"That I will!" answered Dale, and took one of Owen's arms while Andrews took the other. Between them they ran the young lumberman into the camp and up to the cabin, where they stood him close to the stove while they took off his water-filled boots and his soaked garments. "I don't know how I got into the hole, exactly," said Owen, when the chill had passed. "I saw the hole, and the log behind me, and the next minute I was in over my head. It was a close shave, and phew! but wasn't that water icy!" "Why didn't you jump over the log?" asked one of the men. "It's a good t'ing he didn't dun try dat," put in Jeff, the cook. "Yeah befo' las' poor Ike Madden dun try jumpin' ober a log wot was a-rollin' down hill an' he dun got bof laigs broke an' his nose in de bargain!" "I didn't stop to think of jumping," answered Owen. "All I knew was to get out of the way, and that at once." "After this we'd better have a signal when we start to roll logs," said Dale, and Joel Winthrop agreed that this would be a good thing. Fortunately Owen did not suffer in the least from his unexpected bath. The end of the year was now approaching and soon came Christmas, a cold, clear day, with the thermometer down close to zero. "Merry Christmas!" shouted Dale to Owen, on rising, and "Merry Christmas!" rang out all over the camp. Of course there was no work that day, and the men did what they could to amuse themselves, while Jeff was given orders to serve the best dinner the larder of the camp could afford. Several of the men had gone hunting the day before and brought in some partridges and other game, including two wild turkeys, and fish from the pond and river were not wanting. For dessert the men had a big plum-pudding, and pie was served, as on many other festal occasions, morning, noon, and night. "It's a good variation from the everlasting beans," observed Owen. "I must say, since I've lived in and around the cities, I've got rather tired of beans four or five times a week." "Gilroy tells me we ought not to complain," said Dale. "He says that in old times the loggers got pork and beans and salt fish and precious little else. We are better off than that." Early on Christmas morning a handful of the lumbermen held a church service, one reading a chapter from the Bible, another reciting the ten commandments, and a third offering a short prayer. These men asked Owen and Dale to sing and play for them, and the pair complied and rendered several hymns from a tattered book one of the men owned. Then all joined in singing one or two other familiar hymns and wound up the meeting by singing "America." "That's something like," said Dale, after the meeting was over. "It makes a fellow feel less heathenish to have some sort of a service now and then." "Well, I always go to church when I get a chance," answered Owen. "But a lumberman doesn't get the chance very often, or a mill hand either--unless the mill is close to some settlement."