Too Hot!

Jeremy took his crew to the north side of the mountain and there he set up a secondary logging camp. He and his crew of 10 would be harvesting the trees on that side of the mountain. As he walked the area, picking out the trees for cutting, Corky was making notes and checking off the list of what they would need to cut and send the trees down the steep hill. The day was getting warmer.

"Corky, I think we will be cutting about ten trees today. So, I need three per crew. We have ten men and us, that is twelve. Three per crew, the faller, the bucker, and the topper. The bucker will also be the one to alert others in the area when the tree is ready to fall. So, we have three crews, and ten trees!" Jeremy said as he looked at the first tree he had marked.

"Jeremy, I will take Charlie and Frank with me to work on that group of trees over there. Swede, will you take Robbie and Johnson and go to the trees in the next stand?" Corky asked Swede. Jeremy took Rains and Bart and took the stand to the south of the other two. They got started around 10 in the morning. The temperature was getting higher. Jason and Joshua had their crews spread out all along the mountain in different areas.

Joshua was working on his part of the mountain when one of his men who was 'topping' the trees slipped and almost fell 20 feet to the ground. He had run over and they stopped their work until they made sure that the man was okay.

"Mark, Mark, are you okay?" Joshua said to the man.

"Yes, just hanging upside down, might be nice to be right side up?" Mark said with an upside-down grin. Randy cut the cords holding Mark and with the help of Joshua helped turn him around before he hit his head. They took a break after that and Joshua checked the equipment. Everything looked fine, but Josh noticed that part of the belt had been wearing thin and had snapped at the first sign of stress. This did not make Josh happy.

"I thought I told everyone to check their equipment and to let us know before we came up here if we needed any thing replaced or repaired?" He said to Mark, Jack and Ben.

"Well. I did look at my equipment but I did not notice anything wrong with the belt?" said Mark.

"I want all of you to check your equipment before we go any further!" If we need to replace something, it would be good to get it done now, instead of waiting for something else to fall apart!" Joshua said as he took his belt and other equipment and spread them out on the ground, inspecting every inch to be sure nothing was wrong. The men did the same thing. Mark had to go back and get a new belt so when they were done inspecting, a few other things seemed to not be right, Josh sent Mark back to the main camp to get the new equipment. While they waited, Joshua had them calculate and plan when and where to point the trees that needed to be felled.

Jason was working on topping one of the trees, when he just felt kind of warm. He thought it was because it was getting warm out there, there was usually a breeze that would come to cool them off, but sitting on the top he did not feel that breeze. He had just finished the trimming of the top portion of the tree and was about to make the last cut, when he tried to yell down to his crew that he was going to make the last cut. He tried again, but he could not say a word. His throat was very dry. He reached for his canteen which he always had with him, filled with water. Opened it and found it was empty. He turned it over and saw a large hole in the bottom of the canteen, it looked like it had been purposefully punctured. But who would do something like that. He tried to yell again but could not. He did not want to leave the top without finishing the cut, but he needed to let others know he was ready to send it down. How could he do that.

Swede had gone to get some cool water for his crew when he saw Jason on the top of the tree. He noticed that something seemed to be wrong with him. He took his hat off for a minute and wiped his brown with his sleeve. He looked for the other members of Jason's crew and saw them standing nearby looking up at Jason.

"What is happening" Swede asked

"It is Jason, he was trying to tell us something but he could not get anything out, then he just all of a sudden stopped and isn't doing anything?" Davy said to him. Sam and Andy also nodded. Swede looked up and said:
"Which one of you can get up there to see what the matter is?" he looked at the men, none of them were very small. They were all big, about as big as Swede.
"Swede, what is the problem?" Joshua said as he and his crew came over.

"Your brother Jason, he doesn't look so well!" Joshua took one look and went over to the tree and started to climb.

"Swede, get Jeremy over here. We are going to stop the work today; it is too hot!" Joshua yelled down to Swede. Sam started to climb as well.

"What are you doing Sam?" Joshua asked

"I am going up to help you. I am on the opposite side; you might need an extra hand to help get him down! Besides, do you have your canteen? I think he was trying to take a drink but it may have been empty. With the heat down here, I am not so sure that he was doing all that well!" Sam said and then climbed higher than Josh who was scrambling up the tree as well.

Jeremy and his crew came running over, when he saw his brother Jason hanging by the ropes and belt, he was worried and would have gone up the tree with Joshua and Sam.

"No, Jeremy, there are enough people up there already, Joshua and Sam are up there, they will get your brother down!" Swede said as he put his hand on Jeremy's shoulder to keep him still. Jeremy was about to try to say something when something fell from the tree. He picked it up and it was Jason's canteen. He saw the puncture hole and wondered how it got punctured.

"Sw-Sw-swee-Swede L-l-look!" He pointed to the hole. Swede nodded but did not say anything, they had gotten Jason down, he looked terribly hot. He was almost delirious. Joshua got down and so did Sam.

"Sam, I need you and Ben to get on top and finish topping the tree, we don't need anyone hurt today. Mark, bring the wagon over here, we have to get Jason down to town and cooled down.

