366 files changed, 32730 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/22667-8.txt b/22667-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f18b038
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10791 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Joan of Arc of the North Woods, by Holman Day
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Joan of Arc of the North Woods
+
+
+Author: Holman Day
+
+
+
+Release Date: September 18, 2007  [eBook #22667]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Jacqueline Jeremy, and
+the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BOOKS BY HOLMAN DAY
+
+  JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS
+  WHEN EGYPT WENT BROKE
+  ALL-WOOL MORRISON
+  THE RIDER OF THE KING LOG
+  THE SKIPPER AND THE SKIPPED
+  THE RED LANE
+  THE RAMRODDERS
+  THE LANDLOPER
+  WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS
+  SQUIRE PHIN
+  BLOW THE MAN DOWN
+
+  Harper & Brothers Publishers
+  New York and London
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS
+
+by
+
+HOLMAN DAY
+
+Author of
+"The Rider of the King Log," "When
+Egypt Went Broke," Etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Harper & Brothers, Publishers
+New York and London
+
+Joan of Arc of the North Woods
+
+Copyright, 1922
+By Harper & Brothers
+Printed in the U.S.A.
+
+First Edition
+     H-W
+
+
+
+
+_Joan of Arc of the North Woods_
+
+CHAPTER ONE
+
+
+The timber situation in the Tomah country was surcharged.
+
+When Ward Latisan came upon Rufus Craig, one afternoon in autumn, steel
+struck flint and trouble's fuse was lighted.
+
+Their meeting was on the Holeb tote road just below Hagas Falls.
+
+Young Ward was the grandson of old John, a pioneer who was in his day a
+saw-log baron of the times of pumpkin pine; by heredity Ward was the
+foremost champion in the cause of the modern independent operators.
+
+In his own way, Craig, the field director of the Comas Consolidated
+Paper Company, was the chief gladiator for an invading corporation which
+demanded monopoly of the Tomah timber by absorption of the independents.
+
+Latisan tramped down the tote road from the shoulder of Holeb Mountain,
+where he had been cruising alone for a week on the Walpole tract,
+blazing timber for the choppers, marking out twitch roads and
+haul-downs, locating yards; his short-handled ax was in his belt, his
+lank haversack flapped on his back; he carried his calipers in one hand;
+with the other hand he fed himself raisins from his trousers pocket,
+munching as he went along. He had eaten the last of his scanty supply of
+biscuits and bacon; but, like other timber cruisers--all of them must
+travel light--he had his raisins to fall back on, doling them one by
+one, masticating them thoroughly and finding the nourishment adequate.
+
+He had been on the go every day from sunup till dark; nights he cinched
+his belted jacket closely and slept as best he could, his back against a
+tree; he had cruised into every nook and corner of the tract, spending
+strength prodigally, but when he strode down the tote road his vitality
+enabled him to hit it off at a brisk gait; his belt was a few holes
+tighter, yet his fasting made him keenly awake; he was more alert to the
+joy of being alive in the glory of the crisp day; his cap was in his
+pocket, his tousled brown hair was rampant; and he welcomed the flood of
+sunshine on his bronzed face.
+
+Craig was making his way along the tote road in a buckboard, with a
+driver. The road bristled with rocks and was pitted with hollows; the
+fat horses dragged their feet at a slow walk. Craig was a big man, a bit
+paunchy, and he grunted while he was bounced. He wore his city hard hat
+as if he wished by his headgear to distinguish himself from the herd of
+woodsmen whom he bossed.
+
+Latisan overtook the toiling buckboard, and his stride was taking him
+past when Craig hailed.
+
+"Ride?"
+
+"No--thank you!" The negative was sharp. Privation and toil had put an
+edge on the young man's temper, and the temper was not amiable where
+Craig was concerned.
+
+"I've got some business to talk with you, Latisan."
+
+"If that's so I can listen while I walk alongside."
+
+But Craig ordered the driver to halt. Then the Comas director swung
+around and faced Latisan. "I'm putting it up to you again--will you and
+your father sell to the Comas?"
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"What is it going to be--a fight to a finish?"
+
+"If you keep your hands off us saw-log fellows, Mr. Craig, there'll be
+no fight. We were here first, you know!"
+
+"That's got nothing to do with the present situation, Latisan. We've
+built a million-dollar paper mill on the Toban, and it's up to me to
+feed it with pulp stuff. We can't lug our plant off in a shawl strap if
+supply fails."
+
+"Nor can the folks who have built villages around the sawmills lug away
+their houses if the mills are closed."
+
+"Paper dominates in this valley nowadays, instead of lumber. Latisan,
+you're old-fashioned!"
+
+The young man, feeling his temper flame, lighted his pipe, avoiding too
+quick retort.
+
+"You stand to lose money in the lumber market, with conditions as they
+are," proceeded Craig, loftily counseling another man about his own
+business. The Comas director, intent on consolidation, had persistently
+failed to understand the loyalty, half romantic, which was actuating the
+old-line employers to protect faithful householders. "Let the workers
+move down the river to our model town."
+
+"And live in those beehives of yours, paying big rent, competing with
+the riffraff help you hire from employment agencies? We can't see it
+that way, Mr. Craig!"
+
+"Look here! I've got some news for you. I've just pulled five of the
+independents in with us--Gibson, Sprague, Tolman, Brinton, and Bodwell.
+The Comas now controls the timber market on the Toban. How about logs
+for your mills?"
+
+Craig believed he was hitting Latisan five solid jolts to the jaw when
+he named the recreant operators.
+
+However, the young man had heard rumors of what the bludgeoning methods
+of the Comas had accomplished; he surveyed Craig resolutely through the
+pipe smoke.
+
+He had come down from the Walpole tract that day in a spirit of new
+confidence which put away all weariness from him. He was armed with a
+powerful weapon. In his exultation, fired by youth's natural hankering
+to vaunt success in an undertaking where his elders had failed, he was
+willing to flourish the weapon.
+
+Craig waggled a thick forefinger. "What are you going to saw, Latisan?"
+
+"Two million feet from the Walpole tract--where no ax has chipped a tree
+for twenty-five years."
+
+It was a return jolt and it made the Comas man blink. "But nobody can
+buy the right to cut there."
+
+"I have bought the right, Mr. Craig. An air-tight stumpage
+contract--passed on by the best lawyer in this county--a clear title."
+
+"Latisan, the Comas has never been able to round up those heirs--and
+what we can't do with all our resources can't be done by you."
+
+"The Latisans know this region better than the Comas folks know it, sir.
+Five cousins by hard hunting--two gravestones by good luck! All heirs
+located! Why don't you congratulate me?"
+
+Just then the Comas director was thinking instead of talking.
+
+In his operations he was a cocksure individual, Mr. Craig was! In his
+hands, by his suggestion, his New York superiors had placed all the
+details of business in the field of the north country. He had promised
+consolidation with full belief in his ability to perform; one explicit
+promise had been that this season would mark the end of the opposition
+by the independents; the Comas would secure complete control of the
+Toban timber and fix prices. But here were the ringleader Latisans in a
+way to smash the corner which Craig had manipulated by bulldozing and
+bribery! In the past Craig had not bothered headquarters with any minute
+explanations of how he accomplished results. This crusher which
+threatened all his plans and promises would make a monkey of him in New
+York, he reflected.
+
+"I want to say a last word to you, Mr. Craig," continued Latisan,
+stiffly. "Probably we are now in for that fight on which you've been
+insisting. I don't want to fight, but I'm ready for a fair stand-up.
+Just a moment, please!" Craig had barked a few oaths preliminary to an
+outpouring of his feelings. "I'm warning you to let up on those
+guerrilla tactics of yours. I propose to find out whether your big men
+in New York are backing you. I'm telling you now to your face, so you
+can't accuse me later of carrying tales behind your back, of my
+intention to go to New York and report conditions to the president of
+the Comas."
+
+"Don't you dare!"
+
+"I do dare. I'm going. I expect you to run in ahead of me, but no
+matter. And speaking of tales behind a man's back----"
+
+Craig was having difficulty in finding speech for retort; Latisan was
+rushing the affair. Again Craig blustered, "Don't you dare!"
+
+"Yes, I do dare. When I went away last summer I had good reasons for
+keeping my plans to myself. I got back to the Toban and found slander
+accusing me of sporting in the city, deviling around with liquor and
+women. That's a damnable lie!"
+
+Latisan delivered the accusation hotly; there was unmistakable challenge
+in his demeanor. "You yourself have handed around some of that slander,
+Mr. Craig. I get it straight from men whose word is good!"
+
+"I only said what others were saying."
+
+"I don't know, of course, who started those stories, but I do know that
+they have been used against me. They have helped you, it seems! I wanted
+to keep my plans under cover--but I've got to protect myself with the
+truth, even if the truth gives you a tip. I went away to take a special
+course in hydraulic engineering, so as to know more about protecting the
+common rights in the flowage of this river." He swung his hand to
+indicate the thundering falls of Hagas. "You have used your tongue to
+hurt my standing with some of the independents--they distrust my
+reliability and good faith--you have pulled in a few of them. The others
+will stand by me. Frankly, Mr. Craig, I don't like your style! It'll be
+a good thing for both of us if we have no more talk after this." He
+walked rapidly down the tote road, not turning his head when Craig
+called furiously after him.
+
+"Pretty uppish, ain't he?" ventured the driver, touching the horses with
+the whip.
+
+Craig, bouncing alone on the middle seat of the buckboard, grunted.
+
+"Excuse me, Mr. Craig, but that's some news--what he said about getting
+aholt of the old Walpole tract."
+
+The Comas boss did not comment.
+
+The driver said nothing more for some time; he was a slouchy woodsman of
+numb wits; he chewed tobacco constantly with the slow jaw motion of a
+ruminating steer, and he looked straight ahead between the ears of the
+nigh horse, going through mental processes of a certain sort. "Now 't I
+think of it, I wish I'd grabbed in with a question to young Latisan. But
+he doesn't give anybody much of a chance to grab in when he's talking.
+Still, I'd have liked to ask him something." He maundered on in that
+strain for several minutes.
+
+"Ask him what?" snapped Craig, tired of the monologue.
+
+"Whuther he's talked with my old aunt Dorcas about the heir who went
+off into the West somewheres. Grandson of the old sir who was the first
+Walpole of the Toban--real heir, if he's still alive! My aunt Dorcas had
+letters about him, or from him, or something like that, only a few years
+ago."
+
+"Look here!" stormed Craig. "Why haven't you said something about such
+letters or such an heir?"
+
+"Nobody has ever asked me. And he's prob'ly dead, anyway. Them lawyers
+know everything. And he's a roving character, as I remember what my aunt
+said. No use o' telling anybody about him--it would cost too much to
+find him."
+
+"Cost too much!" snarled the Comas director. "Oh, you----" But he choked
+back what he wanted to say about the man's intellect. Craig pulled out
+notebook and pencil and began to fire questions.
+
+Latisan was headed for home, the old family mansion in the village of
+Toban Deadwater where Ward and his widowed father kept bachelor's hall,
+with a veteran woods cook to tend and do for them. The male cook was
+Ward's idea. The young man had lived much in the woods, and the ways of
+women about the house annoyed him; a bit of clutter was more
+comfortable.
+
+It was a long tramp to the Deadwater, but he knew the blazed-trail short
+cuts and took advantage of the light of the full moon for the last stage
+of the journey. He was eager to report progress and prospects to his
+father.
+
+Ward was not anticipating much in the way of practical counsel from
+Garry Latisan.
+
+Old John had been a Tartar, a blustering baron of the timberlands.
+
+Garry, his son, had taken to books and study. He was slow and mild,
+deprecatory and forgiving. Ward Latisan had those saving qualities in a
+measure, but he was conscious in himself of the avatar of old John's
+righteous belligerency when occasion prompted.
+
+Ward, as he was trudging home, was trying to keep anger from clouding
+his judgment. When he felt old John stirring in him, young Latisan
+sought the mild counsel of Garry, and then went ahead on a line of
+action of his own; he was steering a safe course, he felt, by keeping
+about halfway between John's violence in performance and Garry's
+toleration.
+
+Ward was the executive of the Latisan business and liked the job; his
+youth and vigor found zest in the adventures of the open. Old John's
+timber man's spirit had been handed along to the grandson. Ward finished
+his education at a seminary--and called it enough. His father urged him
+to go to college, but he went into the woods and was glad to be there,
+at the head of affairs.
+
+The operations on the old tracts, thinned by many cuttings, had been
+keeping him closely on the job, because there were problems to be solved
+if profits were to be handled.
+
+His stroke in getting hold of the Walpole tract promised profits without
+problems; there were just so many trees to cut down--and the river was
+handy!
+
+In spite of his weariness, Ward sat till midnight on the porch with his
+father, going over their plans. The young man surveyed the Latisan mill
+and the houses of the village while he talked; the moon lighted all and
+the mill loomed importantly, reflected in the still water of the pond.
+If Craig prevailed, the mill and the homes must be left to rot, empty,
+idle, and worthless. As Ward viewed it, the honor of the Latisans was at
+stake; the spirit of old John blazed in the grandson; but he declared
+his intention to fight man fashion, if the fight were forced on him. He
+would go to the Comas headquarters in New York, he said, not to ask for
+odds or beg for favors, but to explain the situation and to demand that
+Craig be required to confine himself to the tactics of square business
+rivalry.
+
+"And my course in engineering was a good investment; I can talk turkey
+to them about our dams and the flowage rights. I don't believe they're
+backing up Craig's piracy!"
+
+Garry Latisan agreed fully with his son and expressed the wistful wish,
+as he did regularly in their conferences, that he could be of more real
+help.
+
+"Your sympathy and your praise are help enough, father," Ward declared,
+with enthusiasm. "We're sure of our cut; all I'm asking from the Comas
+is gangway for our logs. There must be square men at the head of that
+big corporation!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO
+
+
+In New York young Latisan plunged straight at his business.
+
+The home office of the Comas Consolidated Company was in a towering
+structure in the metropolis's financial district. On the translucent
+glass of many doors there was a big C with two smaller C's nested. In
+the north country everybody called the corporation The Three C's.
+
+After a fashion, the sight of the portentous monogram made Ward feel
+more at home. Up where he lived the letters were familiar. Those nested
+C's stood for wide-flung ownership along the rivers of the north. The
+monogram was daubed in blue paint on the ends of countless logs; it
+marked the boxes and barrels and sacks of mountains of supplies along
+the tote roads; it designated as the property of the Comas Company all
+sorts of possessions from log camps down to the cant dog in the hands of
+the humblest Polack toiler. Those nested C's were dominant, assertive,
+and the folks of the north were awed by the everlasting reduplication
+along the rivers and in the forests.
+
+Ward, indignantly seeking justice, resolved not to be awed in the castle
+of the giant. He presented himself at a gate and asked to see the
+president. The president could not be seen except by appointment,
+Latisan learned.
+
+What was the caller's business? Latisan attempted to explain, but he
+was halted by the declaration that all details in the timber country
+were left to Rufus Craig, field manager!
+
+When Ward insisted that his previous talks with Craig had only made
+matters worse for all concerned, and when he pleaded for an opportunity
+to talk with somebody--anybody--at headquarters, he finally won his way
+to the presence of a sallow man who filmed his hard eyes and listened
+with an air of silent protest. He also referred Latisan back to Craig.
+"We don't interfere with his management of details in the north."
+
+Evidently Mr. Craig had been attending to his defenses in the home
+office.
+
+Ward's temper was touched by the listener's slighting apathy. "I've come
+here to protest against unfair methods. Our men are tampered with--told
+that the Latisans are on their last legs. We are losing from our crews
+right along. We have been able to hire more men to take the places of
+those who have been taken away from us. But right now we are up against
+persistent reports that we shall not be able to get down our cut in the
+spring. Sawmill owners are demanding bonds from us to assure delivery;
+otherwise they will cancel their orders."
+
+"Do you know any good reason why you can't deliver?" probed the Comas
+man, showing a bit of interest.
+
+"Your Mr. Craig seems to know. I blame him for these stories."
+
+"I'm afraid you're laboring under a delusion, Mr. Latisan. Why don't
+you sell out to our company? Most of the other independents have found
+it to their advantage--seen it in the right light."
+
+"Mr. Craig's tactics have driven some small concerns to see it that way,
+sir. But my grandfather was operating in the north and supplying the
+sawmills with timber before the paper mills began to grab off every tree
+big enough to prop a spruce bud. Villages have been built up around the
+sawmills. If the paper folks get hold of everything those villages will
+die; all the logs will be run down to the paper mills."
+
+"Naturally," said the sallow man. "Paper is king these days."
+
+Then he received a handful of documents from a clerk who entered, again
+referred Ward to Mr. Craig, advised him to treat with the latter in the
+field, where the business belonged, and hunched a dismissing shoulder
+toward the caller.
+
+Ward had not been asked to sit down; he swung on his heel, but he
+stopped and turned. "As to selling out, even if we can bring ourselves
+to that! Mr. Craig has beaten independents to their knees and has made
+them accept his price. It's not much else than ruin when a man sells to
+him."
+
+"Persecutional mania is a dangerous hallucination," stated the sallow
+man. "Mr. Craig has accomplished certain definite results in the north
+country. We have used the word Consolidated in our corporation name with
+full knowledge of what we are after. We assure stable conditions in the
+timber industry. You must move with the trend of the times."
+
+Latisan had been revolving in his mind certain statements which he
+proposed to make to the big men of the Comas. He had assorted and
+classified those statements before he entered the castle of the great
+corporation. With youth's optimism he had anticipated a certain measure
+of sympathy--had in some degree pictured at least one kindly man in the
+Comas outfit who would listen to a young chap's troubles.
+
+Walking to the door, standing with his hand on the knob, he knew he must
+go back to the woods with the dolorous prospect of being obliged to
+fight to hold together the remnants of the Latisan business. He set his
+teeth and opened the door. He would have gone without further words, but
+the sallow man snapped a half threat which brought Ward around on his
+heels.
+
+"Mr. Latisan, I hope you will carry away with you the conviction that
+fighting the Comas company will not get you anything."
+
+Ward choked for a moment. Old John was stirring in him. A fettered yelp
+was bulging in his throat, and the skin of the back of his head tingled
+as if the hair were rising. But he spoke quietly when he allowed his
+voice to squeeze past the repressed impulse. "There's a real fight ready
+to break in the north country, sir."
+
+"Do you propose to be captain?"
+
+"I have no such ambition. But your Mr. Craig is forcing the issue. No
+company is big enough to buck the law in our state."
+
+"Look here, my good fellow!" The sallow man came around in his chair.
+Ward immediately was more fully informed as to the personage's status.
+"I am one of the attorneys of this corporation. I have been attending
+to the special acts your legislature has passed in our behalf. We are
+fully protected by law."
+
+"The question is how much you'll be protected after facts are brought
+out by a fight," replied Ward, stoutly. "I know the men who have been
+sent down to the legislature from our parts and how they were elected.
+But even such men get cold feet after the public gets wise."
+
+"That'll be enough!" snapped the attorney. He turned to his desk again.
+
+"Yes, it looks like it," agreed young Latisan; he did not bang the door
+after him; he closed it softly.
+
+The attorney was obliged to look around to assure himself that his
+caller was not in the room. Then he pushed a button and commanded a
+clerk to ask if Mr. Craig was still in the president's office. Informed
+that Mr. Craig was there, the attorney went thither.
+
+"I have just been bothered by that young chap, Latisan, from the Tomah
+region," reported Dawes, the attorney. "He threatens a fight which will
+rip the cover off affairs in the north country. How about what's
+underneath, provided the cover is ripped off, Craig?"
+
+"Everything sweet as a nut! Any other kind of talk is bluff and
+blackmail. So that's young Latisan's latest move, eh?" he ejaculated,
+squinting appraisingly at Dawes and turning full gaze of candor's fine
+assumption on Horatio Marlow, the president.
+
+"Just who is this young Latisan?" inquired Marlow.
+
+"Oh, only the son of one of the independents who are sticking out on a
+hold-up against us. Did he name his price, Dawes?"
+
+"He didn't try to sell anything," acknowledged the attorney. "Craig, let
+me ask you, are you moving along the lines of the law we have behind us
+in those special acts I steered through?"
+
+"Sure thing!" asserted the field director, boldly.
+
+"We've got to ask for more from the next legislature," stated the
+lawyer.
+
+The president came in with a warning. "Credit is touchy these days, Mr.
+Craig. We're going into the market for big money for further
+development. It's easy for reports to be made very hurtful."
+
+"I'm achieving results up there," insisted Craig, doggedly.
+
+"We're very much pleased with conditions," agreed the president. "We're
+able to show capital a constantly widening control of properties and
+natural advantages. But remember Achilles's heel, Mr. Craig."
+
+"I haven't been able to fight 'em with feathers all the time," confessed
+the field director. "There wasn't much law operating up there when I
+grabbed in. I have done the best I could, and if I have been obliged to
+use a club once in a while I have made the fight turn something for the
+corporation." He exhibited the pride of the man who had accomplished.
+
+The attorney warned Craig again. "We can't afford to have any uproar
+started till we get our legislation properly cinched. Tomah seems to be
+attended to. But we need some pretty drastic special acts before we can
+go over the watershed and control the Noda waters and pull old Flagg
+into line. He's the last, isn't he?--the king-pin, according to what I
+hear."
+
+"I'll attend to his case all right," declared Craig, with confidence.
+"I'll tackle the Noda basin next. Flagg must be licked before he'll
+sell. He's that sort. A half lunatic on this independent thing. I reckon
+you'll leave it to me, won't you?"
+
+"We'll leave all the details of operation in the field to you, Craig,"
+promised the president. "But you must play safe."
+
+"I'll take full responsibility," affirmed Craig, whose pride had been
+touched.
+
+"Then we shall continue to value you as our right bower in the north,"
+said Marlow. "The man on the ground understands the details. We don't
+try to follow them here in the home office."
+
+Craig walked out with Dawes.
+
+"That talk has put the thing up to you square-edged, Craig."
+
+Craig had been heartened and fortified by the president's compliments.
+"Leave it to me!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE
+
+
+Latisan had eaten his breakfast in the grill of a big hotel with a vague
+idea that such an environment would tune him up to meet the magnates of
+the Comas company.
+
+In his present and humbler state of mind, hungry again, he went into a
+cafeteria.
+
+Waiting at the counter for his meat stew and tea--familiar woods
+provender which appealed to his homesickness--he became aware of a young
+woman at his elbow; she was having difficulty in managing her tray and
+her belongings. There was an autumn drizzle outside and Ward had stalked
+along unprotected, with a woodman's stoicism in regard to wetness. The
+young woman had her umbrella, a small bag, and a parcel, and she was
+clinging to all of them, impressed by the "Not Responsible" signs which
+sprinkled the walls of the place. When her tray tipped at an alarming
+slant, as she elbowed her way from the crowded counter, Ward caught at
+its edge and saved a spill.
+
+The girl smiled gratefully.
+
+"If you don't mind," he apologized; his own tray was ready. He took that
+in his free hand. He gently pulled her tray from her unsteady grasp.
+"I'll carry it to a table."
+
+The table section was as crowded as the counter space. He did not offer
+to sit opposite her at the one vacant table he found; he lingered,
+however, casting about himself for another seat.
+
+"May I not exchange my hospitality for your courtesy?" inquired the
+girl. She nodded toward the unoccupied chair and he sat down and thanked
+her.
+
+She was an extremely self-possessed young woman, who surveyed him
+frankly with level gaze from her gray eyes.
+
+"You performed very nicely, getting through that crush as you did
+without spilling anything," she commended.
+
+"I've had plenty of practice."
+
+She opened her eyes on him by way of a question. "Not as a waiter," he
+proceeded. "But with those trays in my hand it was like being on the
+drive, ramming my way through the gang that was charging the cook tent."
+
+"The drive!" she repeated. He was surprised by the sudden interest he
+roused in her. "Are you from the north country?" Her color heightened
+with her interest. She leaned forward.
+
+Latisan, in his infrequent experiences, had never been at ease in the
+presence of pretty girls, even when their notice of him was merely
+cursory. In the region where he had toiled there were few females, and
+those were spouses and helpers of woods cooks, mostly.
+
+Here was a maid of the big city showing an interest disquietingly
+acute--her glowing eyes and parted lips revealed her emotions. At the
+moment he was not able to separate himself, as a personality, from the
+subject which he had brought up. Just what there was about him or the
+subject to arouse her so strangely he did not pause to inquire of
+himself, for his thoughts were not coherent just then; he, too, was
+stirred by her nearer propinquity as she leaned forward, questioning him
+eagerly.
+
+He replied, telling what he was but not who he was; he felt a twinge of
+disappointment because she did not venture to probe into his identity.
+Her questions were concerned with the north country as a region. At
+first her quizzing was of a general nature. Then she narrowed the field
+of inquiry.
+
+"You say the Tomah waters are parallel with the Noda basin! Do you know
+many folks over in the Noda region?"
+
+"Very few. I have kept pretty closely on my own side of the watershed."
+
+"Isn't there a village in the Noda called Adonia?"
+
+"Oh yes! It's the jumping-off place--the end of a narrow-gauge
+railroad."
+
+"You have been in Adonia?"
+
+"A few times."
+
+"I had--there were friends of mine--they were friends of a man in
+Adonia. His name was--let's see!" He wondered whether the faint wrinkle
+of a frown under the bronze-flecked hair on her forehead was as much the
+expression of puzzled memory as she was trying to make it seem; there
+did appear something not wholly ingenuous in her looks just then. "Oh,
+his name is Flagg."
+
+"Echford Flagg?"
+
+"Yes, that's it. My friends were very friendly with him, and I'd like
+to be able to tell them----" She hesitated.
+
+"You have given me some news," he declared, bluntly; in his mood of the
+day he was finding no good qualities in mankind. "I never heard of Eck
+Flagg having any friends. Well, I'll take that back! I believe he's ace
+high among the Tarratine Indians up our way; they have made him an
+honorary chief. But it's no particular compliment to a white man's
+disposition to be able to qualify as an Indian, as I look at it."
+
+This time he was not in doubt about the expression on her face; a sudden
+grimace like grief wreathed the red lips and there was more than a
+suspicion of tears in her eyes. He stared at her, frankly amazed.
+
+"If I have stepped on toes I am sorry. I never did know how to talk to
+young ladies without making a mess sooner or later."
+
+She returned no reply, and he went on with his food to cover his
+embarrassment.
+
+"Do you know Mr. Flagg?" she asked, after the silence had been
+prolonged.
+
+"Not very well. But I know about him."
+
+"What especially?"
+
+"That he's a hard man. He never forgets or forgives an injury. Perhaps
+that's why he qualified so well as an Indian."
+
+She straightened in her chair and narrowed those gray eyes. "Couldn't
+there have been another reason why he was chosen for such an honor?"
+
+"I beg your pardon for passing along to you the slurs of the north
+country, miss----" he paused but she did not help him with her name.
+"It's mostly slurs up there," he went on, with bitterness, "and I get
+into the habit, myself. The Indians did have a good reason for giving
+Flagg that honor. He is the only one in the north who has respected the
+Indians' riparian rights, given by treaty and then stolen back. He pays
+them for hold-boom privileges when his logs are on their shores. They
+are free to come and go on his lands for birch bark and basket
+stuff--he's the only one who respects the old treaties. That's well
+known about Flagg in the north country. It's a good streak in any man,
+no matter what folks say about his general disposition."
+
+"I'm glad to hear you say that much!"
+
+She pushed back her chair slightly and began to take stock of her
+possessions. A sort of a panic came upon him. There were a lot of things
+he wanted to say, and he could not seem to lay a tongue to one of them.
+He stammered something about the wet day and wondered whether it would
+be considered impudence if he offered to escort her, holding over her
+the umbrella or carrying her parcel. He had crude ideas about the matter
+of squiring dames. He wanted to ask her not to hurry away. "Do you live
+here in New York--handy by?"
+
+The cafeteria was just off lower Broadway, and she smiled. He realized
+the idiocy of the question.
+
+"I work near here! You are going home to the north soon?" The polite
+query was in a tone which checked all his new impulses in regard to her.
+
+"I'm headed north right now. If there's any information I can send
+you----"
+
+She shook her head slowly, but even the negative was marked by an
+indecisive quality, as if she were repressing some importunate desire.
+
+"I wish you a pleasant journey, sir." All her belongings were in her
+hands.
+
+"It's queer--it's almost more than queer how we happened to meet--both
+interested in the north country," he stuttered, wanting to detain her.
+
+He was hoping she would make something of the matter.
+
+But she merely acknowledged the truth of his statement, adding, "There
+would be more such coincidences in life if folks took the trouble to
+interest themselves a bit in one another and compare notes."
+
+She started to walk away; then she whirled and came back to the table
+and leaned over it. Her soul of longing was in her eyes--they were
+filled with tears. "You're going back there," she whispered. "God bless
+the north country! Give a friendly pat to one of the big trees for me
+and say you found a girl in New York who is homesick."
+
+She turned from him before he could summon words.
+
+He wanted to call after her--to find out more about her. He saw her
+gathering up her change at the cashier's wicket. The spectacle reminded
+him of his own check. Even love at first sight, if such could be the
+strange new emotion struggling within him, could not enable him to leap
+the barrier of the cashier's cold stare and rush away without paying
+scot. He hunted for his punched check. He pawed all over the marble top
+of the table, rattling the dishes.
+
+A check--it was surely all of that!
+
+The search for it checked him till the girl was gone, mingled with the
+street crowds. He found the little devil of a delayer in the paper
+napkin which he had nervously wadded and dropped on the floor. He shoved
+money to the cashier and did not wait for his change. He rushed out on
+the street and stretched up his six stalwart feet and craned his neck
+and hunted for the little green toque with the white quill.
+
+It was a vain quest.
+
+He did not know just what the matter was with him all of a sudden. He
+had never had any personal experience with that which he had vaguely
+understood was love; he had merely viewed it from a standpoint of a
+disinterested observer, in the case of other men. He hated to admit, as
+he stood there in the drizzle, his defeat by a cafeteria check.
+
+He remained in New York for another night, his emotions aggravatingly
+complex. He tried to convince his soul that he had a business reason for
+staying. He lied to himself and said he would make another desperate
+sortie on the castle of the Comas company. But he did not go there the
+next day. Near noon he set himself to watch the entrance of the
+cafeteria. When he saw a table vacant near the door he went in, secured
+food, and posted himself where he could view all comers.
+
+The girl did not come.
+
+At two o'clock, after eating three meals, he did not dare to brave the
+evident suspicions of that baleful cashier any longer. Undoubtedly the
+girl had been a casual customer like himself. He gave it up and started
+for the north.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR
+
+
+When Ward Latisan was home again and had laced his high boots and
+buttoned his belted jacket, he was wondering, in the midst of his other
+troubles, why he allowed the matter of a chance-met girl to play so big
+a part in his thoughts. The exasperating climax of his adventure with
+the girl, his failure to ask her name frankly, his folly of bashful
+backwardness in putting questions when she was at arm's length from him,
+his mournful certainty that he would never see her again--all conspired
+curiously to make her an obsession rather than a mere memory.
+
+He had never bothered with mental analysis; his effort to untangle his
+ideas in this case merely added to his puzzlement; it was like one of
+those patent trick things which he had picked up in idle moments,
+allowing the puzzle to bedevil attention and time, intriguing his
+interest, to his disgust. He had felt particularly lonely and helpless
+when he came away from Comas headquarters; instinctively he was seeking
+friendly companionship--opening his heart; he had caught something, just
+as a man with open pores catches cold. He found the notion grimly
+humorous! But Latisan was not ready to own up that what he had
+contracted was a case of love, though young men had related to him their
+experiences along such lines.
+
+He went into the woods and put himself at the head of the crews. He had
+the ability to inspire zeal and loyalty.
+
+In the snowy avenues of the Walpole tract sounded the rick-tack of busy
+axes, the yawk of saws, and the crash of falling timber. The twitch
+roads, narrow trails which converged to centers like the strands of a
+cobweb, led to the yards where the logs were piled for the sleds; and
+from the yards, after the snows were deep and had been iced by watering
+tanks on sleds, huge loads were eased down the slopes to the landings
+close to the frozen Tomah.
+
+Ward Latisan was not merely a sauntering boss, inspecting operations. He
+went out in the gray mornings with an ax in his hand. He understood the
+value of personal and active leadership. He was one with his men. They
+put forth extra effort because he was with them.
+
+Therefore, when the April rains began to soften the March snow crusts
+and the spring flood sounded its first murmur under the blackening ice
+of Tomah, the Latisan logs were ready to be rolled into the river.
+
+And then something happened!
+
+That contract with the Walpole second cousins--pronounced an air-tight
+contract by the lawyer--was pricked, popped, and became nothing.
+
+An heir appeared and proved his rights. He was the only grandson of old
+Isaac. The cousins did not count in the face of the grandson's claims.
+
+In the past, in the Tomah region, there had been fictitious heirs who
+had worked blackmail on operators who took a chance with putative heirs
+and tax titles. But the Latisans were faced with proofs that this heir
+was real and right.
+
+Why had he waited until the cut was landed?
+
+The Latisans pressed him with desperate questions, trying to find a way
+out of their trouble.
+
+He was a sullen and noncommunicative person and intimated that he had
+suited his own convenience in coming on from the West.
+
+The Latisans, when the heir appeared, were crippled for ready cash,
+after settling with the cousin heirs for stumpage and paying the
+winter's costs of operating. Those cousins were needy folks and had
+spent the money paid to them; there was no hope of recovering any
+considerable portion of the amounts.
+
+The true heir attached the logs as they lay, and a court injunction
+prevented the Latisans from moving a stick. The heir showed a somewhat
+singular disinclination to have any dealings with the Latisans. He
+refused their offer to share profits with him; he persistently returned
+an exasperating reply: he did not care to do business with men who had
+tried to steal his property. He said he had already traded with
+responsible parties. Comas surveyors came and scaled the logs and nested
+C's were painted on the ends of the timber.
+
+The Latisans had "gone bump"; the word went up and down the Tomah.
+
+"Well, go ahead and say it!" suggested Rufus Craig when he had set
+himself in the path of Ward Latisan, who was coming away from a last,
+and profitless, interview with the obstinate heir.
+
+"I have nothing to say, sir."
+
+Craig calculatingly chose the moment for this meeting, desiring to
+carry on with the policy which he had adopted. By his system the Comas
+had maneuvered after the python method--it crushed, it smeared, it
+swallowed.
+
+The Latisans had been crushed--Craig quieted his conscience with the
+arguments of business necessity; he had a big salary to safeguard; he
+had promised boldly to deliver the goods in the north country. Though
+his conscience was dormant, his fears were awake. He was not relishing
+Latisan's manner. The repression worried him. The grandson had plenty of
+old John in his nature, and Craig knew it!
+
+Craig tried to smear!
+
+"Latisan, I'll give you a position with the Comas, and a good one."
+
+"And the conditions are?"
+
+"That you'll turn over your operating equipment to us at a fair price
+and sign a ten-year contract."
+
+"I knew you'd name those conditions. I refuse."
+
+"You're making a fool of yourself--and what for?"
+
+"For a principle! I've explained it to you."
+
+"And I've explained how our consolidated plan butts against your
+old-fashioned principle. Do you think for one minute you can stop the
+Comas development?"
+
+"I'm still with the independents. We'll see what can be done."
+
+"You're licked in the Toban."
+
+"There's still good fighting ground over in the Noda Valley--and some
+fighters are left there."
+
+Craig squinted irefully at the presumptuous rebel.
+
+Latisan hid much behind a smile. "You see, Mr. Craig, I'm just as frank
+as I was when I said I was going to New York. You may find me in the
+Noda when you get there with your consolidation plans."
+
+"Another case of David and Goliath, eh?"
+
+"Perhaps! I'll hunt around and see what I can find in the way of a sling
+and pebble."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE
+
+
+A summons sent forth by Echford Flagg, the last of the giants among the
+independent operators on the Noda waters, had made that day in early
+April a sort of gala affair in the village of Adonia.
+
+Men by the hundred were crowded into the one street, which stretched
+along the river bank in front of the tavern and the stores. The
+narrow-gauge train from downcountry had brought many. Others had come
+from the woods in sledges; there was still plenty of snow in the woods;
+but in the village the runner irons squalled over the bare spots. Men
+came trudging from the mouths of trails and tote roads, their duffel in
+meal bags slung from their shoulders.
+
+An observer, looking on, listening, would have discovered that a
+suppressed spirit of jest kept flashing across the earnestness of the
+occasion--grins lighting up sharp retort--just as the radiant sunshine
+of the day shuttled through the intermittent snow squalls which dusted
+the shoulders of the thronging men.
+
+There was a dominant monotone above all the talk and the cackle of
+laughter; ears were dinned everlastingly by the thunder of the cataract
+near the village. The Noda waters break their winter fetters first of
+all at Adonia, where the river leaps from the cliffs into the whirlpool.
+The roar of the falls is a trumpet call for the starting of the drive,
+though the upper waters may be ice-bound; but when the falls shout
+their call the rivermen must be started north toward the landings where
+logs are piled on the rotting ice.
+
+On that day Echford Flagg proposed to pick his crew.
+
+To be sure, he had picked a crew every year in early April, but the
+hiring had been done in a more or less matter-of-fact manner.
+
+This year the summons had a suggestion of portent. It went by word o'
+mouth from man to man all through the north country. It hinted at an
+opportunity for adventure outside of wading in shallows, carding ledges
+of jillpoked logs, and the bone-breaking toil of rolling timber and
+riffling jams.
+
+"Eck Flagg wants roosters this year," had gone the word. Spurred
+roosters! Fighting gamecocks! One spur for a log and one for any hellion
+who should get in the way of an honest drive!
+
+The talk among the men who shouldered one another in the street and
+swapped grins and gab revealed that not all of them were ready to
+volunteer as spurred roosters, ready for hazard. It was evident that
+there were as many mere spectators as there were actual candidates for
+jobs. Above all, ardent curiosity prevailed; in that region where events
+marshaled themselves slowly and sparsely men did not balk at riding or
+hoofing it a dozen miles or more in order to get first-hand information
+in regard to anything novel or worth while.
+
+Finally, Echford Flagg stalked down the hill from his big, square
+house--its weather-beaten grayness matching the ledges on which it was
+propped. His beard and hair were the color of the ledges, too, and the
+seams in his hard face were like ledgerifts. His belted jacket was stone
+gray and it was buttoned over the torso of a man who was six feet
+tall--yes, a bit over that height. He was straight and vigorous in spite
+of the age revealed in his features. He carried a cant dog over his
+shoulder; the swinging iron tongue of it clanked as he strode along.
+
+The handle of the tool was curiously striped with colors. There was no
+other cant dog like it all up and down the Noda waters. Carved into the
+wood was an emblem--it was the totem mark of the Tarratines--the sign
+manual by Sachem Nicola of Flagg's honorary membership in the tribe.
+
+He was no popular hero in that section--it was easy to gather that much
+from the expressions of the men who looked at him when he marched
+through the crowd. There was no acclaim, only a grunt or a sniff. Too
+many of them had worked for him in days past and had felt the weight of
+his broad palm and the slash of his sharp tongue. Ward Latisan had
+truthfully expressed the Noda's opinion of Flagg in the talk with the
+girl in the cafeteria.
+
+The unroofed porch of the tavern served Flagg for a rostrum that day. He
+mounted the porch, faced the throng, and drove down the steel-shod point
+of his cant dog into the splintering wood, swinging the staff out to
+arm's length.
+
+"I'm hiring a driving crew to-day," he shouted. "As for men----"
+
+"Here's one," broke in a volunteer, thrusting himself forward with
+scant respect for the orator's exordium.
+
+Flagg bent forward and peered down into the face uplifted hopefully.
+
+"I said men," he roared. "You're Larsen. You went to sleep on the Lotan
+ledges----"
+
+"I had been there alone for forty-eight hours, carding 'em, and the
+logs----"
+
+"You went to sleep on the Lotan ledges, I say, and let a jam get
+tangled, and it took twenty of my men two days to pull the snarl loose."
+
+The man was close to the edge of the porch. Flagg set his boot suddenly
+against Larsen's breast and drove him away so viciously that the victim
+fell on his back among the legs of the crowd, ten feet from the porch.
+
+"I never forget and I never forgive--and that's the word that's out
+about me, and I'm proud of the reputation," declared Flagg. "I don't
+propose to smirch it at this late day. And now I look into your faces
+and realize that what I have just said and done adds to the bunch that
+has come here to-day to listen and look on instead of hiring out. I'm
+glad I'm sorting out the sheep from the goats at the outset. It happens
+that I want goats--goats with horns and sharp hoofs and----"
+
+"The word was you wanted roosters," cried somebody from the outskirts of
+the crowd.
+
+There was laughter, seeking even that small excuse for vent; the
+hilarity was as expressive as a _viva voce_ vote, and its volume
+suggested that there were more against Flagg than there were for him.
+
+He did not lower his crest. "You all know what is happening this
+season. You know why I have sent out for men. The Three C's crowd has
+started stealing from my crews. I want men who have a grudge against the
+Three C's. I want men who will fight the Three C's. Rufe Craig proposes
+to steal the Noda as he has stolen the Tomah. He has been making his
+brags of what he'll do to me. He won't do it, even if I have to make a
+special trip to hell and hire a crew of devils. Now let me test out this
+crowd." He was searching faces with a keen gaze. "All proper men to the
+front ranks! Let me look at you!"
+
+A slow movement began in the throng; men were pushing forward.
+
+"Lively on the foot!" yelled Flagg. "I'm standing here judging you by
+the way you break this jam of the jillpokes. Walk over the cowards, you
+real men! Come on, you bully chaps! Come running! Hi yoop! Underfoot
+with 'em!"
+
+He swung his cant dog and kept on adjuring.
+
+The real adventurers, the excitement seekers, the scrappers, drove into
+the press of those who were in the way. The field became a scene of
+riot. The bullies were called on to qualify under the eyes of the
+master. There were fisticuffs aplenty because husky men who might not
+care to enlist with old Eck Flagg were sufficiently muscular and ugly to
+strike back at attackers who stamped on their feet and drove fists into
+their backs.
+
+Flagg, on the porch, followed all phases of the scattered conflict,
+estimated men by the manner in which they went at what he had set them
+to do, and he surveyed them with favor when they crowded close to the
+edge of his rostrum, dwelling with particular interest on the faces
+which especially revealed that they had been up against the real thing
+in the way of a fight. Behind and around the gladiators who had won to
+the porch pressed the cordon of malcontents who cursed and threatened.
+
+"Much obliged for favor of prompt reply to mine of day and date," said
+Flagg, with his grim humor. He drove his cant-dog point into the floor
+of the porch and left the tool waggling slowly to and fro. He leaped
+down among the men. He did not waste time with words. He went among
+them, gripping their arms to estimate the biceps, holding them off at
+arm's length to judge their height and weight. He also looked at their
+teeth, rolling up their lips, horse-trader fashion. The drive provender
+did not consist of tender tidbits; a river jack must be able to chew
+tough meat, and the man in the wilderness with a toothache would have
+poor grit for work in bone-chilling water after a sleepless night.
+
+Flagg carried a piece of chalk in his right hand. When he accepted a man
+he autographed the initials "E F" on the back of the fellow's shirt or
+jacket, in characteristic handwriting. "Show your back as you go north,"
+he proclaimed for the benefit of the strangers to his custom. "My
+initials are good for stage team, tote team, lodging, and meals--the
+bills are sent to Flagg. The sooner you start the sooner you'll get to
+headwaters."
+
+A big chap followed at Flagg's back as the despot moved among the men.
+He was Ben Kyle, Flagg's drive boss, the first mate of the Flagg ship of
+state. He was writing down the names of the men as they were hired.
+Occasionally the master called on the mate to give in an opinion when a
+candidate ran close to the line between acceptance or rejection.
+
+Flagg began to show good humor beyond his usual wont. He was finding men
+who suited him. Many of them growled anathema against the Three C's.
+They had worked for that corporation. They had been obliged to herd with
+roughscuff from the city employment agencies, unskilled men who were all
+the time coming and going and were mostly underfoot when they were on
+the job. One humorist averred that the Three C's had three complete sets
+of crews--one working, one coming in, and one going out.
+
+Kyle began to loosen up and copy some of Flagg's good humor.
+
+He encouraged the wag who had described the three shifts to say more
+about the Comas crews; he had some witticisms of his own to offer.
+
+And so it came to pass that when he tackled one hulking and bashful sort
+of a chap who stuttered, Kyle was in most excellent mood to have a
+little fun with a butt. Even Echford Flagg ceased operations to listen,
+for the humor seemed to be sharp-edged enough to suit his satiric taste.
+
+"You say you're an ox teamster!" bawled the boss. "Well, well! That's
+good. Reckon we'll put some oxen onto the drive this spring so as to
+give you a job. How much do you know about teaming oxen?"
+
+After a great deal of mirth-provoking difficulty with b and g, the man
+meekly explained that he did know the butt end of a gad from the brad
+end.
+
+"Who in the crowd has got an ox or two in his pocket?" queried Kyle. "We
+can't hire an ox teamster for the drive"--he dwelt on oxen for the drive
+with much humorous effect--"without being sure that he can drive oxen.
+It would be blasted aggravating to have our drive hung up and the oxen
+all willing enough to pull it along, and then find out that the teamster
+was no good."
+
+Martin Brophy, tavernkeeper, was on the porch, enjoying the events that
+were staged in front of his place that day.
+
+"Hey, Martin, isn't there a gad in the cultch under your office desk?"
+
+"Most everything has been left there, from an umbrella to a clap o'
+thunder," admitted Brophy. "I'll look and see."
+
+"Better not go to fooling too much, Ben," warned the master. "I've seen
+fooling spoil good business a lot of times."
+
+It was rebuke in the hearing of many men who were showing keen zest in
+what might be going to happen; it was treating a right-hand man like a
+child. Kyle resented it and his tone was sharp when he replied that he
+knew what he was doing. He turned away from the glaring eyes of the
+master and took in his hand the goad which Brophy brought.
+
+There was a sudden tautness in the situation between Flagg and Kyle, and
+the crowd noted it. The master was not used to having his suggestions
+flouted.
+
+The boss thrust the goad into the hand of the bashful fellow. "There's a
+hitchpost right side of you, my man. Make believe it's a yoke of oxen.
+What are your motions and your style of language in getting a start. Go
+to it!"
+
+The teamster swished the goad in beckoning fashion after he had rapped
+it against the post in imitation of knocking on an ox's nose to summon
+attention. His efforts to vault lingually over the first "double-u"
+excited much mirth. Even the corners of Flagg's mouth twitched.
+
+"Wo, wo hysh! Gee up, Bright! Wo haw, Star!" Such was the opening
+command.
+
+"They don't hear you," declared Kyle. "Whoop 'er up!"
+
+The teamster did make a desperate effort to drive his imaginary yoke of
+oxen. He danced and yelled and brandished the goad as a crazy director
+might slash with his baton. He used up all his drive words and
+invective.
+
+Kyle could not let the joke stop there after the man had thrown down the
+goad, wiped his forehead, and declared that it wasn't fair, trying to
+make him start a hitching post.
+
+"Pick up your gad," commanded the boss. He dropped on his hands and
+knees. "Now you show us what you can do. I'm a yoke of oxen."
+
+"You ain't."
+
+"I tell you I am. Get busy. Start your team."
+
+"That's about enough of that!" warned Flagg, sourly. "Kyle, get up onto
+your feet where you belong."
+
+But the spirit of jest made the boss reckless and willfully disobedient.
+He insisted doggedly on his rôle as a balky ox and scowled at the
+teamster. "If you want a job you'll have to show _me_!"
+
+The teamster adjured Mr. Kyle in very polite language, and did not bring
+the swishing goad within two feet of the scornful nose; the candidate
+wanted a job and was not in a mood to antagonize a prospective boss.
+
+"You're a hell of a teamster!" yapped Kyle. "What's your system? Do you
+get action by feeding an ox lollypops, kissing him on the nose and
+saying, 'Please,' and 'Beg your pardon'?"
+
+The big chap began to show some spirit of his own under the lash of the
+laughter that was encouraging Kyle.
+
+"I ain't getting a square deal, mister. That post wa'n't an ox; you
+ain't an ox."
+
+"I am, I tell you! Start me."
+
+"You vow and declare that you're an ox, do you, before all in hearing?"
+
+"That's what!" Mr. Kyle was receiving the plaudits and encouragement of
+all his friends who enjoyed a joke, and was certain in his mind that he
+had that bashful stutterer sized up as a quitter. Flagg folded his arms
+and narrowed his eyes--his was the air of one who was allowing fate to
+deal with a fool who tempted it.
+
+The candidate did not hurry matters. He spat meditatively into first one
+fist and then into the other. He grasped the goad in both hands. He
+looked calculatingly at Mr. Kyle, who was on his hands and knees, and
+was cocking an arch and provocative look upward, approving the grins of
+the men near him.
+
+When the teamster did snap into action his manner indicated that he knew
+how to handle balky oxen. First he cracked Mr. Kyle smartly over the
+bridge of the nose. "Wo haw up!" was a command which Kyle tried to obey
+in a flame of ire, but a swifter and more violent blow across the nose
+sent him back on his heels, his eyes shut in his agony.
+
+"Gee up into the yoke, you crumpled-horn hyampus!" The teamster welted
+the goad across Kyle's haunches and further encouraged the putative ox
+by a thrust of a full inch of the brad.
+
+When the boss came onto his feet with a berserker howl of fury and
+started to attack, the ox expert yelled, "Dat rat ye, don't ye try to
+hook your horns into me!" Then he flailed the stick once more across
+Kyle's nose with a force that knocked the boss flat on his back.
