Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/270

 262 WILLIAM BARLOW last a month or over. The only thing we were deficient in was good tools. Of course, we Had saws and axes, but they were in bad condition, and we had only a small grindstone and a few worn-out files. But there was very little heavy timber to cut. The timber and brush on the east side of the Cascades is very different from that on the west side. Over a portion of the east side one can drive a team right through the timber. Days and weeks had now passed and we had no tidings yet of the pathfinders. We had made only one move of ten or twelve miles, in order to be closer to our workers who were cutting the road. The road was now cut out to the head or source of the Little Deschutes River close up to Mt. Hood. Some of the men had gone down to the river over a very long but not a very steep hill. But we concluded not to go down with our wagons until the blazers returned. For if we had to go back, we did not want to have to climb that hill. A day or two after this, just about dark, the keen crack of the old gent's rifle rang out with joyous hopes of glad tidings. In an instant, the boys sprang to their rifles and answered the salute with a half-dozen shots that made the woods ring for miles around. The air was light and the vibration was beau- tiful. Then the old pathfinder's rifle rang out again close at hand. "Tallows" were lit and men, women and children went with a rush to meet the stalwarts. I will pass over the meeting of the husbands and wives. The first thing the old gent said was, "Don't give us anything to eat. A little coffee is all we need now. It will be food and stimulant enough." Rector said, "You can speak for yourself, but I am going to eat some- thing. You would not let me eat those big snails and now I am going to eat whatever my wife will cook for me." But his wife was very cautious about what she gave him. Mother gave father only a little coffee and a very little bread. Then he smoked his pipe and that revived him very much. After a little more coffee, mother had a good feather bed for him and he went to bed and slept sound all night, and was almost as fresh as ever in the morning.