"Jeremy, run to Lottie's and try to get some cold water ready, we may have to put him in a cold bath!" Joshua said. Jeremy ran, he ran fast, it may have been too warm, but he did not feel the heat as he headed to town. When he reached the saloon, Lottie was serving drinks to some of the men from Stemple's mill.

"Jeremy, what is the matter, you need some water!" Lottie said as she had him sit down.

"Lot-Lott- Lottie, c-c-cold f-f-for J-j-Jason!" Jeremy could not say anything more. Lottie looked at him and knew he needed the water as well.

"Jack, take some of the men and get the tub set up in the back room. Cold water, nothing but cold water needs to go in the tub!"

"Ken, get me some water for Jeremy please!" Lottie said again. Ken got some water and she sat next to Jeremy making him take sips of water. He was burning up as well. She unloosened his buttons on his shirt and took a rag and wiped his head and chest with the cold water as well.

"Lottie, do you want me to take him upstairs?" Ken asked. She looked at Jeremy, he had fainted.

"Yes, Ken, I will bring some more water up for him as well!" she said as she went out to the rain barrel. Ken carried Jeremy up the stairs and placed him in the room at the head of the stairs. Fortunately, there was no one staying there.

By the time she had brought back a bucket of water and some rags for Jeremy, Joshua came in carrying Jason with Big Swede helping,

"Take him to the backroom Joshua, the tub is waiting!' Lottie said as she headed upstairs to take care of Jeremy.

"Okay, we need to take his boots and other clothes off of him!" Joshua said as he sat his brother on a chair. Swede held onto Jason while Joshua took the boots and socks off. Then with Swede holding him up he took his brother's pants of and then his shirt. Then because Jason always wore long johns, even in Summer, they took those off as well. Jason had fainted now and was not responding as he should.

"I think he will wake up as soon as he hits the water!" Swede said. Joshua looked at him and said:

"You are probably right, where is Jeremy?" He asked Joshua who had not thought about his younger brother until now. Ken answered and said:

"He is upstairs, Lottie is taking care of him. He just about fainted when he got here!" Ken said,

"Oh, ok, then Ken, and Mark I will need help to keep Jason from jumping out of the water!" So, Swede, Mark, Ken and Joshua took hold of an arm or a leg, and they 'gently' lowered him into the water. At first he did not respond. They he reached the bottom of the tub with his bottom and jumped like a fish but could not go anywhere because of the four men who held onto him tightly. His eyes did not open right away, but when they did, the look he gave Joshua almost made Joshua let go of his brother.

"What in the blue blazes? Why am I in a tub of cold water?" He glared at his brother who stood there. His blue eyes full of relief and fear said:

"You are in the tub of water because you got too hot and we had to cool you off!" Jason looked at his brother his eyes still cold as steel, then he relaxed and smiled, his going from an icy blue stare to a warm softer blue. He looked at everyone in the room and said;

"Well, now that you have seen me I only need my brother's help, thank you!" Ken and Mark and Swede all smiled and nodded and left the room.

"Did you happen to bring me some clothes?" He asked Joshua, who looked at his brother and said:

"I didn't think about clothing. Well, don't you think I need something to wear? What happened to my long johns? My shirt, pants…" He trailed off and Joshua looked at him sheepishly and said;

"I'll be back in a little bit!" Jason looked at his brother and smiled. He sat in the tub for a little while. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" He said, Lottie opened the door and saw that he was still in the tub. She took one of the towels and said:

"I know you don't have your clothing yet, but if you sit in there much longer you may have a problem, I brought you a towel. You can get out of the tub… and here comes Joshua now!" Lottie said as Josh stepped inside and placed Jason's clothes on the chair.

"Thank you Joshua. I will be out in a moment, how is our brother?" He asked as he dressed.

"Lottie says he is sleeping right now. He got a little too hot running down to the town, so Lottie had him put in the room upstairs and took care of him." Jason was dressing and said okay to Joshua who left the room. Jason came out of the back room and went over to the bar and asked for a beer. Lottie gave him some water and then he went upstairs to see his brother Jeremy.

He entered the room with Joshua. Jeremy was still sleeping but it looked like he too had cooled down some. They sat in the room with him for some time and Lottie sent some sandwiches up to them with some water.

"She said no beer Jason, not until at least tomorrow!" Ken had said as he brought the sandwiches in. They started to eat and talk quietly.

"Joshua, you did the right thing, securing that tree top. Having them finish, it would have fallen when the next breeze started! Thank you." Joshua was chewing on a piece of his sandwich and mumbled 'you are welcome' between bites. Jason reached over to Jeremy to check his forehead. It seemed like he had cooled down some but he decided to put a wet rag on him, just to be sure.

"Oooohhh! My head, it hurts!" he said slowly waking up and putting his hand to his forehead where he felt something cool and wet. Then a hand on the cool and wet thing. He recognized the hand and opened his eyes.

"Well, I am sure glad it is your hand on my forehead!" He said with a smile. Jason smiled back at him along with Joshua who had been worried about both brothers. Jeremy sat up and said;

"I am glad you are okay, Jason!"

"I am glad you are okay as well, Jeremy!"

"I am glad both of you are okay!" Joshua said. They all smiled at each other than Joshua put his fist out, Jason added his fist and Jeremy's was on top. They were the Bolt Brothers and nothing, not even a heat spell could stop them!