+
+Echford Flagg stepped forward and stood between the two men when Kyle
+struggled to his feet and started toward the teamster with the mania of
+blood lust in his red eyes. The master put forth a hand and thrust back
+the raging mate. Flagg said something, but for a time he could not be
+heard above the tempest of howling laughter.
+
+It was riotous abandonment to mirth. Men hung helplessly to other men or
+flapped their hands and staggered about, choking with their merriment.
+The savageness of the punishment administered to the boastful Kyle
+might have shocked persons with squeamish dispositions; it was wildly
+humorous in the estimation of those men o' the forest. They were used to
+having their jokes served raw.
+
+The roar that fairly put into the background the riot of the falling
+waters of the Noda was what all the region recognized as the ruination
+of a man's authority in the north country; it was the Big Laugh.
+
+Flagg, when he could make himself heard by his boss, holding Kyle in his
+mighty grip, made mention of the Big Laugh, too. "Kyle, you've got it at
+last by your damn folly. You're licked forever in these parts. I warned
+you. You went ahead against my word to you. You're no good to me after
+this." He yanked the list of names from Kyle's jacket pocket.
+
+"Let me loose! I'm going to kill that----"
+
+"You're going to walk out--and away! You're done. You're fired. You
+can't boss men after this. A boss, are you?" he demanded, with bitter
+irony. "All up and down this river, if you tried to boss men, they'd
+give you the grin and call you 'Co Boss'. They'd moo after you. Look at
+'em now. Listen to 'em. Get out of my sight. I don't forgive any man who
+goes against my word to him and then gets into trouble." He thrust Kyle
+away with a force that sent the man staggering. He turned to the bashful
+chap, who had resumed his former demeanor of deprecation. "You're hired.
+You've showed that you can drive oxen and I reckon you can drive logs."
+
+The teamster was too thoroughly bulwarked by admirers to allow the
+rampant Kyle an opportunity to get at him. And there was Flagg to reckon
+with if violence should be attempted. The deposed first mate slunk
+away.
+
+"That, my men," proclaimed the master, "is what the Big Laugh can do to
+a boss. No man can be a boss for me after he gets that laugh. I reckon
+I've hired my crew," he went on, looking them over critically. "Stand by
+to follow me north in the morning."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX
+
+
+When the autocrat of the Noda strode away, a stalwart young man
+instantly obeyed Flagg's command--seizing the occasion to follow then
+and there. He had been standing on the outskirts of the throng,
+surveying the happenings with great interest. The men who were in his
+immediate vicinity, lumberjacks who were strangers in the Noda region,
+were plainly of his appanage and had obeyed his advice to keep out of
+the mêlée that had been provoked by Flagg's methods of selection.
+
+When the big fellow hurried in pursuit of Flagg a bystander put a
+question to one of the strangers.
+
+"You ought to know who he is," returned the questioned. "That's Ward
+Latisan."
+
+And just then, apart from the crowd, having overtaken the autocrat, the
+young man was informing Flagg to that same effect.
+
+Flagg halted, swung around, and rammed his cant dog into the ground.
+"You've changed from a sapling into fair-sized timber since I saw you
+last. You look like old John, and that's compliment enough, I reckon.
+How do you happen to be over in the Noda country?"
+
+"I don't happen! I heard of the word you sent out. I came here on
+purpose, sir."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To hire with you."
+
+Flagg looked Latisan up and down and showed no enthusiasm. "Yes, I heard
+that you and your father had let the Three C's slam you flat. And what
+makes you think I want that kind of a quitter in my crew?"
+
+Ward met the disparaging stare with a return display of undaunted
+challenge. "Because I belong in the crew of a man who is proposing to
+fight the Three C's."
+
+Flagg grunted.
+
+Latisan kept on. "You have been hiring men because they have been
+parading a lot of little grouches against the Comas folks. You need a
+man who has a real reason for going up against that outfit. And I'm the
+man."
+
+"What you think about yourself and what I may think about you are two
+different things," retorted Flagg, with insolence. "Looks to me like you
+had got the Big Laugh over in your section. You have probably noticed
+what I just did in a case of that sort."
+
+"I took it all in, sir."
+
+"Well, what then?"
+
+"They are not laughing with us or against us over in the Tomah, Mr.
+Flagg. They all know what happened, and that we fought the Comas fair
+and square as long as we could keep on our feet. It was a trick that
+licked us. Craig held out the Walpole heir on us."
+
+"I know about it; I manage to get most of the news." Flagg started to go
+on his way, but Ward put his clutch on the autocrat's arm.
+
+"Pardon me, Mr. Flagg, but you're going to hear what I have to ask of
+you."
+
+Mere apologetic suit would not have served with Flagg. He found this
+bold young man patterning after the Flagg methods in dealings with men.
+The boldness of the grip on his arm gained more effectively than
+pleading.
+
+"Ask it. I'm in a hurry."
+
+"You have fired Kyle. I want his place."
+
+"Well, I'll be----"
+
+"You needn't be, sir. I'm a Latisan and I have bossed our drives. I have
+brought along a bunch of my own men who have bucked white water with me
+and are with me now in standing up for the principle of the
+independents. Allow me to say that luck is with you. Here's your chance
+to get hold of a man who can put heart and soul into this fight you're
+going to make."
+
+"And now go on and tell me how much you admire me," suggested Flagg,
+sarcastically.
+
+"I can't do that, sir. I'm going to tell you frankly I don't relish what
+I have heard about you. It's for no love of you that I'm asking for a
+chance to go up against the Comas people. It's because you're hard--hard
+enough to suit me--hard enough to let me go to it and show the Three C's
+they can't get away with what they're trying to do up here through Rufus
+Craig."
+
+"All right. You're hired. You've got Ben Kyle's job," stated Flagg.
+
+Latisan was not astonished by this precipitate come-about. He was
+prepared for Flagg's tactics by what he had set himself to learn about
+the autocrat's nature--quick to adjudge, tenacious in his grudges,
+inflexible in his opinion, bitterly ruthless when he had set himself in
+the way his prejudices selected.
+
+"You have seen what happened to Kyle. Can you govern yourself
+accordingly?" Flagg in his turn had set his grip on Ward's arm.
+
+"Yes, sir!"
+
+"I'll kick you out just as sudden as I kicked him if anything happens to
+make men give you the grin. Can you start north with me in the morning?"
+
+"Now or in the morning; it makes no difference to me, sir."
+
+Flagg shifted his hand from Ward's arm to the young man's shoulder and
+propelled him back a few paces toward the crowd in front of the tavern.
+"Listen, one and all! Here's my drive boss. He's old John Latisan's
+grandson. If that isn't introduction enough, ask questions about old
+John from those who remember him; this chap is like his grandfather."
+
+Latisan went into the tavern after Flagg had marched away to the big
+house on the ledges. The crowd made way for the new drive boss; those in
+his path stared at him with interest; mumble of comment followed as the
+men closed in behind him. When he sat down in a corner of the tavern
+office and lighted his pipe his subalterns showed him deference by
+leaving him to himself. That isolation gave Landlord Brophy his
+opportunity to indulge his bent in gossip unheard by interlopers.
+
+Brophy plucked a cigar from a box in the little case on the desk and sat
+down beside Ward. "I sympathize with you," he said by way of backhanded
+congratulation.
+
+"Thank you."
+
+"I was born in this tavern; my father built it and run it before me,"
+said Brophy, tucking his cigar through the shrubbery of his gray
+mustache. "And so I've had the chance to know Ech Flagg a good many
+years. He's a turk."
+
+"I have heard so."
+
+"He has always had a razor edge to his temper. Maybe you know what put
+the wire edge onto it?" It was query with the cock of an eyebrow
+accompanying.
+
+"What I know about Mr. Flagg is only a general reputation of being a
+hard man. I can say that much to you because I told him the same thing.
+And that's as far as I care to gossip about an employer," stated Ward,
+stiffly.
+
+"That's a safe stand," said Brophy, unperturbed. "Keep to it and they
+can't be running to him with stories about what you have said. But he
+don't pay me wages and I can say what I feel like saying. A new boss
+ought to know a few things about the man who hires him. It's my
+disposition to set a good chap on the right road with a tip. Whatever
+you may say to Flagg in the way of chat, don't you ever try to bring up
+the subject of his family affairs."
+
+"I'm not at all likely to," snapped Latisan, with asperity.
+
+"Oh, such a subject is easy out when folks get to going confidential,"
+pursued the persistent Brophy. The suggestion that he would ever be on
+confidential terms with Flagg provoked an ill-tempered rebuke from Ward,
+but Brophy paid no attention.
+
+"If you lose your job with him, as you probably will, Latisan, let it
+be in the straight way of business, as he conducts it, instead of being
+by some fool slip of your tongue about family matters." He puffed at his
+cigar complacently and still was giving no heed to Ward's manifest
+repugnance at being made the repository of gossip.
+
+"Eck's wife died when the daughter Sylvia was small, and he sent the
+girl off to school somewheres when she was big enough to be sent. And
+she fell in with a dude kind of a fellow and came back home married to
+him. She was so much in love that she dared to do a thing like that with
+Eck Flagg--and that's being in love a whole lot, I'll say. Well, none of
+us knew what was said back and forth in the family circle, but we
+figured that the new husband's cheeks didn't tingle with any kisses that
+Eck gave him. At any rate, Eck set Kennard to work--that was the name,
+Alfred Kennard. Eck was never much good at ciphering. Office had been in
+his hip pocket, where he carried his timebook and his scale sheet.
+Kennard had an education and it came about that Eck let Alf do the
+ciphering; then he let him keep the books; then he let him handle
+contracts and the money; then he gave him power of attorney so that Alf
+wouldn't be hampered whilst Eck was away in the woods. Just handed
+everything over for the first and the only time in his life, figuring
+that it was all in the family. I guess that Alf went to figuring the
+same way, seeing that he was good at figures; felt that what was Eck's
+was his, or would be later--and Alf proceeded to cash in. Stole right
+and left, that was the amount of it. Prob'ly reckoned he'd rather have
+a sore conscience than have his feelings all ripped to pieces when he
+asked Eck for money.
+
+"We all knew when Eck found out that he had been properly trimmed by the
+only man he had ever trusted.
+
+"It happened in the dooryard of the big house up there, when Eck came
+home, wised up, and tackled Alf. Eck felt that the inside of the house
+might get mussed up by his language, so he stood in the yard and
+hollered for Alf to come out. We all went up and stood around; it seemed
+to be a free show, all welcome. We got the full facts in the case from
+Eck.
+
+"Sylvia came out on the heels of Alf, and she had with her the little
+Lida, Eck's granddaughter. And after Eck had had his say to Alf and had
+thrown him over the fence, he gave Sylvia her choice--stay with her
+father or go away with Alf. Well, she had loved Alf well enough to come
+home and face Eck with him; she loved Alf enough to turn her back on Eck
+and face the world with her husband. Natural, of course! Eck tried to
+grab the little girl away--to save his own from the thieves, so he said.
+Sylvia fought him off and hung to the girl. It was a tough sight,
+Latisan! And he stood there and shook his fists and cast 'em all off for
+ever and aye. That's his nature--no allowance made if anybody does him
+dirt.
+
+"I'll admit that Eck did make an allowance later, after Alf died and the
+news of it got back here to Adonia. Lida was grown up to around sixteen
+by that time. I got this from Rickety Dick. Know him?"
+
+Latisan, relighting his pipe, shook his head with an indifferent wag.
+
+"Well, you soon will. He cooks and waits and tends on Eck. Looks up to
+Eck. Loves Eck--and that's going some! Dick told me about the allowance
+Eck made for once in his life after I had touched Dick up by telling him
+that Eck Flagg never made an allowance to anybody. Eck allowed to Dick
+that Lida was too young to choose the right way that day in the yard.
+When she had grown up Eck sent old Dick to hunt for her in the city, to
+tell her she could come back to him, now that she was old enough to make
+her choice. Said Sylvia couldn't come back. Now that was a devil of a
+position to put a girl in. What? Hey?"
+
+Latisan nodded, displaying faint interest.
+
+"And Sylvia right then was in bed with her never-get-over, so Dick told
+me. Of course Lida wouldn't come back. And she was working her fingers
+to the bone to take care of her mother. Old Dick cried like a baby when
+he was telling me. He cries pretty easy, anyway. He never dared to give
+to Eck the word that Lida sent back. She's got the spirit of the Flaggs,
+so I judge from what Dick told me. She wouldn't even take the eggs and
+the truck Dick lugged down, though Dick had bought 'em with his own
+money; she thought the stuff came from her grandfather. Dick had to hide
+'em under the table when he came away. And so Eck has crossed Lida off
+for ever and aye. Now that's some story, ain't it?"
+
+"I haven't enjoyed it," said Ward, brusquely.
+
+"Prob'ly not. I wasn't telling it thinking you'd give three cheers when
+I finished. But I've been warning you not to make a foolish break by
+stubbing your toe over the family topic. I've heard what has happened to
+the Latisans over Tomah way. You're our real sort, and I'm blasted sorry
+for you. I reckon you need a job and I'm trying to help you hold it. I
+like your looks, young Latisan. I hate the Comas crowd. Craig has never
+set down to my table but what he has growled about the grub. The cheap
+rowdies he hires for his operations on these waters come through here
+with bootleg booze and try to wreck my house. I'd like to be friends
+with you, young Latisan, and if you feel that way about it, put it
+there!"
+
+Brophy held out a fat hand and Latisan grasped it cordially.
+
+"In my position I hear all the news," stated the landlord. "I'll sift
+the wheat out of the chaff and hand you what's for your own good. And
+now you'll have to excuse me whilst I go and pound steak and dish up
+dinner and wait on the table. That's the trouble with running a tavern
+up here in the woods. I can't keep help of the girl kind. They either
+get homesick or get married."
+
+There was an ominous crash in the dining room.
+
+Brophy swore roundly and extricated his rotund haunches from the arms of
+his chair. "There goes Dirty-Shirt Sam! I have to double him as hostler
+and waiter. He'd smash the feed pails in the stable if they wasn't
+galvanized iron."
+
+He pounded with heavy gait across the office and flung open the
+dining-room door, disclosing a lop-sided youth who was listlessly
+kicking broken dishes into a pile.
+
+"You're fourteen dollars behind your wages, already, with dishes you've
+dropped and smashed," shouted Brophy. "I'd give a thousand dollars for
+the right kind of a girl to stay here and wait on tables if she wouldn't
+get married or homesick. I'll make it a standing offer." He cuffed the
+youth in a circle around the heap of broken crockery and went on his way
+to the kitchen.
+
+Latisan smoked and reflected on the nature of Echford Flagg as Brophy
+had exposed it from the family standpoint.
+
+Then he looked at the sullen youth who was sweeping up the fragments of
+the dishes. The whimsical notion occurred to Ward that he might post
+Brophy on the advantages of a cafeteria plan of operating his hostelry.
+But he had by these thoughts summoned the memory of one certain
+cafeteria, and of a handsome girl who sat across from him and who had so
+suddenly been swallowed up in the vortex of the city throngs--gone
+forever--only a memory that troubled him so much and so often that he
+was glad when his own Tomah men appeared to him, asking for commands and
+taking his mind off a constantly nagging regret.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN
+
+
+The set-off of the Flagg expedition in the gray of early dawn had an
+element of picaresque adventure about it.
+
+Latisan was making an estimate of his crew while he mixed with the men,
+checking them up, as they assembled again in front of the tavern of
+Adonia. Old Cap'n Blackbeard would have cheerfully certified to the
+eminent fitness of many of them for conscienceless deeds of derring-do.
+The nature of Flagg's wide-flung summons and his provocative method of
+selection must needs bring into one band most of the toughest nuts of
+the region, Latisan reflected, and he had brought no milk-and-water
+chaps from the Tomah. He had come prepared for what was to face him. He
+had led his willing men in more or less desperate adventures in his own
+region; his clan had been busy passing the word among the strangers that
+old John Latisan's grandson was a chief who had the real and the right
+stuff in him. It was plain that all the men of the crew were receiving
+the information with enthusiasm. Some of them ventured to pat him on the
+shoulder and volunteered profane promises to go with him to the limit.
+They did not voice any loyalty to Flagg. Flagg was not a man to inspire
+anything except perfunctory willingness to earn wages. The men saw real
+adventure ahead if they followed at the back of a heroic youth who was
+avenging the wrongs dealt to his family fortunes.
+
+There were choruses of old river chanteys while the men waited for the
+sleds. A devil-may-care spirit had taken possession of the crew. Latisan
+began to feel like the brigand chief of bravos.
+
+He was jubilantly informed by one enthusiast that they were all in
+luck--that Larry O'Gorman, the woods poet, had picked that crew as his
+own for that season on the river.
+
+The songs of Larry O'Gorman are sung from the Mirimichi to the Megantic.
+He is analyst as well as bard. He makes it a point--and he still lives
+and sings--to attach himself only to forces which can inspire his lyre.
+
+It was conveyed to the new boss that already was Larry busy on a new
+song. Ward, his attention directed, beheld the lyricist seated on the
+edge of the tavern porch, absorbed in composition, writing slowly on the
+planed side of a bit of board, licking the end of a stubby pencil,
+rolling his eyes as he sought inspiration.
+
+A bit later Larry rehearsed his choristers and Latisan heard the song.
+
+    Come, all ye bold and bully boys--come lis-sun unto me!
+    'Tis all abowit young Latis-an, a riverman so free.
+    White water, wet water, he never minds its roar,
+    'Cause he'll take and he'll kick a bubble up and ride all safe to
+                shore.
+    Come, all, and riffle the ledges! Come, all, and bust the jam!
+    And for all o' the bluff o' the Comas crowd we don't give one good--
+        Hoot, toot, and a hoorah!
+    We don't give a tinker's dam.
+
+Every man in the crowd was able to come in on the simple chorus.
+
+They were singing when Echford Flagg appeared to them. He was riding on
+a jumper, with runners under it, and he was galloping his strapping bay
+horses down from the big house on the ledges. On the bare ground the
+runners shrieked, and he snapped his whip over the heads of the horses.
+
+"What is this, a singing school or a driving crew?" he demanded,
+raucously.
+
+"The sleds have just come, sir," explained Latisan, who had been
+marshaling the conveyances.
+
+"Listen, all ye!" shouted Flagg. "Nothing but dunnage bags go on those
+sleds till the runners hit the woods tote road and there's good slipping
+on the snow. The man who doesn't hoof it till then hears from me."
+
+He ordered Latisan to get onto the jumper seat beside him, slashed his
+horses with the whip, and led the way toward the north.
+
+There was no word between the two for many a mile.
+
+Near noon they arrived at a wayside baiting place, a log house in a
+clearing. They ate there and the horses were fed. There was plenty of
+snow in the woods and the first rains of April had iced the surface so
+that the slipping had been good.
+
+As if the chewing of food had unlocked Flagg's close-set jaws, he talked
+a bit to Latisan after the meal and while the horses were put to the
+jumper.
+
+"I'm going to swing off here and ride down to Skulltree dam. I'm hearing
+reports of something going on there."
+
+They heard something very definite in the way of reports before they
+reached Skulltree. The sound of explosions came booming through the
+trees. It was dynamite. Its down-thrusting thud on the frozen ground was
+unmistakable.
+
+"I knew that all those boxes of canned thunder that have been going
+through Adonia, with the Three C's on the lid, weren't intended to blow
+up log jams," vouchsafed Flagg, after a few oaths to spice his opinion
+of the Comas company.
+
+Latisan knew something about the lay of the land at Skulltree, himself.
+When he was a young chap the Latisans had operated in a small way as a
+side-line on the Noda waters. There was a rift in the watershed near
+Skulltree. There was a cañon leading down to the Tomah end, and the
+waters of the gorge were fed by a chain of ponds whose master source was
+near the Noda. The Latisans had hauled over to the pond from the Noda
+Valley.
+
+When Flagg pulled his horses to a halt on the edge of a cliff which
+commanded a view of the Skulltree and its purlieus, he sat in silence
+for five minutes until he had taken in every detail of what was going on
+there.
+
+Every little while there was an explosion across the river among the
+trees, and clotted frozen earth and rocks shot up into the air. When the
+horses leaped in fright Flagg slashed them and swore. It was plain that
+his ire was mounting as he made sure of what was taking place.
+
+They were blasting a rude canal from the Noda across the low horseback
+which divided the Noda waters from Tomah ponds. It meant the diversion
+of flowage. It was contemptuous disregard of the Noda rights in favor of
+the million-dollar paper mill of the Three C's on the Tomah lower
+waters. Rufus Craig had said something to young Latisan about the
+inexpediency of picking up a million-dollar paper mill and lugging it
+off in a shawl strap. It would be easier to blow a hole through the
+earth and feed in the logs from the Noda.
+
+"By the red-hot hinges of Tophet!" bawled Flagg, having made sure that
+the enormity he was viewing was not a dream. He cut his whip under the
+bellies of his horses, one stroke to right and the other to left, and
+the animals went over the cliff and down the sharp slope, skating and
+floundering through the snow. The descent at that place would have been
+impossible for horses except for the snow which trigged feet and runners
+in some degree; it was damp and heavy; but the frantic threshing of the
+plunging beasts kicked up a smother of snow none the less. It was like a
+thunderbolt in a nimbus--the rush of Flagg down the mountain.
+
+Rufus Craig was in the shack at the end of Skulltree dam--his makeshift
+office. Somebody called to him, and from his door he beheld the last
+stages of Flagg's harebrained exploit, a veritable touch-and-go with
+death.
+
+"There ain't much doubt about who it is that's coming for a social
+call," said the understrapper who had summoned the field director. "And
+the question is whether he's bound for hell or Skulltree."
+
+Craig did not comment; he had the air of one who had been expecting a
+visitor of this sort and was not especially astonished by the mode of
+getting there suddenly, considering the spur for action.
+
+Tempestuous was the rush of the horses across the narrow flats between
+the cliff and the end of the dam. So violently did Flagg jerk them to a
+standstill in front of the shack, one horse fell and dragged down the
+other in a tangle of harness. Flagg left them to struggle to their feet
+as best they were able. He leaped off the jumper and thrust with the
+handle of his whip in the direction of the dynamite operations.
+
+The old man's features were contorted into an arabesque--a pattern of
+maniacal rage. His face was purple and its hue was deepened because it
+was set off against the snow which crusted his garments after his
+descent through the drifts. Knotted veins stood out on his forehead.
+There was no coherence in the noises he was making in his effort to
+speak words. He kept jabbing with his whip handle.
+
+Evidently Craig's first thought was that the menace of the whip was for
+him; he half put up a curved arm to ward off blows. In spite of his
+attention to Flagg he surveyed Latisan with considerable astonishment.
+
+Ward had not recovered his poise. A passenger is usually more perturbed
+than a driver in desperate situations. That crazy dash down the cliff
+had frightened him into speechless and numb passivity. He still clung to
+the jumper seat with his stiffened fingers.
+
+"Before you do anything you'll be sorry for, Mr. Flagg, let me assure
+you that we have the law behind us in what we're doing," suggested
+Craig, with nervous haste. "The legislature extended our charter for
+development purposes and a special act protects us."
+
+Flagg strode away a dozen paces and then came back with better command
+over his faculties of speech. "Damn your legislature! What right has it
+got to tamper with a landbreak that God Almighty has put between
+waters?"
+
+"The act was passed, Mr. Flagg. There was an advertised hearing. If you
+were interested you should have been there."
+
+"What does a legislature know about conditions up here?" demanded Flagg,
+with fury. "They loaf around in swing chairs and hearken to the first
+one who gets to 'em. They pass laws with a joker here and a trick there,
+and they don't know what the law is really about. You're stealing my
+water. By the gods! there's no law that allows a thief to operate. And
+if you've got a law that helps you steal I'll take my chance on keeping
+my own in spite of your pet and private law."
+
+"Go ahead, Flagg," said Craig, impudently, no longer apprehensive about
+the whip. "I'm not your guardian to save you from trouble. There's water
+enough for all of us."
+
+"You have swept the slopes so clean for your cursed pulp-wood slivers
+that you have dried up the brooks, and there isn't enough water any
+more, and you know it. Your damnation canal will suck the life out of
+the Noda."
+
+"You listen to me, Flagg!" adjured Craig, getting back all his
+confidence as the executive of a powerful corporation. "Another special
+act allows us to raise this dam and conserve the water so that there'll
+be plenty after we use our share for the canal. You're safe and----"
+
+"Safe!" raged the old man, and again the veins knotted on his forehead
+and he panted for breath. Latisan wanted to urge him to be careful.
+Flagg was exhibiting the dread symptoms of apoplexy. "Safe! I'll be
+locked into this dam by you, with sluiceway refused to me--that's what
+it will come to--you offering me a cut price for the logs I can't get
+down to the Adonia sawmills. If you can't kill one way, as you killed
+off the Latisans, you'll kill in another way. You're a devilish thief,
+Craig. I wonder if the men who hire you know what you are. Special acts,
+hey? That legislature has given a robber a loaded gun without knowing
+it. By the bald-headed jeesicks! I've got a drive coming down this
+river! And for fifty years, every spring, it has gone through. It's
+going through this year, too, and if you're underfoot here you'll be
+walked on. And that's just as good as your trumped-up law; it's
+better--it's justice."
+
+Flagg acted like a man who did not dare to remain longer in the presence
+of such an enemy; his big hands were doubling into hard fists; he was
+shaking in all his muscles. He leaped back onto the seat of his jumper,
+swung his team and sent his horses leaping up a whiplash road which
+traversed the cliff--a road he had disdained in his wild impatience to
+meet his foe.
+
+When they reached the level of the wooded country Flagg had something to
+say about his abrupt departure from Craig, as if the master feared that
+his employe might suspect that there was an element of flight in the
+going-away. "There's a law against killing a man, and I've got to
+respect that law even if I do spit on special acts that those gum-shoers
+have put through. I didn't go down to their legislature and fight
+special acts, Latisan. I found these waters running downhill as God
+Almighty had set 'em to running. I have used 'em for my logs. And if any
+man tries now to steal my water at Skulltree, or block me with a raised
+dam, there's going to be one devil of a fight at Skulltree and I'll be
+there in the middle of it. What I wanted to do to Craig to-day can well
+wait till then when the doing can count for full value."
+
+Ward had been casting solicitous side glances at the empurpled face and
+the swollen veins. He did not dare to counsel Flagg as to his motions or
+his emotions. But he felt sure that an old man could not indulge in such
+transports without danger. He knew something about the effects of an
+embolism. His violent grandfather had been a victim of a fit of flaming
+anger in his old age.
+
+"I'll be in the middle of it, a club in each hand," promised Flagg. And
+his molten ponderings kept alight the fires in his face.
+
+They halted for the night at one of the Flagg store depots and were
+lodged in the office camp, reserved sacred to the master and his boss.
+
+Latisan slept in the bunk above the master.
+
+Flagg had been silent all the evening, poring over the accounts that the
+storekeeper had turned over.
+
+He sighed frequently; he seemed to be weary. After a time he kicked off
+his larrigans and rolled into his bunk, ready dressed as he had stood.
+He seemed to lack the volition to remove his clothing.
+
+He was snoring calmly when Latisan went to sleep.
+
+Sometime in the night the young man awoke. The sounds which he heard
+below him were not the snores of a man who was sleeping peacefully.
+There was something ominous about the spasmodic and stertorous
+breathing.
+
+Latisan slipped to the floor and lighted a lamp. He found the wide eyes
+of Flagg staring from the gloom of the bunk.
+
+"What is it, Mr. Flagg? What is the matter?" he asked, with solicitude.
+
+Flagg slowly reached with his left hand, picked up his right hand, and
+when he released it the hand fell as helplessly as so much dead flesh.
+"That's it," he said, without apparent emotion. "It's a shock." He
+employed the colloquial name for a stroke of paralysis. "My mother was
+that way. I've been afraid of it--have expected it, as you might say.
+Mother lived ten years after her shock. I hope to God I won't. For it
+has taken me just when I'm ready to put up my best fight--and it's my
+good right hand, Latisan, my right hand!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT
+
+
+That was Flagg's reiterated lament on the journey back to Adonia. "It's
+my right hand, Latisan!"
+
+Ward had insisted on being the charioteer for the stricken master,
+promising to rush back to headwaters and take charge of the crew. He
+tried to console the old man by urging that getting in touch as soon as
+possible with capable doctors might restore his strength. "It may be
+only a clot in the brain, sir. Such cases have been helped."
+
+"It's my right hand. It's like my mother's. She never could lift it
+again."
+
+They had started before dawn; a gibbous moon shed enough light on the
+tote road to serve Latisan. Flagg was couched on a sled, his blanket
+propped up by hay. His scepter, the curiously marked cant dog, lay
+beside him. He had made sure of that before he allowed the team to
+start.
+
+"I propose to be your right hand in so far as I'm able, Mr. Flagg,"
+declared Latisan, at last, pricked by the repeatedly iterated plaint.
+"You can depend on me just as far as I can stretch my ability."
+
+"But you told me you didn't like me for myself. You said you were
+joining drives with me because I was proposing to fight. Now I can't
+fight. No man will do my fighting for me unless he likes me for myself."
+
+"I'll do it for you, sir," insisted Ward, determinedly. "It's right in
+line with my plans. I'll take your orders. I'll come to you regularly at
+Adonia. You shall know every move. I'll be merely your right hand to do
+what you want done."
+
+"I'm a hard man with my help, Latisan. You have agreed with me on that
+point. I shall be ugly when I'm chained up. I shall say something to
+you, and then you'll quit."
+
+Latisan had been looking the situation squarely in the eye on his own
+account. He was confronted by something wholly outside all his
+calculations. He had enlisted merely as a lieutenant and had never
+considered that he would be called on to assume authority as chief in
+the field. He had been led to serve with Flagg because the old man was
+the personification of permanency in the north country--seemed to be
+something that could not be shaken by the assaults of the Comas--a man
+who impressed all as being above the hazards of death and accident.
+Somehow, after all the years and because he had been there as a fixture
+through so many changes, Echford Flagg was viewed as something
+perennial--as sure as sunrise, as solid and everlasting as the peak of
+Jerusalem Knob, which overshadowed the big house on the ledges at
+Adonia; he was a reality to tie to in a fight against a common foe.
+
+But right then he was a whimpering old man who plucked and fumbled at a
+dead right hand.
+
+He was as helpless as a little man whom Latisan had plucked from a
+brutal clutch of an assailant in front of a bulletin board. Craig was
+still able enough. Craig was man size. Craig would be even more vicious
+when the news of Flagg's condition reached him; he would perceive his
+opportunity.
+
+"It's sort of the code up where I come from. There's no objection to a
+clean fight. But if you don't pick your bigness you must expect that
+your bigness will offer himself mighty sudden." Latisan was not
+recollecting what he had said to the chaps of Tech; he was putting
+before his mind one of his fundamental principles as he listened to the
+laments of the stricken giant and urged the horses down the tote road.
+Craig would keep on fighting; but Flagg was no longer of Craig's
+bigness. There was only one thing for Latisan to do--so that was why he
+put so much of determination and warmth into his pledges to a man whom
+he did not like from a personal standpoint. Flagg could not understand
+why this stranger should be loyal; the old man's wits were numbed along
+with his body.
+
+"I'll be ripping at you with my tongue, because it's been my style--and
+I'll be worse when I'm penned up." Flagg could not seem to hope for any
+reform in himself. He was accepting his nature as something forged
+permanently in the fires of his experience, not to be remolded.
+
+"I'm not thin-skinned, sir. If you can't keep from abusing me about
+business details, go ahead and abuse. It will ease your feelings and the
+abuse will not hurt me, because I don't propose to do anything knowingly
+to justify abuse. Twitting on real facts is what hurts. You hired me
+because you knew I had good reasons for fighting the Comas on account of
+the principle involved in the stand of the independents; you know that
+I still have the reasons, no matter how much your tongue may run away
+with you about foolish details."
+
+He was looking forward to an opportunity to place himself even more
+definitely on record in the hearing of Flagg. After the sun was up
+Latisan expected to be able to grasp that opportunity at almost any turn
+of the tote road. He knew he would meet the upcoming crew. Flagg's
+horses on the trip north had made twice the speed of the plodding woods
+teams, and the crew had been ordered to spend the night at any camp
+where darkness overtook them.
+
+Latisan heard, long before he came in sight of them, the shrill yells
+with which sled load interchanged repartee with sled load; everlastingly
+there was the monotone of the singers. It was plain that the same spirit
+of gay adventure was inspiring the men.
+
+The tote road was a one-track thoroughfare; Latisan picked a cleared
+knoll at one side for his turnout switch and swung his horses up there
+in order to give the heavy sleds passage.
+
+"How the hell can they come singing? Stop 'em," moaned Flagg.
+
+There were half a dozen sleds in close procession, and Ward's upflung
+hand halted them when the leading sled came abreast.
+
+By his own efforts Flagg propped himself into a sitting posture, braced
+by his left arm.
+
+Men leaped off the sleds and crowded forward in a phalanx, cupping with
+their ranks the sledge where their master was couched. Voices were
+hushed and eyes were wide.
+
+"I've been hit a wallop, boys," quavered the old man. "Overnight it has
+hit me. Shock. It ain't surprising at my age. Mother had the same."
+
+For that moment Flagg had put aside the shell of his nature; he found
+instant sympathy in the gaze which rough men of the forest bestowed on a
+stricken one of their ilk. He was responding to that sympathy. There
+were tears in his eyes.
+
+"Men, I'm hurrying Mr. Flagg home where he can be looked after by the
+doctors. I'm sure he'll soon be all right again," Latisan assured them,
+lying for the good of the cause. "In the meantime I'm saying to him for
+myself that I'm standing by for every ounce that's in me. What do you
+say to him?"
+
+"The same!" they yelled, in a ragged chorus.
+
+"Fact is," went on Ward, as spokesman for all, "to make up for your not
+being with us, Mr. Flagg, we've got to put in twice as many licks
+because you're not on the job, and you can depend on us. What, boys?"
+
+They bellowed promises and shrieked a pledge.
+
+"Get along to headwaters and start to rolling the jackstraws onto the
+ice," shouted Latisan. "Have the dynamite warmed when I get back there.
+If we have to do it, well beat the April rains to the job."
+
+They went on their way, cheering.
+
+"You've heard us. It ought to help some," stated Ward, urging his team
+along toward Adonia.
+
+"The songs of the angels never will sound any better, and the angels
+will never look any better than those men did just now," declared the
+old man, still in his softened mood.
+
+Latisan turned about and grinned at the master.
+
+"I know what you mean," averred Flagg. "Of course I know. I was after
+pirates and I've got the toughest gang in the north country. Feed 'em
+raw meat, Latisan!"
+
+Over the snow, which was slushy under the April sun of midday, and
+finally into Adonia over the rutted grit that the evening chill had
+frozen, the baron of the Noda was driven to the door of his mansion on
+the ledges.
+
+Latisan had picked up men at the tavern as helpers.
+
+A hail brought out a little old man whose white, close beard and fluffy
+hair gave his face the appearance of a likeness set into a frame of
+cotton batting. It was Rickety Dick; Brophy had told Latisan about him.
+He flung his hands above his head; it was his involuntary action when
+deep emotion stirred him; and his customary ejaculation was, "Praise the
+Lord!" It was possible that he would have shouted those words even then
+without regard to their irrelevance; but he was not able to utter a
+sound when Brophy and Latisan and the other men came bearing Flagg into
+the house.
+
+The master stoutly refused to be laid in his bed. There was his big
+armchair in the middle of the sitting room; he commanded that he be
+placed there. "I can't fight lying down. If I can't stand up, I can sit
+up."
+
+"Praise the Lord!" cried old Dick, finding an opportunity to interject
+his thanksgiving phrase.
+
+"I'll come to you often, Mr. Flagg," promised Ward, taking leave. "I'll
+not neglect matters up the river, of course. But I want you to feel that
+I'm merely your right hand, moving according to your orders."
+
+He went away with a thrill of sympathy inspiring his new resolution in
+behalf of the master's interests. The spectacle that he closed the door
+on had pathos in it. The tyrant of the Noda was shut away from the woods
+where he had ruled--away from the rush of white water under the prow of
+his great bateau; he could hear only the tantalizing summons of the
+cataract whose thunder boomed above the village of Adonia.
+
+Latisan had promised to send for the best doctors in the city--he had a
+messenger already on the way. But he knew well enough that Echford
+Flagg, if he lived, was doomed to sit in that big chair and wield his
+scepter vicariously. And Latisan knew, too, what sort of the torments of
+perdition Flagg would endure on that account.
+
+In the office of Brophy's tavern Rufus Craig, apparently a casual
+wayfarer, was sitting when Latisan entered after leaving the big house
+on the ledges.
+
+Craig either felt or assumed contrite concern. "Excuse me, Latisan, but
+is it true that Mr. Flagg has suffered a stroke of paralysis?"
+
+"It is true, sir."
+
+"I'm sorry. I'm not on pleasant terms with him, or with you, for that
+matter. But I hate to see a good fighter struck down."
+
+Latisan went to the desk and wrote his name on a leaf of the dog-eared
+register. He proposed to stay the night at Brophy's and start north in
+the morning.
+
+"Go up and take Number Ten," said Brophy, who had been called as a
+helper and who had walked down from the mansion with Latisan.
+
+When Craig plodded heavily along the upper corridor, on his way to bed a
+little later, the door of Number Ten was open for ventilation; Latisan
+was smoking his pipe and reading a newspaper which he had picked up in
+the tavern office. His stare, directed at Craig over the top of the
+newspaper, was inhospitable when the Comas man stopped and leaned
+against the door jamb.
+
+"Latisan, I'm presuming on that frankness of yours; you have bragged
+about it in the past."
+
+"That was before my experience with you in the Walpole matter, sir. But
+go ahead! What do you want?"
+
+"You're over here in the Noda region, according to your threat. You may
+be willing to inform me as to your status in the Flagg proposition, now
+the old man is on his back."
+
+"Mr. Flagg has put me in full charge of his drive."
+
+"Has he delegated to you any authority to compromise?"
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"There ought to be an opportunity to compromise, now that he's down and
+out."
+
+"I just left Mr. Flagg sitting in his chair, and he says he intends to
+keep sitting there. Therefore, he isn't down."
+
+"Is his mind clear for business?"
+
+"I should say so--yes!"
+
+Craig tipped his hat and scratched the side of his head. "Then I'm
+afraid there isn't much use in my going to him to talk compromise," he
+confessed.
+
+"That's your affair, Mr. Craig."
+
+"And your affair--where he's concerned----"
+
+"Is to bring down his drive."
+
+"He has threatened a big fight at Skulltree. You heard him."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And if he gives his orders to blow hell out of the bottom of the river,
+I suppose you'll obey, eh?"
+
+"He has ordered me to bring his logs into the hold-boom here at Adonia.
+I have promised to do so. I see no need of going into details of how I'm
+to do it." Latisan raised the shield of his newspaper in front of his
+face.
+
+But Craig persisted. He had promised the Noda to his superiors; he had
+not been sure how he could maneuver to deliver, but his past success had
+impelled him to go on with his cocksure pledges of performance; he was
+spurred by a hint of a raise in salary, a gift of Comas common stock; he
+had depended on the situation at Skulltree as his principal weapon, if
+bravado backed the special legislative act. But that act had been
+juggled, just as Echford Flagg had asserted. The thing was ticklish, and
+Craig knew it. Anger and apprehensiveness were working twin leverage on
+the Comas executive.
+
+"Latisan, by coming over here into the Noda and grabbing in where you
+have no timber interests of your own, you have shown your animus. You
+have made it a personal matter between you and me."
+
+"There's a lot of truth in what you say," admitted Ward, lowering his
+shield. "Let's exchange accusations! You held that Walpole heir up your
+sleeve till we had our cut on the landings. If you had worked such a
+trick on my grandfather he wouldn't be sitting on this chair, as I'm
+doing. He'd be kicking you around this tavern. I'll save my strength for
+the Flagg drive."
+
+"I've got some frankness of my own, Latisan. I'm at a point where my
+future with the Comas is in the balance, and I'm going to fight for that
+future. I'm not asking you to lie down. But you have it in your
+power--the circumstances being as they are--to swing the Flagg interests
+in with ours to mutual advantage. Why isn't that better than a fight?"
+
+"It would be better!"
+
+Craig brightened.
+
+But Latisan added: "For your interests! You're afraid of a fight--at
+Skulltree!"
+
+"Yes, I am," blurted Craig, trying candor. "Let's arrange a hitch-up!"
+
+"Now the trouble with that plan is this," returned Latisan, quietly,
+slowly. "It can't be done, not with a man like you've shown yourself to
+be. Hold in your temper, Mr. Craig! You're coming round now to ask
+square men to deal with you. You can't appeal on the ground of
+friendship--you haven't tried to make any friends up here. You have
+played too many tricks. We're all doubtful in regard to your good faith,
+no matter what the proposition may be. We can't deal with you. It's all
+your own doing. You are paying the penalty."
+
+"Much obliged for the sermon!"
+
+"I could say a lot more, but it wouldn't amount to anything in your
+case."
+
+"Then it has settled into a personal fight between you and me, has it?"
+
+"Bluntly speaking, yes!"
+
+"You have accused me of playing tricks!" Craig's rage burst bounds. "You
+young hick, you have never seen real tricks yet! You don't think I'm
+coming after you with fists or a cant dog, do you?"
+
+"I wish you were younger and would try it!"
+
+"I'm from the city. In the city we use our brains. Latisan, I have tried
+to show you in the past that the Comas means business. If you'll go back
+to the Toban, where you belong, I'll do something for you on that
+Walpole matter, now that I've taught you a lesson."
+
+"The Latisans are not out after charity, Mr. Craig."
+
+"You're out after punishment--a damnation good smashing, personally, and
+you're going to get it!"
+
+Latisan leaped from his chair and slammed the door suddenly and
+violently; expecting an attack. Craig leaped back and saved his fingers
+from a jamming.
+
+From behind his curtain in the morning he saw Latisan drive the Flagg
+team into the tavern yard.
+
+"I'll be coming down often, Brophy, to see Mr. Flagg. I'll depend on you
+to save out a room for me."
+
+"Number Ten is yours if it suits."
+
+Craig grunted with the satisfaction of one who had received interesting
+information; knowledge that Latisan would be regularly in Adonia helped
+some plans which the director had been revolving.
+
+Latisan lashed his horses away toward the north.
+
+Craig took the forenoon train down over the narrow-gauge, headed for New
+York. He was seeking that aid of which he had boasted--city brains. In
+handling certain affairs of his in the past he had found the Vose-Mern
+Detective Agency both crafty and active--and the roundabout method of
+craft, he decided, was the proper way to get at Latisan, without
+involving the Comas folks in any scandal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE
+
+
+Not cattishly, but with patronizing pity, Miss Leigh, bookkeeper,
+remarked to Miss Javotte, filing clerk, that if Miss Kennard did not
+change that green toque with the white quill to something else pretty
+soon, she could be identified by her hat better than by her
+fingerprints.
+
+Miss Leigh had been showing one of her new spring hats to Miss Javotte;
+she was able to express a _sotto voce_ opinion about Miss Kennard's
+toque because Miss Kennard, stenographer, was rattling her typewriter
+full tilt. Miss Javotte agreed, spreading her fingers fan shape and
+inspecting certain rings with calm satisfaction. "And not even a
+rock--only that same old-fashioned cameo thing--speaking of fingers."
+
+"I was speaking of fingerprints," said Miss Leigh, tartly, frowning at
+the display of rings, perfectly well aware that they were not bought on
+the installment plan out of a filing clerk's wages.
+
+It was quite natural for Miss Leigh to speak of fingerprints. She was an
+employe in the Vose-Mern offices. "Vose-Mern Bureau of Investigation"
+was the designation on the street corridor directory board of a building
+in the purlieus of New York City Hall. On the same board other parties
+frankly advertised themselves as detectives. The Vose-Mern agency called
+its men and women by the name of operatives. The scope of its
+activities was unlimited. It broke strikes, put secret agents into
+manufacturing concerns to stimulate efficiency, or calculatingly and in
+cold blood put other agents in to wreck a concern in the interests of a
+rival. It was a matter of fees. Mern could defend the ethics of such
+procedure with interesting arguments; he had been an inspector of police
+and held ironic views of human nature; he had invented an anticipatory
+system, so he called it, by which he "hothoused" criminal proclivities
+in a person in order to show the person's latent possibilities up to an
+employer before damage had been wrought to the employer's business or
+funds. That is to say--and this for the proper understanding of Mr.
+Mern's code in his operations as he moved in the special matters of
+which this tale treats--his agency deliberately set women of the type
+well hit off by the name "vamps"; "sicked" those women onto bank clerks
+and others who could get a hand into a till, and if the women were able
+to cajole the victim to the point of stealing or of grabbing in order to
+make a get-away to foreign parts with the temptress, the trick was
+considered legitimate work of the "anticipatory" sort. The operative
+would order the treasure _cached_, would appoint the day and hour for
+the get-away--and a plain-clothes man would be waiting at the _cache_!
+The Vose-Mern system thus nabbed the culprit, who had revealed his lack
+of moral fiber by reason of the hothouse forcing of the situation; Mern
+insisted that if the germ were there it should be forced. By his plan
+the loot was pulled back and returned to the owner.
+
+Mern had broken the big paper-mill strike for the Comas Consolidated;
+he calmly assured his clients that he could furnish a thousand men as
+well as one. When he did a thing it was expensive--for he had bands of
+picked men always on call, and the men must be paid during their loafing
+intervals, waiting for other strikes.
+
+Craig had been close to Mern during the strike. Mern stated that the
+ethics of the law allowed a lawyer to defend and extricate, if he could,
+a criminal whom he knew was hideously guilty; the lawyer's smartness was
+applauded if he won by law against justice. Mern excused on the same
+lines his willingness to accept any sort of a commission. It was a
+heartless attitude--Mern admitted that it was and said that he didn't
+pose as a demon. He seemed to get a lot of comfort out of declaring that
+if the fellow he was chasing had the grit and smartness to turn around
+and do Mern up, Mern would heartily give the fellow three cheers. Thus
+did Mern put his remarkable business on the plane of a man-to-man fight
+by his argument, not admitting that there was any baseness in his plots
+and his persecution.
+
+Miss Lida Kennard, as confidential stenographer, was deep into the
+methods of Mern. It was Mern's unvarying custom to have Miss Kennard in
+to listen to and take down all that a client had to state. She was
+extremely shocked in the first stages of her association with the
+Vose-Mern agency by the nature of the commissions undertaken. But it was
+the best position she had secured, after climbing the ladder through the
+offices of more or less impecunious attorneys. She needed the good pay
+because her mother was an invalid; she continued to need the pay after
+her mother died. There were bills to be settled. She had grown used to
+setting the installments on those bills ahead of new hats, and the cameo
+ring which had been her mother's keepsake was for the sake of memory,
+not adornment.
+
+By dint of usage, the Vose-Mern business had come to seem to her like a
+real business. Certainly some big men came and solicited Mern's aid and
+appeared to think that his methods were proper. In course of time,
+listening to Mern's ethics, she came to accept matters at their
+practical value and ceased to analyze them for the sake of seeking for
+nice balances of right and wrong. She was in and of the Vose-Mern
+organization! She sat in on conferences, wrote down placidly plots for
+doing up men who had not had the foresight to hire Mern--Vose had been
+merely an old detective, and he was dead--and she sometimes entertained
+a vague ambition to be an operative herself. She liked pretty hats and
+handsome rings--though she was scornfully averse to the Leigh-Javotte
+system as she was acquainted with it by the chance remarks the
+associates dropped. As to operatives--Miss Kennard had heard--well, she
+had heard Miss Elsham, for instance, a crack operative, reveal what the
+rewards of the regular work were; and, the way Miss Elsham looked at it,
+a girl did not have to lower her self-respect.
+
+In the midst of these thoughts, getting a side glance at the new hat
+which Miss Leigh was showing to Miss Javotte, Miss Kennard was called to
+conference; the buzzer summoned her.
+
+Mern introduced her to the client of the day; the chief made that his
+custom; it always seemed to put the client more at his ease because an
+introduction made her an important member of the party--and Mern
+stressed the "confidential secretary" thing.
+
+The client was Director Craig of the Comas company.
+
+He rose with a haste which betrayed a natural susceptibility to the
+charms of pretty women. He cooed at her rather than spoke, altering his
+natural tone, smoothing out all the harshness; it was that clumsy
+gallantry by which coarse men strive to pay court to charm.
+
+The girl warranted the approving gaze which Mr. Craig gave to her. He
+looked from her frank eyes to her copper-bronze hair, which seemed to
+have a glint of sunshine in its waves. He liked the uplift of that round
+chin--he remembered that it had seemed to indicate spirit--and he liked
+spunk in a girl. He had enjoyed the conferences of the days of the
+strike-breaking when he could survey her profile as she busied herself
+with her writing, admiring the beauty curve of her lips.
+
+Now he was thrilled by her manner of recognition; he had not expected
+that much.
+
+"I remember you, Mr. Craig," she assured the big man, her fingers as
+firm in the grip as were his. "You were in here so much on the strike
+matter two years ago."
+
+"That's a long time for a New York young lady to remember a man from the
+north woods."
+
+"To save myself from seeming like a flatterer, I must say it's because
+of the woods feature that I remember you so well. The forest interests
+me. I'm afraid I'm inclined to be very foolish about the woods. Why, in
+a cafeteria--last fall--there was----"
+
+But she checked herself and flushed. She turned to Mern. "I beg your
+pardon. I'm ready." She sat down and opened her notebook.
+
+"But what about it?" quizzed Craig.
+
+"A mere chance meeting with a man from the north country. I really don't
+understand why I mentioned it. My interest in the woods--the thought of
+the woods--tripped my tongue." She nodded to the stolid Mern as if to
+remind him of the business in hand, and Mern ducked his square head at
+Craig.
