wish for this time.'

"The raft on which he was to go, consisted of eight sections, the last
of which was made up of the largest timbers. But what do you think
happened? On the evening before they started, the tall Michel brought
eight more logs to the water, thicker and longer than any that had ever
been seen before, and each one he had carried as lightly on his
shoulder as if it were simply a raft pole, so that all were amazed.
Where he had cut them remains a mystery to-day. The heart of the timber
merchant rejoiced as he saw them, and began to reckon up what they
might be worth; but Michel said: 'There, those are for me to travel on.
I shouldn't get very far on those other chips.' His master, by way of
thanks, presented him with a pair of high boots; but Michel threw them
aside, and produced a pair that my grandfather assured me weighed a
hundred pounds and stood five feet high.

[Illustration]

"The raft was started off, and if Michel had astonished the
wood-choppers before, it was now the turn of the raftsmen to be
surprised; for instead of the float going more slowly down the stream,
as had been expected on account of these enormous logs, as soon as they
touched the Neckar they flew down the river with the speed of an arrow.
If they came to a curve in the Neckar, that had usually given the
raftsmen much trouble to keep the raft in the middle of the stream and
prevent it from grounding on the gravel or sand, Michel would spring
into the water and push the raft to the right or the left, so that it
passed by without accident. But if they came to a stand-still, he would
run forward to the first section, have all the other men throw down
their poles, stick his own enormous beam into the gravel, and with a
single push the float flew down the river at such a rate that the land
and trees and villages seemed to be running away from them.

"Thus in half the time usually consumed, they reached Cologne on the
Rhine, where they had been accustomed to sell their float. But here
Michel spoke up once more: 'You seem to be merchants who understand
your own interests. Do you then think that the people of Cologne use
all this timber that comes from the Black Forest? No, they buy it of
you at half its cost, and sell it to Holland merchants at an immense
advance. Let us sell the smaller logs here, and take the larger ones
down to Holland; what we receive above the usual price will be our own
gain.'

"Thus spake the crafty Michel