noon
agreed Bill cheerfully . In a few moments the danger was averted , the logs ran free . The rivermen thereupon made their uncertain way back to shore , where they took the river trail up stream again to their respective posts . At noon they ate lunches they had brought with them in little canvas bags , snatched before they left the rollways from a supply handy by the cook . In the meantime the main crew were squatting in the lea of the brush , devouring a hot meal which had been carried to them in wooden boxes strapped to the backs of the chore boys . Down the river and up its tributaries other crews , both in the employ of Newmark and Orde and of others , were also pausing from their cold and dangerous toil . The river , refreshed after its long winter , bent its mighty back to the great annual burden laid upon it .