+
+It was the habit of Mern to go thoroughly over a case with a client
+before calling in Miss Kennard. At the second going-over in her presence
+the topic was better shaken down, was in a more solidified form for her
+notebook. The Comas director had already told his story once to the
+chief.
+
+Craig leaned back in his chair and gazed up at the ceiling, again
+collecting his data in his mind. He had dictated before to Miss Kennard
+and knew how Mern wanted his names and his facts. "Subject, the spring
+drives on the Noda water. Object, hanging up or blocking the independent
+drive of Echford Flagg and----"
+
+Miss Kennard's pencil slipped somehow. It fell from her fingers, bounced
+from the floor on its rubber tip, and ticked off the sharpened lead
+when it hit the floor again.
+
+Lida darted for it, picked it up, and ran out of the room. "I'm going
+for another," she explained.
+
+She was gone for some time. Craig glanced out of the window into the
+slaty sky, from which rain was falling. It was a day unseasonably warm
+and humid for early spring. "I hope it's raining in the Noda. But it's
+just as liable to be snow. Latisan can't do much yet awhile." He looked
+at his watch as if starting the Noda drives was a matter of minutes. He
+was showing some impatience when Miss Kennard returned. She went to the
+window, and sat in a chair there, her face turned from them. "If you
+don't mind," she apologized. "It's on account of the light. I can hear
+perfectly from here."
+
+She heard then that the Comas wanted to put Echford Flagg down and out
+as an operator, now that paralysis had stricken him. She had Craig's
+assurance delivered to Mern that, without a certain Ward Latisan old
+Flagg would not be able to bring his drive down. The Comas director
+declared that an ordinary boss could never get along with the devils who
+made up the crew. He declared further that Latisan was of a sort to suit
+desperadoes and had put into the crew some kind of fire which made the
+men dangerous to vested interests on the river. He devoted himself to
+Latisan with subdued profanity, despite the presence of the young woman.
+He averred that Latisan himself had no love for Flagg--nobody up-country
+gave a tinker's hoot for Flagg, anyway. He insisted, desperate in spite
+of certain modifying private convictions, that Latisan could be pried
+off the job if some kind of a tricky influence could be brought to bear
+or if his interest in the fight, as just a fight, could be dulled or
+shifted to something else or side-tracked by a ruse. He pictured Flagg
+as a man for whom nobody would stand up in his present state, now that
+he was sick and out of the game.
+
+"I hate to kick a cripple, even in my business," demurred Mern. "I have
+flashes of decency," he continued, dryly. "You seem to be particularly
+set on getting to the lumberjack, Latisan. Can't you do him up, and then
+let Flagg have half a show for this season--probably his last?"
+
+"Now you're talking of violence to Latisan, aren't you?"
+
+"Let the plug-ugly have what he seems to be looking for," advised Mern.
+"That is, if I get it straight from you what his nature is."
+
+"He's all of that--what I have said," reaffirmed Craig, venomously. "But
+look here, Mern, you can't go up into that region, where everything is
+wide open to all men, and kill a man or abduct him. I'm obliged to
+gum-shoe. I have to keep my own executive details away from the home
+office, even. We're waiting on the courts for law and on the legislature
+for more favors." Craig was sweating copiously, and he wiped his
+forehead with the back of his hand. "It's touchy business. If I can pull
+old Flagg into camp, it's my biggest stroke outside of nailing the
+Latisans in the Tomah. A monopoly will give us settled prices and
+control of the flowage. But I insist on doing the job through Latisan.
+I'm after him! Now do some thinking for me. No violence,
+however--nothing which can be traced to the Three C's."
+
+In the silence Miss Kennard asked, "How do you spell Latisan, Mr.
+Craig?"
+
+He told her. "First name Ward. He's the grandson of old John of the
+Tomah."
+
+"I'm trying to get the facts straight for Mr. Mern. Do I understand you
+to say that the Latisans have failed in their business?"
+
+"They're down and out. I gave the young fool a good tip to save the
+remnants, but he wouldn't take it. The only thing I'll give him after
+this is poison--if it can't be traced to me or my company."
+
+Mern had swung about in his chair, his vacant stare on the murky sky,
+doing the thinking to which he had been exhorted by his client. "Suppose
+I slip a picked crowd of my operatives into his crew?"
+
+"He's too wise to take on strangers. And while he's on the job with the
+crew the men are so full of that hell-whoop spirit that they can't be
+tampered with. Mern, he's got to be cut out of the herd."
+
+"What's his particular failing?"
+
+Craig, if his sour rage against Latisan had been less intense, might
+have been less ready to believe that Latisan had taken several months
+off as a prodigal son. But Craig wanted to believe that the young man
+had been doing what scandal said he had done. That belief strengthened
+Craig's hopes. He affected to believe in the reports. He told Mern that
+Latisan had been leading a sporting life in the city until the family
+money gave out.
+
+"How about bumping him on his soft spot?"
+
+Craig asked questions with his eyes, blinking away the perspiration.
+
+"With a girl," Mern explained. "With one who looks as if she had been
+picked right out of the rosy middle of the big bouquet he was attracted
+by in the city. With the background of the woods, a single bloomer will
+surely hold his attention."
+
+Craig showed interest; he had been obliged to pass up violence, bribery,
+bluster. This new plan promised subtlety and subterfuge that would let
+out the Three C's. "Got her?"
+
+"Call Miss Elsham on the phone, Miss Kennard! You may do it from the
+other room. Ask her to hurry down."
+
+The girl, her face hidden from them, paused at the door. "Are there more
+notes? Shall I come back?" She was having difficulty with her voice, but
+the men were now talking eagerly about the new plan, and her
+discomposure was not remarked.
+
+"I think not," said Mern. "Write out what you have. Make especially full
+characterizations of Flagg and Latisan as you have gathered facts about
+them from our talk." He had found Miss Kennard to be especially apt in
+that work. Not only did she deduce character from descriptions, but she
+worked in many valuable suggestions as to how men of a certain nature
+should be handled. She seemed to understand the vagaries of men's
+dispositions very well indeed.
+
+"What's the matter with Ken?" muttered Miss Javotte, nudging the
+bookkeeper.
+
+Lida had flung her arms across the frame of her typewriter and had
+hidden her face in her hands.
+
+"Headache," returned Miss Leigh, sapiently. "That toque has struck into
+the brain. No girl ought to take chances that way."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN
+
+
+However, by the time Miss Marguerite Elsham--having given full attention
+to her person and attire--arrived at the office, Miss Kennard had
+completed her manuscript and the sheets were lying at Mern's elbow on
+his desk.
+
+In order to bridge a part of the gap of waiting Mern had given his
+client some information about Miss Elsham and her ability.
+
+"Very competent on the coax, Mr. Craig. Last job was a paying teller. He
+had twenty thousand in his jeans when he stepped out of the taxi that
+had taken him and Elsham to the steamer dock. Tickets for Rio! Crowley,
+our pinch artist, nabbed him and bawled out Elsham, who was weeping in
+the cab. Crowley and Elsham work well together. You understand that if
+she goes to the woods Crowley must go along on the side. They won't
+appear as knowing each other. But Crowley may be called on to shove his
+mitt between Elsham and trouble."
+
+"I don't care how many are on pay--if you achieve results," said Craig.
+
+The field director, introduced to Miss Elsham when she entered breezily,
+termed her in his thoughts as being at least a 1925 model. He wondered
+just what words he would find in the way of advice about toning down her
+style for north country operations.
+
+She took her seat sideways on the edge of Mern's desk, thus testifying
+to her sure standing in the establishment, her tightly drawn skirt
+displaying an attractive contour. For a fleeting moment--hating Latisan
+so venomously--Craig rather envied Latisan his prospects as a victim.
+
+Miss Elsham produced a silver cigarette case, lighted up, and exhaled
+twin streams of smoke from a shapely nose. "Shoot!" she counseled.
+
+Mern, after his slow fashion, fumbled with the sheets of Miss Kennard's
+manuscript.
+
+Miss Elsham thriftily utilized the moments allowed her by Mern's
+hesitation. She always tried to impress a client favorably. "I don't
+presume to pick and choose when it comes to cases," she informed Craig.
+"I'm an All-for-the-good-cause Anne! But I hope--I'm allowed to hope, I
+suppose--I do hope that my next one is going to remember some of the
+lessons he learned at mother's knee. The last one had forgotten
+everything. I was dragged through cafés till at the present time a
+red-shaded table lamp and a menu card make me want to bite holes in any
+man with a napkin over his arm. I've danced to jazz and listened to
+cabaret----"
+
+Mern was trying to say something, but she rattled on: "And that flask on
+his hip--he must have done all his breathing while he was asleep; he
+never allowed time enough between drinks while he was awake."
+
+"The next one is different," stated Mern.
+
+"Much obliged! But of course it's cafés again and----"
+
+Mern sliced off her complaints, chopping his flat hand to and fro in
+the air. "Nothing to it, sis! It's a tall-timber job, this time."
+
+"In the woods--the real woods," supplemented Craig.
+
+"Great!" indorsed Miss Elsham, accustomed to meeting all phases of
+action with agility. "I've just seen a movie with that kind of a girl in
+it. Leggings and knicks. I can see myself. Great!"
+
+Director Craig surveyed her and nodded approvingly.
+
+"We'll decide on what part you'll play before we measure you for a rig,"
+objected the chief, with his official caution. "Listen to the size-up of
+your man." He began to read from Miss Kennard's manuscript. "'Ward
+Latisan. Young woodsman. Has lived and worked among rough men and has no
+particular amount of moral stamina, a fact shown by his desertion of his
+father in time of need in order to indulge in orgies in the city.'"
+
+"Oh, it's to go and set my hook and fish him out of the woods, and then
+he and I lean on our elbows across from each other--the cafés some
+more," said Miss Elsham, pouting.
+
+Mern suspended, for a moment, his reading and addressed Craig. "Miss
+Kennard, of course, is sizing up according to what you have said of
+Latisan. You're sure about his weakness for dames, are you? We don't
+want to give Miss Elsham any wrong tips."
+
+Craig hung tenaciously to his estimate of Latisan, in no mood to uproot
+the opinion which gossip had implanted and hatred had watered. And at
+the end of his arraignment he attempted an awkward compliment. "And
+even if he could have stood out against the Queen of Sheba up till now,
+I'll say he'll----" Craig gazed with humid indorsement of Miss Elsham's
+attractions and waved his hand in the way of a mute completion of the
+sentence.
+
+Miss Elsham smiled broadly and patted together her manicured thumbnails.
+"Loud applause!" she cried. "Pardon me if I don't blush, sir. I have
+used up my stock. The last case was oozing with flattery--after the
+flask had got in its work."
+
+Mern went on with his reading, portraying the character of Latisan as
+Miss Kennard had gathered and assimilated data. She had even gone to the
+extent of giving Latisan a black mustache and evil eyes.
+
+"Hold on," objected Craig. "Nothing was said about his looks. She's
+picking that up because I was strong on how he had acted. He doesn't
+look as savage as he is; he fools a lot of folks that way," stated
+Craig, in surly tones.
+
+"Well, how will I know when I meet up with him in the woods?"
+
+"You go to the Adonia tavern and make your headquarters, and you won't
+miss him. How does the thing look to you as a proposition?" demanded
+Craig, solicitously. "You ought to know pretty well what you can do with
+men, by this time."
+
+Miss Elsham tossed away her cigarette butt and referred mutely to Mern
+by a wave of her hand.
+
+"She always gets 'em--gets the better of the best of 'em. Rest easy,"
+said the chief.
+
+"And it must be worked easy," warned Craig, catching at the word.
+"That's why you're in it, Miss Elsham, instead of its being a man's
+fight up there. We can't afford to let Latisan slam that drive down
+through our logs, as he threatens to do. If he does it--if we turn on
+Flagg and sue for damages, as we can do, of course--court action will
+only bring out a lot of stuff that better be kept covered. I want the
+agency to understand fully, Mern!"
+
+"We're on."
+
+"I'm achieving results without showing all the details to the home
+office. And I'm not a pirate. You spoke of kicking a cripple, Mern.
+We'll take over Flagg's logs as soon as he gets reasonable. His fight is
+only an old notion about the independents sticking on. Sawmills are in
+our way these days. Flagg is done, anyway. He ought to be saved from
+himself. I'm after Latisan. He's ready to fight and to ruin Flagg,"
+declared Mr. Craig, with a fine assumption of righteous desire to aid a
+fallen foe, "just to carry out his grudge against me--using Flagg's
+property as his tool. It'll be too bad. So get busy, Miss Elsham--and
+keep him busy--off the drive."
+
+"Read on, Chief," she implored Mern. "I'm seeing as quick as this just
+how I'll do it."
+
+The conference continued.
+
+When Miss Elsham departed she stopped in the main office on her way out.
+"Good-by, girls! I'm off for the big sticks. I'll bring each of you a
+tree."
+
+She went to a mirror, taking out her vanity case. Beside the mirror were
+hooks for hats and outer garments. "Perfect dream!" she commented,
+examining a hat. "Whose?"
+
+"Mine," said Miss Leigh.
+
+Miss Elsham took the hat in admiring hands, dislodging a green toque,
+which fell upon the floor. She did not notice the mishap to the toque
+and left it where it had fallen. She touched up her countenance and went
+away.
+
+"Your hat is on the floor," Miss Leigh informed Miss Kennard. The girl
+did not reply; she was looking down upon the keys of her typewriter, and
+her demeanor suggested that her heart was on the floor, too.
+
+When Lida sat by the open window of her room that evening her depression
+had become doleful to the point of despair.
+
+The night was unseasonably warm with enervating humidity; in that
+atmosphere the dormant germs of the girl's general disgust with the
+metropolis and all its affairs were incubated. Breathing the heavy air
+which sulked at the window, she pondered on the hale refreshment of the
+northern forests. But it seemed to her that there was no honesty in the
+woods any more. That day, fate searching her out at last, she had been
+dragged in as a party in a plot against her stricken grandfather. She
+indulged her repugnance to her employment; it had become hateful beyond
+all endurance. Her association with the cynical business of the agency
+and her knowledge of the ethics of Mern had been undermining the
+foundations of her own innate sense of what was inherently right, she
+reflected, taking account of stock.
+
+Dispassionately considered, it was not right for her to use her acquired
+knowledge of the plot against Echford Flagg in order to circumvent the
+plans of an employer who trusted her. But after a while she resolutely
+broke away from the petty business of weighing the right and the wrong
+against each other; she was bold enough to term it petty business in her
+thoughts and realized fully, when she did so, that her Vose-Mern
+occupation had damaged her natural rectitude more than she had
+apprehended.
+
+But there was something more subtle, on that miasmatic metropolitan
+night, something farther back than the new determination to break away
+from Mern and all his works of mischief. It was not merely a call of
+family loyalty, a resolve to stand by the grandfather who had disowned
+his kin. She was not sure how much she did care for the hard old man of
+the woods. But right then, without her complete realization of what the
+subtle feeling was, the avatar of the spirit of the Open Places was
+rising in her. She longed avidly for the sight and the sound of many
+soughing trees. She was urged to go to her own in some far place where
+her feet could touch the honest earth instead of being insulated by the
+pavements which were stropped glossy by the hurry of the multitude.
+
+That urge really was just as insistent as consideration of the personal
+elements involved, though she did not admit it, not being able to
+analyze her emotions very keenly right then. Family affection needs
+propinquity and service to develop it. Her sentiments in regard to
+Echford Flagg were vague. This Latisan, whoever he was, was plainly a
+rough character with doubtful morals who was loyal to a grudge instead
+of to her grandfather. She knew what the Elsham girl had been able to
+with other men, in the blasé city; it stood to reason that in the woods,
+having no rivals to divert the attentions of a victim, Elsham would be
+still more effective.
+
+At last, having kept her thoughts away from an especial topic because of
+the shame that still dwelt with her, Lida faced what she knew was the
+real and greater reason for her growing determination to step between
+Echford Flagg and his enemies. Alfred Kennard had stolen money from
+Echford Flagg. Sylvia Kennard had grieved her heart out over the thing.
+There were the bitter letters which Lida had found among her mother's
+papers after Sylvia died. The mother had torn the name from the bottoms
+of those letters; it was as if she had endeavored to shield Echford
+Flagg from the signed proof of utter heartlessness.
+
+The debt to Echford Flagg had not been canceled. Could the daughter of
+Alfred Kennard repay in some degree for the sake of the father? That
+sense of duty surmounted all qualms involved in the betrayal of an
+employer, if it could be called betrayal, considering the ethics that
+had been adopted and preached by Mern.
+
+It was midnight when she reached her firm decision. She would go to the
+north country. She would do her best, single-handed, as opportunity
+might present itself. She would fight without allowing her grandfather
+to know her identity. Perhaps she might tell him when it was all over,
+if she won. The debt was owed by the father; it might help if it was
+known that the daughter had paid. Then she would go away; it was not in
+her mind to gain any favor for herself. If she merely ran to him,
+tattling an exposure of the plot, Echford Flagg, if her well-grounded
+estimate of his character were correct, might repudiate her as a mere
+tale-bearer; she remembered enough to know that he was a square fighter.
+She felt that she had some of the Flagg spirit of that sort in her. She
+had been fighting her battle with the world without asking odds of
+anybody or seeking favors from her only kin.
+
+She would go north and do her best, for her own, according to the code
+she had laid down.
+
+She was conscious then, having made up her mind, of the subtle longing
+that was back of the fierce impatience to repay her father's debt: the
+woods of the north and the hale spirit of the Open Places were calling
+her home again.
+
+She would not admit to herself that she was engaged in a quixotic
+enterprise, and in order to keep herself from making that admission she
+resolutely turned her thoughts away from plans. To ponder on plans would
+surely sap her courage. She could not foresee what would confront her in
+the north country and she was glad because her ideas on that point were
+hazy. It was not in her mind to hide herself from the other operatives
+of the Vose-Mern agency when she was at the scene; her experience had
+acquainted her with the efficacy of guile in working with human nature,
+and she was well aware that her bold presence where the operatives were
+making their campaign would prove such a mixture of honesty and guile
+that Miss Elsham and Crowley, and even Mern, himself, when he learned,
+would be obliged to expend a portion of their energy on guessing.
+
+She did not know how or whether one girl could prevail against the
+organization threatening her grandfather and Latisan, but she was fully
+determined to find out.
+
+She served the agency dutifully for one more day. She learned that the
+two operatives had started for the north.
+
+A day later she departed from New York on their trail. She did not
+inform Chief Mern that she was leaving.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN
+
+
+Adonia, terminus of the narrow-gauge, has one train arrival per day, in
+the late afternoon. That arrival always attracts the populace of the
+village. The train brings freight and mail and passengers.
+
+Ward Latisan had come down from the headwaters of the Noda and was at
+the station, waiting for the train. He had ordered more dynamite for the
+drive and proposed to take especial charge of the consignment. The drive
+was starting off slowly. There was ice in the gorges; the first logs
+through would have the freshet head of water. Latisan had heard more
+threats and he had definitely detected the trigs which the river bosses
+of the Three C's were laying--and he had ordered more dynamite!
+
+The arriving train dragged slowly into the station and Latisan kept pace
+with the freight car which was attached next behind the locomotive.
+
+The conductor swung off the steps of the coach before the train halted.
+He hailed Latisan, calling the name loudly. He beckoned with vigor and
+the drive master swung around and walked back to meet the trainman.
+
+"I did my best, Latisan, to have your shipment loaded from the freight
+car on the main line, but they wouldn't let me."
+
+"Who wouldn't?"
+
+"Our super. He was acting under orders from higher up. There was a
+special officer on hand to see that the orders were obeyed. Law says
+that explosives shall not be conveyed on a mixed train."
+
+"I know all about that law," retorted Latisan. "But it has been eased up
+on in these parts because you pull a passenger coach on every train."
+
+"But law is law; it has been jammed down on us!"
+
+"You mean that Craig has put the twist ring into your snout," shouted
+the drive master. "And he's leading your railroad by the nose like he's
+leading a good many others in the Noda country."
+
+"I'm only a hired man----"
+
+"And the Three C's will have everybody in this section hired if the
+money holds out, and that's the hell of it!"
+
+"Look here, Latisan, you're on railroad property, and that's no kind of
+talk to have over in front of passengers."
+
+The train was at a standstill; the new arrivals were on the platform.
+
+Latisan, well advertised by the name the conductor had bawled, glanced
+around and perceived that he was the center of observation. Especially
+was he concerned with the direct stare of a young woman; she continued
+to regard him steadfastly and he allowed his attention to be engaged
+with her for a moment.
+
+Latisan had his own mental tags for womankind; this was "a lady." He had
+set himself back to the plane of the woods and his rough associates. He
+felt a woodsman's naïve embarrassment in the presence of a lady. Her
+survey of him was rebuke for his language, he was sure. There could be
+no other reason why "a lady" should look at a man who was fresh down
+from the drive, unshaven and roughly garbed. She was from town, he could
+see that. Those sparkling eyes seemed like something that was aimed at
+him; he was in a helpless, hands-up sort of mood!
+
+He pulled off his cap. He had the courageous frankness of sincere
+manhood, at any rate. "I'm sorry! I was expecting dynamite. It didn't
+come. I blew up just the same."
+
+The lady smiled.
+
+Then she turned and started away.
+
+A stout man had been standing close behind her. Nobody among the
+loungers at the railroad station entertained any doubt whatever as to
+just what this stranger was. His clothes, his sample case, his ogling
+eyes, his hat cockily perched on one side of his head proclaimed him "a
+fresh drummer," according to Adonia estimates.
+
+He leaped forward and caught step with the girl. "Pardon! But I'm going
+your way! Allow me!" He set his hand on her traveling case.
+
+She halted and frowned. "I thank you. I can carry it myself!"
+
+"But I heard you asking the conductor the way to the hotel. I'm going
+right there!"
+
+"So am I, sir! But not in your company."
+
+"Oh, come on and be sociable! We're the only two of our kind up among
+these bushwhackers."
+
+Miss Elsham's fellow operative was stressing his play; he grabbed away
+her bag. "We may as well get a quick rise out of him," muttered
+Crowley. It was a plan they had devised in case their man should help
+their luck by being at the railroad station.
+
+"I'll call an officer!" she threatened.
+
+"You don't need to," Latisan informed her. He had followed the couple.
+"Besides, there isn't any. The only place they need officers is in a
+city where a rab like this is let run loose." He leaped to the stout
+chap and yanked away the girl's bag. "I'll carry it if you're going to
+the tavern."
+
+She accepted his proffer with another smile--a smile into which she put
+a touch of understanding comradeship. They walked along together.
+
+There was no conversation. The spring flood of the Noda tumbled past the
+village in a series of falls, and the earth was jarred, and there was an
+everlasting grumble in the air. The loungers stared with great interest
+when the drive master and the girl went picking their way along the
+muddy road.
+
+The volunteer squire delivered the traveling bag into the hand of Martin
+Brophy, who was on the porch of the tavern, his eye cocked to see what
+guests the train had delivered into his net. Mr. Brophy handled the bag
+gingerly and was greatly flustered when the self-possessed young lady
+demanded a room with a bath.
+
+Latisan did not wait to listen to Brophy's apologies in behalf of his
+tavern's facilities. He touched his cap to the discomposing stranger and
+marched up to the big house on the ledges; he was not approaching with
+alacrity what was ahead of him.
+
+He had arrived in Adonia from headwaters the previous evening, and had
+spent as much of that evening as his endurance would allow, listening to
+Echford Flagg, sitting in his big chair and cursing the fetters of fate
+and paralysis. Unable to use his limbs, he exercised his tongue all the
+more.
+
+That forenoon and again in the afternoon Latisan had gone to the big
+house and had submitted himself to unreasonable complaints when he
+reported on what was going forward at headwaters. He had ventured to
+expostulate when the master told him how the thing ought to be done.
+
+"No two drive bosses operate the same, sir. And the whole situation is
+different this season."
+
+"It was your offer to be my right hand, young Latisan--and I'm drive
+boss still! You move as I order and command."
+
+Ward was wondering how long the Latisan temperament could be restrained.
+In the matter of Craig at the tavern the scion of old John had been
+afforded disquieting evidence that the temperament was not to be trusted
+too far.
+
+He entered the mansion without knocking; it was the custom.
+
+Flagg was reading aloud from a big Bible for which Rickety Dick had
+rigged props on the arm of the chair. Dick was sitting on a low stool,
+the sole auditor of the master's declamation. The old servitor was
+peeling onions from a dish between his knees; therefore, his tears of
+the moment were of questionable nature.
+
+The caller stood for a time outside the open door of the room, averse to
+tempting the hazard of Flagg's temper by an interruption of what seemed
+to be absorbing all the attention of the old man.
+
+"'My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He
+hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath
+set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me
+about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.'"
+
+Flagg halted and looked up from the page. "Lamentations--lamentations,
+Dick! The best of 'em have whined when the smash came. It's human nature
+to let out a holler. Jeremiah did it. I'm in good company; it ain't
+crying baby; it's putting up a real man holler. It's----"
+
+Latisan stepped through the doorway.
+
+Flagg instantly grabbed at a wooden spill that made a marker in the
+volume and nipped back the pages. He shook aloft his clinched left hand.
+He raised his voice and boomed. "'And if any mischief follow, then thou
+shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
+foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for
+stripe.'"
+
+Flagg beat his knotted fist on the open page. "Do you hear that,
+Latisan? That's for you. I hunted it up. I haven't had time till now to
+read the Bible like I should. Plenty of good stuff in it--but in the Old
+Testament, mind you! Too much turn-your-cheek stuff in the New
+Testament. 'Eye for an eye.' Do you know who said that?"
+
+"No, sir. I'm sorry to admit it, but----"
+
+"God Almighty said it. Said it to Moses on the mount. First
+straight-arm orders from God to man. It ought to be good enough for you
+and me, hadn't it? Take it for rule o' conduct, and if Rufe Craig says
+anything to you on the drive refer him here--to headquarters!" Again he
+beat his fist on the page.
+
+"I don't know what part of the Bible Craig ought to study, sir, but some
+of it ought to be good for him. I'm just from the train. They wouldn't
+load our dynamite at the junction. Craig is behind that!"
+
+"Wouldn't haul our dynamite?" raged Flagg. "And he has been shipping his
+canned thunder through here for Skulltree by the carload! Latisan,
+you're falling down on the job. When I, myself, was attending to it, my
+dynamite was loaded for Adonia all right enough!"
+
+The drive master did not reply to that amazing shifting of blame to him.
+
+"Did you say what ought to be said to that conductor?"
+
+"When I started to say something he bawled me out for using that kind of
+language on railroad property."
+
+Flagg lifted the useless right hand with his left, let it fall again,
+and groaned. "How many times, and where, did you hit him? And then what
+did you say?"
+
+"I did not hit him, sir. I said nothing more. And there was a lady
+present."
+
+Flagg choked and struggled with words before he could speak. "Do you
+mean to tell me you're allowing any ladee"--he put exquisite inflection
+of sarcasm on the word--"to stand betwixt you and your duty, when that
+duty is plain? Latisan, they tell me that you're a sapgag where women
+are concerned. I'm told that you have been down to the city and----"
+
+"Mr. Flagg, we'll stick to the subject of the dynamite!" broke in the
+young man, sharply.
+
+"Women are the same thing and belong in the talk."
+
+"Then we'll stick to the dynamite that comes in boxes." Latisan was just
+as peremptory as the master and was hurrying his business; he felt the
+dog of the Latisan temperament slipping neck from the leash. "You may
+have been able to make 'em haul dynamite for you, in spite of the law. I
+can't make 'em, it seems. I'm here merely to report, and to say that
+I'll have the dynamite up from the junction just the same." He started
+for the door.
+
+"By tote team--three times the cost! My Gawd! why ain't I out and
+around?" lamented the Adonia Jeremiah.
+
+Latisan wanted to say that he would pay the extra cost of transportation
+out of his own pocket, if that would save argument, but he did not dare
+to trust himself. He hurried out of the big house and slammed the door.
+
+On his way down the hill he was obliged to marshal a small host of
+reasons for hanging on to his job; the desire to quit then and there was
+looming large, potent, imperative.
+
+He was still scowling when he tramped into the office of the tavern
+where many loafers were assembled. Through the haze of tobacco smoke he
+saw Martin Brophy beckoning, and went to the desk. Brophy ran his
+smutted finger along under a name; "Mrs. Dana Haines Everett, New York
+City."
+
+"She has been asking for you. Matter o' business, she says. I've had to
+give her the front parlor for her room. Say, she's the kind that gets
+what she goes after, I reckon. Is eating her supper served in there
+private. Never was done in my tavern before."
+
+"Business--with me?" demanded Latisan. "Brophy, what's her own business
+in these parts?"
+
+"Can't seem to find out," admitted the landlord, and the young man
+bestowed on Brophy an expansive grin which was a comment on the latter's
+well-known penchant for gimleting in search of information. "Will say,
+however, that she's a widder--grass if I ain't much mistook--believes
+that a woman is equal to a man and should have all a man's privileges
+about going around by her lonesome if she so feels."
+
+"Well, you seem to have extracted a fair amount of information,
+considering that she's hardly got her feet planted."
+
+"Oh," confessed Brophy, "it came out because I made her mad when I
+hinted that it was kind of queer for a woman to be traveling around
+alone up here. Well, now that they're voting, you can look for 'most
+anything. What shall I tell her from you when I take in her pie?"
+
+"I'll wait on the lady after I eat my supper."
+
+When the drive master was ushered into the parlor-presence by the
+landlord, the lady was sitting in front of an open Franklin stove,
+smoking a cigarette. She had made a change in attire since her arrival,
+the new garb suggesting that she proposed to suit herself to the nature
+of the region to which she had come. She was in knickerbocker costume,
+had tipped back her chair, one foot on the hearth and the other foot
+propped on her knee, and she asked Latisan to sit down, pointing to a
+chair beside her. She offered a cigarette with a real masculine
+offhandedness. The caller faltered something about a pipe. She insisted
+that he smoke his pipe. "It rather puts strangers at their ease, don't
+you think, a little tobacco haze in the room?"
+
+Latisan, packing the bowl of his briar, agreed.
+
+"I take it that you're well acquainted with this region?"
+
+"Fairly so, though I know the Tomah country better."
+
+"You're a guide, I understand."
+
+"I don't understand where you got that information, madam," replied the
+drive master, a bit pricked.
+
+"I don't remember that anybody did tell me that in so many words.
+Somehow it was my impression. But no matter. Please listen a moment."
+She smiled on him, checking his attempt at a statement regarding
+himself; she had conned her little speech and used her best vocabulary
+to impress this woodsman. "No doubt you have something very important in
+the way of occupation. A man of your bearing is bound to. You needn't
+thank me for a compliment--I'm very frank. That's the way to get on and
+accomplish things quickly. So I'm frank enough to say it's my habit to
+meet men on the plane of man to man. Please do not regard me as a
+woman--that sort of stuff is old-fashioned in these days. I vote and pay
+taxes. Yet if I were merely a woman you gave evidence on the station
+platform to-day that you know how to protect one from insults. I was
+attracted by that trait in you--and afterwards minded your own business
+quite after my heart. I need outdoor life. I'm up here early for the
+first fishing. I want to tour the woods. I may invest in timberlands.
+Putting out of your mind all this foolish sex matter--as I have
+explained my man-to-man theory--will you go with me? I'll have a cook,
+of course. Pardon my sudden reference to pay--I'll pay you twice what
+you're getting now--providing you're working for wages."
+
+"I am working for wages. And I can't leave the work."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I'm the master of the Flagg drive on these waters."
+
+"And you prefer to boss rough men and endure hardship rather than to
+come with me?"
+
+The bitterness of the last interview with Flagg was still with Latisan.
+"If it was a matter of preference--but that isn't the way of it!" He
+returned her gaze and flushed. In spite of his resolve to go on with the
+battle that was ahead, he was tempted, and acknowledged to himself the
+fact; but Flagg was trying him cruelly.
+
+"You have been the drive master here for a long time--that's why you
+cannot be spared?" She tossed away her cigarette and gave him earnest
+attention.
+
+"I'm just beginning my work with Flagg."
+
+"Then of course you're not vital. Let the man who used to be master----"
+
+"That was Flagg, himself. He's laid up with paralysis."
+
+"Oh!" she drawled, provokingly. "A matter of conscientiousness--loyal
+devotion--champion of the weak--or a young man's opportunity to be lord
+of all for the future!"
+
+"He's an old devil to work for, and the job promises no future," blurted
+Latisan, his manner leaving no doubt as to his feelings.
+
+"Then come with me," she invited. "If I get to own timberlands, who
+knows?"
+
+He shook his head. "There are reasons why I can't quit--not this
+season."
+
+"I hoped I'd seem to you like a good and sufficient reason," she
+returned, insinuatingly; in her anxiety to make a quick job of it, in
+her cynical estimate of men as she had been finding them out in the
+city, she was venturing to employ her usual methods as a temptress,
+naturally falling into the habit of past procedure.
+
+She found it difficult to interpret the sudden look he gave her, but her
+perspicacity warned her that she was on the wrong tack with this man of
+the north country.
+
+"I'm afraid you're finding me a peculiar person, Mr. Latisan," she
+hastened to say. "I am. I'm quick to judge and quick to decide. Your
+gallantry at the railroad station influenced me in your behalf. I like
+your manners. And I know now what's in your mind! You think it will be
+very easy for me to find somebody else as a guide--and you're quite sure
+that you can't give up your responsibility for a woman's whim."
+
+The drive master owned to himself that she had called the turn.
+
+"I'll continue with my frankness, Mr. Latisan. It's rather more than a
+guide I'm looking for on that man-to-man plane I have mentioned. You can
+readily understand. I need good advice about land. Therefore, mine is
+not exactly a whim, any more than your present determination to go on
+with your job is a whim. This matter has come to us very suddenly.
+Suppose we think it over. We'll have another talk. At any rate, you can
+advise me in regard to other men."
+
+She rose and extended her hand. "We can be very good friends, I trust."
+
+He took her hand in a warm clasp. "I'll do what I can--be sure of that."
+
+"I feel very much alone all of a sudden. I'm depending on you. You're
+not going back to the drive right away, are you?" she asked, anxiously.
+
+"I'll be held here for a day or so." The matter of the dynamite was on
+his mind.
+
+"Good!" she said, and patted his arm when he turned to leave the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE
+
+
+Latisan took the forenoon train down from Adonia to the junction the
+next day. He was keeping his own counsel about his intent.
+
+He had done some busy thinking during the evening after he left the new
+star boarder in her parlor. In spite of his efforts to confine his
+attention, in his thoughts, to business, he could not keep his mind
+wholly off her attractive personality and her peculiar proposition. He
+was obliged to whip up his wrath in order to get solidly down to the
+Flagg affairs.
+
+By the time he went to sleep he knew that he was determinedly ugly.
+There was the slur of Flagg about his slack efficiency in meeting the
+schemes of Craig. There was the ireful consciousness that the
+narrow-gauge folks were giving him a raw deal on that dynamite matter.
+They had hauled plenty of explosive for the Comas--for Craig. To admit
+at the outset of his career on the Noda that he could not get what the
+Three C's folks were getting--to advertise his impotency by making a
+twenty-mile tote trip over slushy and rutted roads--was a mighty poor
+send-off as a boss, he told himself. He knew what sort of tattle would
+pursue him.
+
+The stout young man--that "drummer"--was at the station. Latisan was
+uncomfortably conscious that this person had been displaying more or
+less interest in him. In the dining room at breakfast, in the office
+among the loafers, and now at the railroad station the stranger kept his
+eyes on Latisan.
+
+The drive master was just as ugly as he had been when he went to sleep.
+He was keeping his temper on a wire edge for the purposes of the job of
+that day, as he had planned the affair. He did not go up to the
+impertinent drummer and cuff his ears, but the stranger did not know how
+narrowly he escaped that visitation of resentment.
+
+The fellow remained on the platform when the train pulled out; it
+occurred to Latisan that the fresh individual maybe wished to make sure
+of a clear field in order to pursue his crude tactics with the lady of
+the parlor.
+
+After the arrival at the junction Latisan had matters which gave him no
+time to ponder on the possible plight of the lady.
+
+As he had ascertained by cautious inquiry, the crew of the narrow-gauge
+train left it on its spur track unattended while they ate at a boarding
+house. There were workmen in the yard of a lumber mill near the station,
+loafing after they had eaten their lunches from their pails. The Flagg
+dynamite was in a side-tracked freight car of the standard gauge.
+Latisan promptly learned that the lumber-yard chaps were ready and
+willing to earn a bit of change during their nooning. He grabbed in with
+them; the boxes of dynamite were soon transferred to the freight car of
+the narrow-gauge and stacked in one end of the car. Latisan paid off his
+crew and posted himself on top of the dynamite. In one hand he held a
+coupling pin; prominently displayed in the other hand was a fuse.
+
+"I'm in here--the dynamite is here," he informed the conductor when that
+official appeared at the door of the car, red-faced after hearing the
+news of the transfer. "I'm only demanding the same deal you have given
+the Three C's. You know you're wrong. Damn the law! I'm riding to Adonia
+with this freight. What's that? Go ahead and bring on your train crew."
+He brandished coupling pin and fuse. "If you push me too far you'll have
+a week's job picking up the splinters of this train."
+
+Bravado was not doing all the work for Latisan in that emergency. The
+conductor's conscience was not entirely easy; he had made an exception
+in the case of the Three C's--and Craig, attending to the matter before
+he went to New York, had borne down hard on the need of soft-pedal
+tactics. The conductor was not prepared to risk things with canned
+thunder in boxes and an explosive young man whose possession just then
+was nine points and a considerable fraction.
+
+Latisan was left to himself.
+
+At last the train from downcountry rumbled in, halted briefly, and went
+on its way. From his place in the end of the freight car Latisan could
+command only a narrow slice of outdoors through the open side door.
+Persons paraded past on their way to the coach of the narrow-gauge. He
+could see their backs only. There had been a thrill for him in the job
+he had just performed; he promptly got a new and more lively thrill even
+though he ridiculed his sensations a moment later. Among the heads of
+the arrivals he got a glimpse of an object for which he had stretched
+his neck and strained his eyes--the anxious soul of him in his eyes--on
+the street in New York City. He saw a green toque with a white quill.
+
+As though a girl--such a girl as he judged her to be--would still be
+wearing the same hat, all those months later! But that hat and the very
+cock of the angle of the quill formed, in a way, the one especially
+vivid memory of his life. However, he had a vague, bachelor notion that
+women's hats resembled their whims--often changed and never twice alike,
+and he based no hopes on what he had seen.
+
+Whoever she was, she was on the train. But there were stations between
+the junction and Adonia--not villages, but the mouths of roads which led
+far into remote regions where a green toque could not be traced readily.
+He acutely desired to inform himself regarding the face under that hat.
+But he had made possession the full ten points of his law, sitting on
+that load of dynamite. What if he should allow that train crew an
+opening and give Echford Flagg complete confirmation of the report that
+his drive master was a sapgag with women?
+
+After the intenseness of the thrill died out of him he smiled at the
+idea that a chance meeting in New York could be followed up in this
+fashion in the north country. At any rate, he had something with which
+to busy his thoughts during the slow drag of the train up to Adonia, and
+he was able to forget in some measure that he was sitting on dynamite
+and would face even more menacing explosives of another kind when the
+drive was on its way.
+
+He posted himself in the side door of the car when the train rolled
+along beside the platform at Adonia. He had ordered men of the Flagg
+outfit to be at the station with sleds, waiting for the train; they were
+on hand, and he shouted to them, commanding them to load the boxes and
+start north.
+
+There was a man displaying a badge on the platform--a deputy sheriff who
+had his eye out for bootleggers headed toward the driving crews; the
+conductor ran to the officer and reported that Latisan had broken the
+law relating to the transportation of explosives; the trainman proposed
+to shift the responsibility, anticipating that the sheriff might give
+official attention to the cargo.
+
+Just then Latisan spied the green toque; the face was concealed because
+the head was bowed to enable the toque's wearer to pick her way down the
+steps of the coach.
+
+The drive master leaped from the door of the car and his men scrambled
+past him to enter.
+
+"About that dynamite----"
+
+Latisan elbowed aside the questioning sheriff, and looked straight past
+the officer. "If you go after me on that point you'll have to go after
+Craig and the Three C's, too--and I'll put the thing up to the county
+attorney myself. Right now I'm busy."
+
+The men were lugging out the boxes. "If anybody gets in your way, boys,
+drop a box on his toes," he shouted, starting up the platform.
+
+"Leave it to us, Mr. Latisan," bawled one of the crew.
+
+The drive master had his eyes on the girl who was walking ahead of him.
+He could hardly believe that the voicing of his name attracted her
+attention. She did not know his name! But she stopped and whirled about
+and stared at him.
+
+It was surely the girl of the cafeteria!
+
+She plainly shared Latisan's amazement, but there was in her demeanor
+something more than the frank astonishment which was actuating him.
+
+He pulled off his cap and hurried to her and put out his hand. "I saw
+you--I mean I saw your hat. I thought it might be you--but I looked for
+you in New York--for that hat----" He knew he was making a fool of
+himself by his excitement and incoherence. "I have been thinking about
+you----" He was able to check himself, for her eyes were showing
+surprise of another sort. Her manner suggested to Latisan that she, at
+any rate, had not been thinking especially about him during the months.
+She had recovered her composure.
+
+"It is not surprising about the hat, Mr.--I believe I heard somebody
+call your name--Mr. Latisan?" There was an inflection of polite query,
+and he bowed. "My sarcastic friends are very explicit about this hat
+serving as my identifier."
+
+"I didn't mean it that way. I don't know anything about girls' hats. But
+to see you away up here----"
+
+She forced a flicker of a smile.
+
+"It seems quite natural to find you here in the woods, though I believe
+you did tell me that your home is over Tomah way."
+
+He was not able to understand the strange expression on her countenance.
+And she, on her part, was not able to look at him with complete
+composure; she remembered the character given to this man by Craig, and
+she had ventured to give him something else in her report--the swagger
+of a _roué_ and a black mustache!
+
+There was an awkward moment and he put his cap back on his head. He
+looked about as if wondering if she expected friends. He had treasured
+every word of hers in the cafeteria. She had spoken of the woods as if
+her home had been there at one time.
+
+"I'm not expecting anybody to meet me--here--to-day," she informed him,
+understanding his side glances. She was showing incertitude,
+uneasiness--as if she were slipping back into a former mood after the
+prick of her surprise. "There's a hotel here, I suppose."
+
+He took her traveling case from her hand, muttering a proffer to assist
+her. They walked away together. For the second time the loafers at
+Adonia saw Latisan escorting a strange woman along the street, and this
+one, also, was patently from the city, in spite of her modest attire.
+
+"Seems to be doing quite a wholesale business, importing dynamite and
+wimmen," observed a cynic.
+
+"According to the stories in Tomah, he has put in quite a lot of time
+looking over the market in regard to that last-named," agreed another
+detractor.
+
+"And when Eck Flagg gets the news I'd rather take my chances with the
+dynamite than with the wimmen," stated the cynic.
+
+"I guess I talked to you like an idiot at first," said Latisan, when he
+and his companion were apart from the persons on the station platform.
+"I'm getting control of my surprise. I remember you told me you were
+homesick for the woods. That's why you're up here, I suppose."
+
+"It's one reason, Mr. Latisan."
+
+"I'm sorry it isn't a better time of year. I'd like to--to--If you
+aren't going to be tied up too much with friends, I could show you
+around a little. But right now I'm tied up, myself. I'm drive master for
+Echford Flagg--you remember about speaking of him."
+
+"Yes; but I shall not trouble Mr. Flagg," she hastened to say. "He will
+not be interested in me simply on account of my friends. You are very
+busy on the drive, are you?" she questioned, earnestly.
+
+"Oh yes. I've got to start for headwaters in the morning." There was
+doleful regret in his tones.
+
+He was rather surprised to find so much pleased animation in her face;
+truly, this girl from the city acted as if she were delighted by the
+news of his going away; she even seemed to be confessing it. "I'm glad!"
+she cried. Then she smoothed matters after a glance at his grieved and
+puzzled face. "I'm glad to hear a man say that he's devoted to his work.
+So many these days don't seem to take any interest in what they're
+doing--they only talk wages. Yours must be a wonderful work--on the
+river--the excitement and all!"
+
+"Yes," he admitted, without enthusiasm.
+
+The street was muddy and they went slowly; he hung back as if he wanted
+to drag out the moments of their new companionship.
+
+He cast about for a topic; he did not feel like expatiating on the
+prospects ahead of him in his work. "If you're going to make much of a
+stop here----"
+
+She did not take advantage of his pause; he hoped she would indicate the
+proposed length of her stay, and he was worrying himself into a panic
+for fear she would not be in Adonia on his next visit to report to
+Flagg.
+
+"I wish we had a better hotel here, so that you'd stay all contented for
+a time--and--and enjoy the country hereabouts."
+
+"Isn't the hotel a fit place for a woman who is unaccompanied?"
+
+"Oh, that isn't it! It's the slack way Brophy runs it. The help
+question! Martin does the best he knows how, but he finds it hard to
+keep table girls here in the woods. Has to keep falling back on his
+nephew, and the nephew isn't interested in the waiter job. Wants to
+follow his regular line."
+
+"And what's that?" she asked, holding to a safe topic.
+
+"Running Dave's stable. Nephew says the horses can't talk back."
+
+She stopped and faced him. "Do you think the landlord would hire me as a
+waitress?" She had come to Adonia in haste, leaving her plans to hazard.
+Now she was obeying sudden inspiration.
+
+If she had slapped him across the face she could not have provoked more
+astonishment and dismay than his countenance showed.
+
+"I have done much waiting at tables." She grimly reflected on the cafés
+where she had sought the most for her money. "I'm not ashamed to confess
+it."
+
+He stammered before he was able to control his voice. "It isn't that.
+You ought to be proud to work. I mean I'm glad--no, what I mean is I
+don't understand why--why----"
+
+"Why I have come away up here for such a job?"
+
+"I haven't the grit to ask any questions of you!" he confessed,
+plaintively, his memory poignant on that point.
+
+The stout "drummer" had been trailing them from the station. When they
+halted he passed them slowly, staring wide-eyed at the girl, asking her
+amazed questions with his gaze. She flung the Vose-Mern operative a look
+of real fury; she had come north in a fighting mood.
+
+"I have left the city to escape just such men as that--men who aren't
+willing to let a girl have a square chance. I lost my last position
+because I slapped a cheap insulter's face in a hotel dining hall." She
+looked over Latisan's head when she twisted the truth. "I came north, to
+the woods, just as far as that railroad would take me. I hate a city!"
+Then she looked straight at him, and there was a ring of sincerity in
+her tone. "I'm glad to be where those are!" She pointed to the trees
+which thatched the slopes of the hills.
+
+"You're speaking of friends of mine!"
+
+They had stopped, facing each other. Crowley, lashed by looks from the
+girl and Latisan, had hurried on toward the tavern.
+
+Lida knew that the drive master was having hard work to digest the
+information she had given him.
+
+"They are standing up straight and are honest old chaps," he went on. He
+was looking into her eyes and his calm voice had a musing tone. "I like
+to call them my friends."
+
+He was trying hard to down the queer notions that were popping up. He
+would not admit that he was suspecting this girl of deceit. But she was
+so manifestly not what she claimed that she was! Still, there were
+reverses that might----
+
+"I am alone in a strange land--nobody to back my word about myself. I
+must call on a reliable witness. You know the witness." She put up her
+hand and touched her hat. Then came laughter--first from her and then
+from Latisan--to relieve the situation. "You saw me wearing it more than
+six months ago. What better proof of my humble position in life do you
+want?"
+
+"I don't dare to tell you what you ought to be, Miss----"
+
+"Patsy Jones," she returned, glibly; his quest for her name could not be
+disregarded.
+
+"But what you are right now is good enough because it's honest work."
+
+"Do you think I can get the job?"
+
+"I am a witness of Martin Brophy's standing offer to give one thousand
+dollars for a table girl who won't get homesick or get married."
+
+"Take me in and collect the reward, Mr. Latisan. I'm a safe
+proposition, both ways."
+
+"I hope not!" he blurted--and then marched on with the red flooding
+beneath his tan.
+
+And though he strove to put all his belief in her word about herself, he
+was conscious of a persistent doubt, and was angered by it.
+
+"If you please, I'll do the talking to Mr. Brophy--is that his
+name?--when we reach the hotel," said the girl. "You really do not know
+me." There was a flash of honesty, she felt, in that statement, and she
+wanted to be as honest as she could--not wholly a compound of lies in
+her new rôle. "It might seem queer, my presenting myself under your
+indorsement, as if we had been acquainted somewhere else. Gossip up here
+is easily started, isn't it?"
+
+"It is."
+
+He surrendered her bag to her at the porch, as if his services had been
+merely the cursory politeness of one who was traveling her way. It was
+in Latisan's mind to go along to the big house on the ledges and inform
+Flagg what had been done that day, and glory in the boast that there was
+a new man in the region who could make a way for himself in spite of
+Flagg's opinions as to the prowess of an old man.
+
+Latisan was feeling strangely exhilarated. She had come there to stay!
+Martin Brophy was in the desperate state of need to chain a girl like
+that one to a table leg in his desire to keep her. And she had announced
+her own feelings in the matter! She was in the Noda--the girl who had
+stepped out of his life never to enter it again, so he had feared in
+his lonely ponderings. He was in the mood of a real man at last! He was
+resolved to take no more of Echford Flagg's contumely. He was heartsick
+at the thought of starting north and leaving her in the tavern, to be
+the object of attentions such as that cheap drummer man bestowed when he
+passed them on the street.
