The western Avernus; . down it, butthe more I looked at the way I had come up the morefeasible the tree seemed, until at last I concluded I musttry it, hit or miss. I waded into the water, straddledmy tree, and backed over the edge of the fall. Thespray flew up and nearly blinded me, and my slide wassuch a slippery one that it took all the grip in my legsto keep me from going down at breakneck speed. Iput the brakes on with my hands too, and graduallycrossed the boiling pool, until finally the trunk got toobig for me to hold on to, and I slid the last ten ortwenty feet with a rush that landed
The western Avernus; . down it, butthe more I looked at the way I had come up the morefeasible the tree seemed, until at last I concluded I musttry it, hit or miss. I waded into the water, straddledmy tree, and backed over the edge of the fall. Thespray flew up and nearly blinded me, and my slide wassuch a slippery one that it took all the grip in my legsto keep me from going down at breakneck speed. Iput the brakes on with my hands too, and graduallycrossed the boiling pool, until finally the trunk got toobig for me to hold on to, and I slid the last ten ortwenty feet with a rush that landed me on my back inthe shallow water. I had cleaned off the weed on thetree, but I had to get a stick to scrape myself downwith. The rest of the walk home was easy after that. Scott, whom I mentioned at the end of the lastchapter, had meantime been discharged by one of theforemen, who considered he did not do enough went to work for Robinson and Early, who werenear at hand. It was now nearly time for me to go. 72. THE EASIEST WAY DOWN. [to/acep. 72. The Railroad Camps On this my last day at Coreys I was working on thetop bench with five or six others, who were some of thelaziest men I ever saw. The foreman was not with usall the time, having to look after the men below, andwhen he turned his back, down would go a wheelbarrowand one would sit on it, while another would lie in thegravel. So, perhaps, only two or three would be doinganything. This day, however, as we were workingright at the top of the slope, grubbing out stumps, itwas impossible for all of them to hide at once. Sothey made up for this by doing as little as they couldwhile pretending to do a great deal. I am not praisingmyself when I assert that I was really doing more workat that time than any one of the others, yet I was theone picked out for censure by the same foreman whodischarged Scott. I was angry at this, of course, andleft work at , having worked a quarter of the day. This camp was not a very nic
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