the body of the boy; but an ominous sound jarred upon their ears. The bones grated upon each other. Then on a stretcher covered with blankets they gently laid the lad and bore him back to the camp.

"Will he live?" Sir George asked in deep concern.

"No," said the Doctor. "The poor fellow's pelvis is smashed. He may not even become conscious again, for his skull is fractured as well."

"Pray G.o.d he may not, then," said Sir George, fervently. "Better to die than live in hopeless agony."

By the time they reached the men's quarters every one in camp knew. They gathered together in groups and discussed the sad event, the first calamity since their arrival in Penetang. A more careful examination corroborated the Doctor's opinion. Consciousness never returned, and by sundown he was dead.

"What about the lad's burial?" Chaplain Evans asked of Sir George before retiring for the night.

"To-morrow is Sunday, let us have it then," was the sorrowful answer.

"Reveille at eight, breakfast at nine, full parade at ten, funeral at eleven. Preach the Sunday sermon, Chaplain, and let the boys have a good one. They deserve it. Then we'll give poor Barnes a full rifle salute and taps as well."

"You are right, Colonel," returned the Chaplain; there was moisture between his eyelids; "but it is too bad to have a death in our ranks so soon."

CHAPTER XXIV.

They buried the broken body of Teddy Barnes in a little oak grove on the lower plateau, and the dead leaves on the branches soughed in gentle requiem to the words:

"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes," as they fell from the clergyman's lips.

With serious faces soldiers stood around the open grave. Earth dropped upon the coffin. The boom of guns echoed over forest and lake, and then, as the sounds died away, the shrill note of the bugle told of a spirit that had gone too soon to the G.o.d who gave it. The funeral service was ended.

"My men," said the deep voice of the Colonel as he glanced at the faces around him. "This sad duty is over. We have buried a comrade who fell, not fighting in battle, but doing his duty; and in his burial we have given him the honors due the bravest soldier when struck down at the cannon's mouth.

"But, my men, we do not live for the dead, but for the living. We are still practically without shelter, and though it is Sunday, I must bid you work with might and main. Every man must be at his post. The quarters for the officers, and barracks for the men, must be built and have the s.h.i.+ngles on before the rain comes. Otherwise we must face disaster. So I ask you to disband until after dinner, and then, at one o'clock sharp, your work must begin again."

Standing around the grave of their comrade the two companies of the 100th sent up a rousing cheer for their Colonel, and then, scattering, each man went where he listed.

"That Colonel of yours is well named," said Latimer to Helen in the afternoon, as he entered the little coop of the _b.u.mble Bee_, where she was writing. "He's got a mighty good headpiece. Those fellows of his work like n.i.g.g.e.rs when he tells 'em to."

"And should they not?" she asked, looking up from her folder.

"Of course, it's their duty, and all that, but I've often seen fellows s.h.i.+rk right again orders the moment the captain's back was turned."

"Perhaps they didn't have the right kind of a captain."