+
+The plea of the lady of the tavern parlor had made merely a ripple in
+his resolves. He had not thought of her or her proposition during that
+busy day.
+
+Now he was wondering whether the fight for Flagg--the struggle against
+Craig, even for vengeance, was worth while.
+
+Lida was having no difficulty in locating the landlord. He stood just
+beyond the dining-room door and was proclaiming that he was the boss and
+was shaking his fist under the nose of a surly youth who had allowed
+several dishes to slide off a tray and smash on the floor.
+
+"Do you want to hire a waitress from the city?" she demanded.
+
+"You bet a tin dipper I do," snapped back Brophy.
+
+"I'm ready to begin work at once. If you'll show me my room----"
+
+"You go up one flight, by them stairs there, and you pick out the best
+room you can find--the one that suits you! That's how much I'm willing
+to cater to a city waitress. And you needn't worry about wages."
+
+"I shall not worry, sir." She hurried up the stairs.
+
+The hostler-waiter slammed down the tray with an ejaculation of
+thankfulness. Brophy picked up the tray and banged it over the youth's
+head. "You ain't done with the hash-wrassling till she has got her feet
+placed. Sweep up that litter, stand by to do the heavy lugging, and take
+your orders from her and cater to her--cater!"
+
+Latisan, lingering on the porch, had hearkened and observed. He caught a
+glimpse of himself in the dingy glass of the door. He scrubbed his hand
+doubtfully over his beard. Then he turned and hurried away.
+
+The single barber shop of Adonia was only a few yards from the door of
+the tavern. There was one chair in the corner of a pool room.
+
+Latisan overtook a man in the doorway and yanked him back and entered
+ahead.
+
+"I'm next!" shouted the supplanted individual.
+
+"Yes, after me!" declared Latisan, grimly. He threw himself into the
+chair. "Shave and trim! Quick!"
+
+The barber propped his hands on his hips. "What's the newfangled idea of
+shedding whiskers before the drive is down?"
+
+"Shave!" roared Latisan. "And if you're more than five minutes on the
+job I'll carve my initials in you with your razor."
+
+So constantly did he apostrophize the barber to hurry, wagging a
+restless jaw, that blood oozed from several nicks when the beard had
+been removed.
+
+"I've got a pride in my profession, just the same as you have in your
+job," stormed the barber when Latisan refused to wait for treatment for
+the cuts. "And I don't propose to have you racing out onto the
+streets----"
+
+But the drive master was away, obsessed by visions of that fresh
+drummer presuming further in his tactics with the new waitress. The
+barber, stung to defense of his art, grabbed a towel and a piece of alum
+and pursued Latisan along the highway and into the tavern office,
+cornered the raging drive master, and insisted on removing the evidences
+which publicly discredited good workmanship. The affair was in the
+nature of a small riot.
+
+The guests who were at table in the dining room stared through the
+doorway with interest. The new waitress, already on her job, gave the
+affair her amused attention. Especially absorbed was the sullen youth
+who halted in the middle of the room, holding a loaded tray above his
+head. In his abstraction he allowed the tray to tip, and the dishes
+rained down over Crowley, who was seated directly under the edge of the
+tray.
+
+Latisan strode in and took his seat at the small table with the city
+stranger while Brophy was mopping the guest off; the city chap had
+received his food on his head and in his lap.
+
+The waitress came and stood demurely at one side, meeting the flaming
+gaze of the Vose-Mern man with a look that eloquently expressed her
+emotions. "Shall I repeat the order?"
+
+"Don't be fresh!" snarled Crowley.
+
+Latisan rapped his knuckles on the table warningly. "Be careful how you
+talk to this lady!"
+
+"What have you got to say about it?" The stout chap started to rise.
+
+But Latisan was up first. He leaned over and set his big hand, fingers
+outspread like stiff prongs, upon the man's head, and twisted the caput
+to and fro; then he drove the operative down with a thump in his chair.
+"This is what I've got to say! Remember that she is a lady, and treat
+her accordingly, or I'll twist off your head and take it downstreet and
+sell it to the bowling-alley man."
+
+It was plain that the girl was finding a piquant relish in the affair.
+
+From the moment when she came down the stairs and took the white apron
+which Brophy handed to her she had ceased to be the city-wearied girl.
+It was homely adventure, to be sure, but the very plainness of it, in
+the free-and-easy environment of the north woods, appealed to her sense
+of novelty. There was especial zest for her in this bullyragging of
+Crowley by the man who was to be victim of the machinations by the
+Vose-Mern agency. Her eyes revealed her thoughts. The city man opened
+his mouth. He promptly shut it and turned sideways in his chair, his
+back to Latisan. Detective Crowley was enmeshed in a mystery which he
+could not solve just then. What was the confidential secretary doing up
+there?
+
+The girl smiled down on her champion--an expansive, charming, warming
+smile. "I thank you! What will you have?"
+
+She surveyed his face with concern; his countenance was working with
+emotion. In her new interest, she noted more particularly than in the
+New York cafeteria, that he apparently was, in spite of what Craig had
+said, a big, wholesome, naïve chap who confessed to her by his eyes,
+then and there, that he was honestly and respectfully surrendering his
+heart to her, short though the acquaintance had been, and she was
+thrilled by that knowledge. She was not responding to this new appeal,
+she was sure, but she was gratified because the man was showing her by
+his eyes that he was her slave, not merely a presumptuous conquest of
+the moment, after the precipitate manner of more sophisticated males.
+
+She repeated her question.
+
+It was evident enough what Latisan wanted at that moment, but he had not
+the courage to voice his wishes in regard to her; he had not enough
+self-possession left to state his actual desires as to food, even. There
+was one staple dish of the drive; he was heartily sick of that food, but
+he could not think of anything else right then.
+
+"Bub--bub--beans!" he stuttered.
+
+She hurried away.
+
+When she returned with her tray she did not interrupt any conversation
+between the two men at the little table; the Vose-Mern man still had his
+back turned on Latisan; the drive master sat bolt upright in a prim
+attitude which suggested a sort of juvenile desire to mind his manners.
+
+The girl's eyes were still alight with the spirit of jest. She placed
+steak and potatoes and other edibles in front of Latisan. She gave the
+gentleman from the agency a big bowl of beans.
+
+"I didn't order those!"
+
+"I'm sorry, sir. I must have got my orders mixed."
+
+"You have! You've given that"--he stopped short of applying any epithet
+to Latisan--"you've given him my order!"
+
+"Won't you try our beans--just once? The cook tells me they were baked
+in the ground, woodman style."
+
+"Then give 'em to the woodsmen--it's the kind of fodder that's fit for
+'em."
+
+Latisan leaned across the table and tugged Crowley's sleeve. "Look me in
+the eye, my friend!" The man who was exhorted found the narrowed, hard
+eyes very effective in a monitory way. "I don't care what you eat, as a
+general thing. But you have just slurred woodsmen and have stuck up your
+nose at the main grub stand-by of the drive. You're going to eat those
+beans this lady has very kindly brought. If you don't eat 'em, starting
+in mighty sudden, I'll pick up that bowl and tip it over and crown you
+with it, beans and all. Because I'm speaking low isn't any sign I don't
+mean what I say!"
+
+The beans were steaming under the stout man's nose. He decided that the
+heat would be better in his stomach than on the top of his head; he had
+just had one meal served that way. He devoured the beans and marched out
+of the dining room, his way taking him past the sideboard where the new
+waitress was skillfully arranging glasses after methods entirely
+different from those of the sullen youth.
+
+"Don't jazz the game any more--not with _me_," growled Crowley, fury in
+his manner. "And I want to see you in private."
+
+She stiffened, facing him. She knew that Latisan's earnest eyes were on
+her. She assumed the demeanor of a girl who was resentfully able to take
+care of herself, playing a part for the benefit of the drive master.
+"Attend strictly to your end of the program, Crowley!"
+
+"What do you mean--my end?"
+
+"Protecting me from insults by these rough woodsmen. I suppose you are
+doing the same for Miss Elsham." Her irony was biting. He scowled and
+put his face close to hers.
+
+"If you're up here on the job--it's not a lark. It's a case of he-men in
+these parts. If you're not careful you'll start something you can't
+stop."
+
+"Keep away from me. They're watching us. You're bungling your part
+wretchedly. Can't you understand that I'm on the case, too?"
+
+She had planned her action, forestalling possibilities as well as she
+was able. She was determined to be bold, trusting to events as they
+developed.
+
+"You will kindly remember that I'm on this case along with you, and you
+can't make me jump through hoops!" Crowley, fresh from the city, narrow
+in his urban conceit, was seeing red because of a petty humiliation he
+had suffered in public.
+
+Another man was seeing red for a different reason. Latisan strode across
+the room, nabbed Crowley by the ear, and led him into the tavern office,
+where the aching ear was twisted until the city man subsided into a
+chair.
+
+The girl appraised at its full value the rancor that was developing in
+the Vose-Mern operative; his glaring eyes were accusing her.
+
+But the adoring eyes of Latisan promised really more complicated
+trouble for her.
+
+It was borne in on her that there were dangerous possibilities in the
+frank atmosphere of the north woods. Lida had the poignant feeling of
+being very much alone just then--and she was afraid!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN
+
+
+Suppers were always over with early in Adonia. The red west was banded
+with half on hour's April daylight when the new waitress finished her
+work. She hurried up to her room; she locked her door with the
+panic-stricken air of one who desires to shut out danger.
+
+She was in no mood to question the worthiness of the impulse which had
+sent her into the north, but she was realizing in fuller measure the
+difficulties with which she must deal. In the dining room she had felt
+recklessly intrepid and the utter mystification of Buck Crowley had
+amused her. But she had had plenty of opportunity in her Vose-Mern work
+to know the nature of Crowley--he had the shell of an alligator and the
+scruples of a viper and would double-cross a twin brother if the project
+could help the fortunes of Buck himself.
+
+Once more she admitted that she was afraid. It was if she had touched
+levers and had started machinery which she could not stop; she had
+launched two men at each other and had observed the first ominous
+clinches--and Crowley had warned her that she was in the region of
+"he-men." But Crowley was not of a sort to use the manly weapons of the
+frank fighters of the north.
+
+With the sense of hiding away from impending trouble, sorry for her
+share in starting it, she sat by the window, put her forehead on her
+arms, wept weakly, and told herself that she was a very poor article of
+a heroine.
+
+However, the sunset soothed and invited her when she wiped her eyes. She
+beheld the honest outdoors of the forest country. She was hungry for
+those open places of earth. She knew that her resolution was ebbing the
+longer she hid herself in that hole of a room, like a terrified animal.
+She put on a hat and a wrap and started out.
+
+She was perfectly well aware of the gantlet she must run.
+
+Crowley was patrolling the porch; she issued from a side door of the
+tavern, but she was obliged to pass him in order to get into the street.
+His high sign to her was peremptory and unmistakable--Mr. Crowley had
+business with her! Right then, in spite of her planned intent to bluff
+out the situation just as long as she could at that distance from Mern,
+she was not in a state of mind to meet Crowley.
+
+She heard steps behind her and was accosted, but her frown of
+apprehensiveness became a smile of welcome when she turned and beheld
+Latisan; the welcome was not so much from interest in Latisan as from
+the sense that she would have a respite from Crowley.
+
+"If you're going to look the place over, won't you allow me to go
+along?" he pleaded. "I'll follow behind like a terrier, if you tell me
+to. I want to keep you from being bothered by anybody."
+
+She showed concern and looked about her.
+
+"Oh, by that cheap drummer, I mean. You needn't ever be afraid of
+woodsmen up here. I was watching him when you came out. If it wasn't for
+starting a lot of tattle I'd beat him up on the street."
+
+"Really, you'd better come along with me, Mr. Latisan, out of the reach
+of any such temptation."
+
+"Perhaps you'd like to get a view of the falls from the best point," he
+suggested, as they walked on.
+
+When they turned into a path and disappeared from Crowley's ken the
+latter buttoned his coat and started leisurely on their trail.
+
+On the edge of the gorge there was a niche in the cliff, a natural seat
+padded with moss. Latisan led her to the spot. He did not indulge his
+longing to sit beside her; he stood at a little distance, respectfully,
+and allowed her to think her thoughts. Those thoughts and her memories
+were very busy just then; she was glad because the everlasting diapason
+of the falls made conversation difficult.
+
+Until then, in her reflections, she had been considering Ward Latisan
+merely as her stricken grandfather's staff of hope, an aid so essential
+that the Comas had determined to eliminate him. She surveyed him as he
+stood there in his own and fitting milieu and found him reassuringly
+stalwart as a dependable champion.
+
+Alone with him, making estimate with her eyes and her understanding, she
+was conscious that her first surprise at sight of the real Latisan was
+giving way to deepening interest.
+
+She reflected again on the character which had been given this man by
+Rufus Craig, and remembered more vividly what she had written about him
+for the guidance of the Vose-Mern agency.
+
+There must be something wrong in Craig's estimate! She felt that she had
+an eye of her own for qualities in a man, and this man's clean sincerity
+had impressed her in their first meeting in the New York cafeteria.
+
+He turned from his survey of the waters and met her gaze. "I was pretty
+much flustered that day in New York, Miss Jones. I was more so to-day at
+the railroad station. I don't know how to act with girls very well," he
+confessed naïvely. "I want to say something right here and now. There
+are mean stories going the rounds about me up in this country. I'm
+afraid you'll hear some of them. I don't want you--I don't want
+everybody to think I'm what they are trying to make out I am--they lied
+over Tomah way to hurt me in business. But perhaps you don't care one
+way or the other," he probed, wistfully.
+
+He found encouragement in her expression and went on. "I was away at
+Tech, taking a special course, and they lied about me. I was trying to
+make something more of myself than just a lumberjack. And I thought
+there was a chance for me to help things on the Tomah after I learned
+something about engineering. I was doing my best, that's all, and the
+liars saw their opening and took it. If you hear the stories I hope you
+won't believe them."
+
+Hastily she looked away from his earnest and imploring eyes and gave her
+attention to the turbid freshet flood, shredded into a yellow and
+yeasty riot of waters.
+
+Her recollection of childhood became clearer now that she was back
+beside the cataract which was linked with all her early memories. He did
+not venture to disturb her with more talk.
+
+She remained there until the chill from the air and the mist from the
+falling waters and the growing dusk warned her.
+
+They were back at the edge of the village street before he spoke again.
+"The falls are pretty wild now; they're beautiful in the summer when the
+water is low. When I was a boy I footed it over here from the Tomah a
+few times and sat in that niche and listened to the song the waters
+seemed to sing. It was worth the long hike. Being there just now brought
+back something I'd almost forgotten. One day the waters sung me to sleep
+and when I woke up there was a little girl dancing in front of me and
+pointing her finger, and I looked at myself and saw she had made a chain
+of daisies and hung it around my neck and had stuck clover blooms all
+over me. And when she saw that I was awake she scampered off with some
+other children. Queer how the funny little thoughts like that pop up in
+a person's mind!"
+
+Fresh from the scene, softened by her ponderings, Lida felt the surge of
+an impulse to tell him that the same memory had come to her while she
+sat in the niche. She was the child who had made the daisy chain--who
+had been bolder than the other children in approaching the sleeping
+stranger. And she was not ready to agree with him that the memory was
+"queer." She wished she could confess her identity to him right then,
+because the confession would enable her to bring up a topic which had
+been interesting her very much--how personalities, meeting as strangers,
+often prompt each other through subtle psychic qualities of past
+association; there were instances in the books she had read where
+persons claimed to have recognized each other from past incarnations;
+but Lida did not believe that stuff, she had told herself. As to the
+mutual remembrance of the daisy chain--that was different--it seemed
+quite natural. She could remember just how comically that boy's nose
+twitched when she was waking him up with a buttercup blossom.
+
+Latisan was conscious of a queer unwillingness to have her leave him. He
+wondered what excuse he could offer to prolong the companionship of the
+evening. He wanted to link up her affairs with his in some way, if he
+could--that there might be something in common between them. To solicit
+her aid--her counsel; it is the first hankering of a man in his striving
+toward a woman's favor.
+
+In this case, the drive master, desperately casting about for an excuse,
+was guilty of something like an enormity in venturesomeness. His own
+business was calling him to the big house on the ledges; in his new
+state of softened spirit he was dreading any run-in with Echford Flagg.
+Perhaps gossip had already carried to Flagg the reason why the drive
+master had not hastened to report about the dynamite victory. To exhibit
+the actual reason for the delay, in her own winning person, seemed a
+very proper thing to do according to Latisan's clouded judgment of the
+moment.
+
+"Let me tell you!" he urged. "I've got to run up to Flagg's on business.
+You'll have something to talk to him about--those friends----"
+
+"No, no!" She hurried on toward the tavern.
+
+He ventured to clasp her arm, detaining her. "He's a poor, sick old man.
+A little talk with you will do him good."
+
+Her memory was vivid. "But you told me in New York that he won't have a
+woman near his house."
+
+"He's different nowadays," persisted Latisan. "He's sick and it will be
+a treat for him to have a girl say some kind words. I want him to meet
+you----"
+
+But she shook off his hand and resolutely kept on her way. "I must go
+in. I'm tired after my long journey--and my work." There were loafers in
+front of the tavern. "I'm very much obliged to you, Mr. Latisan," she
+called so that all could hear, "for your kindness in showing me the way
+to the falls. Good night!" She disappeared.
+
+There was nothing for Latisan to do but to brave the old tiger of the
+big house alone. Outside of his desire to keep her with him as long as
+possible, he had wanted her to go along into the presence of Flagg as a
+guaranty of the peace; he did not believe that Flagg would launch
+invective in the hearing of the girl; furthermore, Latisan was conscious
+of a proud anxiety to exhibit her.
+
+Flagg tipped the shade of the lamp so that Latisan's face was
+illuminated when the drive master was in the room.
+
+"Shaved!" snorted the tyrant. "All duded up and beauing around a table
+girl. I know all about it. Latisan, you----"
+
+"Just a moment, Mr. Flagg!"
+
+"Shaved, right in the start of the driving season! Shut up! I can see
+what's happening. I heard you had brought the dynamite. But somebody
+else told me. Yes, told me other news! I can't depend on you any longer
+to bring me reports. But you're planting something worse than dynamite
+under yourself. Parading a girl and keeping me waiting and----"
+
+"Let me warn you, sir. Only my pride in doing a job I have set out to do
+is keeping me on with you. If you insult that young lady by another word
+I'll quit you cold, here and now!"
+
+There was a moment of silence.
+
+Rickety Dick, sitting on his stool with a cat in his arms, wriggled as
+uneasily as did the cat, who had been alarmed by the high voices.
+
+"Talk about dynamite being dangerous!" muttered Flagg. "There's
+something else----"
+
+But when he looked into Latisan's countenance he lowered the shade of
+the lamp and did not state what the something else was.
+
+"If you know about the dynamite, sir, there's no need of my saying
+anything. It's on its way north. I shall start for headwaters at
+daybreak. I'll be down to report as soon as possible."
+
+"When you get up on the drive, you stay there, Latisan."
+
+"It's my pledged word that I must report to you in person. You insisted
+on it. I don't propose to give you any chance for come-backs. I shall
+report, Mr. Flagg."
+
+He walked out.
+
+Soon he heard the pattering of feet behind him on the ledges and he was
+hailed cautiously by the quavering voice of old Dick.
+
+"Who is she, Mr. Latisan? Who is that girl?" panted Dick; "I saw her
+when she walked with you. I was side of the road."
+
+"And ran and tattled to Flagg, eh?"
+
+"No--no, sir! It was old Dempsey who came and gossiped. But what's her
+name?"
+
+"Patsy Jones."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"I'm sure because she told me so," retorted the drive master. "Her word
+goes with me."
+
+"But--but----"
+
+"But what?" Latisan's manner was ominous.
+
+"Of course she knows who she is," faltered old Dick. "And my eyesight
+ain't clear--and it was a long time ago--and my memory ain't good, of
+course, and----"
+
+"And your wits don't seem to be of the best, either," snapped the young
+man. "You and Flagg better keep your tongues off that young lady. Do you
+understand?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Latisan. Yes, sir!"
+
+Latisan stepped back and took hold of Dick by the sleeve of the ragged
+jacket. "Who did you think she was?"
+
+"I guess I didn't really think--I only dreamed," was the old man's
+stammering reply. "If you say she's Patsy Jones that's enough for me."
+
+"She says that she is--and that makes it so." Latisan strode on his way.
+
+Rickety Dick lifted his arms, then he lowered them without his "Praise
+the Lord!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN
+
+
+Crowley, shrouded in the evening gloom, tapped on the parlor window the
+signal tattoo agreed upon between himself and Miss Elsham. The light in
+the parlor went out promptly and she came and replied to Crowley under
+the edge of the lifted sash. She had been apprised by her associate of
+the advent of Miss Kennard on the scene; Crowley had hastened to slip a
+note under her door.
+
+"You saw 'em start for a walk, did you? Well, you saw me follow 'em,
+then. Chased 'em to the edge of the falls and hid."
+
+"What sort of talk is she giving him?"
+
+"Talk! I couldn't hear. I don't like water, anyway. I like it less when
+it bangs down over rocks and stops me from hearing what I want to hear."
+
+"What does she tell you?"
+
+"She has only shot a few words at me like beans out of an air gun.
+Claims she's here on the case."
+
+"Do you believe that?"
+
+"I don't dare to tell her that I don't believe it--considering the way
+she stands in with Mern. It may be his afterthought--he's a bird that
+flies funny sometimes, you know."
+
+"Leave her to me; I'll dredge her to-morrow."
+
+"That'll be good dope; she'll have to bring in your meals as soon as you
+give orders to Brophy."
+
+"They'll have to be snappy orders to make him stop bringing 'em
+himself," said Miss Elsham. "The old fool stood around while I was
+eating supper and told me how much money he has saved and how lonesome
+he is since his wife died. I have told him to send Latisan to me this
+evening on a matter of business, no matter how late Latisan comes in.
+He's too jealous to give the word, I do believe."
+
+"I can't understand the hang of it--her grabbing him so quick," lamented
+Crowley. "It's a devil of a note when we have to take time off the main
+job to detect out a mystery right in our own concern! What are you going
+to say about her when you write up your report to-night?"
+
+He was referring to the inviolable rule of the Vose-Mern office that a
+daily report must be made by each operative.
+
+"Nothing, Buck. Let's tread easy. We may seem to be trying to tell Mern
+his business. She's here and he must be perfectly well aware that she's
+here. Don't you write anything in your report. Leave her to me."
+
+"All right! You handle it."
+
+Then Crowley departed and sat down in his room and put into his report a
+full statement about Miss Kennard's arrival and actions and his own
+activity in regard to her. Crowley had elaborate ideas about the art of
+double-crossing everybody, even his associates in the agency. He figured
+that it could not hurt anything to give Mern a full report on all
+matters; and if there was anything peculiar in Kennard's presence there,
+Crowley's assiduity would contrast to his credit and shame Elsham's
+negligence. He had frequently made good hits by cajoling fellow
+operatives to suppress certain matters which he had then reported to his
+advantage with Mern. And Elsham, in this case, was claiming to be in
+charge, making him only the watchdog of her safety.
+
+Crowley growled derogatory comments on her temptress qualities when he
+peered past the edge of his curtain in the morning and looked down on
+Latisan mounting into his jumper seat. The young man did not seem to be
+in an amiable or a confident state of mind, and his plain dolor
+comforted Crowley somewhat, even though Latisan was going back to the
+drive.
+
+The drive master had not been able to see Miss Patsy Jones that morning,
+as he had hoped; he had no excuse to hang around the tavern till she did
+appear. Brophy served the breakfast; he declared that he was going to
+hang on to that table girl if good treatment could prevail, and he was
+never going to ask her to wait on early breakfasters.
+
+Crowley got additional comfort out of Latisan's loud proclamation that
+he would be down in Adonia again very soon. The drive master seemed to
+be striving to draw somebody's attention to that fact. He cast looks
+behind him at the upper windows of the tavern when he drove away.
+
+That day, according to the plans he had made in New York, Mr. Crowley
+took pains to give himself an occupation in Adonia; loafers who were not
+bashful were quizzing him about the nature of his business up there.
+
+The barber had one corner of the village pool room; Crowley made a
+trade to occupy another corner. He opened up a case of cheap jewelry and
+traded it by day and raffled it evenings; he was not molested in his
+sporting propositions, as he called the procedure, after he had arranged
+a private talk with the deputy sheriff. Crowley, with his fancy
+waistcoat and his tip-tilted hat, fitted the rôle he was playing. He was
+right in the path of all the gossip that traveled to and fro; therefore,
+the rôle suited his needs.
+
+His nightly conferences with Miss Elsham at the parlor window were not
+pleasant; Miss Elsham was not in a state of mind which conduced to
+cordial relations.
+
+She had not been able to "dredge" Miss Kennard. That young lady waited
+on Miss Elsham, but not with a tray. After a talk with Brophy, who
+agreed with her absolutely and placatingly, begging her to suit herself
+in all her acts provided she would stay on, Miss Kennard went into the
+parlor, closed the door carefully, and told Miss Elsham where that young
+woman got off as an exacting lady of leisure. "Mr. Mern would not allow
+it--one operative doing menial work for another. If you choose to come
+into the dining room, that's different."
+
+Miss Kennard then turned and walked out. She refused to stay with Miss
+Elsham and have a talk. "We are ordered to be very careful up here," she
+reminded the operative. Miss Elsham was impressed. It was as if Mern
+were sending new cautions by this latest arrival.
+
+Miss Kennard, in her dabblings in psychoanalysis, had secured some
+concrete aids for action in addition to the vague abstractions which had
+come into her mind when Latisan had so naïvely confessed on the cliff
+above the cataract. She understood fully the potency of a suggestion
+which left a lot to the imagination of the other party; only a bit of a
+suggestion is needed--and it must be left to itself, like yeast, to
+induce fermentation. For that reason Miss Kennard abruptly walked out
+and left Miss Elsham alone to reflect--not running away, but retiring
+with the air of one who had said a sufficient number of words to the
+wise.
+
+Miss Elsham, in her conference at the window with Crowley that evening,
+revealed how actively her batch of ponderings had been set to working by
+that bit of suggestion. Crowley, listening, wished privately that he
+could call back that report to Mern; Mern had repeatedly warned him to
+keep to his place as a strong-arm operative, bluntly bearing down on the
+fact that Crowley's brains were not suited for the finer points of
+machination. According to Miss Elsham's figuring--and Crowley
+acknowledged her innate brightness--the plot had thickened and Kennard,
+known to all operatives as Mern's close confidant, was up there as chief
+performer.
+
+Several days elapsed before Crowley--perspiring whenever his worries
+assailed him--got any word from Mern. The chief wrote guardedly, and
+Crowley read the letter over a dozen times without being exactly sure
+just what course he was to pursue. The truth was, Mr. Mern himself was
+doing so much guessing as to Miss Kennard that he was in no state of
+mind to give clean-cut commands.
+
+Crowley's letter was the first intimation to the chief of the
+whereabouts of his confidential secretary. She had not resigned, nor had
+she asked for a leave of absence, nor had she bothered to write or
+telephone; she did not show up at the office--that was all!
+
+Lida, having discarded ethics, had decided to play her game from an
+ambuscade, just as the Vose-Mern agency did its business.
+
+To give any information to the foes of Echford Flagg would be giving
+odds--and she was working single-handed and deserved odds for herself.
+She resolved to make her game as peculiar as possible--to keep all of
+them guessing--to oblige them to take the initiative against her if they
+should find out the secret of her strange actions. The element of time
+entered largely into her calculations: every day on which she stood
+between them and Ward Latisan--every day that he devoted to the
+drive--was a day to be charged to her side of the ledger; and there are
+not many days in the driving season when the waters _are_ high and the
+river is rushing.
+
+A keener mind than Crowley's would have detected in Mern's letter all
+the chief's inability to understand. What Crowley did get from the
+letter was the conviction that Miss Kennard was not to be molested at
+that time. Mern made that clear, though he was vague on other points.
+The chief was wondering whether excess of zeal might be the reason for
+Miss Kennard's amazing performance. He remembered certain hints which
+she had dropped as to her financial needs, and she had not seemed
+averse when he had told her on occasions that he thought of giving her a
+commission when the right kind of a case came along. To turn a trick for
+a rich corporation--working alone so that she might claim full
+credit--undoubtedly had appealed to her as her great opportunity, Mern
+reflected, and she had set off on her own hook, fearful that he would
+not alter the arrangements he had made. He was angry; he muttered oaths
+as he weighed the situation. But he did not put any of his anger into
+his letter to Crowley. Miss Kennard knew too much about the general
+inner workings of the agency! In this new case there was specifically a
+five-thousand-dollar net fee in case Latisan could be eliminated and his
+crew left to the mercies of Comas bluster and cash. Miss Kennard, if
+unduly molested, could say two words in the north country and put that
+contingent fee into limbo.
+
+Therefore, Chief Mern was treading softly at first.
+
+But from the letter which treated the general situation so gingerly the
+strong-arm operative extracted one solid and convincing command. He was
+to watch Miss Kennard. The command seemed entirely natural. Had he not
+been sent up there to watch--or watch over--no matter which--Miss
+Elsham? His instructions in regard to Miss Kennard seemed to make her a
+particularly valuable person in the Vose-Mern plans. He was not to allow
+anything to interfere with his watching of Miss Kennard, not even for
+the sake of Miss Elsham. He was to observe every movement, catch every
+word, if possible, mark every detail of Miss Kennard's operations.
+
+Crowley did not show the letter to Miss Elsham, nor did he speak of it.
+He would mortally offend her by revealing his double-crossing tactics;
+as a woman she would be more offended by being relegated to the
+background in favor of the newcomer.
+
+Crowley found his espionage an easy job at first. All he had to report
+to Mern for three or four days was that "Patsy Jones" did her work in
+the hotel and remained in her room till after dark--and then went out
+and strolled aimlessly. She would not talk with Crowley when he grasped
+at opportunities to speak to her on her walks. She reminded him that
+fellow operatives must be careful; furthermore, scandal might oblige her
+to abandon her job; he would be responsible if he insisted on dogging
+her about the village.
+
+However, Crowley was able, a few days later, to slip her a letter from
+Mern; the chief had inclosed it in a missive containing further
+instructions to the operative to make sure of every move of Lida. The
+inclosed letter was addressed to "Patsy Jones."
+
+Lida read it when she was back in her room. She noted with satisfaction
+that Chief Mern was still guessing and that his detective mind was
+unable to solve the mystery except on the ground that she was so loyal
+to the agency and so ambitious for herself that she had tackled the job
+as a speculation. He chided her because she had not reported her
+intention. He asked for a full statement.
+
+She hid the letter carefully in her bureau. Having put it away for
+further reference in case she did make up her mind to answer the
+questions when forced to do so, she delayed replying. She did not want
+to lie needlessly to Mern--she was willing to let him do imagining, too,
+seeing how well it was working, to all appearances, in the cases of
+Elsham and Crowley.
+
+She had her own reasons for keeping withindoors in the daytime. The
+matter of Rickety Dick was worrying her. He had seen her as a girl of
+sixteen, worn with her vigils beside a sick mother; the light through
+the area windows had been dim, and he had stumbled against chairs in the
+room as if his vision were poor.
+
+However, she discovered at the outset of her stay in Adonia that she had
+become the object of old Dick's intent regard whenever he found
+opportunity. He often trudged past the tavern on his errands; he dragged
+slow steps and squinted and peered. Once she caught him peeping at her
+through the open door of the dining room. She had feared some such
+closer inspection and had drawn back her hair and twisted its waviness
+into an unsightly pug; the moment she saw him she slipped into her mouth
+a piece of spruce gum which an admiring woodsman had presented, and then
+she chewed vigorously and slatted herself about in a tough manner. He
+sighed and went away muttering.
+
+He ventured another and a last sortie, as if he wanted to make an end of
+his doubts. He also made a sensation.
+
+Rickety Dick came to take dinner at the tavern!
+
+He was in his best rig, with which he was accustomed to outfit himself
+for the funerals of his old friends. There was a faded tail coat which
+flapped against baggy gray trousers. A celluloid collar on a flannel
+shirt propped up his wrinkled chin.
+
+Martin Brophy stared at old Dick and then cast a look up at the office
+clock, whose hands, like Dick's in the moment of mental stress, were
+upraised on the stroke of twelve.
+
+"Flagg dead?" inquired Brophy, unable otherwise to account for Dick's
+absence from the big house at the dinner hour.
+
+"No! Toothache! Can't eat to-day. He let me off to go to a burying."
+
+"Whose?"
+
+Old Dick shook his head and passed on into the dining room, peering hard
+into the face of the waitress as he plodded toward her. "Burying!" he
+muttered. "May as well make sure it's dead--and put it away."
+
+Lida met him as she was meeting her other problems up there--boldly.
+
+She leaned over him when he was seated and recited the daily bill of
+fare. He did not take his eyes off her face, now close to his.
+
+"Lida Kennard," he whispered, hoarsely, panting, pulling the hard collar
+away from his throat with trembling fingers, "why ain't ye home with
+your poor old grandfather, where ye belong? Lida Kennard, why ain't ye
+home?"
+
+Her eyes did not waver. Brophy had followed, to be better informed as to
+the funeral, and stood in the doorway.
+
+"Who's the nut?" inquired Patsy Jones, acridly, turning her gaze to the
+landlord. "He's calling me names." Her hard tones made the old man
+wince.
+
+"He's all right--safe--only a little crazier than usual," returned
+Brophy. "If you want to eat, Dick, go ahead and eat--but don't bother
+Miss Jones. I don't allow anybody to bother her. And where's that
+funeral, I ask you again?"
+
+"Here!" said the old man, rapping his knuckles on his breast. "It's
+buried. I guess I am crazy. Oh yes, I'll admit it. I see things that
+ain't so."
+
+"Well, go ahead and eat," commanded Brophy.
+
+"I don't want to eat--I can't, now." He pushed back his chair and rose.
+
+"What names did he call you?" demanded the landlord, truculently. "I
+won't have your feelings hurt, you know!"
+
+"Oh, only made some funny noises," retorted Miss Jones, flippantly. "Let
+him go. I don't mind."
+
+Rickety Dick plodded out as he had plodded in; he was shaking his head,
+dismissing all his hopes and his dreams.
+
+Miss Jones went to another guest. "The world is full of 'em," she said.
+"We have lamb, beef, and pork."
+
+Brophy retired, entertaining no further curiosity.
+
+The surge of homesickness that swept through the girl choked her--its
+spray blurred her eyes as she gazed after old Dick, pitying his bent
+shoulders under the sun-faded coat. But even in her sorrow, because she
+had been obliged to deny his wistful plaint so heartlessly, she was
+conscious of relief. She had been afraid of his recognition of her;
+after this she would be more free to come and go.
+
+That evening at supper there was a guest who troubled her thoughts more
+than had Rickety Dick, but in another way. Ward Latisan was down again
+from the drive, still adoring her frankly and unabashed with his eyes,
+following all her movements; it was plain that he had taken counsel with
+himself while he had been away from her and that his love had been made
+acute by separation. She was of a mind to hide away from him in her room
+after her work was done. But there was the cultivation of his friendship
+to consider! She must keep up that friendship in order to be able to
+influence him.
+
+Timorously, wondering what was to come from the coil of events as she
+saw them shaping in that region of barehanded conflict, she put on her
+hat and went forth. Latisan stepped off the porch and joined her,
+plainly no longer concerned with what the gossipers of Adonia might say
+or think.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN
+
+
+As on a previous occasion, when the gloom of the night had settled, they
+were again at the side of the village street, at the mouth of the path
+by which they had returned from the cliff above the falls.
+
+She had sought the falls that evening because the din of the waters
+would keep him from talking too much. She was afraid of the light in his
+eyes and of the repressed feeling in his tones. She knew that she must
+repulse him if he wooed. Her emotions were mixed, but she was sure there
+was no love in her heart--all her thoughts were concerned with her
+quest. If love should by any possibility develop in her and she should
+allow him to see it, what would become of his man's appetite for fight
+and danger? She felt obliged to view surrender to him in that light. On
+the other hand, she could not afford to offend him deeply by allowing
+matters to come to a climax between them right then; the climax must
+disclose her lack of affection. She had been estimating that hale man of
+the woods--she was certain that what she felt toward him was only
+friendly respect for his character, and she could not lie to him or fawn
+falsely for her purposes.
+
+"I must go up now and face the usual music," he said, sourly. "I'm
+getting to be afraid of myself with Flagg."
+
+"I've heard he's afflicted with the toothache to-day. You must make all
+allowances," she entreated, with a dash of jest in her earnestness.
+
+"Then I especially need a protector. I'm going to ask you again to go
+along with me. Really, you're needed if I'm expected to stay on my job.
+Why," he went on, jest mingling with seriousness in his own case, "if
+the Flagg drive comes down all right through my efforts, you can take
+the credit of the victory because you were present to-night and smoothed
+things; he'll just have to be decent, with a strange young lady in the
+room."
+
+She was not ready with peremptory refusal, as she had been on the other
+occasion; she had met the bugbear of Rickety Dick and had prevailed over
+the old man's suspicions. As Latisan averred, her presence might help
+matters; she would entertain strange and acute regrets if her absence
+should allow the split that Latisan seemed to apprehend.
+
+He timidly put his hand on her arm. "Please!"
+
+"I'll be intruding on a business talk. I may make him all the more
+touchy." She was hesitating, weighing the hazards of each plan--to go or
+to stay away.
+
+"There's no private business to be talked. I'm simply going to tell him
+that I have blown the ice and have the logs in the river and I want to
+have his orders about how many splash dams I can blow up if I need to do
+it for a head o' water to beat the Three C's drive to Skulltree. Really,
+he needs to talk with somebody who is gentle," he went on, and she
+responded to the touch on her arm and walked slowly with him up the
+hill. "He sits there day by day and reads the tooth-for-tooth part of
+the Old Testament, and it keeps hardening his heart. I've thought of a
+plan. Suppose you get friendly with him! You can take some soothing
+books up to him in your off hours and read aloud. Let's try to make a
+different man of Eck Flagg, you and I."
+
+So, over the ledges where her childish feet had stumbled, Lida Kennard,
+trembling, anxious, yearning for her kin, went again to the door of the
+big mansion on the hill.
+
+Latisan's words had opened a vista of hope to her; she might be able,
+after all, to render the service to which old Dick had exhorted her,
+hiding her identity behind a woman's desire to cheer an invalid.
+
+It was the same square, bleak house of her early memories, now dark
+except for a dim glow through two dingy windows in the lower part; the
+yee-yawed curtains were eloquent evidence of the housekeeping methods.
+
+"He won't have any women around, as I told you." Latisan was not tactful
+in his excuse for the slack aspect of the house.
+
+"I'm afraid it isn't best for me to go in," she said, making a final
+stand.
+
+"If you go with me you're all right," declared the drive boss, with
+pride of power where the Flagg interests were concerned. "It'll do him
+good to be jumped out of himself--to see a young lady from the city."
+
+Latisan did not knock; he walked in, escorting the girl.
+
+In the middle of the sitting room, in a wheel chair that was draped
+with a moosehide tanned with the hair on it, she beheld an old man with
+a fleece of white mane and beard. A shaded oil lamp shed a circle of
+radiance on a big book which lay on his knees. The girl noted that the
+book was the Bible. Outside that circle of radiance the room was in
+darkness and the old man heard footsteps without being able to see who
+had entered; in the shadows was old Dick on his stool.
+
+"That you, Latisan?" demanded the master.
+
+"Yes, sir!" Ward was about to say more, introducing the girl, but Flagg
+broke in, paying no attention to what his drive master might have on his
+mind.
+
+"Here's the stuff for real men in this book! You ought to take time to
+read it. I'm sorry I didn't read it regular when I was going about on
+two legs." He pounded his hand on the opened pages. "The parsons are now
+preaching too much New Testament stuff. When my folks dragged me to the
+meetinghouse in the pod-auger days we got Old Testament--red hot. I've
+been hoping I remembered it right--I've been looking it up. Listen!"
+
+"'If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or
+the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is thine soul, entice thee
+secretly, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," which thou hast not
+known, thou, nor thy fathers; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor
+hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou
+spare, neither shalt thou conceal him; but thou shalt surely kill him;
+thine hand shalt be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward
+the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that
+he die.'"
+
+Again the old man beat his hand upon the book. "There are the orders for
+you, Latisan!"
+
+"I don't know as I just get you, sir!"
+
+"You don't expect to find the Three C's mentioned by name in Holy Writ,
+do you? But the case is covered. They're asking you and me to serve
+other gods. They're asking us to go into their combine. If we do so it
+means that the sawmills on this river will be closed and the homes
+deserted. They're taking all the timber down to the paper mills. To hell
+with their paper! The folks need lumber for houses. The Three C's shan't
+control the market and boost prices so that folks can't buy. Latisan! I
+tell you again, you've got your orders, backed by the Scripture. An eye
+for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! Families or corporations, it's all the
+same! Why don't you say something?"
+
+"I'm waiting to introduce a young lady, sir. This is Miss Jones who has
+just come to town."
+
+Flagg tipped the shade of the lamp and deflected the light upon the
+couple. He bawled an ugly oath. "Clean shaved, again! Making a dude of
+yourself! Sapgagging with a girl?"
+
+Latisan stepped forward and broke in on the tirade. "I'll have to ask
+you to trig that kind of talk, Mr. Flagg. Miss Jones has come here to
+cheer you up."
+
+"When I want any girl to come here and cheer me up I'll drop her a line
+and give her thirty days' notice."
+
+The caller who had been snubbed so bluntly turned on her heel. She
+pleaded, faintly, "I'm sorry, sir. I'll leave you and Mr. Latisan to
+talk over your business."
+
+"I can't blame you for going," said Latisan. He followed her, and to her
+profound amazement she discovered that a woodsman could be as
+temperamental as a prima donna. "I'm going, too, Mr. Flagg," he called
+over his shoulder. "I'm going for good and all where you're concerned.
+I'm done with you. I gave you your fair warning. Send another man north
+to the drive."
+
+"Just one minute, there, Latisan!" called the master, harshly. "Unless
+you're afraid to stay here that length of time or can't spare the minute
+away from your wench!"
+
+The drive master stopped at the door and spun around on his heel.
+
+There had been but one flash of the light's rays on Lida--the old man
+had immediately allowed the shade to drop; standing just beyond the
+doorway in the hall, she was safely in the shadows.
+
+"If you expect to hear me whinny like a sick horse you're mistaken,"
+went on Flagg, with the staccato of ire. "Now I know what you're worth.
+You have appraised yourself. A girl's grin has bought you. I don't know
+what sort she is, nor care I. But unless she's a fool she can see what
+you're worth, too. Go along, now!"
+
+There was compunction in Latisan, and he realized it. But there was that
+untamed spirit of old John, as well, and it made for rancor and
+rebellion.
+
+In that room at the moment old John's spirit was veritably present in
+the grandson, reviving the ancient north-country duello of unconquered
+wills with old Echford in the flesh--and a Latisan had never lowered the
+crest before a Flagg.
+
+"It's a cheap hired man you want!" Compromise was offered no opportunity
+by young Latisan's manner and tone. "Hire one--of your picking! And a
+devilish fine boss that kind will make for you!"
+
+"I'll hire nobody," roared Flagg. "I'll ride to the head of the drive in
+this chair. Even with both sides of me paralyzed I'll be worth more than
+you are, you lallygagging, love-cracked loon! Get out of here!"
+
+When the two were outside in the night the girl faced Latisan. "I insist
+on going alone, sir. You have no right to leave a helpless man as you're
+doing. I cannot believe that you mean what you said just now!"
+
+"I'm through! I have let him curse me out all along and I took it whence
+it came. But this time it's different."
+
+"Please go back to him."
+
+"I will not. I'm done!"
+
+The grim thought came to her that she had ineluctably become a valuable
+operative in the interests of the Vose-Mern agency. According to
+appearances the work was finished. However, she promptly blazed into
+indignation which rang true. "I'm only a stranger to that poor old man.
+He did not understand. I had no right to rush in on him as I did."
+
+"I had the right to invite you."
+
+"I won't have it on my conscience that I have been a party to this break
+between you two. If it were not so dreadful it would be silly, sir."
+
+"I have the right to be silly about my own business, if you're bound to
+call it silly, what I have done."
+
+"Go back, I tell you!"
+
+"I will not!"
+
+"You shall not walk away with me."
+
+"I invited you to come up here. I shall see you to the door of that
+tavern. You may never speak to me again, but you won't be able to say
+about me that I deserted you in the dark night."
+
+"Will you come back here after you have escorted me to the tavern?"
+
+"No! It's settled into a stand-off between Flagg and me."
+
+"Don't you want to please me?"
+
+"Yes, even to lying down here in the mud and letting you walk on me," he
+declared, his fervor breaking from the repression he had been
+maintaining with difficulty. "And it's because he has insulted somebody
+that I feel like that toward--that's why I'm done with him. I'm not
+putting it very smoothly. But it's in here!" He pounded his fist on his
+breast.
+
+"Mr. Latisan, this is folly. I'm only a waitress."
+
+"I'm thanking God that you are and that you aren't too high above me, as
+I was afraid you were when I met you in New York. You're down where I
+can talk to you."
+
+She started to walk away, but he leaped and seized both her arms. "This
+is going mighty fast," he gasped. "I never talked to a girl in this way
+in all my life. I'll probably never dare to talk to you if I wait for
+daylight to-morrow--I'll be too scared of my thoughts overnight."
+
+She did not try to twist herself free from his grasp; she was more
+self-possessed than he was--he was trembling in all his frame.
+
+"It's like dynamite," he stammered. "I reckon it was in me all the time!
+The first flash of your eyes lighted the fuse! I've blown up." He pulled
+her close to him, flung his arms about her, and kissed her. But
+immediately he loosed her and stepped back. "I didn't intend to do that!
+My feelings got away from me."
+
+"And now may I go along?" she inquired, coldly, after he had remained
+silent for a time.
+
+"I'm sorry I have made you angry. I don't know how to go at a thing like
+this one I'm tackling," he said contritely. "But I feel that talking out
+straight and man fashion is the only way. Will you marry me?"
+
+"Certainly not, sir!"
+
+He did not attempt to stay her when she walked on. He trod humbly by her
+side.
+
+"I was afraid you wouldn't. But I couldn't keep back the asking any more
+than I can push back that flood you can hear down in the gorge. It just
+had to pour along, that asking!"
+
+"Mr. Latisan, you astonish me. You desert your employer on account of a
+mere whim----"
+
+"Don't you call my standing up for you any whim, if you please!" The
+change in his tone from humility to stern and masterful command caused
+her to catch her breath. She was not accustomed to dominance by men.
+
+"At any rate, sir, you have proposed marriage to a stranger, a mere
+come-by-chance into this place, not knowing who or what I am. I have a
+right to be astonished."
+
+"Probably! But you aren't any more so than I was in New York when I
+realized what had happened to me."
+
+"So, now you can forget all about me and go back to your work on the
+drive!"
+
+"You have said I did not know much about you. It's plain you don't know
+me! I have told Eck Flagg I am done. And I am! You don't understand. I'm
+a Latisan and----" he faltered then; it sounded like boyish boasting and
+he was a bit ashamed.
+
+"Somehow that helpless old man has stirred all my sympathy. Why won't
+you do as I ask?"
+
+"Because a girl who throws a man down as you have hasn't any right to
+ask him to do this or that."
+
+They were near the tavern before either spoke again.
+
+"I'm not saying that I'm not sorry for Eck Flagg," the drive master
+stated. "I don't want you to leave me to-night with the idea that I'm a
+quitter or a coward or a sneak about what's my duty. I'll be honest with
+you. You think I'm a fool because I've fallen in love with you so
+suddenly. A man who has tussled with drives and log jams for as many
+years as I have needs to think quickly, make up his mind about what it's
+right to do, and then stick to it. I'm not going to sacrifice myself for
+Flagg--a man with the hard heart that's in him." He caught his breath
+and plunged on: "You say to-night that you won't marry me. I'm going to
+stay close by and see if you won't change your mind. A roaring fire is
+in me right now!" His demeanor terrified her. The primitive man was
+blazing. "I don't dare to take the chances on what would be in me if I
+should go back to the drive and leave you here to be smirked at by every
+cheap man who comes along. I have dreamed too much about you!" He was
+wooing with the avatar of old John. "By the gods! you're my girl! I'm
+going to have you! I'll stay on that job!"
+
+"I shall leave this place to-morrow. It will be very--well, very unwise
+for you to annoy me."
+
+"I'm going to follow you."
+
+"Mr. Latisan, I have listened to you; you shall listen to me!" She spoke
+sharply. Now she displayed the equipoise of one who had learned much
+from self-reliant contact with men. "I'll not argue with you about what
+you call love. But there's something which love must have, and that's
+self-respect. If your folly on account of me takes you away from your
+honest duty you'll despise me when you come to yourself. You have been
+honest with me. I'll be honest with you. I like you. I can see that
+you're a big, true man--much different from most of the men I have met
+before this. But I shall lose all my good opinion of you if you desert
+your job. And, as I have said, you'll hate me if I allow you to do so.
+Can we afford to take chances?"
+
+While he pondered she made hurried mental account of stock in her own
+case.
+
+She was not admitting that she felt any especial consideration for this
+man as a lover; she was protecting her grandfather and striving for her
+own peace of mind as a payer of a debt of honor. He followed her when
+she walked on toward the tavern.
+
+"May I ask what you mean by taking chances? Chances on being something
+more to each other than we are now?" he asked, wistfully.
+
+"I think we have gone quite far enough for one evening, sir."
+
+He pulled off his cap. "Before I go to sleep I shall say my little
+prayer. I shall ask that you won't be thinking I have gone too far. I'm
+sure it won't be a prayer to the God of the Old Testament, such as Eck
+Flagg was reading about. I'll whisper up to Mother Mary. She understands
+women. I don't."
