A hungry, wandering Donald Duck drifts along the railroad tracks, whistling and singing the tune that will become his call of the day. His nose catches the scent of something tasty and leads him to a log cabin that is also the home of the lumberjack Peg-Leg Pete. The moment he steps in, chaos begins to simmer.
> She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain
Pete, trying to enjoy a quiet lunch, finds his meal snatched away by the feisty visitor. In a flash of frustration, he hands [Donald Duck] a stick of dynamite, a weapon the duck mistakes for food. The resulting explosion rattles the cabin, and Pete (speaking in a French Canadian accent) asks if Donald wants more food. When the duck again says yes, Pete hurls an axe in response, telling him to get to work. The axe is so heavy that it drives Donald straight into the trunk of a tree.
A stubborn exchange of improvisation follows: Donald breaks the axe with a stone and shows it to Pete, who in turn hot-woodes a blade onto a wooden handle to keep the tool going. Donald swings with reckless abandon, and the blade snaps off, flying past Pete and leaving a patch of ripped pants in its wake. Not discouraged, the duck searches the lumberjack’s tree for a more modern method and finds a crosscut saw, which he begins to use instead.
The saw soon jams deep in the thick bark, and Donald’s attempt to yank it free blasts him backward, tossing him into Pete and taking them both to the ground. The chaos escalates as Donald ends up inside Pete’s shirt, with the saw wedged against Pete’s midsection. He begins to pull the saw free, and the tickling sensation only fuels the comic mayhem. Pete rises, furious, and chases Donald, warning him of dire consequences.
As the chase continues, the saw vibrates with wild speed, and Donald bounces on the ground, the saw’s ends striking Pete and driving his head into the dirt. Pete spots his foe and retaliates by snapping off a tree branch, which promptly falls onto Pete himself, who rises again only to be kicked by Donald. The impact leaves Pete’s head wedged between the saw’s ends, a precarious moment that Donald uses to his advantage. In a further burst of accidental invention, Donald chops down a huge tree, and it collapses onto Pete, enraging him even more.
With a roar that fills the woods, Pete gives chase once more, now down a railroad line. The pursuit becomes a chaotic sprint on handcars, with Pete eagerly trying to grab Donald by the tail but repeatedly missing. Pete uses the flatcar’s momentum to try and bump Donald’s rear, increasing the danger with a sharpened peavey. He wires his plan with heat by pressing the weapon against a wheel, intending to burn Donald, but the scorching heat only seems to push the duck to speed.
Donald jumps clear and slams a lever at a station, triggering a coal-storage door that showers Pete with coal. The heavy clumps crash onto Pete’s flatcar, dismantling it and leaving him to ride on one wheel. Now on foot, Donald darts away, but not before he pulls another lever that reverses the track. Pete, unable to steer in time, careens off course and crashes through a line of boxcars.
With the danger behind him, Donald looks back briefly and waves farewell through a boxcar hole, then strides into the sunset, continuing to sing the tune that began this wild encounter.
This short is a brisk, slapstick showcase of physical humor and clever, escalating gags, built around the classic rivalry between a hungry mischief-maker and a determined lumberworker. The action moves rapidly from a clever lunchroom theft to improvised weapons, improvised repairs, and a high-stakes chase that ends with a dramatic, comic crash and a peaceful, ending song as the sun sets.
