Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar Page #2

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Chainsaw!

Chainsaw, down! Chainsaw!

Potlatch, get your dog.

Stop that!

Chainsaw, when that cat grows up

you're gonna have a problem.

When he grows up?

What do you call him now?

Just a great big, overgrown kitten.

That's what he's always gonna be.

Aren't you, Good-Time Charlie, huh?

Aren't you fella?

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

In the nature of things,

Charlie did keep growing up.

But at heart, he was still one man's kitten.

Right now, Charlie was helping supervise

the finish of the winter logging activities.

Next would come a full-scale,

old-fashioned river drive.

The start of a river drive

is something worth going to see.

It's the biggest operation

of the whole year.

60 million feet of timber ready to ride

the river 120 miles through the wilderness.

It always begins in early spring,

when the river is high and rising.

Then one giant nudge at the key log,

and the river drive really gets rolling.

Now a big-scale river drive like this

swings into action

through several well-planned stages.

First to move out,

after the main body of logs,

is the number one crew of river men.

They'll make sure there aren't

any major centerjams or wing jams

or any other kind of hang-ups.

Last to leave would be the cook,

in a well-stocked floating kitchen

called the Little Wonigan.

Moving out now, the Big Wonigan.

For the next 10 or 15 days,

these seagoing shacks

would be living quarters

for the whole drive crew - about 40 men.

Well, the big push was over now

for Jess and Charlie.

They figured things would be

getting back to normal again.

Come on, Charlie.

Let's go home.

But old fickle fate had other ideas.

It seems Potlatch had brought the ton

of food it took the feed the river crew.

- Hiya, Jess!

- Hello, Potlatch.

He'd also brought 15 pounds of trouble.

- You got 'em all loaded, ready to go?

- Hey, Charlie!

You get that drive started OK?

Hey, window's open!

- Chainsaw, get back!

- Charlie, come back here!

Chainsaw! You leave that cat alone!

Charlie! Charlie!

Come back here!

Charlie!

Charlie!

Charlie, come back here!

Chainsaw, stop!

Hey, Potlatch, they're coming your way!

Head 'em off!

Hey, grab him!

Hey, that's enough of that.

Charlie had left one problem behind

only to head straight for another.

This cook was a new man. He'd never

even heard of Good-Time Charlie.

Well, he was about

to make his acquaintance.

Whoa!

- Cougar!

- Yeah, I know.

There's a cougar!

Charlie! Charlie!

Hold on, Charlie!

Oh, great.

Charlie had already

found himself a lifeboat.

But Jess just kept going down and down

with the ship.

Charlie!

Charlie!

Jess figured if he was gonna save

the Wonigan and his cougar and himself,

he'd better be dressed for the occasion.

There was white water ahead,

and plenty of it.

All Jess could do now was steer

a middle course, stay in the main stream

and hope somehow to salvage

that cougar from his one-log catamaran.

The current was doing about 15 knots,

and that can use up

an awful lot of river in a hurry.

Rescue wasn't getting one quarter-inch

closer as far as Charlie could see.

Then came along this chance

to get out of his own little jam

by getting onto a bigger one.

Now he'd just wait here for the boss

to drop by and pick him up.

Charlie!

Charlie! Charlie!

Charlie! Stay right there!

I'll be back for you!

It looked like Charlie

had sure missed the boat.

All he'd got was promises,

when what he really needed was help.

So being left to his own natural resources,

Charlie figured he'd just have

to launch out on his own.

That free-floating kitchen

was getting quite a bit behind schedule,

and now a search party

was on its way upriver.

Hey, there it is!

Hey, it's Jess Bradley.

- When did you take up cooking, Jess?

- And what did you do with our cook?

Never mind the questions, just help me

get this river shack under control.

Upstream, Charlie kept

right on logging travel time

and he was fast closing the gap.

Meanwhile, Jess was explaining

to the drive boss

how come his kitchen was minus a cook.

I'm sorry, Mac, but I had no choice.

The Wonigan was headed downriver

and the cook was hightailing up the bank.

Do you realize I have 40 men here to feed?

Mac, can we worry about the cook later?

I've gotta get Charlie.

Charlie?

He's marooned on a center jam

about 10 miles upriver. I need a boat.

Looks like a short 10 miles to me.

Hey, here he is!

Hey, hold on!

Hang on, Charlie!

Don't go away!

Charlie!

- Give me a boat. Come on, Mac.

- Uh-uh.

What do you mean? I gotta get Charlie.

I will be reasonable, though.

You get our supper, we'll get your cougar.

- Look, I'm no cook.

- No cook, no cougar.

- I'm a cook. Let's go get Charlie.

- We'll get Charlie.

You start peeling spuds.

- How about a little of that salad?

- You bet.

Mac, you drive a hard bargain.

Here you are, Ray.

You're doing all right, Jess.

Clean it up, Charlie.

Only one to a customer.

Say, we're gonna

have to hang on to this fella.

Good cook.

I think we should be able

to figure out a way.

- Coffee, Joe?

- Oh, no thanks, Jess. I've had plenty.

- Everything else OK, gentlemen?

- No complaints.

- Fine.

- Just like uptown.

OK, let's get me back upriver

and bring back your cook.

Not so fast, Jess.

I've been... I've been concerned about you.

Yeah?

You've been looking a little peaked lately.

We figure you need a little break

from your regular job.

Little change in scenery.

Something like...

a river cruise downstream.

No, sir. Uh-uh.

Now look, I've got a job

and you've got a cook.

And they're both waiting upstream,

so let's go.

But we're working downstream,

and about 40, 50 miles, when we hit

the road, our cook will be there.

And meantime?

Well, in the meantime,

you cook real well, just keep it up.

Come on, boys.

- You guys. Come on, fellas...

- Good night, Jess.

- Hey! Now, Mac, look...

- Breakfast at five o'clock.

Five o'cl...

Oh, boy!

In a river drive, the main body of logs

floats right on down to the mill.

But all kinds of drifters

get hung up and stranded.

Every last log has to be pried loose

and prodded along.

The very first day, Charlie moved in

and made out

like he was a born and bred river cat.

Whenever the jet boats ferried a crew

from one trouble spot to another,

Charlie was right on top of the action.

In no time at all, Charlie figured he was

the ramrod of this whole operation.

And anybody who seemed to be easing

up was likely to get a dressing down.

There were a few strangers in the crew,

and at first they didn't look kindly

on a cougar being part of the team.

But pretty soon, Good-Time Charlie

was everybody's friend.

One thing about Charlie,

he didn't expect the workmen

to do anything he wouldn't do himself.

He was always willing to get in there

and lend a helping paw.

If the fellas seemed to be making

a fairly clean sweep of things,

Charlie was ready to move on

to other responsibilities -

after he'd made sure

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