+
+He bowed in silence when she gave him a hasty "good night!"
+
+Latisan whirled suddenly after the girl closed the door behind her--came
+about on his heels so quickly that he nearly bumped into the assiduous
+operative Crowley, who had been taking desperate chances that evening.
+
+But Latisan's gaze was directed downward in deep thought as he walked
+slowly away, and he did not perceive the eavesdropper.
+
+Mr. Crowley had heard aplenty, so he informed himself; he had followed
+them all the way from the big house down to the tavern, treading close
+behind, depending on their absorption in each other, his shoes in his
+hand, not minding the ledges and the mud; and he was in his mental
+stocking feet, too, treading on the bedrock of the obvious, as he
+figured on the proposition.
+
+He had been told many times, Mr. Crowley had, that he possessed a
+single-track mind and was not fitted to deal with the subtleties of
+criminal investigation and had not the expansive wit to comprehend the
+roundabout ways of steering victims to their doom. But Mr. Crowley was
+indubitably fitted by training to write a handbook on the art of
+double-crossing--and he reckoned he knew an out-and-out job of that sort
+after what he had heard that evening. For his own peace of mind, and to
+save himself from going crazy by reason of any more puzzlement over Miss
+Kennard's alleged mysterious methods in her work, he kept insisting to
+himself that she was merely double-crossing the Vose-Mern agency in the
+good old-fashioned way. Not his the task to wonder why!
+
+He rushed up to his room and started in on his report. It had stuck
+in Crowley's crop--seemed humiliating--to be made a subaltern in the
+case of women operatives. He believed that at last he was in right
+and proper on the grand opportunity of his career; he would come down
+from the bush with the bacon; Elsham had fallen down and Kennard was
+double-crossing--and Crowley, good old reliable Crowley, would show
+Chief Mern where the credit should go! He set his little, cheap
+typewriter on his sturdy knees and pecked away stolidly with his
+forefingers.
+
+Latisan remained outdoors a long time, for the night matched the gloom
+of his thoughts. And once more, in spite of himself, his dark ponderings
+concerned themselves with suspicions as to what and who this girl really
+was.
+
+In his early deference to her he had been ready and willing to believe
+all she said about herself, and his suspicion had seemed to be
+extinguished; he realized that it merely had been smoldering. Why would
+not a waitress marry him, one of the Latisans of the Tomah? Was he what
+old Flagg had so inelegantly stated--a sapgag where a girl was
+concerned? He began to distrust his strength as a man; he had wasted a
+day in New York; he was ready to give up his man's job on the Noda
+because he could not get his thoughts away from her and on his work. His
+last stay at headwaters had been hours of torture. He had gone to sleep
+dreaming of the girl instead of putting his attention on the problems of
+the morrow--and the details of the drive that spring needed all sorts of
+judgment and foresight.
+
+While he was in that state of mind, trying to excuse defection, he told
+himself, as he trudged to and fro, that he was not a fit man for Flagg.
+Nevertheless he cursed himself for being so weak. He had read stories of
+woman's subjugation of the famous and the strong and had wondered what
+sort of lunacy had overtaken such men. Here he was making an invalid's
+tantrums an excuse to give up his work and dangle at the skirts of an
+unknown girl; and he knew it was because of the mystery of her real
+identity and because his jealousy was afire on account of an uncertainty
+which was now aggravated by her refusal to marry him.
+
+Latisan had not been in the village ten minutes that afternoon before
+Gossip Dempsey had giggled and told him he'd better keep sharp watch on
+his girl, because the jewelry man was everlastingly after her like a
+puppy chasing the butcher's cart; the simile was not nice, but Latisan
+was impressed by its suggestion of assiduity.
+
+In the tumult of his thought, grudgingly conscious that he was ashamed
+of the real reason for giving up his work, Latisan evasively decided
+that the thing was now up to Echford Flagg. He had warned Flagg man
+fashion. He had given his word to Flagg as to what would happen if Flagg
+persisted in treating him like a lackey. Flagg had persisted. Latisan
+had kept his word. He could not retreat from that stand; he could not
+crawl back to Flagg and still maintain the self-respect that a drive
+master must have in the fight that was ahead.
+
+Therefore, Latisan decided to stay in Adonia and let Flagg make
+overtures; for their future relations the drive master would be able to
+lay down some rules to govern Flagg's language and conduct. Under that
+decision persisted the nagging consciousness that he wanted to be with
+the girl instead of on the drive and he was more and more ashamed of the
+new weakness in his character. And he was also ashamed of the feeling
+that he wanted to find out more about her. In the past his manliness had
+despised prying and peering. He had been able to bluster loyally to old
+Dick; he was more truthful to himself. What was she, anyway? He would
+not admit that he had been so completely tipped upside down in all his
+hale resolves, aims, and objects by a mere nonentity who looked no
+higher than a job as waitress at Brophy's tavern.
+
+Then he went into the tavern out of the darkness and blinked at the
+landlord, who called him to the desk and gave a letter into his hands.
+It was sealed, but there was no stamp on it.
+
+"Ordered by Mrs. Everett to hand it to you," reported Brophy, sourly.
+"She wanted to see you last time you were down, but it slipped my mind
+to tell you."
+
+Latisan read the note. The lady of the parlor entreated him to come to
+her on a matter of business, no matter how late the hour might be. He
+tore up the paper on his way to the fireplace and tossed the bits on the
+embers.
+
+"Same room for me?" he asked Brophy.
+
+"Yes, but Mrs. Everett said for me----"
+
+"Damn Mrs. Everett! I'm going to bed."
+
+It consoled him a little, as he walked upstairs, to reflect that he was
+not dominated by all the women in the world, even if he was in the way
+of making himself a fool over one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN
+
+
+Latisan, going to sleep, hoped that he would awake with a saner
+viewpoint.
+
+He did admit to himself in the morning that if Echford Flagg should show
+the right spirit of compromise the thing could be patched up on terms
+which would allow the drive master to be his own man instead of being a
+spanked youngster.
+
+The girl seized an opportunity to speak to him when she brought his
+breakfast. "Things look better this morning--I'm sure they do. Tell me.
+I worried half the night. I must not be the cause of trouble."
+
+"Yes, they look better."
+
+"And you're starting back to-day for the drive?" Her voice was low but
+eager. "Tell me that you are!"
+
+His smouldering suspicion! Red tongues of fire darted up from it!
+
+"I'm afraid you won't be able to get rid of me to-day. Business is
+keeping me here."
+
+Her entreating smile faded; she backed way from him as if she had
+received a rude thrust, and then she went about her work.
+
+There was a real sensation in the tavern that morning! The exclusive
+star boarder of the parlor came into the public room to eat her
+breakfast. Her charms were enhanced by a becoming morning wrap, and,
+following out her liberal code governing the relations of sex in modern
+days, she seated herself at Latisan's table, greeting him with a
+mingling of bright good humor and gentle rebuke.
+
+"Give me a good reason why you have not been the advising friend you
+promised to be, and I may not be too angry, Mr. Latisan."
+
+"I--I thought I'd wait till this morning----"
+
+"Thank you! Then I'm welcome at your table."
+
+She lowered her voice after that. She was engrossed with ordinary topics
+whenever the waitress's duties brought Lida to the table. If there was
+to be rivalry between the operatives of Vose-Mern, Miss Elsham decided
+that her tactics with the Flagg drive master should not be known. She
+did the talking and Latisan gave the appearance of being an earnest
+listener. At a matter of fact, he played up strongly his affectation of
+devoted interest. Ingenuous amateur that he was in the subtleties of
+love, he was trying out a method which he had heard commended; he was
+wondering how much an aroused jealousy might accomplish in the case of
+Miss Patsy Jones.
+
+He cast side glances and saw that she seemed to be disturbed. He
+bestowed on Mrs. Everett more profound attention. He even allowed
+himself to say when the waitress was within earshot, "I think I'll know
+by to-morrow whether I'm to keep on at the head of the drive. If I don't
+and if matters allow, I'll be glad to take charge of your trip into the
+north country."
+
+Latisan, boyishly crude in his methods, felt that Miss Jones would have
+an interpretation of her own for "matters" and would do some earnest
+thinking before she turned him over to the companionship of a rich
+young widow, even in the humble rôle of a chief guide.
+
+In spite of Brophy's sign, "No Smoking in This Dining Room"--a
+restriction intended for woodsmen--Miss Elsham lighted a cigarette in
+her satisfaction; her failure to interest the man of the woods even to
+the extent of a second interview had been worrying the seductress de
+luxe of the Vose-Mern establishment after her unbroken successes with
+the men of the city.
+
+She went out of the room chatting with Latisan, and found an opportunity
+to sweep Miss Kennard with a patronizing glance.
+
+Latisan spent the forenoon on the tavern porch, smoking his pipe and
+waiting--even hoping--for a message from Echford Flagg. Rickety Dick
+passed the place several times on his usual errands. Flagg, therefore,
+would be informed that the drive master was loafing in the village. But
+old Dick did not bring any word from the big house to Latisan.
+
+To be sure, the split of the evening before had seemed discouragingly
+final. But after the girl's rebuke and appeal Ward was ashamed of the
+persisting stubbornness which was making him an idler in that exacting
+period when the thunderous Noda waters were sounding a call to duty. He
+did not want her to think of him as vindictive in his spirit, and still
+less did he desire her to consider him petty in his motives and notions.
+
+On the other hand, the proposition was strictly a man-to-man affair, and
+Echford Flagg had made relations unendurable.
+
+Ward wished devoutly that he could clear his thoughts; they were
+muddled. Back of the inertia which was hiding him in Adonia there seemed
+to be reasons other than the new animosity toward his employer. Really,
+he confessed to himself, he would like to go to Flagg and win to a
+manlike and mutual understanding which would serve both of them. But he
+muttered when he looked up at the big house, and he kept on waiting for
+the master to offer an opening.
+
+He confessed that his was a childish attitude toward an employer. Had he
+allowed his infatuation to twist him into this being who was putting the
+burden of an offer of compromise upon a poor old stricken man who ought
+to be protected from his own intolerance?
+
+However, the drive master was aware of a certain satisfaction in being
+on hand to watch and weigh affairs in Adonia that day.
+
+The raffle man, as the villagers called Crowley, seemed to have a great
+deal on his mind, Latisan reflected. Crowley made several trips to the
+telegraph office at the railroad station.
+
+At dinner Miss Jones averted her eyes from Latisan and there was no talk
+between them. Latisan tried to comfort himself, by the thought that
+jealousy was operating. He saw her go out in the afternoon for a walk,
+but he did not offer to accompany her. His naïve conviction was that his
+indifference and the threat of interest in Mrs. Everett would suffice to
+bring Miss Patsy Jones down from her coquette's pedestal.
+
+He was tempted to leap up and follow when he saw Crowley trailing after
+the waitress; but Crowley went only a little distance, and then he came
+back and went into the tavern and upstairs.
+
+Again in midafternoon old Dick passed, but he brought no word to the
+waiting drive master.
+
+This insulting indifference, as Latisan considered it, indicated that
+Echford Flagg was no longer depending on Ward as champion. There had
+been no misunderstanding of language. Latisan had quit--and Flagg was
+contented to let him stay quit.
+
+The young man felt more acutely cheap and small. He had been setting
+himself up as the one man who could drive down the Flagg logs. The fact
+that he could not bring himself to break away instanter and go north to
+his duty--without orders from Flagg and without considering further his
+entanglement with a girl--was a fact that steadily lessened his
+self-esteem. He had been able to go straightforwardly in all matters
+till then; this new inability to handle complex affairs and to untangle
+the situation made him distrust himself and wonder whether he was much
+of a man, anyway!
+
+Then came night--and he went to his room to brood.
+
+At supper the girl of his thoughts had been conspicuously rude in the
+manner with which she banged down dishes in front of him.
+
+Lida had been doing some pondering of her own. She would not admit that
+she had been piqued by his attentions to Elsham and by his partial
+promise to that complacent young lady. But she was finding him to be
+very much of a child, she told herself. He needed to be protected from
+himself at that juncture. And he needed to be convinced that he was
+wasting his time just then by staying away from duty and playing the
+lover. Lida's first thought was that if he found no profit in lovemaking
+he would go back to his work in spite of what he had told her. She could
+not bring herself to believe that a man like Latisan would succumb to
+Elsham's wiles.
+
+In that mood, both as protectress and as stanch believer in his
+uprightness, she found that her interest in him was becoming more vivid
+than she had realized. Her warming heart sent a flush into her cheeks
+when she remembered the passionate embrace. She noted that flush when
+she looked into her mirror. She was making herself ready for slumber.
+
+"Don't be a fool!" she warned the reflection in the mirror.
+
+Having clarified the situation to that extent in her thoughts before
+going to sleep, she awoke and began the new day with better confidence.
+The spirit of the Open Places certainly did make folks honest, she told
+herself! She felt that the morning must have brought common sense to
+Latisan, as it had to her.
+
+From her window she saw him walking to and fro in front of the tavern.
+The early dawn was flushing the east. His being abroad at that hour
+suggested that he was going back to his work instead of playing the
+idling lover. She decided to be frank with him; she dressed in haste,
+hurried down and faced him, and told him how glad she was that he had
+come into his right senses; she had determined that her best course was
+to take his reformed mental state for granted.
+
+"Yes, I'm sensible enough to quit being a boss bulldog for a man like
+Eck Flagg." He was sorry after he said it. But there was no word from
+Flagg--and her insistence, as if she wanted to be rid of him, rasped his
+raw temper.
+
+"But you're going back to the drive!" she gasped.
+
+"I am not."
+
+"Don't you value your reputation among men?"
+
+"I do!"
+
+"They'll say you're a quitter." She spoke boldly and sharply.
+
+"Let me tell _you_ something! When you told me that you wouldn't marry
+me I came nigh quitting where you're concerned. But I am back in my
+right senses, as you say! You're mine! I have told you so. I tell you
+again this morning. It's something of a fix you've got yourself into,
+eh?"
+
+She grew pale and her wide eyes were filled with startled protest; he
+was placid enough, but his calmness made the thing more grim and
+threatening when she reflected on the suggestiveness of that word "fix."
+She was unable to endure his scrutiny. He did not try to restrain her
+when she turned away, hastening into the tavern.
+
+Brophy came into the dining room when he heard her setting the tables.
+"Well, by swanny! You're up without being called! You ain't much like
+the others I've had here!"
+
+He was silent for some time, and when she turned she found him surveying
+her with curious intentness. "It ain't none of my business, of course,
+but I hope you ain't of a marrying notion, just yet awhile."
+
+"That remark seems a little uncalled for, Mr. Brophy."
+
+"I'm speaking out because Ward Latisan doesn't seem to be the flirting
+kind, miss. You can't fool with him."
+
+"I thank you. I shall avoid Mr. Latisan from now on. I have
+thoughtlessly taken walks with him."
+
+"If it's such a thing as you're intending to get married I'd rather lose
+you to Latisan than to anybody else in this region. He's solid goods,
+miss! Solid!"
+
+She was seeking confirmation to strengthen her resolves. "I hear that
+his employer is an invalid. I suppose that makes Mr. Latisan pretty nigh
+indispensable, doesn't it?"
+
+"There'll be no Flagg drive down this spring without Ward on the
+job--I'll say that much," declared Brophy, with vigor. "I can't afford
+to make any loud talk about the Three C's, miss," he went on, lowering
+his voice cautiously, "because I cater to all comers. But I don't know
+another boss driver who couldn't be scared off or bought off at the
+present time, considering the hold the big corporation has got on things
+up this way. They're bound to monopolize the river--the Three C's gang.
+But they can't freeze out the independents this year if Ward Latisan
+stays on the job for Eck Flagg. The death clinch comes this season!"
+
+"Where's your law up this way, Mr. Brophy?" she demanded.
+
+"I guess neither side dares to call on the law right now. Law might tie
+up everything. Logs have got to come along with the spring driving
+pitch, and high water won't wait till lawyers get done arguing."
+
+He took down a gong and pounded on it with a padded mallet while he
+marched through the office to the porch and back again. It was the
+breakfast call.
+
+"I'll say about Eck Flagg," he stated, when he hung the gong back on its
+hook, "that he ain't so much to blame for his sour temper as some folks
+are bound to have it. Old Job of the Bible had nothing on Eck for
+troubles. No matter what he has done, Eck has been a square fighter.
+Probably you ain't interested, even to the extent of a hoot, in gossip
+about the neighbors. But Eck had a bad one put over on him years ago. He
+hasn't been right since that time. Square dealing is his religion. But
+to get his worst trimming right in his own family, it was awful.
+Son-in-law done it. But I reckon I'd better hang up on that subject,
+miss. Here comes Latisan for breakfast."
+
+The landlord plodded out.
+
+This man who seated himself, waiting to be served by her, who was
+determined to possess her, had been unwittingly alienated by her from
+the duty which was owed to that helpless grandfather in his extremity.
+
+The reminder which Brophy had tossed at her carelessly had served to
+rouse her to desperation. She clung to a service table to keep from
+falling. She staggered when she started to cross the room to Latisan;
+her hands and feet were prickling as the blood resumed its course in her
+veins.
+
+"You're sick," he suggested, solicitously.
+
+She shook her head. She turned her face from him, afraid of his
+questioning gaze. "Give your order, please!"
+
+"Bring anything."
+
+She started away, but turned and hurried back to his table, her face
+hard with resolution. She feared that the resolution would be weakened
+by delay; in a few moments others would come into the room.
+
+"I have changed my mind about that offer of marriage. This morning I
+say, 'Yes!'"
+
+He gaped at her and started to rise.
+
+"Don't leave that chair!" she commanded, her low tones tense. "There are
+men in the office looking this way. I'll marry you when the Flagg drive
+is down, with you at the head of it, doing your duty. You may think that
+over while I'm in the kitchen."
+
+When she returned with food, Latisan, flushed, eager, only partially
+assured, looked her in the eye, challenging her candor. "That's straight
+talk, is it?"
+
+"It is!"
+
+"I thank God! But why--right here in the open--where I can't----"
+
+"I'll answer no questions."
+
+"I'd like to know why you picked out this place to tell me. I can't be
+shut away from all the glory in the grandest moment of my life! I want
+to get up and yell for joy. I want to take you in my arms."
+
+"I'll not allow that. Furthermore, you are to leave for the drive
+immediately after you have eaten your breakfast." Her manner cowed him.
+
+"Very well!" he returned, meekly. "When I looked into your eyes I knew
+that your word to me was good!"
+
+She was finding the fixity of his gaze disconcerting and leaned above
+the table, arranging the dishes which contained his food. She was
+grateful for the protection the public room was affording; she would not
+have been able to declare herself in the privacy which love, in most
+circumstances, demands.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, in a half whisper, taking advantage of her
+nearness. "You are more than you seem to be. You are, I say! You are not
+silly and selfish like most girls in a time like this. You are able to
+make me do anything you ask. I'll go north and fight because you want me
+to. But an ordinary girl wouldn't take a big view of things, as you do."
+
+"Yes--for the sake of having a man be what he ought to be."
+
+He wagged his head doubtfully. "But if you'll tell me the honest truth
+about----"
+
+"Hush! Here comes a man."
+
+It was Crowley. He had looked from his chamber window and had seen the
+two in conversation in front of the tavern. He was strictly on the job
+that day; he had dressed in such a hurry that he was tying his necktie
+as he entered the room. He sat down at a table and glared grimly at
+Latisan and the girl; provided with ammunition that fortified his
+courage, Crowley had resolved to make his bigness in the matter,
+unafraid.
+
+His appearance at that moment and the manner of his espionage and the
+memory of what had been said concerning his pursuit of the girl stirred
+Latisan to the depths. His emotions had been in a tumult ever since the
+girl had declared her promise. He was in no mood to reason calmly. He
+could not control himself. He purposed to go to what he thought was his
+duty as her accepted champion. Therefore, he leaped from his chair, put
+his arm about her waist, and pulled her across the room, in spite of her
+resistance.
+
+"Listen to me, you sneak!" he adjured Crowley. "This young lady and I
+are engaged to be married."
+
+"Hush!" she cried, in mingled fright and fury. "You promised----It
+isn't----"
+
+"I made no promise except to go north because you have asked me to go.
+I'm going back to my job, and I'll have the Flagg logs down if I have to
+smash the bottom out of the river," he boasted, in his new pride.
+"Crowley--as I believe your name is--you have heard me announce the
+engagement. If you give this young lady another twisted look or crooked
+word while I'm away, may God have mercy on your soul!"
+
+He was talking to the one man who ought to hear that news, so the lover
+felt, but his voice was raised in his emotion and Brophy and the
+loungers in the office heard, too.
+
+Latisan kissed her once, swiftly and rapturously.
+
+According to the code of social procedure in Adonia, as the office
+onlookers viewed the matter of congratulation, the occasion called for
+three cheers; they were proposed and given and even Brophy joined, but
+with sour grace.
+
+She had endeavored ineffectually to check Latisan's outburst,
+understanding fully the interlocking perils involved in the promulgation
+to Crowley that the drive master was going back to his work. It had
+become her own personal, vital affair, this thing! She was far from
+admitting even then that love was urging her to the promise she had
+made so precipitately. The wild spirit of sacrifice had surged in her.
+She was able to pay--to redeem! It was all for the sake of the family!
+But this love-cracked idiot, babbling his triumph, had thrown wide the
+gate of caution--had exposed all to the enemy; she feared Crowley in his
+surly, new mood!
+
+Poor Ward turned to her a radiant, humid stare of devotion; she
+responded by flashing fury at him from her eyes. Her cheeks were
+crimson. "Haven't you any wit in you?" she raged, holding her tones in
+leash with effort, her convulsed face close to his amazed countenance.
+
+"It was to put you right----" he stammered.
+
+"It has made everything all wrong!"
+
+Men had come into the room. She hurried away from the dumfounded lover.
+
+While she went about her work, sedulously keeping her gaze from Latisan,
+she heard the men jocosely canvassing the matter. They called to the
+drive master, giving him clumsy congratulation. There were timber
+cruisers who were going into the north country; they declared with
+hilarity that they would spread the news. They ate and went stamping
+away, news bureaus afoot.
+
+She marched to the pathetic incarnation of doubt and dolor after a time;
+he was lingering at table in a condition that was near to stupefaction.
+
+"Why aren't you on your way?" she demanded, with ireful impatience.
+
+"You'll have to tell me what the matter is with you!"
+
+"I'll tell you nothing--not now! But you have something to tell Mr.
+Flagg, haven't you?"
+
+"You're right! I'll go and tell him that I'm starting for the drive. If
+I have to smash the hinges off the door of Tophet I'll put our logs----"
+
+"That's it!" she cried, eagerly. "Our logs! We'll call them our logs.
+Don't mind because I seemed strange a little while ago. You'll
+understand, some day. But now hurry! Hurry!" She forced herself to
+smile. She was eagerly in earnest, almost hysterical. She spoke his
+name, though with effort. "Remember, Ward! Our logs! Bring them
+through!"
+
+He leaped out of his chair. The other breakfasters were gone. She stood
+on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
+
+Immediately after Latisan had left on his way to assure Echford Flagg,
+the girl was reminded of her putative Vose-Mern affiliations. Crowley
+lounged back into the room, taking advantage of the fact that she was
+alone. "Put me wise as to why you're playing this shot with the reverse
+English."
+
+"Hands off, Crowley! You're only a watchdog, paid to guard me."
+
+"I don't propose to have our folks double-crossed. You have started that
+drive boss back onto his job, and you and he announce an engagement this
+morning! You're cagy or crazy! I won't have anything put over! If you're
+straight, come through to me and I'll back you. Otherwise----" He tossed
+his hands in an eloquent gesture.
+
+"I'll wire to have you pulled down to the city."
+
+"I have done some wiring ahead of you. It's up to our folks to find out
+what's the big idea."
+
+"Crowley, won't you leave it all to me?" she pleaded, fighting to the
+last ditch for her secret and for time. "Can't you see that I'm placing
+a double-crosser in the enemy's camp?"
+
+He looked at her hard and long and his lips curled into a sardonic grin.
+"You're a good one. I'll admit that. But you can't stand there and give
+me the straight eye and make me believe you have made over Latisan to
+that extent. I've got him sized. It can't be done!"
+
+Crowley was right--she could not meet his sophisticated gaze.
+
+"What do you expect me to do?" she asked, lamely.
+
+"Keep him off the drive. If he starts to leave this village to-day I'm
+going to grab in."
+
+She knew Crowley's obstinacy in his single-track methods. There was no
+telling what he would undertake nor what damage might be wrought by his
+interference. She tried to force from him his intentions; he paid no
+heed to her appeals or her threats.
+
+She was fighting for her own with all the wit and power that were in
+her; she was standing in the path by which the enemies must advance,
+resolved to battle as long as her strength might last, serving as best
+she could to distract attention from the main fight to herself, willing
+to sacrifice herself utterly.
+
+Crowley walked with a bit of a swagger from the room, lighted a
+cigarette in the office, puttered for a few moments with some old
+newspapers on a table, and then went out of doors and strolled along the
+road in the direction of the big house on the hill. She observed his
+course from a side window. She felt the impulse to run after him and
+beat her fists against that broad and stubborn back.
+
+She saw Latisan come striding down from the Flagg mansion, determination
+in his manner.
+
+The two men met. They halted.
+
+Her apprehension became agony, but she did not dare to interfere between
+them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
+
+
+Crowley, standing in front of Latisan, twisted his countenance into an
+expression of deprecatory, appealing remorse.
+
+"I have taken the liberty of apologizing to the young lady, sir! Now
+that I know how matters stand, I want to beg your pardon very humbly. I
+haven't meant anything wrong, but a man of my style gets cheeky without
+realizing it."
+
+Latisan had come off well in his interview with Echford Flagg. The old
+man seemed to be in a chastened mood. When he had been informed of the
+part the girl was playing, the master had admitted that the right kind
+of a woman can influence a man to his own good.
+
+Therefore, when the drive master strode down the hill, the radiance of
+his expansive joy had cleared out all the shadows. He was willing to
+meet a penitent halfway. He put out his hand frankly. Crowley held to
+the hand for a moment and put his other palm upon Latisan's shoulder.
+"Congratulations! I know my place, now that it has become a man-to-man
+matter between us. But before--well, I'll tell you, Mr. Latisan, I had
+met Miss Jones in New York in a sort of a business way and I was
+probably a little fresh in trying to keep up the acquaintance."
+
+Latisan had extricated his hand, intending to hurry on about his
+affairs. But here was a person who seemed to be in a way to tell him
+something more definite about one who was baffling his wild anxiety to
+fathom her real identity. However, Latisan did not dare to ask
+questions. His own pride and the spirit of protecting her reasons for
+reticence, if she had any, fettered his tongue; he was ashamed to admit
+to this man, whom he had so recently hated, that the real character of a
+fiancée was a closed book.
+
+"Honestly, she ought to have told you that she knew me," complained
+Crowley. "It would have saved all that trouble between you and me." He
+rubbed his ear reminiscently. "But perhaps she did," he pursued,
+affecting to misinterpret the hardness which had come into Latisan's
+face. "But how she could say anything against me, as far as she and I
+are concerned, I can't understand."
+
+"She has not mentioned you to me," returned Latisan, curtly.
+
+"That's queer, too," said Crowley, wrinkling his brow, his demeanor
+adding to the young man's conviction that the whole situation was
+decidedly queer. Once more the smoldering embers were showing red
+flames! "Mr. Latisan, get me right, now! I don't propose to discuss the
+young lady, seeing what she is to you. But perhaps you'll allow me to
+refer back to what you said to me, personally, in the tavern a little
+while ago. We can make that our own business, can't we?"
+
+Crowley accepted a stiff nod as his answer and went on. "You told me
+that you are going back to the drive because the young lady has
+insisted on your doing so. That right?"
+
+"It is. But I fail to see how you can make it any part of your business
+and mine."
+
+"It happens to belong in my business." He put his hand to his breast
+pocket as if to reassure himself. He proceeded with more confidence.
+"Are you afraid of the truth, Mr. Latisan--scared to meet it face to
+face in a showdown?"
+
+"I'm in the habit of going after the truth, no matter where it hides
+itself."
+
+"Then I guess you'd better come along with me. I've got to the point
+where I've got to have the truth, too, or else fetch up in a crazy
+house."
+
+Crowley's determination was set definitely on his mind's single track.
+If a man had an urgent reason for doing a certain thing and the
+compelling reason were removed, he might naturally be expected to do
+something else, Crowley figured.
+
+If Latisan proposed to go back to work because his love and allegiance
+caused him to obey a girl's commands, he would do the opposite of what
+she asked if his love and confidence were destroyed. It seemed to be a
+case of two and two making four, as Crowley viewed the thing. He was
+done with tangled subtleties.
+
+He put his hand again on his breast pocket as he walked with the drive
+master down the hill. There was a letter in that pocket; Crowley had
+purloined it from the girl's bureau that day when he had so quickly
+returned from following her. And he also had a telegram in that pocket;
+the wire had come along that morning, addressed to Miss Patsy Jones, in
+his care.
+
+The job, as Crowley understood orders, was to keep Latisan off the river
+that season. Crowley saw a way of doing that job and of getting the
+credit for the performance.
+
+The girl, staring through the window with strained attention, noting
+every detail of the meeting, seeing the appearance of amity and of
+understanding, beholding Crowley put his hand on Latisan's shoulder in
+the pose of friendly adviser, suspected the worst; she was stricken with
+anguished certainty when Latisan strode toward the tavern; according to
+her belief, two men were now arrayed against her. The drive master's
+haste indicated that she had been betrayed by the sullen botcher of
+methods.
+
+In that room she felt like a creature that had been run to
+cover--cornered. She wanted to escape into the open. There was honesty
+outside, anyway, under the sky, at the edge of the forest, where the
+thunder of the great falls made human voices and mortal affairs so petty
+by contrast.
+
+She ran through the tavern office and faced Latisan in the yard; there
+were curious spectators on the porch, the loungers of the hamlet, but
+she paid no attention to them; she was searching the countenance of
+Latisan, avidly anxious, fearfully uncertain regarding what mischief had
+been wrought in him.
+
+He smiled tenderly, flourishing a salute. "All serene in the big house!"
+
+The white was succeeded by a flush in her cheeks. She looked up into his
+honest eyes and was thrilled by an emotion that was new to her. It was
+impossible not to answer back to that earnest affection he was
+expressing. Gratitude glowed in her--and gratitude is a sister of love!
+
+"I beg your pardon," put in Crowley, "But can't the three of us step
+inside and have a little private talk?"
+
+He made a gesture to indicate the gallery of listeners on the tavern
+porch.
+
+Once that morning Lida had found protection by handling an important
+crisis in a public place. She was having no time just then to think
+clearly. She was feeling sure of Latisan, after his look into her eyes.
+She mustered a smile and shook her head when the drive master mutely
+referred the matter to her, raising his eyebrows inquiringly.
+
+"You'd better," warned Crowley, bridling.
+
+The girl felt that she had no option except to keep on in the bold
+course she had marked for herself. She could not conceive that the
+operative would prejudice the Vose-Mern proposition in public. "I cannot
+understand what private matters we three have in common, sir. I have no
+desire to listen. Mr. Latisan has no time, I'm sure. He is leaving for
+the north country."
+
+"That's true," agreed Latisan, under the spell of her gaze, won by her,
+loyal in all his fiber, determined to exclude all others in the world
+from the partnership of two. He had put aside his anxiety to know what
+she had been in the city, as Crowley knew her; that quest seemed to be
+disloyalty to her. "I'm starting mighty sudden! Sorry, sir! Let Brophy
+put your business with us in his refrigerator till the drive is down."
+
+Careless of the onlookers, the girl patted his cheek, encouraging his
+stand. "Till _our_ drive is down. Remember, it's ours!" she whispered.
+
+"Harness in my horses," Latisan called to Brophy's nephew in the door of
+the tavern stable.
+
+She was human; she was a girl; Latisan's manner assured her that she had
+won her battle with Crowley, whatever might have been the methods by
+which he had tried to prevail over the drive master. She could not
+resist the impulse to give the Vose-Mern operative a challenging look of
+triumph that was lighted by the joy of her victory.
+
+Crowley's slow mind speeded up on its one track; he opened the throttle,
+smash or no smash! He marched up to Latisan and displayed a badge,
+dredging it from his trousers pocket. "That's what I am, mister, an
+operative for a detective agency. So is she!"
+
+"I am not," she declared defiantly.
+
+"Maybe not, after your flop in this case. But you were when you struck
+this place, if your word means anything!"
+
+"You're a liar," shouted Latisan. He doubled his fist and drew it back;
+the girl seized the hand and unclasped the knotted grip and braided her
+fingers with his.
+
+"I don't blame you, Latisan. It's natural for you to feel that way
+toward me right now," agreed Crowley. "She has slipped the cross-tag
+onto you. But you're no fool. I don't ask you to take my word. Go down
+to that railroad station and wire to an address I'll give you in New
+York. Ask her if she dares to have you do it."
+
+There was no longer a smolder in Latisan--it was all a red flame!
+
+He had not realized till then how penetratingly deep had been his
+conviction that this girl was something other than she assumed to be.
+
+Crowley pulled a letter from his pocket, flapped it open, and shoved it
+under Latisan's nose.
+
+There was no further attempt to deal behind doors with the affair. It
+was in Crowley's mind, then, that spreading the situation wide open
+before the gaping throng, which was increasing, crowding about in a
+narrowing circle, would assist his plan to make intolerable Latisan's
+stay in that region.
+
+"Look at the letterhead--Vose-Mern Agency! Look and you'll see that it's
+addressed to Miss Patsy Jones, Adonia. Take it and read it! It's orders
+to her from the chief!"
+
+Latisan was plainly in no state of mind to read; he crumpled the letter
+in his hand and stuffed the paper into his trousers pocket.
+
+"Here's a telegram," continued the operative. "It's for her to go back
+to New York. It hasn't been enough for her to double-cross you; she's
+doing the same thing to the folks who have hired her. Nice kind of dame,
+eh? I don't know just what her game is, friend! But I'm coming across to
+you and tell you that the big idea is to keep you off the drive this
+season. Good money has been put up to turn the trick."
+
+In the midst of the whirling torches which made up his thoughts just
+then, Latisan was not able to give sane consideration to her zeal in
+urging him to duty; he was conscious only of the revelation of her
+character. Out of the city had come some kind of a design to undo him!
+
+The village was still agog with the news of his engagement; the news
+bureaus on legs had gone north to tattle the thing among all the camps;
+and she was a detective sent to beguile him! The faces of the bystanders
+were creasing into grins.
+
+"Ask her!" urged Crowley, relentlessly. "Or ask New York."
+
+Postponement of the truth was futile; denial was dangerous; a confession
+forced by an appeal to New York would discredit her motives; she had not
+formally severed her connection with the agency. She determined to meet
+this man of the woods on his own plane of honesty.
+
+"Come with me where we can talk privately," she urged; her demeanor told
+Latisan that she was not able to back the defiant stand he had taken
+with Crowley a moment before.
+
+"It's too late now," he objected, getting his emotions partly under
+control. "The thing has been advertised too much to have any privacy
+about it now. When they are left to guess things in this section the
+guessing is awful! I'm never afraid to face men with the truth. He has
+said you came here as a detective. Those men standing around heard him.
+What have you to say?"
+
+"Won't you let me talk to you alone?"
+
+"If I'm to stand up here before men after this, the facts will have to
+come out later; they may as well come out now."
+
+He spoke mildly, but his manner afforded her no opportunity for further
+appeal; he was a man of the square edge and he was acting according to
+the code of the Open Places. She put away womanly weakness as best she
+was able and continued with him on his own ground.
+
+"There is a plot to keep you away from your duty on the drive this
+season. You know as well as I do what interests furnished the money for
+such a purpose."
+
+"And you know about it, do you, because you are one of the detective
+gang?"
+
+"I have worked for the Vose-Mern agency."
+
+She could not deny the evidence of that letter which he had shoved deep
+down into his pocket. He had reminded her of it by whacking his hand
+against his thigh.
+
+"So that's what you are!" Again he was losing control of himself.
+
+Men in the crowd snickered. They were perceiving much humor in the
+situation.
+
+"I can explain later." She, too, was breaking down under the strain. She
+whimpered, pleading with him. "After you have brought down the drive I
+can explain and----"
+
+"Now! It must be now! I can't bring down any drive till you do explain."
+
+She did not understand.
+
+But he knew all too bitterly under what a sword of Damocles he was
+standing. Ridicule was ready to slay him! The Big Laugh was already
+gurgling deep in the throats of all the folks. The news of his
+engagement had gone ahead of him to the north country; the Big Laugh
+would roar along in the wake of that news.
+
+"The truth! It must come out now!" he shouted. "All the truth--the whole
+truth about yourself!"
+
+"I can't tell you!" wailed Lida Kennard, turning her back fearsomely on
+the big house on the ledges.
+
+"You've got a mouthful of truth out of me. Can't you see how it is?"
+growled Crowley.
+
+"So that's what you are, is it?" Latisan dwelt on the subject, twisting
+the handle that Crowley had given him.
+
+"Mr. Latisan, listen to me! I implore you to forget me--what I am! Go to
+your work."
+
+"My work has nothing to do with this matter between you and me. So
+that's what you are!" he repeated, insistent on his one idea, looking
+her up and down. "A detective sneak!"
+
+"I am done with the work. I am a human being, at any rate, and you
+promised me----"
+
+He sliced his hand through the air. "That's all off! You lied to me. It
+must have been a lie, seeing what you are. But I believed, and I stood
+up and took you for mine. The word has gone out. Every man on the Noda
+will know about it. I had no rights over your life till you met me. But
+when a woman lies to a man to make him do this or that she is laughing
+at him behind his back. You have played me for a poor fool in the tall
+timber. That's the word that's starting now."
+
+"If you have found out how worthless I am," she sobbed, "you can go on
+with your work and be a real man."
+
+He loosed the leash on himself. He mocked her with bitter irony, his
+face working hideously. "'Go on with your work!' Don't you have any idea
+what men are up these woods? Who'll take orders from me after this?
+They'll hoot me off the river! I'm done. You have put me down and
+under!"
+
+More than the spirit of sacrifice was actuating her then. Her impulses
+were inextricably mingled, but they all tended to one end, to save him
+from error. His scorn had touched her heart; meeting him on his own
+plane--on the level of honesty--woman with man, she was conscious of
+bitter despair because he was leaving her life. She was fighting for her
+own--for the old man in the big house, for the new love that was
+springing up out of her sympathy for this champion from whom, without
+realizing the peril of her procedure, she had filched the weapons of his
+manhood at the moment when he needed them most.
+
+"The heart has gone out of me! You have taken it out!" he cried.
+
+"I swear before our God that I'll be straight with you from now on.
+Won't it put heart in you if I'm your wife, standing by you through
+everything?" She took a long breath. Her desperation drove her to the
+limits of appeal. "I love you! I know it. I must have known it when I
+urged you on to your duty. I'm willing to say it here before all. Take
+me, and let's fight together."
+
+In her hysterical fear lest she was losing all, she took no thought of
+her pride; she was making passionate, primitive appeal to the chosen
+mate.
+
+But she did not understand how absolutely hopeless was the wreck of this
+man's fortunes, as Latisan viewed the situation. Ridicule, the taunt
+that he had been fooled by a girl from the city, was waiting for him all
+along the river. Echford Flagg would be the first to deny the worth of a
+man who had received the Big Laugh. No man on the Noda had ever incurred
+mock to such a degree. And he had vaunted his engagement to her!
+
+She went toward him, her hands outstretched; he had been backing away
+from her.
+
+"Look out!" he warned. "I never struck a woman!" He spread his big hand.
+All the fury of his forebears was rioting in him.
+
+He was not swayed by rage, merely; there would have been something petty
+in ordinary human resentment at that moment. There was another quality
+that was devilishly and subtly complex in the sudden mania which
+obsessed him. He had seen woodsmen leaping and shouting in the ecstasy
+of drunkenness; liquor seemed to affect the men of the woods in that
+way--to accentuate their sense of wild liberty. Latisan had been obliged
+to pitch in and quell riots where woodsmen had heaped their clothes and
+were making a bonfire of the garments they needed for decency's sake.
+And a mere liquid had been able to put them into that temper!
+
+But this that was sweeping through all his being was liquid fire!
+
+He had never been else than a spectator of what alcohol would do to a
+man; he had never tasted the stuff.
+
+Here he was, all of a sudden, drunk with something else--he knew that he
+was drunk--and he let himself go! He leaped up and tossed his arms above
+his head. By action alone a woodsman expressed his feelings, he told
+himself, and he was only a woodsman; the hellions of the world were not
+allowing him to make anything else of himself! The north country was
+closed to him; his power as a boss was gone. Look at those grinning
+faces around him!
+
+Then he yelled shrilly. Many who stood around understood what that whoop
+meant, though it had not been heard for a long time on the Noda. It was
+"the Latisan lallyloo"! It had echoed among the hills in the old days
+when John Latisan was down from the river and had grabbed a bottle from
+the hand of the first bootlegger who offered his wares.
+
+The grandson, then and there, was veritably drunk with the frenzy of
+despair!
+
+Yanking his arms free, he dragged off his belted jacket and flung it on
+the ground; on the jacket, with a pile-driver sweep of his arm, he drove
+down his cap.
+
+"Lie there, drive master!" he shouted.
+
+The down train of the narrow-gauge was dragging out of the station; a
+succession of shrill whistle toots, several minutes before, had warned
+prospective passengers.
+
+Latisan ran down the middle of the road and leaped aboard the slowly
+moving train when it crossed the highway. Standing on the platform of
+the passenger car, he shook his fists at assembled Adonia and yelled
+again.
+
+Brophy, from the tavern porch, looked hard at the girl and started down
+the steps, making his way toward the jacket and cap which Latisan had
+thrown away.
+
+She ran and picked them up and hugged them in her arms with defiant
+proprietorship.
+
+"How come?" sneered Brophy. "Latest bulletin seemed to be that the
+engagement was broke!" He was suddenly hostile.
+
+She turned from the landlord and faced Crowley. The operative was
+triumphant. "It's understood that I get the credit for this job," he
+informed her, _sotto voce_. His air suggested that he was convinced that
+the destiny of the Flagg drive had been settled.
+
+All about her were implacable faces. The grins were gone. There was no
+misunderstanding the sentiments which those men entertained toward a
+woman who had wrought the undoing of a square man. She presented
+completely then the pathetic spectacle of a baited, cowering, wild
+creature at bay. She was bitterly alone among them. Even Crowley of the
+city was against her. In her agony of loneliness the thought of her kin
+in the big house on the hill came to her mind. But to her, in spite of
+her passionate efforts to aid, must be ascribed the defection of
+Latisan--the breaking of her grandfather's last prop. She had
+intensified in woeful degree the fault of her father; she had compassed
+the ruin of the old man at a time when he was unable to restore his
+fortunes by his own effort. The doors of the house on the hill were
+barred by the iron of unforgiveness and by these new fires of her fault,
+involuntary though that fault was.
+
+Brophy stood before her. "I reckon you ain't going to be very popular
+hereabout as a hash-slinger, Miss Whatever-your-name is." He snapped his
+fingers and stretched his hand to command the transfer of the jacket and
+cap. "I'll take 'em and put 'em in Ward's room."
+
+But she clung to what she had retrieved as if she felt that she held a
+hostage of fortune. Brophy refrained from laying violent hands on the
+articles, and to save his face and create a diversion he turned on
+Crowley.
+
+"Let's see! You have bragged about being a detective! We don't stand for
+your kind or tricks in this neck o' woods."
+
+There was the menace of growls in the crowd. The mob spirit was
+stirring. A man said something about a rail and tar and feathers.
+
+"I'll argue with the boys and try to give you a fair start," stated the
+landlord. "But you'd better pack up in a hurry. You can't wait for
+to-morrow's train under my roof. I'll furnish you a livery hitch to the
+junction. Take the woman with you."
+
+It was an ugly crowd; the landlord was obliged to push back men when
+Crowley followed Lida into the tavern.
+
+Miss Elsham was just inside the door, where she had posted herself as a
+spectator and listener. "There's no telling what they'll do; they're
+bound to find out that I'm an operative," she quavered. "You must take
+me with you, Buck."
+
+He had been appointed her guardian and he could not refuse. But he
+glowered at Lida, white and trembling.
+
+Brophy came in after a struggle at the door; he slammed the portal and
+bolted it.
+
+"They're usually pretty genteel up here where wimmen are concerned," he
+told Lida, "but they're laying it all to you. They'll let you go,
+Crowley, if you'll go in a hurry. Are you one of 'em, too?" he bluntly
+asked Miss Elsham, ready to suspect all strangers.
+
+She nodded. "I'm going with Crowley."
+
+"Understanding that you give me full credit," her associate told her,
+his lips close to her ear.
+
+"I ain't sure but what I'd better hide you till night," the landlord
+informed Lida. "As I said, they're naturally genteel, but----" He
+hesitated when he heard the growing grumble of voices.
+
+"I've got trouble enough in getting away without taking you on for an
+extra load," was Crowley's rough repudiation of Lida. "You have
+double-crossed----"
+
+"I'll accept your opinion as an expert in that line," she said, lashing
+her courage back to meet the situation. "I am not asking any favors from
+Vose-Mern or their operatives. Nor from you," she informed the landlord.
+
+She settled Ward's cap and jacket more securely in the clutch of her
+arms. "Unbar and open the door, if you please, Mr. Brophy."
+
+He demurred.
+
+"It's the door of a public inn. You must open it."
+
+He obeyed, standing ready to repel intruders.
+
+She walked straight out and through the crowd of hostile natives, who
+parted to allow her to pass; her chin was up and her eyes were level in
+meeting the gaze of any man who stared at her.
+
+She had made up her mind where she was going, and the thought of that
+intended destination put some of the spirit of old Echford Flagg in her.
+
+When she was free from the crowd she began to run; instinct of the
+homing sort impelled her to hasten. She had not settled in her mind what
+she would say or do when she got there, but there seemed to be no other
+place in all the world for her right then except the big house on the
+ledges.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
+
+
+Lida did not wait to be admitted to her grandfather's house in the
+conventional manner; she did not dare to test her new resolution by a
+pause on the steps, and she was afraid that Rickety Dick would enforce
+the Flagg injunction against a woman.
+
+Gasping for breath after her run across the ledges, she flung herself
+into the presence of her grandfather.
+
+Dick was holding a flaming splint of wood to the bowl of Flagg's pipe.
+Startled, he dropped the splint, and the fire burned out unheeded on the
+bare floor.
+
+She held on to the cap and the jacket and with her free hand she beat
+upon her breast and tried to pour out a confession of her part in the
+mischief which had been done. She could not tell Flagg who she was; she
+was telling him what she was. She made herself a part of the Vose-Mern
+conspiracy; that seemed to be the best way. She did not try to make
+herself better than her associates; she admitted that she was an
+operative; in no other way could she account for her presence in the
+north country; and the old man's keen eyes warned her that a less
+plausible statement would endanger her secret. Therefore, she arraigned
+herself bitterly as the cause of Latisan's undoing, and to explain her
+new attitude she pleaded love and resulting repentance. There seemed to
+be no other way of giving Flagg a good reason why she was interested in
+speeding the fortunes of Latisan and the Flagg drive.
+
+She began to babble rather incoherently. His silence troubled her. His
+gaze was intent.
+
+After a time, allowing her to talk on, he ordered Dick to bring more
+fire for the pipe, and then he puffed and listened a little longer.
+
+At last he jabbed his pipe stem toward the door, and Dick obeyed the
+silent command and left the room.
+
+"Now, my girl, hold up a moment and get your breath. Sit down!" She
+obeyed.
+
+"I see that you're hanging on to Latisan's cap and jacket. Did he pull
+himself out of the jacket whilst you were clinging to his collar?" In
+spite of the seriousness of the news which she had brought to him, there
+was a touch of dry humor in his tone. "He must have had a pretty
+desperate change of heart to run away from such a girl, after what he
+told me of his feelings this morning."
+
+He talked on, allowing her to recover. "Your words have been tumbling
+along like logs coming down the Hulling Machine Falls, but I reckon I
+understand that a detective agency sent you up here to Delilah my
+Samson. I've just been reading about that case in the Old Testament. And
+you're sorry, eh? It's a start in the right direction--being sorry. He
+told me this morning that he was going back to the drive in spite of
+me--he said it was because you had torched him on to do so. I'll admit I
+haven't got over being thankful to you for that help. And now it's all
+tipped upside down, eh? I'm not surprised. It's the Latisan nature to
+blow up! I knew his grandfather well--and I remember! We seem to have
+made a bad mess of it, you and I. I'll own to it that I haven't been
+careful in the management of my tongue where he's concerned. If I had,
+all the girls this side o' Tophet couldn't have made him jump his job in
+this style. You see, I'm willing to admit my mistake, and that makes me
+feel kinder toward you, now that you admit yours."
+
+Her courage was coming back to her. Only a veritable frenzy of despair
+had forced her into the presence of that old man who had declared his
+unalterable hostility to her and hers. She found him singularly and
+surprisingly mild in this crisis. Wreathed in the tobacco smoke, his
+countenance was full of sympathy. It was an amazing alteration in
+Echford Flagg, so those who knew him would have stated, had they been
+there to behold.
+
+"I suppose you have to slap on a lot of deceit in that detective
+business."
+
+"I'm done with deceit. I've left that work forever."
+
+"So I reckoned whilst I looked at you and heard you talk. I've got quite
+an eye for a change of heart in persons. I hate to see young folks in
+trouble. 'Most always I'm pretty hard on people. I've grown to be that
+way. Had good reasons! But you seem to have caught me to-day in a
+different frame of mind. I didn't get a good look at you last evening.
