Free The Moose Jaw by Mike Delany Page A

said the other night, about strange things happening back in here, and about what can happen to a white man’s mind.”
    “Haywood,” I said with a bit of exasperation.  “Three weeks, for Christ’s sake!  And I’ll have plenty to keep my mind occupied.  Stop fretting!”
    “O.K.” he said with finality.  “O.K.  So, take care of yourself.  Don’t let the bears eat you.”
    With that, he swung his leg back into the cockpit and slammed the door.  I watched the dog-ear handle rotate into place.  Then I walked back to the edge of the bar and waited while he checked dials and flipped switches.  Then I heard the winding of the motor and the propeller began its slow spin.  When he had it revved up to speed he shot me a quick salute, swung the nose around and roared off up the gravel bar into the wind.  His wheels lifted off, touched briefly down, and then leapt skyward and he was airborne.  I watched as he made his slow turn with the river and then he was up over the trees and into the sky.   I waited until his plane disappeared into the distance.  As I walked slowly back to camp, I felt the solitude close in gently upon me.

Chapter 6
     
    The next three weeks went by quickly.  That happens when you’re busy with projects you enjoy.  I finished up the cache first.  I got the roof tarp installed and added a knotted rope ladder as a safety device in case I got treed up there by a bear and had to jettison the log ladder.  When that was finished I addressed my lack of furniture.  I needed a bed and a table and two chairs.  I would need them to furnish the cabin when it was built, so I decided to make them early and have the benefit of them while I was living in the tent.  This was a good project to start with, as I wasn’t ready to dive right into the cabin.  I took the chainsaw up into the spruce stand and dropped one tall tree.  Its trunk was roughly fourteen inches in diameter, and I cut it into five-foot sections.  Then I put a rip chain on the chainsaw and rigged up the “Alaska Mill” and ripped all the sections into two-inch planks.  Sounds easy, but it’s a lot of work, bending over to keep the saw’s bar parallel with the ground, while guiding it the length of each log, slow and steady, to make an even, straight cut. Difficult as it was, that one tree gave me enough lumber to build my table, and all the shelves and steps I would need for the cabin.  Next, I dropped enough three, and five-inch stock to make the bed and chairs.  After I skinned off their bark with the draw knife, I ripped a few of them into half logs for the seats and chair backs. 
    The first thing I built was a sturdy, half-log bench.  It was nothing more than what it sounds like – a log, ripped down the middle, and fitted with four legs, flat side up.  I figured it would serve me as a table until I could build a proper table, and, after that it would be perfect for lounging on the porch.  The bench only took about an hour to make.  It took me two full days to build the other four pieces of furniture, but when they were finished I was very pleased with my handiwork.
    I used a foam mattress that had come in on Load 2 as a template to design the bed.  It had once been a full sized mattress, but I’d cut it down to three quarter width so it would not occupy too much of the cabin’s limited floor space.  Consequently, the bed frame wasn’t big, but when complete, it was still quite heavy.  I built it in place, inside the tent, and made it so I could break it down and move it to the cabin when the time came.
    The table was a rustic masterpiece.  The plank top and log legs were rough hewn, but its form and solid structure were very satisfying.  The chairs gave me the most trouble.  I had a couple of false starts, and shaping the seats with the tip of the chainsaw took some doing, but in the end they turned out quite well. 
    I can’t say which of these new appointments I enjoyed most.  I had been sleeping