British Columbia -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Revenge -- Fiction; Sawmills -- Fiction
And as he sent the carriage backward for another cut, Ginger White
looked up and saw Pete standing with his back to the wall. Ginger's
dull eye brightened, and he regarded Simmons with increased
disfavour. Pete he knew was a good Wedger-Off, a quick, keen man
very good for a Siwash, as good as any man in the Mill at such work.
He had seen Pete work at the Inlet. Oh, he was good, "hyas kloshe,"
said White, but as for Simmons, damn! He was red-headed, and Ginger
hated a red man for some deep reason.
It was a busy world, but even in the rhythm of the work hatred
gleamed and strange passions worked as darkly as the belts, deep in
the floor, that drove the saws. Quin, the manager (and part owner),
came in at the door by the big Saws, and he saw Pete standing by the
open chute. He smiled to himself.
"Back again, and asking for work. Where's his wife, pretty Jenny?"
She was pretty, toketie klootchman, a pretty woman: not a half breed:
perhaps, if one knew, less than a quarter breed, tenas Sitcum Siwash,
and the blood showed in the soft cheeks. She was bright and had real
colour, tender contours, everything but beautiful hands and feet, and
they not so bad. As for her face, and her smile (which was something
to see), why, said Quin, as he licked his lips, there wasn't a white
woman around that was a patch on her. Jenny had smiled on him. But
Pete kept his eye on her and so far as it seemed she was true to him.
But Quin----
In the busy world as it was Quin's mind ran on Jenny.
"Yes, Sir," he used to say, "we're small but all there. We run for
all we're worth, every cent of it, every pound of beef. If you want
to see bigger, try the Inlet or Port Blakeley. But we cut here to
the last inch. Thirty thousand feet a day ain't a hell of a pile,
but it's all we can chew. And, Sir, we chew it!"
He was a broad heavy man, dark and strong and much lighter on his
feet than he looked. If there hadn't been Skookum Charlie it might
have been Skookum Quin. He was as hard as a cant-log.
"We're alive," said Quin the manager. They worked where he was, and,
hard as they had worked before, White set a livelier pace and made
his men sweat. Quin smiled and understood that Ginger White was that
kind of a man. Now Mac at the Pony Saw always took a breather when
Quin came in. Just now he walked from his saw, dropped down through
a trapdoor into a weltering chaos of sudden death and threw the
tightener off his saw's belt. The Pony Saw ceased to hum and whined
a little and ran slow and died. The blurred rim of steel became
separate teeth. Long Mac stood over the saw and tightened a tooth
with his tools and took out one and replaced it with a better
washleather to keep it firm. He moved slow but again descended and
let the tightener fall upon the belt. The Pony Saw sprang to valiant
life and screamed for work. Quin smiled at Mac, for he knew he was a
worker from "Way Back," and the further back you go the worse they
get! By the Lord, you bet!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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