+I've just been telling myself that you remind me very much of somebody I
+used to know. There was a time," he went on, wrinkling his forehead,
+"when I would have ordered you out of this house, simply on your looks.
+But to-day, somehow, I like to keep my eyes on you. Old age has a lot of
+whims, you know."
+
+She did not venture to speak. Tears were rolling down her cheeks.
+
+"It's too bad, sis! Too bad! 'Tis a tough thing to work out, this
+Latisan matter. You have started the old John devil a-roaring in him!
+And I reckon that now you're falling in love with the fool, even if you
+did come up-country to do something mean to him!"
+
+She nodded; her emotions were too deeply stirred to permit evasion or
+more deceit.
+
+"I have to depend on hired help, sis. And the trouble with any other
+drive master than Latisan is that the opposition crowd can hire away
+what Latisan wouldn't sell--I'll say that for the boy! It's a matter of
+principle with him--this fight for the independents."
+
+"But your men will keep on working, won't they, sir?"
+
+"They'll work--yes! But they won't fight without Latisan to lead 'em.
+That's why the Three C's folks are so hot on the trail of one man.
+They're going to trig my drive at the Skulltree dam unless we are
+through ahead of 'em. Conservation of water, that's what they will call
+it when they make their play for a court order," he snarled. "But it's
+only devilish theft of the rights I hold in common--and that's where
+lawyers have their chance to argue, when rights are common." He found
+himself becoming garrulous in his emotion. He frowned. "But why talk
+such matters to you; you can't understand!"
+
+"No," she admitted, sadly. "I haven't any knowledge about drives. I can
+only understand that through me a great mischief has been done."
+
+"Well, it might have been worse for young Latisan if they hadn't got rid
+of him by this underhand way. Now that he has quit and has gone
+larruping off on his own hook, you may as well get what comfort out of
+it you can," he said, trying to ameliorate her distress. "There's no
+telling what they might have been savage enough to do to him if he had
+stayed to make the fight as he intended to make it."
+
+"Do you give up the fight?"
+
+With the left hand he lifted his helpless right arm across his knees.
+"It's a two-fisted proposition this year. I guess I'm licked. They'll
+buy in my logs at what price they have a mind to pay and will turn 'em
+into paper. The sawmills will have to shut down, and the chap who wants
+to build a home will keep on cussing the price of lumber. I have made a
+good try of it, sis, but the big combinations are bound to have their
+way in the end."
+
+"It isn't right for anybody to have his own way without giving the other
+man a square deal," she cried, adding, with bitterness, "though I'm the
+last person entitled to preach on that subject."
+
+"It's all in the way of progress, so the syndicate fellows tell us," he
+remarked, dryly. "Maybe they know. Whilst they're grabbing in all the
+money, they may be getting control of all the brains, too."
+
+She flung up her arms and accused herself, passionately: "I have been a
+fool. I'd give my very heart to make matters right again!"
+
+"I think so," he admitted. "I reckon you're in earnest."
+
+Again his fixed, appraising stare was disturbing her.
+
+"About Mr. Latisan----" she hurried on. "I can't believe that he'll stay
+away long."
+
+"I guess you know as little about the ways of men up here as you know
+about the drives, my girl. There's plenty of iron in their natures, but
+there isn't much brass in their cheeks. He's done--he can't face the Big
+Laugh. He's seen what it has done to others. But you city folks don't
+understand woods ways and notions!"
+
+She set her firm teeth over her lower lip to control its quivering. Then
+she ventured. It was a resolve born out of her desperate desire to
+redeem, if she were able. There was one thing she could do--it seemed a
+natural thing to do, in that extremity.
+
+"I have something to ask of you. Please don't be angry! I'm trying to
+square myself!"
+
+"Go ahead! I'm ready now to be pretty easy natured when somebody is
+really in earnest about helping me."
+
+"Give me your permission to go north and explain to your men why Mr.
+Latisan isn't on the drive! I'll tell them everything. I'll open my soul
+to those men. They'll understand."
+
+"It's not a girl's job," he declared, sternly.
+
+"I have been trained in a hard school, sir. I have been forced to study
+men and to deal with men. I have been sorry because I have been obliged
+to do the things I have done. But my knowledge of men may help your
+affairs. I am glad I have been through my trials. Let me go north to
+your crews! I beg it of you!"
+
+"I don't want to have you messing into any such business. There's
+something about you--something that makes me want to put a safeguard
+over you, sis, instead of sending you into danger."
+
+"You'll make the danger worse for me if you don't give me that
+permission--a word from you to them that I'm your agent." She arose,
+flaming with her resolution. "I am going anyway, sir! You can't stop me
+from going where I will in the woods."
+
+"You're right!" he admitted, sadly. "I'm so old and helpless that I
+can't even boss a girl."
+
+She stood in front of him and put Latisan's cap on her head; she pulled
+on the belted jacket. "They'll know this jacket and cap! I'll tell the
+story! Do you think it is folly? No! I can see in your face that you
+know what those men will do!"
+
+"Yes, I do know! I have been a woodsman in my time, too! After they have
+listened to you they'll hammer hell out of anything that gets in front
+of 'em."
+
+His face lighted up. He beamed on her. "I told you that old age has its
+whims. A minute ago a whim made me want to keep you away from trouble.
+Now, by the gods! the same whim makes me want to send you north. You
+will stand for Eck Flagg, saying what he'd like to say to his men! The
+right spirit is in you! I ain't afraid that you won't make good!"
+
+He pointed to an object on the wall of the room. It was a stout staff
+of ash tipped with a steel nose and provided with a hook of steel; it
+was the Flagg cant dog. The ash staff was banded with faded red stripes
+and there was a queer figure carved on the wood.
+
+"Lift it down and bring it here and lay it across my knees," he
+commanded.
+
+She ran and brought it.
+
+"They know that stick along the Noda waters," he told her, caressing the
+staff with his hale hand. "I carried it at the head of the drive for
+many a year, my girl. You won't need letters of introduction if you go
+north with that stick in your hand. I would never give it into the hands
+of a man. It has propped the edge of my shelter tent, to keep the spring
+snow off my face when I caught a few winks of sleep; that steel dog has
+rattled nigh my ear when I couldn't afford to sleep and kept walking.
+Tell 'em your story, with that stick in your hand when you tell it! Take
+it and stand up in front of me!"
+
+Her face was white; she trembled when she lifted the staff from his
+knees.
+
+An old man's whim! The girl believed that she understood better than he
+the instinct which was prompting him to deliver over the scepter which
+he had treasured for so long.
+
+And some sort of instinct, trickling in the blood from that riverman
+forebear, prompted her strike a pose, which brought a yelp of admiration
+from the old man. She had set the steel nose close to her right foot and
+propped the staff, with right arm fully extended, swinging the stick
+with a man-fashion sweep.
+
+"Sis, where did ye learn the twist of the Flagg wrist when ye set that
+staff?" It was a compliment rather than a question, and the girl did not
+reply. She was not able to speak; a sob was choking her. Her grip on
+that badge of the family authority thrilled her; here was the last of
+her kin; he was intrusting to her, as his sole dependence, the mission
+of saving his pride and his fortunes. Her tear-wet eyes pledged him her
+devoted loyalty.
+
+"God bless you!" he said.
+
+"And may God help me," she added fervently. Impulse was irresistible.
+She succumbed. She dropped the staff and ran to the old man and threw
+her arms convulsively about his neck and kissed him.
+
+"I'm sorry," she faltered, stepping back. "I'm afraid I startled you."
+
+"No," he told her, after a moment of reflection, "I guess I rather
+expected you'd do that before you went away. Some more of that whim,
+maybe! When do you think of leaving?"
+
+"I'd like to go at once. I cannot stay any longer in this village."
+
+"You'd best get to my drivers as soon as the Three C's slander does."
+
+He shouted at a door and old Dick appeared.
+
+"Move spry now!" commanded the master. "Have Jeff hitch the big bays
+into the jumper. And Jeff will be able to tend and do for me whilst
+you're away. For here's the job I'm sending you on. Take this young
+woman north to the drive. She's tending to some business for me. See to
+it that she's taken good care of. And bring her back when she feels
+that she's ready to come."
+
+"Am I to come here--back to your house to-to----" she faltered.
+
+"To report? Of course you are!" He was suddenly curt and cold after his
+softness of the moment before. He looked as if he were impatient for her
+to be gone.
+
+"Have Dick stop at the tavern for your belongings."
+
+"There's only a small bag, sir."
+
+"If you're short of clothes--well, I advise you to wear Latisan's cap
+and jacket. They'll keep you warm--and they'll keep you--reminded!" He
+put much meaning in his emphasis of the last word.
+
+She bowed her head humbly; the clutch at her throat would not permit her
+to reply to him. Then, bearing with her the Flagg scepter, she went out
+to where the horses were being put to the jumper.
+
+When he was alone the old man laid his hand on the Bible at his side.
+For a long time he gazed straight ahead, deep in his ponderings. Then he
+opened the volume and leaved the pages until he came to the family
+register, midway in the book. After the New England custom, there were
+inscribed in faded ink the names of the Flaggs who had been born, the
+names of those who had died, the records of the marriages. Echford
+Flagg's father had begun the register; the son had continued it. Across
+the marriage record of Alfred Kennard and Sylvia Flagg were rude
+penstrokes. On the page of births was the name of Lida Kennard, and he
+slowly ran his finger under it. When he gazed down at the floor again in
+meditation he met the stare of the cat that Rickety Dick loved and
+petted.
+
+The cat was bestowing no friendly look on Flagg. He had often cuffed her
+whenever she ventured to leap into his lap. He had repulsed the cat as
+he repelled human beings who had sought to make up to him. Now he called
+to her softly, inviting her with his hand. She backed away with
+apprehensive haste.
+
+"I'm starting late, pussy," he muttered. "And I was never much of a hand
+at coaxing anybody to come to me. But I wish you'd hop up here on my
+knee. Come, kitty! Please come!"
+
+It was a long time before he was able to gain her confidence. He heard
+the big bays go trampling away down the ledges. At last the cat came
+cautiously, climbing up his leg, and sat on his knees and stared up at
+his face in a questioning way.
+
+"She's too much like her mother for me not to know her--like her mother
+looked when she went away," he informed the cat. "I reckon I'm a whole
+lot different right now than I ever was before. I'm old and sick--and
+I'm different. I don't blame you for looking hard at me, kitty. I'm so
+lonesome that I'm glad to have a cat to talk to. She's got her mother's
+looks--and the Flagg grit. She wants to do it her own way--like I'd want
+to do it my way, without being bothered. And I'm letting her do it. It
+wouldn't be a square deal if I didn't let her. And she'll do it! It's in
+her! She's trying to pay back. It's the style of the Flaggs. She didn't
+come up here to smash me or Latisan. I didn't believe what she said--a
+Flagg knows when another Flagg is lying. She came to help--and she'll
+do it yet! She's Lida, kitty, Lida!" His tone caressed the name. His
+hand caressed the written name.
+
+Then he turned the pages slowly, going forward in the volume--to the New
+Testament.
+
+And after a time he found words which fitted his new mood and he read
+aloud to his feline auditor.
+
+"'Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil
+speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind to one
+another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another----'"
+
+Jeff, the servitor, hearing the mumble of the old man's voice, tiptoed
+to the door and peeped in. He goggled at the tableau and listened to the
+words. He was in the state of mind of that oft-quoted doubter who spat
+on the giraffe's hoof and remarked to the bystanders, "Hell! There ain't
+no such animile!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN
+
+
+Brophy was distinctly inhospitable when Lida walked into the tavern.
+
+She curtly stated her errand as she passed him on her way to the stairs,
+and when she returned with her bag he allowed her to leave without
+opening his mouth. She took the money he offered and put it in her
+pocket without counting it.
+
+The men who were about the place were silent, too. The fact that Flagg
+was sending her away in his own hitch stirred their curiosity and had
+considerable to do with keeping their rude tongues off a person who had
+evidently come to an understanding with the master of the big house.
+
+"Where are ye headed, Dick?" asked a bystander while the girl was in the
+tavern.
+
+"Up and down," stated the old man, cryptically.
+
+"Well, if you want to overtake them chums of hers you'll have to lay on
+the braid pretty smart! If they kept on going at the rate they started
+off they're halfway to the junction by now."
+
+When the girl was in her seat Dick sent the bays along at a sharp clip
+down the highway by which Crowley and his companion had departed.
+
+Lida had conferred with Dick on the way down from the big house and had
+decided on a bit of guile to divert the attention of the gossips of
+Adonia from her real objective. According to all appearances she was in
+full flight toward the city, or else was chasing up Ward Latisan; the
+cynics, after that affair in the street when she had pleaded with the
+young man, opined that she was brazen enough to do almost anything that
+a girl should not.
+
+Brophy watched her out of sight.
+
+"If it ain't one thing it's another with these table girls," was his
+sour comment. "I don't know what I'm liable to draw next; the Queen of
+Sheby, maybe!"
+
+When a hill shut off the view from Adonia the bays swung into a side
+lane which connected with the tote road leading north along the Noda
+waters.
+
+A girl who wore for her armor Latisan's jacket and his cap, and carried
+as credentials the woods baton of the last of the independent timber
+barons of the Noda, was hastening on her mission with the same sort of
+fervent zeal that made Joan of Arc a conqueror.
+
+Family fealty, the eager desire to right in some measure the wrong done
+by her father, anxious determination to repair her own fault--all these
+were animating impulses in this Joan of the Northland. But now
+especially was she aware that she was seeking by service to absolve
+herself in the estimation of a poor chap whose love for her had made him
+forget his duty.
+
+There was no talk between the girl and her charioteer. She had plenty of
+thought to occupy her, and he drove on with his gaze straight between
+the ears of the nigh horse.
+
+The road was crooked; when she glanced behind, the woods seemed to be
+shutting doors on her, closing out the world with which she had been
+familiar; and ahead, as the road turned, she was looking into vistas
+which led to the unknown--to a duty of tremendous import--to a task
+which seemed too great for a girl to accomplish. One knowledge comforted
+her--it was a knowledge which came from her childhood memories--she
+could trust those rough men of the woods to treat a girl with respect if
+she deserved it; but would she be able to convince them that the girl
+who wrought such mischief to Ward Latisan deserved respect? They might,
+as her grandfather said, ridicule a man who had been fooled by a girl,
+if that man appeared to them and tried to make good his authority; but
+there would be no laugh in the north country behind Latisan's back, now
+that he had fled desperately from the wreck of his prospects.
+
+She perceived only silent rebuke, even resentment, in Dick's countenance
+when she stole glances at the hard profile above the old man's knitted
+scarf. It was plain that he did not relish his job. She wondered whether
+he believed that her errand was useless. When, after a time, she tried
+to draw some opinion out of him he gave her no replies that aided her.
+
+She felt acutely that she needed sympathy--something for her
+encouragement. The old man's taciturnity hinted that he could be trusted
+with a secret so far as outsiders were concerned; as to Flagg, she was
+not sure of Dick's reliability in keeping anything away from a master to
+whom he was devoted. But if the old man were kept away from Adonia----
+
+"Do I understand that you're to stay north until I'm ready to go back?"
+
+"I've got to. It's orders."
+
+She was choking with the desire to tell him who she was. The lie which
+she had told him in the tavern was a rankling memory--he had been such a
+pitiful figure that day.
+
+Again she looked behind. There were many miles between her and Adonia,
+and the doors of the woods kept closing.
+
+"I need all your help in this thing. I must have a faithful friend. It
+is the one great effort of my life. You can understand so well! I--I
+_am_ Lida Kennard!"
+
+Rickety Dick threw up his arms. The reins fell from his hands. "Praise
+the Lord!" he yelled. The discarded reins slapped the big bays, the
+shout in that silence caused them to leap wildly. The tote road was
+rough and rocky and the equipage was light. Almost instantly the horses
+tore the tongue from the jumper, which was trigged by a bowlder. The
+animals crashed around in a circle through the underbrush, leaped into
+the tote road, and went galloping back toward Adonia, seeking their
+stalls and safety.
+
+Dick rose from where he had fallen and rushed to the girl, who was
+clinging to the seat of the jumper. He took her in his arms, comforting
+her as he would have soothed a child. He wept frankly and babbled
+incoherently. A part of his emotion was concern for her, but more
+especially was it joy because she had discovered herself to him.
+
+"It was in me--the hope that it was you. But I buried it; I buried it,"
+he sobbed.
+
+For some moments he was too much absorbed to note the plight in which
+they had been left. Then his laments were so violent that the girl was
+obliged to soothe him in her turn.
+
+"But when those horses rush into the yard! Think of it! He'll cal'late
+we're killed. Him penned there in his chair with worry tearing at him! I
+must get the word to him." In his frantic care for the master's peace of
+mind he ran away down the road, forgetting that he was abandoning the
+girl.
+
+But in a few moments he came running back to her. "That's the way it
+always is with me! Him first! But after this it's you--and I was leaving
+you here in the lurch. But I don't know what to do!" He looked at her,
+then at the broken jumper; he gazed to the north and he stared to the
+south; in that emergency, his emotions stressed by what she had told
+him, he was as helpless as a child.
+
+Her own concern just then was for her grandfather as well as for
+herself. Those runaway horses appearing in the yard would rouse his
+bitter fear; they would also start a hue and cry which would follow her
+into the north country.
+
+"You must go back, at once!" she urged Dick. "Follow as fast as you can.
+The horses will quiet down; they'll walk. You may overtake them. You
+must try."
+
+"But you!" he mourned.
+
+She lifted the cant dog from the floor of the jumper. "I shall keep on
+toward the drive--somehow--some way. This will protect me; I'm sure of
+it."
+
+He puckered his face and shook his head and expressed his fears and his
+doubts.
+
+"Then I'm showing more faith than you in what this stands for," she
+said, rebukingly. "I believe in it. I trust to it. Haven't you the same
+kind of loyalty where my grandfather is concerned--after all your years
+with him?"
+
+She had appealed to zealous, unquestioning devotion, and it replied to
+her. "I reckon you're right. It wouldn't be showing proper respect if I
+didn't meet you halfway in the thing." He reached out his hand and
+patted the staff. "I'm only a poor old bent stick beside that one. I
+even let the horses run away. Yes, they have run away--and now it's all
+the long miles to the drive! How'll ye ever get there, Miss Lida?"
+
+"By starting!" she returned, crisply, with something of Flagg's manner.
+
+"There are tote teams going north. Anybody'll be glad to give you a
+lift. There are bateaus above here, ferrying supplies up the broad
+water, and you may see a canoeman----" He was wistfully grabbing at
+hopes.
+
+"I'm not afraid," she assured him bravely.
+
+He helped her with advice while he busied himself by hooking the handle
+of her bag over the staff; she carried it across her shoulder and had
+something cheerful to say about poverty making light luggage.
+
+In that fashion she fared toward the north, after she had forced a
+pledge from the old man that he would keep her secret until her work was
+done; she was guilelessly unaware that Flagg's perspicacity had
+penetrated her secret.
+
+Dick plodded toward the south.
+
+There, in the midst of the forest, dwarfed by the big trees, they
+seemed to be weak reeds for the support of the Flagg fortunes.
+
+Before a bend of the road shut them from sight of each other they turned
+and waved a farewell which renewed the pledge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY
+
+
+For a time Lida felt unutterably and miserably lonely and helpless. She
+had stepped out of everything that was familiar in the way of human
+contact and environment; she was facing the new, the untried, something
+that was not a woman's job, as her grandfather had declared.
+
+But it was a job for that one of the Flaggs who still had the grit and
+the strength to perform it!
+
+With that thought came her reaction. She began to realize that as long
+as Dick had been her companion, her guardian, she had not been conscious
+of the real exaltation of determination which now glowed in her. She
+felt courage born of sacred zeal. She was alone, but no longer did that
+thought trouble her. Because she was alone it was up to her! She walked
+on with a steadier stride. If she appeared at the drive under the convoy
+of old Dick she was only a girl sent to whine a confession of fault and
+to wheedle men to help her repair it. Would it not be well to take those
+men fully into her confidence? She was resolved to tell them that she
+loved Ward Latisan; she was admitting this truth to herself and she was
+in a mood to tell all the truth to honest men who would be able to
+understand. She was going north to inspire faith and courage and
+loyalty. Would not the known granddaughter of Echford Flagg be able to
+exert that compelling moral influence over the crew? Those men were
+primitive enough to understand the urge of honest love of woman for a
+man; and there was the spirit of chivalrous romance in the north
+country. She knew it.
+
+Her heart was bolder as she walked on, but her feet ached and the rough
+road wearied her. She met no human being; she sat for a time on a
+wayside bowlder, hoping that some straggling tote team would come up
+from the south and overtake her.
+
+The road snaked along in the Noda Valley, and from time to time she was
+close to the turbid flood which swept down ice cakes and flotsam. From
+her bowlder she could see a broad and calm stretch--a deadwater of which
+she did not know the name.
+
+Then, close to the shore where she waited, came a canoe headed upriver.
+Two men were in it, paddling sturdily, taking advantage of eddies and
+backwash. Fresh from the city as she was, she felt a thrill of sudden
+terror; the men were Indians and wore the full regalia of tribal dress.
+
+As a child she had seen and remembered well the Tarratines of the
+region; they had been dressed like other woodsmen. These Indians with
+feathers and beads put a strange fear into her in that solitude. She
+slid from the rock and crouched behind it. She grasped the staff of the
+cant dog more firmly; it was her only weapon of defense. But when her
+fingers felt the depressions of the totem mark she turned from terror to
+hope. Latisan, at their first meeting, had referred to the status of
+Echford Flagg among the Tarratines. Courage was back in her again, along
+with her new hope. She leaped to her feet and called to the Indians and
+flourished a salute. They hesitated a moment, then drove their craft to
+the shore a pebble toss away from her.
+
+She did not speak to them--she held the staff so that the emblem was
+shown to them. They disembarked, approached slowly, peered at the totem,
+and saluted with upraised palms.
+
+"I have the right to carry it," she told them. "It is Echford Flagg's.
+He gave it into my hands. He said it is known along the river and will
+help me. I want to go north to his drive. He has sent me. It is on his
+business!"
+
+She received no immediate encouragement from their manner; they looked
+at each other and turned their gaze again to her.
+
+"Frank Orono," said one, patting his hand on his beaded breast. "Him
+brother, Louis Orono."
+
+"The drive is up there. If you're going only a little way in that
+direction won't you take me along in your canoe?" she pleaded,
+confessing, "I'm so tired. There was an accident to the team--I've had
+to walk."
+
+"You see!" said Frank Orono, stroking his hand over the feathers of his
+headdress. "Big time for tribe. All dressed up. Him, me, we go to Olamon
+Island. Governor live there--Chief Susep Nicola. His girl she marry
+to-night. Big time!" He grinned. That evidence of human feeling in the
+countenance which had been so impassive heartened the girl.
+
+"And if I can get as far as Olamon with you----"
+
+They ducked their heads in permission.
+
+"Maybe Chief Susep send you on. Chief he much like him!" Frank Orono
+pointed to the staff. "Chief cut in totem sign, his own hands. You come.
+Be all right."
+
+They spread a blanket for her in the middle of the canoe and paddled on.
+
+It was then past midafternoon of her crowded day.
+
+When at last they swung around a wooded point and beheld the Indian
+village of Olamon the dusk was deepening. Many lights twinkled and a
+huge bonfire waved flaming tongues.
+
+"Big time!" chuckled Frank Orono. "Pretty girl--nice feller she marry.
+Chief be glad to see you--you tell him!"
+
+Those who were gathered at the pull-out place surveyed her with
+curiosity. The bonfire lighted the scene and many were able to see the
+totem mark on the staff of the cant dog. Those saluted her respectfully
+and passed the word to others, who came crowding about.
+
+Therefore, when the brothers Orono escorted her into the presence of
+Sachem Nicola, Lida entertained the confidence of one who was among
+friends. The chief--or rather, the elected governor of the tribe--dwelt
+in a modest cottage, and with him was the priest who had come for the
+wedding ceremony. It was the priest who displayed the liveliest interest
+in the girl and he promptly began to seek the reason that had brought
+her north with that emblem of authority. He questioned her with
+kindness, but with much vigor.
+
+But Susep Nicola asked no questions. He seemed to accept her presence as
+a quite natural thing. A Tarratine never puts a question to a guest; the
+guest may explain or state his business in his own good time. The
+sachem set a chair for her and relieved her of the staff and her bag. He
+put his finger on the emblem and smiled. There was inquiry in his eyes
+whether she knew and understood. She bowed her head.
+
+As best she could she parried the questions of the inquisitive priest
+without making it appear that she was trying to hide anything. "It's an
+errand, and Mr. Flagg was kind enough to loan the staff as my token in
+these parts. You know he is ill and cannot go about any more. He must
+leave certain things to others."
+
+"Well," admitted the priest, plainly struggling with a hankering to ask
+her bluntly what service a girl could perform for Flagg on the drive,
+"the ladies in these days are into all the affairs of men as well as on
+the juries, so we must consider it as quite natural that you have been
+sent up here by Mr. Flagg. At any rate, we should be grateful that you
+are here," he declared, gallantly.
+
+"It's on account of the accident to my team that I'm forced to intrude
+at a time like this," she apologized to Nicola. He was an old man, gaunt
+and bowed, and his festal trappings seemed rather incongruous
+decorations.
+
+"But you bring my brother's staff, and it makes you welcome for yourself
+and stands for him because he cannot come."
+
+He called, and a woman appeared. He gave directions, and the woman
+offered to conduct Lida to a room in the cottage.
+
+"You are honored guest," said the governor. "In an hour the wedding
+takes place in the church, and then the wedding supper!"
+
+"To which I beg permission to escort you," said the priest, bowing low
+as Lida went from the room.
+
+She laid off her woods panoply of cap and jacket and made herself fit
+for the festival to such an extent as her scanty wardrobe would permit.
+
+Before the wedding procession started for the church she was presented
+to the bride, Nicola's youngest daughter. The woman who had shown Lida
+to her room had gossiped a bit. The bride was the fruit of the
+governor's second marriage and had inherited her French Canadian
+mother's beauty. And the groom was a French Canadian, a strapping chap,
+a riverman of repute.
+
+Lida was told that the men of the river, the jacks of the driving crews
+far and near, were making much of the wedding on account of their liking
+for Felix Lapierre. She had looked from her window and had seen bateaus
+come sweeping down, loaded with shouting men, the oars flashing in the
+light of torches set in the bows of the big boats. She felt more
+confident in regard to the morrow; those bateaus would be going back to
+the north and she had determined to make her plea for passage. In her
+anxiety the halt for the night was irksome. But she concealed her
+feelings and took her place in the procession, a post of honor that was
+deferentially assigned to her by the chief.
+
+The flares of moving torches lighted all and the smoke from them wavered
+above the plumes of the festal costumes and spread the illumination
+among the swaying boughs of the spruces and the pines.
+
+An Indian brass band of pretensions rather more than modest led the way
+toward the church. The rear guard was made of rivermen who marched in
+ragged formation, scuffling, elbowing one another, shouting jokes,
+making merry after their manner. Their boots, spurred with drivers'
+spikes, crunched into the hard earth and occasionally struck fire from
+an outcropping of ledge. They pulled off those boots at the door of the
+church and went into the place, tiptoeing in their stocking feet.
+
+So Alice and Felix were joined in marriage.
+
+Lida sat beside the girl's mother during the ceremony.
+
+The tears that are shed by womankind at weddings form a baptism for
+sentiments which cannot be easily translated into exact understanding.
+It had begun to seem very far away in time and space, that tragedy of
+the morning in Adonia, that wreck of a man's love, and the blasting of
+what Lida had admitted to herself was her own fond hope. Now, in this
+scene, hearing the words which gave lovers the sacred right to face the
+world hand in hand, her own grievous case came back to her in poignant
+clearness. She wept frankly; there had been honest tears in the mother's
+eyes. The two looked at each other and then the mother's hand slid into
+the girl's and mutely expressed for the stranger what could not be put
+into words. There were no questions and no replies--the situation
+required none.
+
+For the more casual guests, the rivermen and others, the supper was
+spread out of doors near the water. It was a simple feast which had been
+cooked over coals in the open.
+
+The sachem's party ate in a large room; by day it served the women of
+the tribe as a workshop. The walls were gay with the handicraft which
+had been hung up to clear a space for the tables. There were braided or
+woven baskets of all sizes and every hue; there were beaded skins and
+frippery of feathered gewgaws and moccasins and miniature canoes and
+plaques of birch, hand carved. And subordinating all else, even the
+scents and savors of the food, was the perfume of the sweet grass.
+
+Outdoors, in a circle of torches, the band played merry airs.
+
+"You should not be sad, mam'selle," reproved Father Leroque, who had
+constituted himself Lida's squire at supper. "This is a very merry
+occasion."
+
+"I feel all the more as if I were intruding--bringing my troubles here."
+
+The chatter of many voices made a shield for conversation between the
+two. The priest hesitated for some time; then he made sure that nobody
+was listening and leaned closer to her.
+
+"I beg your pardon, mam'selle, if I seem presumptuous in touching on a
+matter regarding which you have not given me your confidence. I may be
+allowed to mention a bit of news. It came to me just before we sat down
+to supper. News travels fast in this region, you may know. From mouth to
+mouth it flies. Bateaus have come up the river, and the men of those
+bateaus have listened to timber cruisers and have heard from the
+drivers of tote teams who have come scattering through the woods below.
+There is the news of an engagement. I trust I may be allowed to speak of
+the news to you because it is my thought that you are the young lady
+concerned."
+
+She was not able to reply.
+
+"And there is more news," he persisted. "Pardon me if I mention that,
+too. It is my province to console those who are in trouble, as best I
+may. Perhaps there is some way in which I can help you. I think highly
+of young Latisan. I know him because my duties have taken me into the
+Tomah region. There has been trouble between you and him--a
+misunderstanding. Is there any way in which I can be a mediator--as his
+friend?"
+
+"He has gone away," she choked. "I don't know where he is. It was my
+fault. If I could have explained, it might have helped, but he would not
+wait to hear me through."
+
+The priest's gentleness had conquered her resolution to keep her secret
+till she reached the men of the Flagg drive. He perceived her bitter
+need of sympathy.
+
+"I respect confidences, even those given me outside the pale of my
+church's confessional. Young Latisan is like his grandfather--tinder for
+a stray spark. If I know your fault--if I can tell him, when I see him,
+what you would have liked to tell him----"
+
+Hurriedly, in low tones, stammering in her eagerness, she did reveal who
+she was, what she had tried to do, and what she hoped to be able to do.
+
+He was instantly alive to her cause with all the sympathy that was in
+him--an especially sincere sympathy because as a missionary priest he
+was close to the hearts of all the folk of the north country, probing
+their affairs with an innocent but vivid interest and striving always to
+aid with earnest zeal.
+
+Though Lida had parried his questions at first, protecting her secret,
+she was now grateful because he had persisted; his manner and his nature
+removed him from the ranks of mere busybodies. A comforting sense arose
+from having confided in him.
+
+"In the Tomah I will find young Latisan; I am on my way across the
+mountains, mam'selle. He must be awake and himself by now; he must have
+gone home. When I tell him the truth he will lift all the trouble from
+your shoulders. But till he comes you must be brave. And who knows? You
+may be able to smooth the path! If you plead your grandfather's cause up
+here, I believe even the great Comas company will listen and be kind.
+There are many outside this door who have come down from the drives to
+have a bit of fun at the wedding. There must be Flagg men. I will find
+out."
+
+"Let me go with you," she urged, anxiously.
+
+He demurred.
+
+"But I'll not speak to them. If I can see them--only a few of them--the
+real men of our drive--I believe I shall find courage to go on."
+
+She prevailed, though he was doubtful and warned her that the babbling
+of the new gossip might be embarrassing.
+
+And so it proved as Father Leroque feared; men perceived only the
+beguilement of Ward Latisan and had heard only the sordid side of the
+happenings in Adonia; the girl was glad because she was hid in the gloom
+outside the circle of light that was the nimbus of the bonfire. They
+were laughing as they discussed a matter which had eclipsed the interest
+in the wedding. Her cheeks were hot and she was scarcely restrained by
+the priest's monitory palm on her shoulder.
+
+Men were feasting and gossiping; they were herded around the fire,
+squatting Turk fashion, steaming pannikins on the ground by their sides,
+heaped plates on their knees.
+
+"Fifteen of us," stated a man, answering a question. "And prob'ly more
+to follow. Ben Kyle has gone up there in a hurry, grudge and all, and is
+hiring for the Comas. If there ain't going to be any fight we may as
+well work for the Three C's."
+
+"Stay here!" commanded Father Leroque, patting the girl's arm. "Stay
+where they can't see you." He stepped forward into the firelight. "Do I
+understand that the Flagg crew is breaking up?"
+
+"Fifteen of us in this bunch," restated the man, rapping his pannikin to
+dislodge the tea leaves and holding it out for more of the beverage.
+"Wedding brought us down--the news we hear is going to keep us going.
+Flagg is done."
+
+"Yes, if his men desert him. You mustn't do it; it isn't square."
+
+The priest found it easy to locate the recreants among the other
+rivermen; they shifted their eyes under his rebuking gaze. "Go back to
+your work. Another will come in young Latisan's place."
+
+"All respect to you, Father! But we can't do it," said the spokesman.
+"We're Latisan's men. The rest of the gang will laugh us out of the crew
+if we go back."
+
+"I'll have Latisan himself on the job inside of a few days, my men,"
+declared the priest, stoutly.
+
+He had promised to them another who would take the drive master's place;
+now he promised Latisan. The men were merely puzzled; they were not
+convinced.
+
+"Will you go back?"
+
+"We can't go back." It was said with conviction, and a mumble of voices
+indorsed him. "Still, all respect to you, Father! But Latisan won't fit
+any longer even if he does go back. He has let himself be goofered."
+
+Father Leroque had set up his temporary altar in many a lumber camp; he
+knew woodsmen; therefore, he knew that argument with those men would be
+idle.
+
+"You have heard," he said to Lida when the two walked away deeper into
+the shadows. "I'm sorry. But so the matter stands."
+
+"But if I go now and talk to them--confess to them----"
+
+"They are Latisan's own men, and the story is fresh, and their
+resentment is hot. You will not prevail, mam'selle. And if you fail
+to-night with those men you risk failing with all. You must go on to the
+drive--talk to the others who are still loyal. I fear much, I must warn
+you, but I will not try to keep you from what seems to be your duty. It
+would be too great unhappiness for you if you should go back now,
+feeling that you had not done your best."
+
+The bandsmen had eaten of the wedding feast and were again valorously
+making gay music outside the workshop building from whose windows poured
+light and laughter.
+
+"I can't go back in there--I can't!" sobbed Lida. "Right now I want to
+hide away."
+
+With gentle understanding the priest escorted her to the door of the
+sachem's cottage. "I will pray for you, that the morning may bring good
+courage again. I will talk with you then--in the morning."
+
+She stammered broken words of gratitude and escaped to the covert of the
+little room.
+
+Father Leroque went back to the wedding party and called the governor
+out into the night. For a long time the two conferred, walking to and
+fro under the big pines.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
+
+
+Sunrise was crystal clear, with frosty crispness, for April in the
+northern latitudes flirts long with Winter on his way to everlasting
+snows. Lida saw the sun come quivering over the big trees and sat by her
+window, continuing the doleful ponderings which had made the night black
+and dismal. There was no cheer for her in the morning radiance; as she
+faced what was ahead of her, new fear grew in her; faith in herself was
+waning after the defection of Latisan's men. Would Echford Flagg's own
+crew stand by a stricken master or hearken to the appeal of Flagg's kin?
+
+The rivermen guests had departed; there were no bateaus on the shore;
+faint smoke came wreathing from the black embers of the feast fire.
+
+Early as it was, there was the stir of life in the other rooms of the
+cottage, and she ventured forth timidly into the presence of the
+governor's family. The little mirror in her room had revealed to her the
+pallor of her face and the mournful anxiety in her eyes.
+
+There was no talk at breakfast; the family copied the manner of the
+governor, who had greeted Lida with a single word, gestured her to her
+chair, and now ate in silence. All his festal trappings had been laid
+aside; he was a grave, wrinkled man in the ordinary attire of a
+woodsman. In her new humility Lida wondered how she would summon
+courage to ask for canoemen to take her north. The impulse to keep on
+toward the drive was no longer so keen and courageous and absorbing, she
+realized. She had dreamed vividly when she stood in the presence of
+Echford Flagg; but she had begun to face practicality, and the
+difficulties frightened her.
+
+Before the breakfast was finished, Father Leroque came in; he had lodged
+in the quarters provided for his visits, a small room in the vestry.
+
+The sisters who taught the boys and girls of the community had brought
+his food. But he sat at the elbow of the governor's wife and drank the
+coffee that she poured for him. He was cheery, vivacious, and he smiled
+consolingly on Lida, who was not able to return his morning optimism.
+His arrival broke the fetters of silence, and even Susep Nicola joined
+in the chatter which the priest kept stirring.
+
+Lida kept her gaze on the floor and saw the broad shaft of sunlight
+shift slowly and relentlessly, marking the passage of precious time.
+
+"I must go," she said, suddenly, looking into the countenance of Nicola.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I'm afraid I ought to have been on my way before."
+
+"It's for you to say when you go; you are welcome here," he returned. "I
+have waited for you to say." It was according to his code of
+hospitality--the guest must indicate desire. He rose. His wife brought
+to Lida the jacket and the cap. But the chief picked up the Flagg cant
+dog and carried it when he led the way to the door.
+
+Father Leroque seemed to understand what was in Lida's mind just then.
+"You are worried about how you are to travel, is it not so? You do not
+need to ask, mam'selle!" He bowed her to the door.
+
+In front of the sachem's house hung a broad disk of tanned moosehide in
+a frame. Nicola pounded on the makeshift gong with a mallet. Men
+assembled quickly in front of him, coming as if they had expected the
+summons.
+
+"You know. I have told you," said the chief. He stroked his hand over
+the totem mark on the cant dog handle. "You know how our brother has
+been the good friend of the Tarratines on this river."
+
+One step in advance of the others of the throng stood Felix Lapierre,
+the bridegroom.
+
+"How many?" asked the chief.
+
+"Twenty," said Felix. "And all very much happy to do the good service."
+
+The priest smiled into the amazed eyes of the girl. "For your
+conveyance? Ah no, mam'selle. For your good help on the drive. They are
+rivermen--the best. Felix Lapierre leads them and you shall see for
+yourself what a king of the white water he is. He will be your
+right-hand man on the drive. It is all very fine, eh, mam'selle?"
+
+She was staring from face to face, overwhelmed. She could not reply.
+
+"We talk it over--him and me--last night," said Nicola, indicating the
+priest by a respectful bow. "It's for my brother, and the blood of my
+brother." He bowed to her.
+
+"And all so very happy," repeated Felix. His black eyes sparkled and he
+flung up his hands in the gay spirit of emprise. "You must not care
+because some have run away. They would not be good in a crew if they
+feel that way now. We feel good. We shall work for you; we are your
+men."
+
+The big matter, this astounding making good of her forces, this rallying
+of volunteers in such chivalrous and unquestioning fashion--she found
+herself unable to handle the situation in her thoughts or treat it with
+spoken words just then. But the other--the human thing----
+
+"It's--it's the honeymoon," she stammered. "It will be taking you away
+from your wife."
+
+"She's my girl," put in Nicola. "She tells him to go."
+
+Father Leroque perceived Lida's distressful inability to pull herself
+together at that moment, and he employed his ready tact, giving her time
+for thought. "It's quite a natural thing, this taking away of the new
+bridegroom for the service of the Flaggs," he declared with a chuckle.
+"There's even a song--I think it was written by Poet O'Gorman. Do you
+know it, Felix? I can see by your grin that you do. Very well. Let's
+have it. As I remember it, it states the case according to the Flagg
+methods."
+
+Lapierre pulled off his cap; his eyes were alight with merriment; he
+sang gayly:
+
+    The night that I was married--the night that I was wed--
+    Up there came old Echford Flagg and rapped on my bed head.
+    Said he, "Arise, young married man, and come along with me,
+    Where the waters of the Noda they do roar along so free."
+
+"You see!" suggested the priest, archly, smiling, palms spread. "When
+Flagg calls, the honeymoon must wait. It promises good adventure, and
+Felix would be sorry if he were not in it."
+
+Cap in hand, Lapierre swept his arm in a broad gesture of respectful
+devotion. It was a touch of gallantry which raised the affair above the
+prosaic details of mere business and which made the relations closer
+than those of employer and employed.
+
+In Lida gratitude was succeeding amazement, and the glow of that
+gratitude was warming her courage into life again. When she had stepped
+from Nicola's door a few moments before she felt bitterly alone and
+helpless and she had no eye for the glory of the day. Suddenly the
+sunshine seemed transcendently cheery. All the aspects of the case were
+changed. Now she could go on to the drive as one of the Flaggs should
+go--with loyal men at her back to replace those who had deserted. She
+could hearten a broken crew with men, not merely with a strange girl's
+plaintive story and appeal.
+
+"We're ready, mam'selle," said Felix.
+
+The women of the community were gathered in front of the sachem's house.
+
+Lapierre went smiling to his bride and put his arm about her; but when
+he started to draw her toward Lida the latter anticipated the coming by
+running to meet them. She took the little bride in her arms.
+
+The priest, Felix, and the governor swapped looks and nods which
+indorsed an understanding that was wordless between the young women.
+
+When Lida turned from the governor's daughter she saw the governor
+himself coming toward her. He held out the cant dog; it lay across his
+palms and he tendered it respectfully.
+
+She winked the mist of tears from her eyes and struggled with a
+hysterical desire to babble many words.
+
+"Hush!" warned the priest. "We all know!"
+
+There, in a golden silence, she realized how cheap and base was the
+clinking metal of speech that had been the currency of herself and
+others in the crowded town.
+
+The river, slowed by the deadwater, was mute, though its foam streaks
+showed where it had crashed through the gorges above. A few chickadees
+chirruped bravely. There were no other sounds while the girl took the
+Flagg scepter in her own hands.
+
+She walked with Felix to the shore, where the flotilla of canoes lay
+upturned at the pull-out place. Again the Oronos were assigned to her,
+and she was comforted much because they no longer seemed like strangers.
+
+"Au revoir!" called Father Leroque when the canoes were afloat on the
+brown flood. "I'm making haste to the Tomah, mam'selle, to keep my
+promise!"
+
+He had already accomplished so much for her! In her new thanksgiving
+spirit she was finding it easy to believe that he could bring about what
+her self-acknowledged love for Latisan so earnestly desired.
+
+In single file, holding close to the shore, the canoes went toward the
+north. There was no talk between those who paddled; against the brown
+shore the canoes were merely moving smudges.
+
+Rufus Craig, coming down the middle of the deadwater in one of the
+great bateaus of the Comas company, paid no attention to the smudges.
+The bateau rode high and rapidly on the flood that moved down the
+channel. Craig was writing in his notebook and four oarsmen were obeying
+his command to dip deep and pull strong.
+
+Craig had met Ben Kyle by appointment at the foot of the Oxbow portage
+and he had found Kyle to be particularly malevolent and entirely
+willing--and Kyle had gone north to the Flagg drive in the pay of the
+Three C's.
+
+It had been a profitable interview, as Director Craig viewed it.
+
+Now he was chasing along the trail of rumor to Adonia; the rumor was
+encouraging. If Latisan really had been pried out of the section, Craig
+saw an opportunity to run back to New York to make a private settlement
+with Mern and enjoy a little relaxation before the pressing matters of
+the drive in full swing claimed all his attention. Right then, according
+to all appearances, the Comas business up-country was doing very well in
+the hands of the understrapper bosses. Therefore, Director Craig smiled
+over the pages of his notebook.
+
+The brown smudges in single file went on and on. Noon at the foot of the
+portage at Oxbow! Lida sniffed the wood smoke of the cook fire and ate
+her lunch and drank her tea.
+
+Up the narrow trail of the gorge she followed at the rear of her men;
+the canoes, upturned on their shoulders, glistened in the sparkling
+sunshine. She was bringing real aid in a time of stress, as one of the
+Flaggs should! More and more that consciousness heartened her.
+
+Quiet water at the put-in, then rapids where the canoes were poled, the
+irons clinking on the rocks over which the turbid waters rolled; more
+calm stretches where haste was made.
+
+A night in the open at a camping site where a couch of boughs was piled
+for her under a deftly contrived shelter of braided branches of
+hemlocks.
+
+And on in the first flush of the morning toward the drive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
+
+
+Ben Kyle made "his bigness" when he went into Flagg's crew on his
+mission for Craig. He was not admitting to himself or anybody else that
+he was traitor. He blustered and bullyragged; he had been their boss and
+he had been fired without cause, he insisted. Even the loyal men did not
+presume to answer back; he had been too recently their master and the
+aura of authority still persisted. He came with a white-hot grudge and
+with rumors which he embroidered to suit his needs. Kyle had been far on
+the edge of affairs, and only the ripples of the Adonia events reached
+him. But his statement that Latisan had run away with a girl seemed to
+be certified by the drive master's continued absence. And there were
+those stories of Latisan's former weakness in the city; they had been
+sleeping; they were not dead.
+
+Kyle was hiring for the Comas company--unabashed, blatantly. He strode
+from man to man, banging heavy palm on shoulders. "Come with the real
+folks. What's old Eck Flagg to-day? You might as well be hired by a
+bottle-sucking brat in a baby carriage. Where's Latisan? You tell me his
+men went downriver to meet him; they've kept on going. He has hid away,
+dancing his doxy on his knee. Where's your pay coming from when Eck
+Flagg goes broke?"
+
+Kyle waded in the shallows where men were rolling logs, shouting to be
+heard above the roar of the waters.
+
+"We hired for a fight," said the men who hated the Comas. "But it
+doesn't look like one is going to be made."
+
+"We've always stood behind Eck Flagg," said the old stand-bys of the
+crew. "But we ain't getting a square chance for honest work."
+
+It was plain that the spirit was being beaten out of them under the
+hammer of Kyle's harangue--whether it was the adventurous spirit which
+craved fight or the honest spirit which had sent them north to the job.
+
+When the night came down, after they had cleaned their pannikins of
+food, steaming hot, from the cook's kettles, while they smoked around
+the fire which drove away the evening chill, Kyle paced to and fro among
+the groups, declaiming, detracting, and urging. He knew that he was
+prevailing, though slowly. Woodsmen in shifting their allegiance are not
+swayed by sudden impulse. His voice rang among the trees in the silence
+of the evening.
+
+"Latisan is a sneak--Latisan is a runaway! Eck Flagg is next to a dead
+man!" Over and over he made those declarations, battering discouragement
+into their slow comprehension in order to win them to the Comas company.
+"And Latisan has thrown down real men for the sake of a girl! Do you
+want to get the Big Laugh when you show yourselves downriver?"
+
+Voyagers who came from the southward, leaving their canoes below the
+falls, moved silently, after the fashion of the Tarratines. They halted
+on a shadowed slope within the range of Kyle's raucous voice, and Lida
+stepped forward to listen. The red flames lighted a circle among the
+trees, and she beheld the seated groups and saw the swaggering
+malcontent who paced to and fro.
+
+"I'm with the Three C's now, first, last, and all the time! Their money
+is waiting for you, men. Come, with the real folks, I tell you!"
+
+And again, with even more fantastic trimmings, he set forth the story of
+Latisan's flight with a girl who had seduced him from his duty in the
+north.
+
+Lida snatched the Flagg cant dog from the hands of Felix; he had been
+the bearer of her scepter. He blinked when he looked at her. The
+far-flung light of the camp fire, reflected in her eyes, had set
+veritable torches there. Her lips were apart and her white teeth were
+clenched and her face was ridged with resolution.
+
+There was no mistaking the intention which righteous anger had stirred
+in her, but when she started down the slope Felix leaped and ventured to
+restrain her with a touch on her arm. "Is it well to let the Comas know
+that you are here or what you are going to do? Pardon, mam'selle, but
+think!"
+
+"The lies! The lies!"
+
+"Yes, mam'selle, but you can tell them the truth when he is not there to
+hear."
+
+"But now he is there, and I cannot go to the men."
+
+"In a little while you may go; he will not be there. And if he does not
+know what is going on up here, after his back is turned, maybe we shall
+have day after day to push our logs in ahead of all the others,"
+explained the riverman. "They will be days worth much." Then with the
+imagery of his race he added, "Those days will be gold beads on our
+rosary, mam'selle!" He smiled into her eyes, from which the fires were
+departing. "Please wait here with the the others."
+
+He whispered to several of the Indians; when he sauntered down the slope
+the four summoned Tarratines stole to right and left, masking themselves
+in the shadows, flanking the champion who was going alone.
+
+Most of the men of the crew recognized Felix Lapierre when he walked
+into the circle of light. They leaped up, surrounded him, their mouths
+full of hilarious congratulation, of excuses why they had not attended
+the wedding, of awkward jokes and questions. They could not understand
+why he had come north so soon. He shook his head, mildly refusing to
+satisfy their curiosity.
+
+Kyle stood for a time; then he resumed his pacing. He no longer had
+listeners. Like children, the rivermen were wholly absorbed in a new
+toy--a bridegroom who had so suddenly deserted the handsomest girl
+between Adonia and The Forks.
+
+"Oh, let him alone," advised Kyle, whetting his new grouch. "If they
+ain't running away _with_ girls in this region, they're running away
+_from_ 'em!"
+
+Felix swung around and faced the speaker. "Do you speak of me?" he
+asked, quietly.
+
+"Take it that way if you want to."
+
+"Your tongue seems to be very busy, I have that to say to you. From up
+there on the hill I heard what you have to say about M'sieu Latisan,
+that he has run away with a girl."
+
+"And he has."
+
+"You lie!"
+
+That retort snapped the trigger on Kyle's inflamed temper. "You
+damnation squaw man!" he yelped, and drove a blow at the French
+Canadian; and Felix, following the fighting custom of his clan of the
+Laurentian Valley, ducked low, leaped high, and kicked Kyle under the
+hook of the jaw. It was the _coup à pied_. Kyle staggered and went down.
+When he struggled up and weakly attacked again, the antagonist met him
+face to face and smashed a stunning blow between Kyle's eyes; he fell
+and remained on his back.
+
+"One for me, and one for my wife he has insult'," cried Felix. He spun
+around, searching their faces. "Do any of you like to back him up?"
+
+"Not on your life," said a spokesman. "He doesn't belong in this crew."
+
+"I'm much oblige'," said Felix, politely. He whistled, and the four
+Indians rushed out from the shadows. "If he is not of the crew, then if
+he goes away it does not matter."
+
+He commanded the Indians, and they lifted Kyle and started off with him.
+
+"He'll not be hurt," Felix assured the men of the crew. "He'll go down
+the river where it's better for him."
+
+Nobody offered protest. They were glad to be rid of that bellowing,
+insistent voice of the trouble-maker.
+
+Their attention was wholly engaged with the involuntary departure of
+Kyle, and they did not observe Lapierre when he walked away; they turned
+to ask more questions, to be informed what this abduction signified, but
+Felix was nowhere to be seen. Men called but he did not reply.
+
+Babble of comment and argument! It was a picked fight--anybody could see
+that. Why should Lapierre come north in the Flagg interests? Lapierre
+had never worked in a Flagg crew. It was begun so suddenly and was ended
+so soon! A minute's flash of drama against the background of the night,
+into which they stared with searching eyes while they made clamor like
+quacking ducks that had been startled from sleep by a prowler! Curiosity
+was lashing them. They were wonted to their reckless adventure in the
+white water; it had become dull toil. This affair was something real in
+the way of excitement, with a mystery which tantalized them. Again they
+called into the night, seeking an explanation.
+
+The prologue by which the Comas agent had been removed as tempter and
+tale-bearer had not been staged by Felix for calculated effect; he had
+thought only of getting Kyle out of the way. But never was an audience
+in more keenly receptive mood for a sequel than were those men who
+crowded closely in the patch of camp-fire radiance and asked questions
+of one another.
+
+To them when they were in that mood came one who made the drama more
+poignant. They were hushed, they blinked uncertainly, they found it
+unreal, unbelievable.
+
+For here was a girl, far north at the head of the drive in the season
+of the roaring waters. She came slowly from the night and stood at the
+edge of the circle of light. She was wearing Latisan's jacket and
+cap--there was no mistaking the colors, the checkings and the stripes; a
+drive master needs to signal his whereabouts to a crew just as a fire
+captain must make himself conspicuous by what he wears.
+
+They glanced at her garb, amazed by it. Then her face claimed all their
+attention, for she said to them, her voice steady, her eyes meeting
+theirs frankly, "I have overheard the talk a man has just made about a
+girl who coaxed Ward Latisan away from his work here. I am the girl."
+
+It seemed as if men had been holding their breath since her appearance;
+in the profound silence the exhalations of that breath could be heard.
+
+"But Ward Latisan did not run away with me from his duty. My being here
+answers that lie. And I have even a better answer--a reason why I would
+be the last one in the world to interfere willingly with his work this
+spring." She stepped close to them, nearer the fire, so that they could
+see what she held forth, tightly clutched in both hands. "This is
+Echford Flagg's cant dog--he told me it would be known by all his men.
+He gave it into my keeping for a sign that he has sent me north. And I
+have a right to carry it. I am Lida Kennard. I am Echford Flagg's
+granddaughter."
+
+Behind her came crowding the Tarratines.
+
+"Men have deserted from your crew. Here are others to take their
+places," she announced with pride.
+
+She was dealing with men who were bashed by utter stupefaction; she
+noted it and her self-reliance grew steadier. She drove the point of the
+cant dog into the soft duff with a manner after the heart of Flagg
+himself. She spread her freed hands to them in appeal. "I have come here
+to tell you the truth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
+
+
+Latisan had pitched the tune for that drive when he started it.
+
+It was a tune in quick tempo, with the staccato clangor of the kettle
+drums of the dynamite when he burst the icy sheathing of the waters in
+order to dump the first logs in.
+
+When he was on the job the directing wand of his pick pole kept
+everything jumping.
+
+Even when he was away for a few days his men toiled with the spirit that
+he had left with them. They had adopted his cause and shared his
+righteous resentment against the tactics of the Three C's.
+
+They were able to work on without his guidance, after a fashion, but for
+the fight that was ahead of them down the river they had depended on his
+captainship. Therefore, Kyle with his scandals and reports and his
+urging had been in a way to break down their morale. When they
+reflected, they realized it. And it had been a wicked thing to face--the
+prospect that they might quit! With Latisan of the Latisans present with
+them, pursuing an honest vengeance, there were lift and sweep and swing
+which made their toil an adventure rather than plain drudgery.
+
+Then that day when rumor and Kyle and Latisan's protracted absence had
+nigh killed courage!
+
+But then, the inspiring night which had brought the granddaughter of
+Echford Flagg with her story, her confession, her plea, and her still
+strong faith in the awakening of Ward Latisan when he was able to know
+the truth! She did not gloss her own involuntary fault; she was frank in
+the statement that she loved the man whom she had harmed by her mistake.
+She knew it was the truth; she took them into her confidence. Then there
+was more than mere courage in the men of the drive--they were sharers in
+the spirit of romance which put the dynamic zeal of fanatics behind
+those logs. The girl's cause was linked with Latisan's and was a
+compelling force.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Like racing horses the Flagg timber rushed along, crowding the river
+from side to side.
+
+The stream drives, breaking the bonds of the ice, had caught the top
+pitch of the floods and were hurled into the boiling rapids.
+
+But there was more than the mere thrust of the roaring waters behind
+those tumbling logs.
+
+The Flagg drive had a soul that year!
+
+It was what the Comas corporation lacked.
+
+Behind the Flagg logs were honest men, pityingly loyal--still to
+Latisan--and behind the toilers was a dominating spirit that was a
+combination of courage, wild enthusiasm, loyalty, and devotion in a
+campaign that now was entered upon with tempestuous fervor in the
+presence of Lida Kennard. When that fervor went smashing against the
+Three C's crowd the men who were animated only by a corporation's wages
+became cowards and stepped aside and gave the champions the right of
+way.
+
+The slogan of Flagg men was, "Gangway for the girl!"
+
+They had taken up her cause; they had enrolled themselves with a perfect
+abandon of all considerations of self; for them, getting down that
+timber was merely a means to a much-desired end.
+
+They were recklessly determined to help the girl make good! That was the
+urgeful sentiment which their thoughts inscribed on the invisible
+oriflamme of the warfare that was waged for the new Joan along the
+waters of the Noda.
+
+It was not especially because she was the granddaughter of Echford
+Flagg. His wages had never bought more than perfunctory service from
+crews. She was herself--and she had confessed her debts.
+
+When she told them why she was wearing Latisan's cap and jacket, when
+she owned to her error and laid the blame on herself, when she pleaded
+with them to help her in undoing the bitter mischief, she won a devotion
+that questioned nothing.
+
+"Men, he will come back. He will understand it all when he is himself
+again. And if you and I are able to show him that we have done his work
+well he will hold up his head once more as he has a right to do."
+
+"God bless ye, girl, ye can't keep yourself apart from Latisan in this
+thing," declared an old man. "It's for the two o' ye that we do our work
+from now on! And it's for all of us, as well! For we'll ne'er draw happy
+breaths till we can stand by and see you meet him on the level--eye to
+eye--like one who has squared all accounts between you two! And the old
+grands'r, as well. What say, boys?"
+
+But cheers could not serve their emotions then. They pulled off their
+caps and scrubbed their rough hands across their jackets and walked to
+her in single file and shook her hand in pregnant silence.
+
+And then the timber went through; the drive was beating all the past
+records.
+
+When they needed water they took it. They blew their own dams and were
+very careless with dynamite when they came upon other dams of whose
+ownership they were not so sure.
+
+"You see, miss, rights are well mixed up all through this region," said
+old Vittum, who had been spokesman for his fellows on her first meeting
+with them. He gave her a demure wink. "The main idea is, God is making
+this water run downhill just now, and it doesn't seem right for mortal
+man to stop it from running."
+
+They "manned the river," as the drivers say. That meant overlapping
+crews, day and night.
+
+No squad was out of sight of another; a yell above the roar of the flood
+or a cap brandished on the end of a pike pole summoned help to break a
+forming jam or to card logs off ledges or to dislodge "jillpokes" which
+had stabbed their ends into the soggy banks of the river. Men ate as
+they ran and they slept as they could. Some of them, snatching time to
+eat, sitting on the shore, went sound asleep after a few mouthfuls and
+slumbered with their faces in their plates till a companion kicked them
+back into wakefulness. They grinned and were up again!
+
+As for Lida Kennard, she was treated with as much tender care as if she
+were a reigning princess on tour. She protested indignantly because
+they would not allow her to rough it along with them. They made soft
+beds of spruce tips at their camping sites and they gave her the post of
+honor in a big bateau.
+
+In the rush of affairs she did not pause to wonder whether she was
+offending any of the proprieties by staying on with the drive; she had
+become the Flagg spirit incarnate and was not troubling herself with
+petty matters.
+
+Old Vittum and Felix were her advisers, and they prized her presence as
+an asset of inestimable value; she allowed them to think for her in that
+crisis.
+
+"It's a tough life, miss, the best we can make it for you," admitted
+Vittum. "But if you can stick and hang till Skulltree is passed it means
+that the boys will keep the glory of doing in 'em!"
+
+From rendering service according to her ability they could not prevent
+her, though the men protested. She helped the cooks. Hurrying here and
+there, following the scattered men of the crews, she tugged great cans
+of hot coffee. When the toilers saw her coming and heard her voice they
+took desperate chances on the white water, jousting with their pike
+poles like knights in a tourney.
+
+She put into the hearts of the crew the passion of derring do!
+
+The drive that spring was not a sordid task--it was high emprise, it was
+a joyous adventure!
+
+Then the logs which had raced in the rapids came to the upper reaches of
+the slow deadwater of the flowage of the Skulltree dam; the flowage
+reached far back that year.
+
+At Skulltree was the crux of the situation, as Flagg had insisted,
+ragefully.
+
+From the early days there had been a dam at that point; it was common
+property and conserved the water to be loosed to drive logs over the
+shallow rapids below.
+
+The Three C's had spent more money on that dam, claiming that bigger
+drives needed extra water. The dam had been raised. The flowage vastly
+increased the extent of the deadwater, slowing the logs of the
+independents, whose towage methods were crude. The changes which had
+been made needed the sanction of impending legislation, required the
+authority of a charter for which application had been made. In the
+meantime the Three C's were holding the water and would be impounding
+logs; these logs were to be diverted through the new, artificial canal.
+
+In asserting their rights the corporation folks were endangering the
+independent drives which were destined for the sawmills of the Noda.
+
+Day by day, as the drive went on, the girl listened to the talk among
+her men until she understood, in some measure, the situation. All the
+reckless haste was made of no account unless their logs were to be
+permitted to pass the Skulltree dam.
+
+Vittum explained to her that the law was still considering the question
+of "natural flowage." The dam had been changed from time to time in past
+years until the matter was in doubt.
+
+"But the way the thing stands now there ain't much of that nat'ral
+flowage," he told her. "I claim that we have the right to go through,
+law or no law. Word was served early on Latisan that he must hold up at
+Skulltree this year and wait for the law."
+
+"Did he say what he proposed to do?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, miss! I'll have to be excused from repeating what he said, in the
+way he said it, but the gist of it was that he was going through. He
+said he would use some kind of flowage, and hoped that when the lawyers
+got done talking in court it would be decided that the aforesaid nat'ral
+flowage was the kind that had been used by him."
+
+She pulled off Ward's cap and turned it about in her hand, surveying it
+judiciously. "I can seem to see just how he looked when he said it."
+
+"He said it loud, miss, because the man he was talking to was a good
+ways off. He was a sheriff. He couldn't get very nigh to Latisan. We was
+holding the man off with our pick poles because he was trying to serve a
+paper."
+
+"An injunction?"
+
+"I don't know," confessed the relator mildly. "Somehow, none of us
+seemed to be at all curious that day to find out what it was. Sheriff
+nailed it to a tree and then somebody touched a match to it. Latisan
+said he reckoned it must have been an invitation to Felix's wedding, but
+it was just as well that nobody ever read it, because the crew was too
+busy to go, anyway!"
+
+"Are Comas men guarding Skulltree dam?"
+
+"They sure are, miss!"
+
+She and the old man were seated on the shore of the deadwater. The
+evening dusk was deepening.
+
+Near them the cook's fires were leaping against the sides of the
+blackened pots; in the pungent fragrance of the wood smoke which drifted
+past there were savory odors which were sent forth when the cook lifted
+off a cover to stir the stew. The peacefulness of the scene was
+profound; that peace, contrasted with the prospect of what confronted
+her men if Flagg's logs were to go through, stirred acute distress in
+the girl. Coming down through the riot of waters she had not had time to
+think. Their logs were ahead; the laggards of the corporation drive were
+following. She had wondered because even the cowards, as they had shown
+themselves to be, had not put more obstructions in the way. There had
+been abortive interference, but it was evident that the Three C's had
+been making the first skirmishes perfunctory affairs, depending on
+dealing the big blow at Skulltree.
+
+In the Flagg crew it was a subject for frequent comment that Rufus Craig
+had not appeared in the north country to take command of his forces in
+those parlous times when the Three C's interests were threatened. In
+council Lida and her advisers began to wonder how much information
+regarding the Flagg operations had filtered to the outside or whether
+the defeated Comas bosses were not apprehensively withholding word to
+headquarters that they had been beaten in the race on the upper waters.
+
+"Craig would be here before this if he knew what was going on," averred
+Vittum. "They're either ashamed or scared to send him word, and they
+think it can all be squared for 'em at Skulltree." He sighed and turned
+his eyes from her anxious stare.
+
+Near her were rivermen who were waiting for their suppers. She was aware
+of a very tender feeling toward those men who had been risking their
+lives in the rapids in order to indulge her in a hope which she had made
+known to them. She reflected on what the sarcastic Crowley had said when
+he told her that in that region she was among he-men. "If you're not
+careful, you'll start something you can't stop," he had threatened.
+Could she stop these men from going on to violent battle? Would she be
+honest with her grandfather and Latisan if she did try to prevent them
+from winning their fight? All past efforts would be thrown away if
+Skulltree dam were not won.
+
+Out on the deadwater were several floating platforms; the men called
+them "headworks." On the platforms were capstans. The headworks were
+anchored far in advance of the drifting logs, around which were thrown
+pocket booms; men trod in weary procession, circling the capstans,
+pushing against long ashen bars, and the dripping tow warp hastened the
+drift of the logs.
+
+As the men of the sea have a chantey when they heave at a capstan, so
+these men of the river had their chorus; it floated to her over the
+quiet flood.
+
+    Come, all, and riffle the ledges! Come, all, and bust the jam!
+    And for aught o' the bluff of the Comas gang we don't give one
+                good--
+          Hoot, toot and a hoorah!
+    We don't give a tinker's dam!
+
+"That's exactly how they feel, miss," said the old man. "They're on
+their way. They can't be stopped."
+
+But the declaration depressed rather than cheered her. Those men had
+taken up her cause valiantly and with single-hearted purpose, and she
+was obliged to assume responsibility for what they had done and what
+they would do to force the situation at Skulltree. In the rush of the
+drive, with the logs running free, the river was open to all and
+Latisan's task was in the course of fulfillment and the Flagg fortunes
+were having fair opportunity in the competition. But now competition
+must become warfare, so it seemed. She shrank from that responsibility,
+but she could not evade it--could not command those devoted men to stop
+with the job half finished.
+
+The priest's promise to find Latisan had been living with her, consoling
+the hours of her waiting. Her load had become so heavy that her yearning
+for Latisan's return had become desperate and anguished.
+
+The slow drag of the logs in the deadwater gave her time for pondering
+and she was afraid of her thoughts.
+
+She was not accusing Latisan of being an inexcusable recreant where duty
+was concerned; she was understanding in better fashion the men and the
+manners of the north country and she realized the full force of the
+reasons for his flight and why the situation had overwhelmed him. Her
+pity and remorse had been feeding her love.
+
+But the priest had promised. Latisan must know. Why did he not come to
+her and lift the dreadful burden in her extremity?
+
+Old Vittum, sitting on a bleached trunk among the dry kye stranded on
+the shore, plucked slowly the spills of a pine tassel, staring down
+between his knees. "You've seen how they have worked, miss, for every
+ounce that's in 'em. But I don't know how they'll fight if they don't
+have a real captain--a single head to plan--the right man to lead off.
+Latisan's that! Half of 'em came north because they figured on him. I've
+been hoping. But I'm sort of giving up."
+
+"I don't like to hear you say that," she cried. "As soon as he knows the
+truth he will come to us. Father Leroque promised to carry that truth to
+him."
+
+"Providing the priest can find him in the Tomah country--yes, you have
+said that to me and I've been cal'lating to see Latisan come tearing
+around a bend in the river most any minute ever since you told me. But
+Miah Sprague, the fire warden, went through to-day. I've been hating to
+report to you, miss, for I'm knowing to it how you feel these days; your
+looks tell me, and I'm sorry. But Sprague has come from the Tomah and he
+tells me that Ward Latisan hasn't been home--hasn't been heard from.
+Nobody knows where he is. That is straight from Garry Latisan, because
+Garry is starting a hue and a cry and asked Miah to comb the north
+country for news."
+
+She did not reply. She was not sure that there was a touch of rebuke in
+the old man's mournful tones, but she felt that any sort of reproach
+would be justified. She had never made a calm analysis of the affair
+between herself and Latisan, to determine what onus of the blame rested
+on her and how much was due to the plots and the falsehoods of Crowley.
+She clung to her sense of fault in order to spur herself to make good;
+that same sense, a heritage from a father, had served vicariously in
+rousing her spirit to battle for her grandfather.
+
+"I hope you're going to keep up your grit, miss," urged Vittum. "We'll
+do our best for you--but I ain't lotting much on Latisan's showing up
+again. It's too bad! It'll break his heart when he finds out at last
+what he has been left out of and what a chance he has missed."
+
+Like many another, she had, at times, dreamed vividly of falling from
+great heights. That was her sensation then, awake, when she heard that
+Ward Latisan was not to be found. Despair left her numb and quivering.
+Till then she had not realized how greatly her hope and confidence in
+his final coming had counted with her. She had not dared to think that
+his anger would persist; it had seemed to be too violent to last.
+However, it was plain that rage had overmastered the love he had
+proclaimed. Lida was very much woman and felt the feminine conviction
+that a lover would be able to find her if his heart were set on the
+quest. There was only a flicker of a thought along that line; it was
+mere irritation that was immediately swept away by her pity for him. She
+was able to comprehend man's talk then--she knew what Vittum meant when
+he spoke of the chance that was missed--and she understood how Ward
+Latisan would mourn if he heard too late what the struggle that year on
+the Noda waters signified in the case of the girl for whom he had
+professed love.
+
+She could not talk with the old man; she stumbled across the dry kye,
+threw herself on her couch of boughs, and pressed her palms over her
+ears to keep out the threat in the song of the men who toiled around and
+around the capstan post, drawing the Flagg logs in their slow,
+relentless passage to the scene of the promised conflict at Skulltree.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
+
+
+"I'll be cursed if I don't think I ought to hire a real detective and
+put him onto the inside affairs in this office," was Chief Mern's ireful
+opinion after he had listened to Crowley and Miss Elsham when they
+reported in from the north country. They were voluble in their own
+behalf, but their talk was slippery, so the chief felt. They were also
+voluble in regard to Lida Kennard, but Mern found himself more than ever
+enmeshed in his guesswork about that mysterious young lady.
+
+Crowley kept shifting off the topic onto his own prowess, patting
+himself on the breast and claiming all the credit for getting Latisan
+off his job.
+
+Miss Elsham, on her part, kept lighting fresh cigarettes and was
+convincing on only one point: "No more wild men of the woods for me.
+Never again in the tall timber. I'll do night and day shifts in the
+cafés if you ask me to. And I've got a knickerbocker suit that's for
+sale!"
+
+Mern had several interviews with the two, trying to understand.
+
+When the blustering Crowley was present Miss Elsham allowed him to claim
+all the credit and made no protest.
+
+Alone with Mern, she declared that Buck was a big bluff, but she was not
+especially clear in her reports on his methods.
+
+"But what has become of Kennard?"
+
+"I don't know. Lynched, maybe. They were threatening to do it to Buck
+and me before we got away."
+
+One thing seemed to be true--Mern had a wire from Brophy in reply to an
+inquiry: Ward Latisan had gone away and was staying away.
+
+And Rufus Craig, arriving in the city, telephoned the same information
+to the chief and promised to call around and settle.
+
+Crowley was informed of that confirmation, and grinned and again patted
+his breast and claimed the credit.
+
+"All right," allowed the chief, "you're in for your slice of the fee.
+But if you're lying about Kennard I'll make you suffer for deserting
+her."
+
+"I stand by what I have said. She was double-crossing us."
+
+Later, Crowley began to inquire casually from time to time whether Miss
+Kennard had sent in any word. He was not good at concealing his
+thoughts, and he was manifestly worried by the prospect of possible
+developments, but Mern was not able to pin him down to anything
+specific. As a matter of fact, Crowley had not fathomed the mystery of
+Miss Kennard's actions in Adonia and was not in a way to do so by any
+processes of his limited intelligence; he admitted as much to himself.
+
+He was clumsy in his efforts to extract from the chief something in
+regard to the report which supposedly had been sent in by Miss Kennard,
+and Mern's suspicions were stirred afresh. He gave Crowley no
+information on that point; one excellent reason why he did not do so
+was this: Miss Kennard had not sent in any report. Mern was still
+waiting to hear from her as to certain details; he wanted to talk with
+her. Crowley ventured to state that she had left Adonia, and he
+suggested that she was on the trail of Latisan. The operative, pressed
+for reasons why she was still pursuing Latisan, if the drive master had
+been separated from his job by Crowley, averred that, according to his
+best judgment, the girl had gone crazy. That statement did not satisfy
+Mern, but it enabled Crowley to avoid tripping too often over
+inconsistencies.
+
+Under those circumstances the uneasy feeling persisted in Chief Mern
+that the Latisan case was not finished, in spite of Craig's compliments
+and Crowley's boasts and Miss Elsham's bland agreement as to facts as
+stated, though with avoidance of details.
+
+Mern usually shut down the cover on a case as soon as the point had been
+won; he had found in too many instances that memory nagged; he had
+assured Craig that having to do what a detective chief was called on to
+do in his business had not given him the spirit of a buccaneer.
+
+But in this case the lack of candor in his operatives disturbed him,
+though he did not presume to arraign them; he could not do that
+consistently; in the interests of his peace of mind he had always
+assured his workers that they need not trouble him with details after a
+job had been done.
+
+Crowley, mystified, had said nothing about the amazing love affair. It
+occurred to him that the protestations of Miss Kennard might have been a
+part of her campaign of subtlety, interrupted by his smashing in; he
+was more than ever convinced that his was not the kind of mind that
+could deal with subtlety.
+
+Miss Elsham never mentioned Latisan's apparent infatuation; she had been
+sent north in the rôle of a charmer and did not propose to confess to
+Mern that she had failed utterly to interest the woodsman.
+
+Undoubtedly the reticence of both of them was merciful; to heap this
+crowning burden upon Chief Mern's bewilderment in regard to the actions
+of a trusted employee would have disqualified him mentally for other
+cases which were coming along.
+
+Crowley loafed diligently at the Vose-Mern offices when he was not out
+on duty; there was no knowing when he might be able to turn a trick for
+the good of the concern by being on hand, he told himself, and for one
+of his bovine nature all waiting around was easy and all stalls were
+alike.
+
+Therefore, one day he was on hand to rush a quick tip to the chief.
+Crowley turned his back on a caller who entered the main office; the
+bulletin bearer hurried into Mern's presence.
+
+"It's the big boy from the bush--Latisan!"
+
+"Ugly?"
+
+"I didn't wait to see."
+
+"You have told me straight, have you, about his being a bad actor when
+he's riled?"
+
+"That's the real dope on him, Chief. Don't let him in to see you--that's
+my advice."
+
+Mern took a little time for thought, inspecting his operative narrowly.
+
+"I ain't intending to butt in, you understand," apologized Crowley,
+reddening.
+
+"I think that's good advice, speaking from the standpoint of prudence."
+
+"There's no good in hashing the thing over with him; he's off the job
+and I claim the credit and----"
+
+"But from the standpoint of curiosity," broke in Mern, relentlessly,
+"I'll be almighty glad to have a talk with him. I'll probably get some
+facts now. Shut up! If you have come back and told me all the truth I
+wouldn't be taking a chance with this man. You're to blame! Remember
+that another time. Beat it!" He jabbed his thumb in the direction of a
+door which enabled clients to leave without going back through the main
+office.
+
+"A man named Latisan," reported the door boy.
+
+"Tell him to come in."
+
+Crowley turned the knob of the catch lock and dodged out into the
+corridor.
+
+Mern stood up to receive the caller.
+
+He was not inspired by politeness. He was putting himself in an attitude
+of defense and was depending on the brawn of a man who had been a tough
+proposition when he swung his police club on a New York beat. He even
+moved a chair which might get underfoot in a rough-and-tumble. But his
+muscles relaxed when he looked at the man who entered.
+
+Latisan was deprecatory, if his manners were revealing his feelings. He
+was apologetic in his mien before he spoke; he gave Mern the impression
+of a man whose spirit was broken and whose estimate of himself had gone
+far toward condemnation. And Mern read aright! The bitter dregs of days
+and nights of doleful meditation were in Latisan--the memory of aimless
+venturings into this or that corner where he could hide away, the
+latest memory of the stale little room in a cheap New York hotel
+persisting most vividly in his shamed thoughts because he had penned
+himself there day after day, trying to make up his mind to do this or
+that--and, especially at the nadir of what he felt was his utter
+degradation, had he dwelt on the plan of ending it all, and from time to
+time had turned on a gas jet and sniffed at the evil fumes, wondering of
+what sort would be death by that means. To think that he would descend
+to that depth of cowardice! Nevertheless, he was not especially
+surprised by this weakness, even while he hated himself for entertaining
+such a base resolve. One after the other, right and left, the blows in
+his business affairs had crashed down on him. He understood those
+attacks, and he was still able to fight on. But the enemy that had
+ambuscaded him behind the guise of the first honest love of his
+experience had killed faith and pride and every tender emotion that
+enables a man to fight the ordinary battles of life.
+
+Therefore, he ventured into the presence of Mern with down-hunched
+shoulders under the sagging folds of a ready-made coat, bought from the
+pile in an up-country village.
+
+"Well, what can I do for you, sir?" demanded Mern, relieved of
+apprehension, seeing his advantage and more coldly curt than usual in
+his dealings with men whom he could bully.
+
+"I had this address," faltered Latisan; he pulled from his pocket a
+sheet of paper which had been crumpled into a mass and then folded back
+into its original creases. "I was thinking--I've been sort of
+planning--I thought I'd come around and ask you----" It was one of the
+things, this errand, for which he had been trying to summon resolution
+while he sat in the stuffy room, glancing up at the gas jet.
+
+Mern jerked away the paper, noting that its letterhead was his own. It
+was his epistle to one "Miss Patsy Jones, Adonia," demanding from her
+information as to just what she was doing as an operative for the
+Vose-Mern agency.
+
+"It's about Miss Jones. I thought I'd step in----"
+
+"Well?" demanded Mern when Latisan paused.
+
+"That's her real name, is it? I know how detectives----"
+
+"It's her real name," stated Mern, of a mind to protect her until he was
+convinced that she did not deserve protection by him.
+
+"She works for you?"
+
+"She does."
+
+"Could I see her for a few minutes--for a few words----"
+
+"I don't think so," hedged the chief. "Just why do you want to see Miss
+Jones?"
+
+"I've been thinking matters over. I did a terrible thing when I was sort
+of out of my mind. She had something to say to me and I didn't wait to
+hear it. Perhaps I have made a mistake. Now I'd like to talk with her
+and find out about something."
+
+"Just what?" probed Mern.
+
+"I can't say right now. It's between us two, Miss Jones and myself--at
+least I thought it was. I'm going to have a talk with her before I tell
+anything to anybody else." He declared that stubbornly.
+
+"How do I know what your scheme is? You're probably holding a grudge
+against one of my operatives. I can't turn her over to you to be
+harmed."
+
+Latisan straightened. "I shall not harm her by a word or a touch."
+
+"I suppose you hold a grudge against this agency, don't you?"
+
+"The Comas company--Craig, rather--hired you to do a thing, and it has
+been done. Craig is the one with a grudge; it's against me. I trigged
+him. I reckon he has a right to get even, as he looks at it, if his
+money can buy what you have to sell."
+
+"We don't like to do some of the things that are put up to us, Latisan.
+But I may as well be out and open with you. Craig paid us a lot of money
+when we broke the strike for him. We have to consider business. That's
+why we went ahead and got you, as we did. If you had been able to turn
+around and get us, I would not have held any hard feelings. It's all in
+the game." There was no especial sympathy in Mern's tone; he was
+treating a victim with a patronizing air.
+
+"I'm afraid I'm not up to tricks enough to play that game," retorted
+Latisan. "We'll have to let it stand as it is. I'm sort of trying to
+clear up my mind about the whole matter, so as to put it behind me. I
+don't want to feel that there's any mistake about Miss Jones. That's why
+I'd like to see her once more."
+
+He was showing nervous anxiety.
+
+It came to Mern that here was offered an opportunity to go even farther
+with Latisan than the contract had demanded. Now that the man had been
+pulled off the drive, a little shrewd maneuvering would hold him in New
+York, away from the Flagg interests, until the Comas folks could have
+their way. No doubt Craig would consider that the extra service was an
+acceptable bonus, over and above what the agency had done.
+
+"I'll tell you." Mern was affable. "Miss Jones is away on another case.
+She is likely to report 'most any time. The best way for you is to drop
+in each day, say around three o'clock in the afternoon. I think she will
+be glad to explain anything you're now puzzled about. You still think,
+do you, you'd better not tell me?" The chief's curiosity, his desire to
+dig into the doings of his operatives, urged him to solicit Latisan
+again. "My advice----"
+
+"I don't want it. I don't take any stock in a man who does the kind of
+work you're up to," declared Latisan, bluntly. "I don't take much stock
+in anybody, any more. I may be a fool for wanting to see that young lady
+again--but I'll call in to-morrow."
+
+"About three!" Mern reminded him, having an object in setting that hour.
+
+Latisan nodded and went away.
+
+The chief called the Comas corporation offices and got Director Craig on
+the telephone. When Mern announced his identity, Craig evidently
+supposed that it was a matter of a dun and broke in, chuckling: "I'll
+bring the check in to-morrow. I'd have done so, anyway, for I plan to
+start north right away. What's the matter, Mern? Grabbing for the coin
+because you are afraid the job isn't going to stay put?"
+
+"That isn't the idea at all. I simply want to show you something which
+will prove that the money has been well earned. I'll show you Latisan."
+
+"I don't care to meet that gentleman right now. Oh no!"
+
+"I'll plant you where you won't be seen. You can view Exhibit A. I think
+I'll be able to promise that Latisan is going to stay here in New York.
+That ought to make you feel safer when you go back north into the
+jungle. No tiger behind a tree!"
+
+"Say, I'll hand you that check like daddy giving a stick of candy to the
+baby!" said Craig with hearty emphasis. "I'll own up that I have been
+killing time here in the city, waiting to get a line on Latisan--where
+he is. I have found that he's a lunatic when he's ugly--and there's no
+telling how far a grudge will drive a man in the big woods. So he's here
+in town?"
+
+"Yes, and I'm rigging hopples to keep him here, I tell you. Come in at
+two forty-five. See the tame tiger!"
+
+Then Mern called in Crowley, who was very ill at ease, but was
+obstinately and manifestly at bay. "Let's see. Didn't I understand you
+to say, Buck, that Miss Kennard had gone chasing Latisan?"
+
+"That's the way I figured it."
+
+"You're wrong. He's chasing her. That's why he came in here."
+
+The chief had snarled, "You're wrong," in a peculiarly offensive tone.
+Mr. Crowley, after his proclaimed success in the Latisan case, had come
+up a number of notches in self-esteem and was inclined to dispute an
+allegation that he was wrong in that matter or in anything else. He was
+provoked into disclosures by sudden resentment. "She stood out there in
+the public street and said she was in love with him and would marry him
+after the drive was down, and she grabbed up his cap and coat when he
+ran away, and if it ain't natural to suppose that she was going to chase
+him up and hand 'em over, then what?"
+
+"Look here, Crowley, what kind of a yarn is this?"
+
+"It's true."
+
+"Why didn't you tell me before?"
+
+"It didn't have anything to do with the case, as I was working it. It
+was a side issue!" Crowley raised his voice, insisting on his own
+prowess. "The idea was to get him off the job--and I did it. I
+claim----"
+
+"You infernal, damnation lunkhead, get out of my office till I calm
+down," raged the chief.
+
+He yelped at Crowley when the operative was at the door: "Go hunt up
+Elsham and bring her here. It looks to me as if Kennard was foxier than
+the dame I sent, and has turned the trick in her own way."
+
+"I ain't afraid of questions," declared the operative. "They'll only
+bring out that I'm right when I claim the credit."
+
+He hastened to shut the door behind him. Mern acted as if he were
+looking for a missile.
+
+"But where is she? Why in the blue blazes doesn't she report in?"
+muttered the chief, worriment wrinkling his forehead. On the face of
+things, it seemed that, valuable as Miss Kennard had been as
+confidential secretary, she was still more valuable as a skillful
+operative--and Chief Mern was earnestly desirous of having her back on
+the job.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
+
+
+Chief Mern's interview with his two operatives the next forenoon did not
+yield the solid facts he was after. They disputed each other. Miss
+Elsham insisted that she had had Latisan on the run and claimed that his
+apparent involvement with Miss Kennard was merely a silly and fleeting
+flirtation with one whom he supposed was a table girl in a tavern.
+
+"You gave me his character, all written out," insisted Miss Elsham.
+"He's that kind. He didn't dare to presume with me as he would with a
+girl in a dining room; but I was getting along all right till Crowley
+butted in." She turned spitefully on that monopolizer and meddler. "And
+now don't stand there and say again that you claim the credit. I'll slap
+your face!"
+
+Miss Elsham lied so strenuously that she was convincing.
+
+Crowley, trying hard to tell the truth for once, stammered and stumbled
+over the amazing details of the lovemaking between Latisan and Miss
+Kennard. The chief found the really veracious recital beyond belief.
+
+"She wouldn't offer to marry him, standing there in public," stormed
+Mern. "I know Kennard. She isn't that sort. I'll go to the bottom of
+this thing, even if it means a trip for me to that God-forsaken tank
+town. I'd give a thousand dollars to see Lida Kennard walk in through
+that door. I was never so worried about anything in all my life," he
+lamented. "Crowley, you deserted the most valuable person I have ever
+had in my office--and God knows what has happened to her." He sent them
+away.
+
+"What does it get anybody to tell the truth?" grumbled Crowley.
+
+"Nothing, when it sounds so ridiculous as the truth in this case,"
+averred Miss Elsham. "Everybody seems to go crazy up in the tall
+timbers. Give me the tall buildings for mine after this."
+
+In high good humor Rufus Craig appeared to Mern that afternoon a little
+before three o'clock. He sat down, pulled out the slide leaf of Mern's
+desk, and produced a check book. "No need my seeing Exhibit A before
+settling. Tell me the expense account. I'll include everything in one
+check."
+
+With pen poised, waiting until the figures were brought in, the Comas
+man expressed his satisfaction. "There were three on the job, so I was
+told in Adonia when I came through. That's all right, Mern. I expected
+you to use your own judgment. I didn't have much time in Adonia--grabbed
+what information I could while waiting for the train to start--but it's
+a sure bet that Latisan is off for good. From what I heard it was your
+Miss Jones who really put it over--gave Latisan what they call up there
+the Big Laugh. Now who the blazes is this Miss Jones?"
+
+"An operative of ours," the chief replied, with repression of enthusiasm
+decidedly in contrast with Craig's indorsement of her. Mern did not dare
+to be other than vague, leaving Lida Kennard's identity concealed until
+he could understand something about the inside affairs in his agency.
+The reflection that he was still in the dark--could not talk out to a
+client as a detective should--was stirring his sour indignation more and
+more.
+
+"I'd like to meet her," urged the director. "She must be a wonder. A
+great actress, I should judge, from what I was told in Adonia."
+
+"She's having her vacation just now."
+
+"Look here, Mern! I'm going to stick a couple of hundred more onto this
+check. Send it along to her and tell her to have an extra week or a new
+dress at my expense. I've made a side-line clean-up on the Tomah this
+season and money is easy with me." That was as explicit as Craig cared
+to be in regard to the deal with the Walpole heir. Still poising his
+pen, the director turned expectant gaze on the door when the knob was
+turned; a flurried, fat girl whose manner showed that she was new to the
+place had received Mern's orders about the figures; now she came
+bringing them.
+
+Craig frowned while he wrote the check after the girl had retired.
+
+He was a bit pettish when he snapped his check book shut. "Say, Mern, I
+always like to see that Kennard girl when I come into your office. I
+like her looks. I like the way she puts out her hand to a man."
+
+"I'm sorry she isn't here. But she's--she's out--sick."
+
+"Good gad! I hope it's nothing serious." Craig showed real concern.
+
+"Oh no! Just a--a rather severe cold." The chief was having hard work
+to conceal his mental state--being obliged to lie that way, like a fool,
+in order to hide the mystery in his own office!
+
+"Give me her street number. I'll send up a bunch of flowers."
+
+"She is out with some friends in the country to get clean air. I don't
+know the address."
+
+Mern perceived that more questions were coming. Craig was frankly
+revealing his interest in Miss Kennard.
+
+The chief pulled out his watch; he had a good excuse for changing an
+embarrassing subject. "Latisan is about due. Of course, you don't want
+to be seen. I'll post you in one of the side consulting rooms."
+
+"It seems rather silly, this spying," remonstrated Craig. "I'm taking
+your word about Latisan. I'm getting ready to start north, and have a
+lot of matters to look after."
+
+"Humor my notion," urged the chief. "He has been tamed down and I want
+you to see him. You'll understand why I believe I can keep him hanging
+around here till you have nailed things to the cross up-country."
+
+Craig showed no alacrity, but he allowed Mern to lead him to a small
+room that was separated from the main office by a ground-glass
+partition; there was a peephole at one corner of a panel. The director
+promised to wait there until the interview with Latisan was over. The
+chief said he would make it short.
+
+Latisan walked in exactly on the stroke of three; after he came up in
+the elevator he had waited in the corridor, humbly obedient to Mern's
+directions as to the hour.
+
+"Nothing doing in that matter to-day, Latisan," stated the chief,
+affecting to be busily engaged with papers on his desk. "Try me
+to-morrow, same time."
+
+"Very well, sir," agreed the young man, somberly. In prospect, another
+twenty-four hours filled with lagging minutes! He had grown to know the
+hideous torture of such hours in the case of a man who before-time had
+found the days too short for his needs.
+
+"By the way," said Mern, still hanging grimly to the desire to find out
+more about what the matter was with the office's internal affairs, "did
+anybody tell you that Miss Jones had returned to New York?"
+
+"I wired to Brophy a few days ago. He said she had come back here,
+according to what he knew of her movements."
+
+"You fell in love with her, didn't you?" The chief's tone was crisp with
+the vigor of third-degree abruptness.
+
+"Yes," admitted Latisan, showing no resentment; he had promulgated that
+fact widely enough in the north.
+
+"Just why did she urge you so strongly to go back to the drive?" The
+young man's meekness had drawn the overeager chief along to an
+incautious question.
+
+"You ought to know better than I, sir. I take it that she was obeying
+your orders about how to work the trick on me, though it isn't clear in
+my mind as yet; but I'm not a detective."
+
+"Did she promise to marry you as soon as the Flagg drive was down?"
+Still Mern was boldly taking advantage of the young man's docility.
+
+"That's true. I must admit it because it was said in public."
+
+Mern scratched his ear. The thing was clearing somewhat in Crowley's
+direction; the blunderer had not lied on one point at least--the point
+that Mern found most blindly puzzling. What in the mischief had happened
+to the nature of Lida Kennard, as Mern knew that nature, so he thought!
+
+"You remember Operative Crowley, do you?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+"Are you holding an especial grudge against him?"
+
+"I don't know why I should, sir. It's a dirty business he's in, but he
+gave me that letter which I turned over to you yesterday, and for some
+reason he exposed the trick that was being put upon me by the girl. If I
+can get at the bottom of the thing, for my own peace of mind, I'll be
+glad."
+
+Chief Mern sympathized with that sentiment!
+
+Then he took a little time for reflection. Perhaps a meeting between
+Latisan and Crowley might strike a few sparks to illuminate a situation
+that was very much in the dark.
+
+"If Crowley is around the office I'm going to ask him to step in here.
+The talk will be all friendly, I take it?"
+
+"I have nothing against Crowley, as matters stand."
+
+Latisan did not greet Crowley when the operative replied to the summons
+and walked into the private office; on the other hand, Latisan showed no
+animosity. He merely surveyed Crowley with an expression of mingled pity
+and wonderment, as if he were sorry for an able-bodied man who earned a
+living by the means which the operative employed.
+
+Crowley, at first, was not as serene as the man whom he had injured.
+
+"Latisan tells me that he holds no grudge," stated Mern, encouragingly.
+
+"I'm glad of that, Latisan. We have to play the game in this business.
+And I'm not laying it up against you, how you made a monkey of me in
+that dining room and nigh twisted my head off. Both of us know now who
+it was that rubbed our ears and sicked us at each other."
+
+The victim of the operations nodded, no especial emotion visible in his
+countenance.
+
+"Right here between us three I'll come out all frank and free,"
+continued Crowley. "I'm making a claim to the chief in this thing,
+Latisan, and I believe you'll back me up. She jumped in on me and
+Elsham--one day later from the agency than we were--and she wouldn't
+talk to me, and I'll admit I didn't have her play sized from the start.
+But she wasn't the one that turned the trick." Mr. Crowley was venturing
+rather far with the victim, but he was encouraged by Latisan's continued
+mildness and by a firm determination to set himself right with Mern, who
+had been doubting his efficiency.
+
+"As I have been looking at it, she was the one who did it," insisted the
+young man.
+
+"Now see here! Wake up!" Crowley was blustering as he grew bolder. "You
+were letting the girl wind you around her finger. What woke you up? What
+made you sore on the whole proposition up there? It was my tip to you!
+You can't deny it."
+
+"Yes, it might have been your tip," admitted Latisan, knotting his
+brows, staring at the floor, confused in his memories and puzzling over
+the mystery. "I had promised to bring down the logs because she asked me
+to keep on and do it."
+
+"There you have it!" indorsed Crowley, swinging his arm and flattening
+his thick palm in front of the chief. "I claim the credit."
+
+Crowley had become defiantly intrepid, facing that manner of man who was
+so manifestly cowed and muddled. The operative was back in his
+encouraging environment of the city; he remembered the thrust of those
+prongs of fingers on his head when he was obliged to dissemble and was
+shamed in the north country. He was holding his grudge. And he was
+assiduously backing up the claims he had made to his chief. "The girl
+you're talking about had nothing to do with pulling you off the job. She
+was double-crossing our agency."
+
+"Think so?" queried Latisan.
+
+"I know it. But I don't know what fool notion got into her up there. I
+have told Mr. Mern all about it. I'm the boy who woke you up!"
+
+"Do you agree, Latisan?" asked Mern, brusquely.
+
+"I'm not thinking clearly, sir. But if this man is right, I ought to
+apologize to her."
+
+"She is no longer employed by us, but we'll try to locate her." Mern was
+willing to come out in front of Crowley with that information; the
+situation did seem to have cleared up! "Hang around town. Come in
+again."
+
+Latisan dragged himself up from his chair.
+
+Then Crowley of the single-track mind--bull-headed blunderer--went on to
+his undoing. "I'm sorry it has come about that you've got to fire her,
+Chief. I know what a lot she was worth to you here, as long as she kept
+to her own job."
+
+"We'll let it rest," said Mern, warningly. He remembered that he had not
+posted Crowley on the fact that the sobriquet "Miss Patsy Jones" still
+hid the identity of the girl where Latisan was concerned.
+
+"All right! That suits me, Chief, so long as I get the credit. I'll shut
+up, saying only that I'm sorry for Miss Lida Kennard."
+
+Latisan had been moving slowly toward the door, aware that the
+conversation between the two pertained to their own affairs and that he
+was excluded.
+
+He halted and swung around when he heard the name of Lida Kennard. The
+torpor of idleness and woeful ponderings had numbed his wits. The name
+of Lida seemed to have been dragged into the affair by Crowley. Ward did
+not understand how she could be involved in the matter. He put that
+thought into a question which he stammered.
+
+Mern, knowing nothing about his secretary's lineage, resenting her
+secrecy and methods which he had not been able to penetrate, was not in
+a mood to shield her any longer. "It's the same girl, Latisan. She
+called herself Jones up your way. Her right name is Lida Kennard."
+
+Latisan blinked like one who had emerged from darkness into blazing
+light. He swayed slowly, breasting that deluge of the truth which
+suddenly swept through him.
+
+He walked to the window, turning his back on them, and gazed squarely
+into the quivering sun that was westering between lofty buildings. His
+eyes were enduring the unveiled sun with more fortitude than his soul
+endured the truth which had just been unveiled.
+
+This--this was the heart of the mystery!
+
+He was not meditating while he stood there; he was beholding!
+
+He saw in the white light the spirit of her sacrifice--a sacrifice which
+embraced even her submission to him; in his desolate denial of any
+worthy attributes in himself he was not admitting that she loved him. He
+realized what she had sought to achieve in the north country, why she
+could not declare herself. And he had allowed a trick to make a fool of
+him, make him a traitor to her, send him off, sneaking in byways, idling
+in dark corners, in the time of her most desperate need!
+
+Right then there was in him the awful conviction that he could not go
+and face her, wherever she was, so utterly a renegade had he shown
+himself.
+
+He was taking all the blame on himself. He had run away from a laugh--a
+fool obsessed by a silly notion of the north country--in this new light
+it seemed silly. He had not waited like a man to hear the truth from
+her! He had betrayed all the cause; he could not go back to the drive.
+
+He had listened to a lying sneak from a detective agency and had
+rebuffed, insulted, abused horribly Lida Kennard! Lida Kennard! The name
+seemed to be hammering at his eardrums. The granddaughter of Echford
+Flagg! A lone girl trying to save a cause! In her anguished desperation
+she had been willing to give herself in the way of sacrifice even to
+such a recreant as Ward Latisan must have appeared in his boyish and
+selfish resentment! Oh, the sun was cool in comparison with the fires
+which raged in him.
+
+The fatuous Crowley moved toward the window. "Well, what say, old boy?"
+
+When the young man turned slowly the operative stuck out his hand. "I'm
+agreeing with you--no grudges! Let's shake!"
+
+"Yes, you did it," said Latisan. He did not raise his voice. He was
+talking as much to himself as to Crowley. "A tip to me, you called it."
+
+"We have to do those things to get quick results," Crowley agreed,
+patronizingly. "Give us your hand, boy!"
+
+Crowley got what he asked for. He was not prepared for the amazing
+suddenness of the open-handed blow that fell on the side of his head and
+sent him staggering into a corner.
+
+Mern grabbed up the telephone. Latisan leaped and tore the instrument
+from the chief's grasp, ripped it loose from its fastenings, and hurled
+it through the ground-glass door.
+
+Mern was a big man; he had been invincible as a police officer. But when
+he leaped and struck at Latisan, the latter countered with his
+toil-hardened fist and knocked Mern down. Crowley had also served with
+the police. But he was no match for the berserker rage which had
+transformed the man from the woods. Latisan whirled again to Crowley,
+beat him to his knees, set his foot against the antagonist's breast and
+drove him violently backward, and he fell across Mern.
+
+But Latisan was not through. Men who had viewed John Latisan in the old
+days when he came roaring down to town, had they been present in the
+Vose-Mern offices that day, would have recognized in the grandson the
+Latisan temperament operating in its old form and would not have been
+surprised. The avenger picked up Mern's desk chair. He swung it about
+him, smashing everything in the room which could be smashed. He flung
+away the fragments of the chair and rushed into the outer office.
+
+The fat girl was calling for central, for police.
+
+"Hand it over!" he commanded. "And you'd all better step outside," he
+suggested, after he had torn loose the wires. "I'm using the office
+right now."
+
+He picked up the chair from which she fled. It was heavy and he used it
+to smash other furniture. Then he began to beat out the glass which shut
+off the other private rooms which adjoined the main office. In that
+process he brought the terrified Craig into view. He dropped the chair,
+reached in, and dragged Craig over the sill of the compartment. "This
+has been coming to you on the Noda waters! I'm glad you're here now to
+get it!" He held the Three C's director helpless in utter dismay, at the
+full length of a left arm, and pummeled him senseless with a right fist.
+Then he dragged him to the door of the chief's office and flung him
+across the two men who were stirring.
+
+"It's a fifty-fifty wreck--this office and me--pretty nigh total!"
+
+He walked out. Youth, strength, and an incentive which did not animate
+the others, had enabled him to prevail.
+
+Mern and Crowley struggled weakly from under the man who was pinning
+them down.
+
+"I'll get word to the cops," stuttered Crowley, holding his hand to his
+battered and bleeding lips.
+
+"Wait till Craig comes to!" protested Mern. "He may want us to hush the
+thing. He has been hollering for soft pedal all the time. He seems bad!
+Get a doctor!"
+
+The physician who came confirmed Mern's opinion as to the condition of
+the field director; Craig himself was querulously emphatic on the point
+when he had been brought to consciousness. But he insisted on postponing
+consideration of the proper action to take in Latisan's case until he
+had time to forget his aches and compose his thoughts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
+
+
+Early the next morning glaziers, carpenters, and telephone repair men
+monopolized the Vose-Mern offices to the exclusion of regular business.
+The chief had told his office force to stay away for the day.
+
+He had found one chair that was whole, and he sat and watched the "after
+the storm" effect gradually disappear.
+
+Mern's thoughts were as much in disorder as the interior he was
+surveying.
+
+Instead of feeling lively enmity in the case of Latisan, he was
+admitting to himself that he rather admired the young wildcat from the
+woods. At any rate, Latisan had accepted at face value Mern's repeated
+dictum that if the other fellow could get Mern while Mern was set on
+getting the fellow, there would be no grudges. Latisan's come-back, the
+chief reflected, was crude work, but it was characteristically after the
+style of the men of the open; and the wreck of an office was less
+disastrous than the wreck of a man's prospects and his very soul. Mern
+was not a bit of a sentimentalist, but he could see the situation
+vaguely from Latisan's standpoint. And he realized that there was still
+something behind it all which he had not come at.
+
+He was roused from his ponderings by the crunching of feet on broken
+glass, and looked up and beheld Latisan. Halted just inside the door of
+the main office was a policeman in uniform. And the officer, well known
+by Mern, caught the chief's eye and winked.
+
+Mern jumped to his feet; he was much astonished and glanced to see
+whether Latisan's fists were doubled.
+
+"Good morning, sir!" said the caller, politely. "I have come around
+early to let you know that I'm not the kind of a man who does a thing
+and runs away from the responsibility of it."
+
+With prolonged scrutiny--stares which crossed like fencing blades--the
+two principals mutely questioned each other. Latisan displayed the most
+composure. He had not the same reason as had Mern to be surprised; it
+was immediately made plain that Latisan had devoted some thought to
+preparations for the interview. He stepped closer. Even though his smile
+seemed to be meant as an assurance of amity, Mern flinched; he
+remembered that the woodsman had begun the battle the day before after a
+remark in a most placid tone.
+
+Latisan tipped his head to indicate the waiting policeman. "I brought
+him along. I asked him to come up from the street. He doesn't know what
+for."
+
+"Nor I, either!" blurted Mern.
+
+"I thought you might want me arrested on sight, and I remember what I
+did to your telephones, and I figured I'd save you the trouble of
+sending out."
+
+There was no mistaking the drive master's new mood. He was polite; he
+was contrite. The picturesque touch furnished by supplying a policeman
+suggested the Vose-Mern "anticipatory system" and appealed to the
+chief's grim sense of humor. Also, Mern was moved by that consciousness
+which warms real men, when it's a mutual acknowledgment, "He's a good
+sport."
+
+Mern waved his hand to the policeman, putting into that gesture a
+meaning which the officer understood; the officer started for the outer
+door.
+
+"Just a second!" called Latisan. He pulled out a roll of money and gave
+the policeman a bill. "You can use that to pay your fare down in the
+elevator."
+
+Latisan held the roll in sight until he and Mern were alone. "While the
+cash is out, I may as well inquire what the bill is."
+
+"For what?"
+
+"For this." The woodsman swung the hand which held the money, making a
+wide sweep to take in all the wreck.
+
+"No bill, Latisan! You can't pay a cent. I think we'll call it natural
+wear and tear in the course of business."
+
+The chief was sitting in the chair which had escaped damage. He insisted
+on the caller taking that chair; Mern sat on a carpenter's sawhorse.
+
+"Perhaps I had you going yesterday, Chief Mern, but to-day it's you who
+have got me going!" admitted Latisan, frankly mystified by this
+forbearance.
+
+"I'm only backing up the talk I have always made about giving the other
+fellow his innings if he wants to take 'em and has the grit to put it
+over. Look here, Latisan, two men are never really well acquainted till
+they've had a good run-in with their fists. You and I have been standing
+each other off on facts. Let's get down to cases. How did it happen that
+you fell for Lida Kennard so suddenly?"
+
+Ward flushed. It was a sacred subject, but he resolved to be frank with
+Mern, searching for the truth. "It was not sudden. I met her here in the
+city by accident months ago--and I must have fallen in love with her
+then. I've been admitting that I did, though I did not know her real
+name till yesterday. And I did not know she was a detective, set on my
+trail. And even now----"
+
+"You don't believe it, eh? Let me say it to you, Latisan--and get me
+right! You're a square chap and I can afford to be square, now that the
+job is done and paid for. The girl never was an operative. She was my
+confidential secretary, and the best one I ever had. Working hard here
+to pay up the debts she had incurred on account of her mother. As clean
+as a whistle, Latisan! She never told me she was going north. That
+letter you brought is one I wrote after Crowley reported that she was
+there--and I wanted to know why she was there."
+
+"I can tell you why. She is Echford Flagg's granddaughter."
+
+Mern leaped up and kicked the carpenter's bench away from him. Latisan
+rose, too, as if prepared to resent any detracting speech.
+
+"Don't trouble yourself," snapped Mern. "I'm not saying a word against
+her for what she was doing up there. I trained her myself in what she
+called the ethics of this business, and she had been practicing what I
+have preached. It's all right, Latisan."
+
+"The thing cleared itself up pretty quickly for me yesterday when I
+found out her name. But now that I know who she is I'm in hell. I ran
+away! I have left that drive----"
+
+"Aw, to blazes with your drive!" yelped Mern, with scorn. "Only logs!
+But what I want to know is this, does the girl love you?"
+
+"She told me so, but how can she have any affection for such a man as I
+have shown myself to be? I think she was sacrificing herself because she
+believed I was the one who could bring down the Flagg drive."
+
+Mern surveyed him cynically. "Say, Latisan, I hope you're not the kind
+who would bite a gold coin stolen from a dead man's eye. You woods
+fellows have too much time for joint debates with your own selves. Go
+find that girl and square yourself. I want her to have what she wants,
+if she is in love with you. That's the kind of a friend I am to her. I
+can't tell you where she is. I haven't heard from her since she walked
+out of this office. But let me say something to you! My kind of work has
+wised me up to what folks are likely to do! I'll bet a thousand dollars
+the girl hasn't run very far away from the north country, even if you
+did think it was too hot to hold you."
+
+Latisan shook his head slowly. Confidence was still chilled in him; the
+memory of what had happened was a forbidding barrier; in her case, at
+the thought of thrusting himself back into her presence, he was as
+timid to an extreme as he had been fearless in his dealings with men in
+the Vose-Mern offices.
+
+While he was wrestling with his thoughts, delivery men were wrestling
+with furniture, bringing it in through the door from the corridor,
+blocking the passage.
+
+Mern snapped his attention from Latisan, then he pushed the latter out
+of the range of vision from the corridor door.
+
+Craig was out in the corridor, cursing the furniture and the men who
+were obstructing the doorway. Craig was in a hurry and in a state of
+mind; his language revealed his feelings.
+
+"It won't do--it won't do!" insisted Mern when Latisan protested at
+being shoved behind the partition. "He mustn't see you. Hear him rave!
+I'm not staging another fight to-day. Stay in there! Crouch down! Keep
+out of sight."
+
+When Craig won his way past the blocking furniture he stormed to Mern,
+stamping across the glass-strewn floor, shaking his fists and jabbering.
+
+He was in a horrible state of rage. His face was so apoplectically
+purple that the bruises on his patched-up countenance were subdued
+somewhat by lack of contrast.
+
+"Look at me! Called down to the home office just now, looking like this.
+Lying like blazes about an automobile accident! That's what your
+invitation to view the tame tiger has done for me. But that isn't what
+I'm here for, you damnation, four-flushing double-crosser." He continued
+to berate the chief.
+
+"Say, you hold on there!" barked Mern, managing a few oaths of his own
+after struggling out of the amazement stirred by this ferocious attack.
+"If you're here to do business or to complain about the business that
+has been done, you'll have to be decent, or I'll run you out." Mern
+jutted his jaw and took two steps in Craig's direction--and Craig had
+suffered violence too recently to persist in inviting more.
+
+But he was still as acrimonious as he dared to be. Behind his rage there
+was the bitterness of a man who had been tricked out of money--betrayed
+shamefully--but Craig was so precipitate, breathless, violent, so
+provokingly vague with his tumbling words and his broken sentences, that
+Mern ceased to be angry in return and was merely bewildered.
+
+The Comas field director shook under Mern's nose a sheet of paper. He
+kept referring to the writing on the paper and vouchsafed information
+that the writing was made up of notes of a long-distance conversation
+between the woods and the New York offices of the Comas company.
+
+After a time Mern suggested with acerbity that Craig was incoherent.
+
+"I don't doubt it. I feel that way," yelped Craig. "But this message has
+come over three or four hundred miles of wire--relayed, at that, and I
+think the man who started the word from a fire-outpost station wasn't
+entirely right in his head. There's no other way of accounting for the
+statement that Ward Latisan's cap and Eck Flagg's cant dog are bossing
+the Flagg drive."
+
+"Don't get wrought up by crazy guff!"
+
+"But here are some statements that I _am_ wrought up over," declared
+the director, brandishing the paper. "I've got to believe 'em. They
+sound straight. Three of our new hold dams in streams that feed the Noda
+have been blown. The water has been used to sweep the Flagg logs in
+ahead of ours. The lip of the Tougas Lake has been blown, too, and if we
+lose that water it's apt to leave us high and dry; our Tougas operation
+is a long way in from the main river. They've shot blue blazes out of
+Carron Gorge and have taken the water along with 'em. Merry hell is to
+pay all up and down that river, Mern."
+
+The agency chief did not relish Craig's bellicose manner, nor the glare
+in his one eye that showed, nor the imputation of vindictive rebuke in
+his rasping tones.
+
+"Craig, I never saw a log in a river. I know nothing about your drives.
+Why are you pitching into me?"
+
+"Why? Why? Because this message says that the girl you sent north--the
+girl who was paid by our money--this report says that she has gone up
+there and has put the very devil into Flagg's men; is making 'em do
+things that the worst pirates on the river never dared to do before.
+What kind of a she wildcat did you hand me, anyway? Mern, a thousand
+tons of liquid fire poured into the valley of the Noda couldn't hurt us
+like that girl is hurting us. Who is she? What is she? Get your word to
+her! Call her off!"
+
+That was no time for equivocation. Craig's frenzy demanded candor and
+threatened reprisal if the truth were not forthcoming. Mern told part
+of the truth.
+
+"She has called her own self off, Craig, so far as this agency is
+concerned. I have no further control over her actions."
+
+Chief Mern was not conscious of any especial surprise after Craig had
+reported that section of his news which could be understood. The
+granddaughter of Flagg could not be expected to do other than she was
+doing. In his honest regard for the helper who had served him so long
+and efficiently, the chief was wondering whether he ought to reveal her
+identity to the Comas man, trying to estimate the danger of such a
+revelation. Craig was not stating that his news hinted who she was.
+
+As to the details of the drive, he was more explicit. He raged on while
+Mern pondered. "The Flagg drive is a week ahead of time. It must be near
+Skulltree dam. I ought to have been up there and I don't understand why
+the infernal fools have been so slow in getting word to me."
+
+He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
+
+"Look here, Mern, I never ought to do another stroke of business with
+you, but I'm in too much of a hurry to go anywhere else."
+
+The business instincts of the head of the agency were stirred; the Comas
+money had been good picking in the past. "I don't think I should be held
+responsible for an operative who has severed connections. Craig, you
+have probably made your own mistakes in depending on helpers."
+
+"Don't you make any mistake this time, Mern! I want a dozen or fifteen
+men--gunmen. Can you furnish 'em?"
+
+"Sure thing! Within an hour."
+
+"I have promised results to my folks this season. I've got to deliver.
+My job depends on it, after all the talk I've made at headquarters."
+
+"Will your headquarters back up my operatives?"
+
+"I'll do that! I'm playing this game on my own hook. There'll be no
+fight. The bluff will be enough, if I have the men. And if I have
+to--well, there's a fight between lumberjacks every season on that
+river, and there's a big wall of woods between Skulltree dam and New
+York, Mern! I'll take my chances up behind that wall. Get the men for
+me."
+
+"When are you leaving?"
+
+"One o'clock this afternoon--Grand Central."
+
+"I'll deliver the men to you there."
+
+Craig stamped away across the glass-littered floor and disappeared.
+
+"Well," averred the chief when Latisan came out from behind the
+partition, "it looks as if somebody had been attending to your job for
+you, son! Also looks as if there might be considerable more doing right
+away!"
+
+"So that's more of your devilish business, is it, sending gunmen to
+fight honest workers?" demanded the drive master, with venom.
+
+"Business is still business with me in spite of the looks of this
+office," returned Mern, unruffled. "Latisan, you can't beef about not
+getting a square deal--and I've put you in the way of getting a tip. It
+looks to me----"
+
+"Just the same as it looks to me!" cried the young man. "We're fully
+agreed as to all the looks! Good day!"
+
+He stood very straight and shot Mern through with a stare from hard gray
+eyes. There was no longer any of the faltering uncertainty that he had
+displayed. Grim determination radiated from him.
+
+"Good day to you, also!" Mern called after Latisan when he strode toward
+the door, then adding suggestively. "If any mail happens to come here
+for you, I'm to forward it along to that Skulltree dam, so I take it!"
+
+The irony did not provoke any retort from the drive master. He went away
+with a rush, but his demeanor showed that he was not running away from
+anything or anybody. He was hastening toward something.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
+
+
+Latisan was on that one o'clock train when it left Grand Central
+station.
+
+From the gallery of the concourse he had seen Craig march to the gate
+and give a packet into the hands of one of a group of men waiting there.
+Then Craig had gone on quickly with the air of a cautious performer who
+did not care to be identified with the persons for whom he had provided
+transportation.
+
+The drive master rode in a coach and felt safe from detection; he
+guessed that Craig would hide his battered face in the privacy of a
+drawing room. Latisan had trailed the operatives and saw them enter the
+smoking car.
+
+In the late afternoon, at a stage in the journey, he crossed a city on
+the heels of the party and again was an unobtrusive passenger in a
+coach, avoiding the sleeping cars. He slept a bit, as best he could, but
+mostly he pondered, fiercely awake, bitterly resolute. He fought away
+his memory of the betrayal of a trust; he indulged in no fond hopes in
+regard to one whom he now knew as Lida Kennard. He was concentrating on
+his determination to go back to the drive, not as master, but as a
+volunteer who would carry his cant dog with the rest of them, as humble
+as the plainest toiler. He did not try at that time to plan a course of
+action to be followed after he was back on the Flagg drive. He was
+going, that was all!
+
+It was a hideous threat, the menace that Craig was conveying into the
+north country in the persons of those gunmen from the city! There had
+been plenty of fights over rights on the river, but they had always been
+clean fights, where muscles and fists counted for the victory.
+
+Craig had claimed that the bluff of the guns would be sufficient.
+Latisan was not agreeing, and on that account he was finding the outlook
+a dark one.
+
+The train on which he was riding was an express headed for Canada, and
+was due to pass the junction with the Adonia narrow-gauge at about two
+o'clock in the morning. There was no scheduled stop at the junction; the
+afternoon train connected and served the passengers from downcountry.
+
+Latisan had bought a ticket to the nearest regular stopping place of the
+express. He began to wonder whether Craig, with the influence of the
+Comas to aid him and his fifteen fellow passengers in an argument, had
+been able to secure special favors.
+
+To the conductor, plucking out the hat check before the regular stop the
+hither side of the junction, he said, "By any chance, does this train
+ever stop at the Adonia narrow-gauge station?"
+
+"It happens that it stops to-night by special orders."
+
+Latisan paid a cash fare and rode on.
+
+The coach in which he sat was the last car on the train; the smoker and
+sleeping cars were ahead.
+
+When the train made its unscheduled stop, Latisan stepped down and was
+immediately hidden in the darkness. He saw Craig and his crew on the
+station platform; the headlight of a narrow-gauge locomotive threw a
+radiance which revealed them. Therefore, it was plain, Craig had wired
+for a special on the Adonia line.
+
+Only one car was attached to the narrow-gauge engine; Latisan went as
+close as he dared. There was no room for concealment on that miniature
+train. It puffed away promptly, its big neighbor on the standard-gauge
+roared off into the night, and Latisan was left alone in the blackness
+before the dawn. And he felt peculiarly and helplessly alone! In spite
+of his best efforts to keep up his courage, the single-handed crusader
+was depressed by Craig's command of resources; there was a sort of
+insolent swagger in the Comas man's ability to have what he wanted.
+
+Latisan knew fairly well the lay of the land at the junction, but he was
+obliged to light matches, one after the other, in order to find the lane
+which led to the stables of the mill company whose men had been drafted
+by him on one occasion to load his dynamite. The night was stiflingly
+black, there were no stars and not a light glimmered anywhere in the
+settlement.
+
+He stumbled over the rough ground that had been rutted by the wheels of
+the jigger wagons. The muffled thud of the hoofs of dozing horses guided
+him in his search for the stables, and he found the door of the
+hostlers' quarters and pounded.
+
+"You'll have to go see the super; I don't dare to let a hoss out of here
+without orders," said the man who listened to his request.
+
+"Tell me where his house is, and lend me a lantern."
+
+The hostler yawned and mumbled and complained because he had been
+disturbed, but he fumbled for the lantern, lighted it, and gave it to
+Latisan, along with directions how to find the super's home.
+
+That minor magnate was hard to wake, but he appeared at an open upper
+window after a time and listened.
+
+"We can't spare a horse in mud time, with the hauling as heavy as it is.
+Who are you, anyway?"
+
+"I'm Ward Latisan."
+
+"Hold that lantern up side of your face and let me see!"
+
+The young man obeyed meekly.
+
+"Excuse me for doubting your word of mouth," said the super, after he
+had assured himself, "but we hardly expected to see you back in this
+region." It was drawled with dry sarcasm.
+
+"I haven't the time to argue on that, sir. I have business north of
+here. I'll hire a horse or I'll buy a horse."
+
+"And you heard what I said, that I can't spare one. By the way, Latisan,
+you may as well understand that I won't do business with you, anyway.
+You got me in wrong with my folks and with the Three C's, too, when you
+bribed my men to load that dynamite."
+
+"I can't see why the Comas company----"
+
+"I can. My folks can. If we get saw logs this year we've got to buy 'em
+through Rufus Craig. When you ran away and let Ech Flagg get dished----"
+
+"His drive is coming through," insisted Latisan, desperately, breaking
+in on speech in his turn.
+
+"Where are you from, right now?" inquired the super.
+
+"New York."
+
+"And a devil of a lot you must have found out about the prospect of logs
+from the independents, Flagg or anybody else. Don't come up here and try
+to tell me my business; I've been here all the time. Good night!" He
+banged down the window.
+
+And once more Ward was alone in the night, distracted and desolate. This
+testing of the estimation in which he was held in the north country
+after the debacle in Adonia made his despondency as black as the
+darkness which surrounded him.
+
+He wanted to call to the super and ask if at least he could buy the
+lantern. He decided it would be better to borrow it.
+
+He set away afoot by the road which led to Adonia. Farms were scattered
+along the highway and he stopped at the first house and banged on the
+door and entreated. At two houses he was turned away relentlessly. The
+third farmer was a wrinkled old chap who came down to the door, thumbing
+his suspenders over his shoulders.
+
+"Ward Latisan, be ye?" He peered at the countenance lighted by the
+lantern. "Yes, I can see enough of old John in ye to prove what ye
+claim. I worked for old John when I was young and spry. And one time he
+speared his pick pole into the back of my coat and saved me from being
+carried down in the white water. And that's why ye can have a hoss to go
+where ye want to go, and ye can bring him back when you're done with
+him."
+
+Therefore, not by any merit of his own, Ward secured a mount and
+journeyed dismally toward the north. The farm horse was fat and stolid
+and plodded with slow pace; for saddle there was a folded blanket. With
+only the lantern to light the way, he did not dare to hurry the beast.
+It was not until wan, depressing light filtered from the east through
+the mists that he ventured to make a detour which would take him outside
+of Adonia. He realized that Craig would have arranged for tote teams to
+be waiting at Adonia, as he had had a special waiting at the junction,
+and was by that time far on his way toward Skulltree dam.
+
+Latisan beat the flanks of the old horse with the extinguished lantern
+and made what speed he could along the blazed trail that would take him
+to the tote road of the Noda basin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
+
+
+The flare of the Flagg camp fires painted the mists luridly; the vapor
+rolled sluggishly through the tree tops and faded into the blackness of
+the night.
+
+Lida was seated apart from the men of the crew, knowing that they
+mercifully wished to spare her from hearing the plans for the morrow.
+
+The logs were down the deadwater to a point where the supremacy at
+Skulltree dam must be settled.
+
+She could hear the mumble of the voices of those who were in conference
+around the fires.
+
+Across a patch of radiance she beheld the swaggering promenade of one of
+the young cookees; he brandished a hatchet truculently. Old Vittum
+reached out and swept the weapon from the youngster's grasp.
+
+Lida heard Vittum's rebuke, for it was voiced sharply. "None o' that! We
+don't fight that way. And I'm believing that there are still enough
+honest rivermen in the Comas crowd to make it a square fight, like we've
+always had on the Noda when a fight had to be!"
+
+Unreconciled, all her woman's nature protesting, she had come to a
+settled realization that the fight must happen; Vittum was putting it in
+words. Now that the struggle was imminent--on the eve of it--she wanted
+to go down on her knees and beg them to give up the project; but she
+did not dare to weaken their determination or wound their pride. She
+crouched on her cot of spruce boughs in anguished misery.
+
+"Nobody has got to the point of using hatchets and guns on this river,"
+corroborated a man on the other side of the fire from Vittum.
+
+Other men pitched their voices higher then, giving up the cautious
+monotone of the preceding conference.
+
+"Is any man afeard?" asked Vittum.
+
+They assured him with confidence and gay courage that no man was afraid.
+
+"I didn't hear any of you Injuns pipe up," said Vittum. "You ain't very
+strong on talk, anyway. But I'd kind of like to know how you feel in
+this matter. We all understood--all of us regulars--that we was coming
+up here to fight when it got to that point. You have grabbed in later
+and perhaps didn't understand it. We ain't asking you to do anything you
+don't want to do."
+
+The Indians were silent. Even Felix Lapierre said nothing when Vittum
+questioned him with a glance. The French Canadian turned to Frank Orono,
+squatting within arm's reach, and patted him on the shoulder. It became
+plain that there was an understanding which did not require words.
+
+Orono rose slowly; he grinned. From the breast of his leather jacket he
+brought forth a cow's horn and shook it over his head, and its contents
+rattled sharply. The other Indians leaped up. They were grinning, too.
+
+Orono began a slow march around the camp fire, lifting his knees high,
+stepping slowly, beating the rattling horn into the palm of his hand.
+Behind him in single file, imitating his step, marched the other
+Indians. The smiles faded out of their countenances; their jaws were
+set, and deep in their throats they growled a weird singsong.
+
+"My Gawd!" yelped Vittum. "It's the old Tarratine war dance and it just
+fits my notions right now, and I'm in on it!"
+
+He scrambled to his feet and fell into line at the rear of the Indians.
+Every man in the Flagg crew followed suit. They imitated the Indian
+singsong as best they were able, their voices constantly giving forth
+greater volume until they were yelling their defiance to the Three C's
+company and all its works.
+
+The men far out on the deadwater, pushing against the bars of the
+capstan, heard the tumult on the shore and shouted the chorus of their
+challenging chantey.
+
+Between Lida and the men who were circling the fire there was a veil of
+mist, and in the halation her champions loomed with heroic stature. She
+did not want them to suppose that she was indifferent; courage of her
+own leaped in her. The campaign which she had waged with them had given
+her an experience which had fortified the spirit of the Flaggs. She
+stepped forth from her little tent and walked down and stood in the edge
+of the light cast by the camp fire. They cheered her, and she put aside
+her qualms and her fears as best she was able.
+
+When she was back in her tent she did not shield her ears from the
+challenging chantey, as she had done before, and she heard with
+fortitude the vociferous pledges of faith in the morrow.
+
+The dawn came so sullenly and so slowly that the day seemed merely a
+faded copy of the night.
+
+A heavy fog draped the mountains and was packed in stifling masses in
+the river valley.
+
+Crews in shifts marched tirelessly around the capstans of the headworks.
+Their voices out in the white opaqueness sounded strangely under the
+sounding-board of the fog.
+
+It was a brooding, ominous, baleful sort of a day, when shapes were
+distorted in the mists and all sounds were magnified in queer fashion
+and the echoes played pranks with distances and locations and
+directions.
+
+Out of the murky blank came one who had gone a-scouting. He touched his
+cap to the girl and reported to her and to all who were in hearing.
+
+"The Three C's chief pirate has got along. Craig is down at the dam. I
+was able to crawl up mighty close in the fog. I heard him. He's ugly!"
+
+"I reckoned he would be a mite peevish as soon as the news of the social
+happenings along the river for the past few days got to him," said
+Vittum. "It's no surprise to me--been expecting him!"
+
+"He's got a special edge on his temper--has been all bunged up by an
+auto accident, so I heard him giving out to the men he was talking to."
+
+"And what's he saying of particular interest to us?"
+
+"Says he's going to stick right at Skulltree and kill us off singly and
+in bunches, just as we happen to come along."
+
+"News is news, and it's good or bad according to the way you look at
+it," declared the old man. "Does that fresh news scare anybody?"
+
+There was a vigorous chorus of denial; when one man averred that the
+statement only made the fight more worth while he was indorsed with
+great heartiness.
+
+"All right!" agreed Vittum. "We'll consider that point settled." He drew
+a long breath; he inquired with anxious solicitude; "Did you overhear
+him saying anything about Latisan? He might have heard something, coming
+in fresh from outside."
+
+The scout gave the girl a glance of apology; he was a tactless
+individual in shading facts. "Of course, all that Three C's bunch is
+liars, and Craig worst of all. But I did hear him say that Latisan is
+loafing in New York and is prob'ly in jail by this time."
+
+The girl rose and walked away, and the fog shut her from their sight
+immediately. She heard the old man cursing the incautious scout. "Why
+the blazes didn't you smooth it? You've gone to work and hurt her
+feelings. She made her mistake, and she admits it. We all make our
+mistakes," said the rebuker. "But she's true blue! I ain't laying up
+anything against Latisan because he doesn't show up. It's because the
+girl is here that we are making men of ourselves right now. She's
+deserving of all we can give her. By gad! say I, she's going to make
+good with our help."
+
+She was a considerable distance down the river path, but she heard that
+speech and the shout of the men indorsing the declaration.
+
+Lida hastened as rapidly as she was able along the path that led to
+Skulltree; she had reconnoitered on the previous day--going as near the
+dam as she dared, trying to make the lay of the land suggest some method
+by which battle might be avoided.
+
+While she ran down the path that morning she was arriving at some
+definite conclusions. The news about Director Craig had put desperate
+courage into her. The upper and the nether millstones of men and events
+in the north country had begun their grim revolutions; she resolved to
+cast herself between those stones in an effort to save faithful men who
+were innocent of fault.
+
+When the dull rumble of the sluiceway waters informed her that she was
+near the camp of the enemy she went more cautiously, and when she heard
+the voices of men she called, announcing that she desired to speak with
+Director Craig.
+
+Somebody replied, after a pause which indicated that considerable
+amazement had been roused by a woman's voice.
+
+"Come along, whoever you are! Mr. Craig is on the dam."
+
+A man who kept jerking his head around to stare frankly at her led her
+along the string piece of the great structure.
+
+Their meeting--she and the Comas director--was like a rencontre in the
+void of space; on the water side of the dam the mists matched the hue of
+the glassy surface and the blending masked the water; on the other side,
+the fog filled the deep gorge where the torrent of the sluiceway
+thundered.
+
+She was obliged to go close to him in order to emerge from the vapor
+into his range of vision and to make her voice heard above the roar of
+the water. His one visible eye surveyed her with blank astonishment;
+near as she was to him, he did not recognize her at first in her rough
+garb of the woods.
+
+"Mr. Craig, I _was_"--she stressed the verb significantly--"an employee
+in the Vose-Mern agency in New York. I met you in their office."
+
+He clasped his hands behind him as if he feared to have them free in
+front of him; her proximity seemed to invite those hands, but his
+countenance revealed that he was not in a mood then to give caresses.
+"Was, eh? May I ask what you are right now?"
+
+"I'm doing my best to help in getting the Flagg drive down the
+river--without trouble!"
+
+"Trouble!" He was echoing her again; it was as if, in his waxing ire, he
+did not dare to launch into a topic of his own. "What do you call it,
+what has been happening upriver?"
+
+"I presume you mean that dams have been blown to get water for our
+logs."
+
+"Our dams!" he shouted.
+
+"I'm a stranger up here. I don't know whose dams they were. I have heard
+all kinds of stories about the rights in the dams, sir."
+
+"I can't say to you what I think--and what I want to say! You're a girl,
+confound it! I'll only make a fool of myself, talking to you about our
+rights and our property. But I can say to you, about your own work, that
+you have been paid by our money to do a certain thing."
+
+She opened her eyes on him in offended inquiry.
+
+"I take it that you're the same one who called herself Miss Patsy Jones
+when you operated at Adonia."
+
+"I did use that name--for personal reasons."
+
+He did not moderate his wrath. "Here I find that Patsy Jones is Miss
+Kennard of the Vose-Mern agency. We have paid good money to the agency.
+When I settled for the last job I added two hundred dollars as a present
+to you."
+
+"I have not received the gift, sir. It does not belong to me. I'm here
+on my own account. I came north at my own expense without notifying
+Chief Mern that I was done with the agency; and strictly personal
+reasons, also, influenced me on that point." She was trying hard to keep
+her poise, not loosing her emotions, preserving her dignity with a man
+of affairs and phrasing her replies with rather stilted diction. "I have
+my good reasons for doing all I can in my poor power to help the Flagg
+drive go through."
+
+The fact that her name was Kennard meant nothing to Rufus Craig, a New
+Yorker who had never bothered himself with the ancient tales of the Noda
+country. He did not understand what interest she could have in opposing
+the Comas company; he could see only the ordinary and sordid side of the
+affair. He looked her up and down and curled his lip.
+
+"You have been a traitor!"
+
+"Not to the right, sir, when I found out what the right was."
+
+"I think you'll have a chance to say something about that in court, in
+your defense! You have put the devil into those men and I'm giving you
+warning."
+
+"I shall tell the truth in court, Mr. Craig. You may or you may not
+find that promise a warning of my own to you and your corporation
+methods."
+
+He blinked and looked away from her. "I'm busy! What are you doing here
+on this dam? What do you want of me? Is it more detective work?" he
+sneered. "Are you getting ready to double-cross the new gang you're
+hitched up with. For what reason you went over to 'em God only knows!"
+
+"He does know!" she returned, earnestly. She stepped closer to him. "I
+came down here to plead that you'll let the Flagg logs go through this
+dam."
+
+"I will not." His anger had driven him to the extreme of obstinacy.
+
+"Mr. Craig, that stand means a wicked fight between men who are not paid
+to fight."
+
+"You've had a lot of influence in making men blow our dams. Use that
+influence in keeping 'em away from this one, and there'll be no fight."
+He turned away, but she hastened forward and put herself in front of
+him.
+
+"I cannot do it, sir! That will be asking our men to give up all they
+have been struggling for. I don't know what the law is--or what the law
+will say. Please listen to me! Keep the men from fighting--this season!
+Then allow the law to put matters right up here. The Flagg logs have
+gone down the river every year before this one. The good Lord has
+furnished the water for all. Mr. Craig, out of the depths of my heart I
+entreat you." She had tried hard to keep womanly weakness away. She
+wanted to conduct the affair on the plane of business good sense; but
+anxiety was overwhelming her; she broke down and sobbed frankly.
+
+What appeared to be recourse to woman's usual weapons served to make him
+more furious. "The matter is before the courts. There's a principle
+involved. This dam stays as it is. That's final!"
+
+"I'm pleading for a helpless old man who cannot come here to talk for
+his own rights."
+
+"Look here, my girl, you're merely a smart trickster from the city--a
+turncoat who can't give one good excuse for being a traitor to your
+employers."
+
+"I can give an excuse!"
+
+"I've had enough of this," he retorted, brutally, pricked by the
+reflection that his corporation would disown him and his methods if he
+failed to make good. "Can't you see that you're driving me insane with
+your girl's folly? You're lucky because I haven't brought officers up
+here and ordered your arrest for conspiracy. You belong in jail along
+with that fool of a Latisan." His rage broke down all reserve. "Do you
+see what he did to me in New York?" He pointed to his bandaged face.
+"I'll admit that he did have some sort of an excuse. You have none."
+
+"I have this," she said. "Mr. Craig! I am Echford Flagg's
+granddaughter."
+
+The shell of his skepticism was too thick!
+
+"Do you think I am a complete fool? Flagg has no kin whatever!"
+
+"How long have you been acquainted in these parts?"
+
+"Three years," he admitted; but he scowled his sentiment of utter
+disbelief in her claim.
+
+"I am what I say I am," she insisted. "Does that make any difference in
+your stand here to-day?"
+
+"Not a bit!"
+
+They surveyed each other for some time, the mists swirling slowly about
+their heads.
+
+"If I shed any more tears and do any more pleading, sir, you'll have
+good reasons for believing that I have no blood of the Flaggs in me! Do
+you still think I'm not what I say I am?"
+
+He sliced the fog contemptuously with the edge of his palm. "You can't
+talk that stuff to me!" She understood the futility of appeal; he turned
+from her and she looked for a moment on the bulging scruff of his
+obstinate neck.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Craig! If talk can't convince you, I'll try another
+way!"
+
+She ran along the string piece and the curtain of the fog closed in
+behind her.
+
+During her absence from the deadwater there had been a rallying of
+forces.
+
+All the men were called in from the headworks and the booms. In that
+following conference over the methods of the impending battle the
+riverjacks were able to express themselves with more sanguinary
+vehemence than would have been allowed in the presence of the girl.
+
+They felt that the fog was a particularly fortunate circumstance, and
+with grim haste they set about taking advantage of the mask that would
+hide their advance. In single file they began their march down the river
+shore. There were men who bore cant dogs; others were armed with pike
+poles. But there was no intent to cut and thrust. It was to be a man's
+fight with the flat of those weapons, with the tools of the job, honest
+thwacks given and taken. If one of them had ventured to pack an edged
+weapon or a gun he would have been shamed among his fellows.
+
+Halfway to the dam they met the girl, hurrying back. She understood. She
+did not ask questions. But when they halted she explained her own
+movements.
+
+"I took it on myself to go to Director Craig," she said. "I was hoping I
+might be able to make him look at the thing in the right way. I did not
+apologize for you or for what has been done. If I could prevent this
+trouble I would make any sacrifice of myself."
+
+"We know that," stated Vittum, and he was indorsed by whole-souled
+murmurs.
+
+"But he would not listen to me. And all I can say to you men is this:
+God bless you and help you!"
+
+They thanked her and then they stood aside from the path, offering her a
+way for retreat to the rear.
+
+But she turned and walked on toward the dam. She shook her head when
+they protested. "No, I claim it as my right to go with you." She was
+even brave enough to relieve the tenseness of the situation by a flash
+of humor. "I don't believe one of those Comas cowards will get near
+enough to hurt any one of you. Haven't we found them out already? But if
+anybody in this crew does get hurt, you'll find me in full charge of the
+field hospital!"
+
+There was no more talk after that; they trod softly on the duff under
+the trees; they dodged the ledges where their spike-soled boots might
+have rasped.
+
+"Did you note where the main bunch is, miss?" whispered the old man at
+her side.
+
+"I saw only one man except Craig. The director was out on the dam, near
+the gates."
+
+"Where the cap'n is, there the gang must be. We'll use that tip."
+
+The men deployed as soon as they were in the open space near the end of
+the dam.
+
+Even though they had had the protection of the fog up to that point,
+they knew their attack could not be made wholly a surprise; they were
+depending on their resoluteness and on being able to beat their way to a
+control of the gates.
+
+Two men appeared to them in the fog.
+
+"Now just a moment before you start something for which you'll be
+sorry," said one of the men. "I'm from the shire town and I'm attorney
+for the Comas corporation." He pointed to a man at his side, who pulled
+aside his coat lapel and exhibited a badge. "This is a deputy sheriff.
+The courts are protecting this property by an injunction."
+
+"We've got only your word for that," stated the old man.
+
+"You have been warned in law. That's all I'm here for. Now unless you
+keep off this property you must take the consequences."
+
+The lawyer and the officer marched away and were effaced by the fog.
+
+"It's too bad it ain't a clear day," remarked the spokesman to the crew.
+"We'd prob'ly be able to see the injunction that's guarding this dam.
+But I ain't going to let a lawyer tell me about anything I can't see."
+
+"But there's a thing I can see," called one of the men who had gone
+skirmishing in the direction which the attorney and sheriff had taken.
+"Here's a Comas crowd strung along the wings o' the dam. I can see what
+they're lugging! Come on, men! It's a cant-dog, pick-pole fight."
+
+The attackers went into the fray with a yell.
+
+The defenders of the dam were on higher ground; some of them thrust with
+the ugly weapons, others swung the strong staves and fenced. There was
+the smash of wood against wood, the clatter of iron. Men fell and rolled
+and came up! They who were bleeding did not seem to mind.
+
+"They're backing up," yelled one of the Flagg crew. "Damn 'em, they're
+getting ready to run, as usual!"
+
+There did seem to be some sort of concerted action of retreat on the
+part of the defenders.
+
+"Look out for tricks," counseled Vittum, getting over the guard of an
+antagonist and felling him.
+
+A few moments later the line of the defense melted; the Comas men dodged
+somewhere into the fog. The assailants had won to the higher level of
+the dam's wing.
+
+And then that level melted, too!
+
+It was a well-contrived trap--boards covered with earth--a surface
+supported by props which had been pulled away by ropes. More than half
+the Flagg men tumbled into deep and muddy water and threshed helplessly
+in a struggling mass until the others laid down their weapons and
+pulled the drowning men out.
+
+The attacking army retired for repairs and grouped on the solid shore.
+Except for the roar of the sluiceway and the gasping of the men who were
+getting breath there was something like calm after the uproar of the
+battle.
+
+Out of the fog sounded the voice of Director Craig.
+
+"We have given you your chance to show how you respect the law. What you
+have done after a legal warning is chalked up against you. Now that you
+have proclaimed yourselves as outlaws I have something of my own to
+proclaim to you. I am up here----"
+
+A stentorian voice slashed in sharply, and Craig's speech was cut off.
+
+The voice came from one who was veiled in the fog, but they all knew it
+for Ward Latisan's. "Yes, Craig, you're here--here about five hours
+ahead of me because you had the cash to hire a special train. However, I
+know the short cuts for a man on horseback. I'm here, too!"
+
+His men got a dim view of him in the mists; he loomed like a statue of
+heroic size on the horse. Then he flung himself off and came running
+down the shore.
+
+He went straight to Lida and faced her manfully; but his eyes were
+humbly beseeching and his features worked with contrite apology. "I know
+now who you are, Miss Kennard. I don't mean to presume, in the case of
+either you or your men. But will you allow me to speak to them?"
+
+"Yes," she assented, trying to hold her poise, helped by his manner.
+
+He turned quickly from her eyes as if her gaze tortured him.
+
+"I have been a coward, men. I ran away from my job. I'm ashamed of
+myself. I can't square myself, but let me do my bit to-day."
+
+"I don't know what you can do--with that gang o' sneaks--after real men
+have had to quit," growled Vittum, unimpressed.
+
+"Maybe I'm sneak enough these days to know how to deal with 'em,"
+confessed Latisan, bitterly. "I stayed back there just now while the
+fight was on, but I knew a man fight wouldn't get us anything from
+them."
+
+The men of the crew made no demonstration; they were awkwardly silent.
+The arrival of the deserter who confessed that he had been a coward did
+not encourage them at a time when they had failed ridiculously in their
+first sortie. He had ceased to be a captain who could inspire. He was
+one man more in a half-whipped crew, that was all.
+
+They who had been dumped over the dam dragged slimy mud from their faces
+and surveyed him with sullen rebuke, remembering sharply that he had run
+away from the girl whose cause they had taken up.
+
+The others, their faces marked with welts from blows, gazed and sniffed
+disparagingly.
+
+But when he spoke out to the girl and her crew they listened with
+increasing respect because a quick shift to manly resolution impressed
+them.
+
+His tone was tensely low and the noise of the tumbling water shielded
+his voice from eavesdroppers on the dam. "I stood back there in the fog
+and I heard what was said about an injunction. It's bad business,
+running against the courts, men. That injunction hangs over the crew of
+Echford Flagg. I am not one of that crew. What I may do is on my own
+account, and I'll stand the blame of it. All I ask is that you step
+aside and let me alone."
+
+"That ain't the way we want to play this game," declared Vittum.
+
+"It isn't a square game, men, and that's why you mustn't play it. It
+isn't a riverman fight to-day. I came north from New York on the train
+with Craig. He brought a gang of gunmen with him. They're hidden there
+in the fog. He means to go the limit, hoping to get by with it because
+you made the first attack. It's up to me from now on."
+
+"What in the name of the horn-headed Sancho do you think you can do all
+alone against guns?" demanded Vittum, scornfully.
+
+"Think?" repeated Latisan. "I've had plenty of time for thinking on my
+way up here. Let me alone, I say!"
+
+Lida went to him and put her hand on his arm, and he trembled; it seemed
+almost like a caress. But by no tenderness in his eyes or his expression
+was he indicating that he considered himself back on his former footing
+with her.
+
+"Miss Kennard, don't keep me from trying to square myself with the Flagg
+crew, if I can. I'm not hoping that anything can square me with you;
+it's past hope."
+
+He moved away, but she clung to him. "I must know what you intend to
+do. I'll not accept a reckless sacrifice--no, I'll not."
+
+"One evening in Adonia you gave me a lecture on duty and self-respect,
+Miss Kennard. I wish I'd taken your advice then. But that advice has
+never left my thoughts. I'm taking it now. I entreat you, don't let me
+shame myself again. This is before men," he warned her, in low tones.
+"Give me my fighting chance to make good with them--I beg you!"
+
+He set back his shoulders, turned from her, and shouted Craig's name
+till the Comas director replied.
+
+"Craig, yon in the fog! Do you hear?"
+
+"I hear you, Latisan!"
+
+"Do our logs go through Skulltree by your decent word to us?"
+
+"I'll never give that word, my man!"
+
+"Then take your warning! The fight is on--and this time I'm in it."
+
+"I'm glad to be informed. I have an announcement of my own to make.
+Listen!" He gave a command. Instantly, startlingly, in the fog-shrouded
+spaces of the valley rang out a salvo of gun fire. Many rifles spat. The
+sound rolled in long echoes along the gorge and was banged back by the
+mountain sides.
+
+"Latisan, those bullets went into the air. If you and your men come onto
+this dam----"
+
+"There's only one kind of a fight up here among honest men--and you
+won't stand for it, eh?"
+
+"We've got your number! You're declared outlaws. These men will shoot to
+kill."
+
+In the chorus from the Flagg crew there were howls and groans.
+
+"And argument won't bring to you any sense of reason and decency, will
+it?" demanded the drive master.
+
+"We shall shoot to kill!" insisted the magnate of the Comas corporation.
+
+"All right! If those are your damnable principles, I'll go according to
+'em."
+
+The girl caught his hands when he started away. "You must not! No matter
+what you are--no matter what you know I am, now. He'll understand when
+we tell him--down there! There's more to life than logs!"
+
+"I have my plans," he assured her, quietly. "You must realize how much
+this thing means to me now."
+
+The unnatural silence in the ranks of the Flagg crew, after Latisan's
+declaration had been voiced, provoked Craig to venture an apprehensive
+inquiry. "You don't intend to come ramming against these guns, do you?"
+
+"Hold your guns off us! I'm going away. And these men are going with
+me."
+
+"That's good judgment."
+
+"But I'm coming back! I won't sneak up on you. That isn't my style of
+fighting. You'll hear me on the way. I'll be coming down almighty hard
+on my heels. Remember that, Craig!"
+
+Lida was at his side when he marched away up the shore toward the Flagg
+camp at the deadwater, and his men trailed him, mumbling their comments
+on the situation and wondering by what sort of miracle he would be able
+to prevail over armed gangsters who were paid to kill.
+
+"I'm going to ask you all to excuse me for playing a lone hand from now
+on, boys," said the drive master, standing in front of them when they
+were gathered at the camping place. "If they weren't working a dirty
+trick with their guns, I'd have you along with me just as I intended in
+the past. But you have had your fun while I've been making a fool of
+myself! Give me my chance now!"
+
+He bowed to Lida and walked up the shore alone. No one stayed him. The
+girl locked together her trembling fingers, straining her eyes till he
+disappeared.
+
+He knew the resources and methods of the drive. Soon he came upon a
+bateau pulled high on the river bank. There were boxes in the bateau,
+covered by a tarpaulin whose stripings of red signaled danger. He found
+a sack in the craft. He pried open one of the boxes and out of the
+sawdust in which they were packed he drew brown cylinders and tucked
+them carefully into the sack. The cylinders were sticks of dynamite. The
+sack was capacious and he stuffed it full. The bag sagged heavily with
+the weight of the load when he swung it over his shoulder and started up
+the bank, away from the river.
+
+When Latisan walked away from Lida the mist again had lent its illusion,
+and he seemed to become of heroic size before the gray screen hid him
+from her sight.
+
+Vittum tried pathetically to relieve the stress of the silence.
+
+"The last peek at him made him look big enough to do 'most anything he
+sets out to do."
+
+"Yes! But how can he fight them all single-handed?" She was pale and
+trembling.
+
+"If I'm any judge, by the direction he took just now he has gone up and
+tapped our stock of canned thunder, miss. And if I ain't mistook about
+his notions, he is going to sound just about as big as he looked when we
+got that last peek!"
+
+The rivermen did not lounge on the ground, as they usually did when they
+were resting. They stood, tensely waiting for what Latisan's manner of
+resolution had promised.
+
+Lida asked no more questions; she was unable to control her tones. She
+had been given a hint of Ward's intentions by what the old man had said
+about the "canned thunder." She did not dare to be informed as to the
+probable details of those intentions; to know fully the nature of the
+risk he was running would have made the agony of her apprehensiveness
+unendurable.
+
+It seemed to them, waiting there, that what Latisan had undertaken was
+never going to happen. They were not checking off the time in minutes;
+for them time was standing still. The far grumble of waters in the gorge
+merely accentuated the hush--did not break upon the profound silence.
+When a chickadee lilted near at hand the men started nervously and the
+girl uttered a low cry; even a bird's note had power to trip their
+nervous tension.
+
+The sound for which they were waiting came to them at last.
+
+It was a sound with a thud in it!
+
+Listeners who possessed an imagination would have found a suggestion of
+the crash of the hammer of Thor upon the mountain top.
+
+"He looked big enough for that when he left us!" muttered the old man.
+He had never heard of the pagan divinity whom men called Thor. His mind
+was on the river gladiator who had declared that he would come down
+heavy on his heels when he started.
+
+The brooding opacity which wrapped the scene made the location of the
+sound uncertain; but it was up somewhere among the hills. The echoes
+battered to and fro between the cliffs.
+
+Before those echoes died the sound was repeated.
+
+"He's coming slow, but he's come sure!" Vittum voiced their thoughts.
+"Them's the footsteps of Latisan!"
+
+On they came! And as they thrust their force upon the upper ledges there
+was a little jump of the earth under the feet of those who stood and
+waited.
+
+There was something indescribably grim and bodeful in those isochronal
+batterings of the solid ground. The echoes distracted the thoughts--made
+the ominous center of the sounds a matter of doubt. That uncertainty
+intensified the threat of what was approaching the dam of Skulltree.
+
+There were other sounds, after a few moments. Rifles were cracking
+persistently; but it was manifestly random firing.
+
+The old man stepped to Lida and grasped her hand and held it. "Don't be
+'feared for him, miss. They're only guessing! He'll be knowing the
+ledges--every lift of 'em that's betwixt him and them. They'll never get
+him with their popguns. But he'll get _them_!" he declared, with venom.
+"I wonder what Craig is thinking now, with his old bug eyes poking into
+that fog and doing him as much good as if he was stabbing a mill pond
+with his finger!"
+
+The rifle fire died away, after a desultory patter of shots.
+
+"They're running!" said one of the crew. "They must be on the run!"
+
+"You bet they're running," agreed the old man. "The Three C's hasn't got
+money enough to hire men, to stand up in front of what's tromping down
+toward Skulltree! Heavier and heavier on his heels!"
+
+Measuredly slow, inexorably persistent, progressed the footsteps of the
+giant blasts.
+
+Latisan's men needed no eye-proof in order to understand the method.
+
+The drive master was hurling the dynamite sticks far in advance of
+himself and to right and to left, making his own location a puzzling
+matter. The men had seen him bomb incipient jams in that fashion,
+lighting short fuses and heaving the explosive to a safe distance.
+
+The blasts were nearer and still nearer, and more frequent; the ground
+quaked under their feet; in the intervening silences they heard the
+whine and the rustle of upthrown litter in the air, the patterings and
+plops of debris raining into the spaces of the deadwater.
+
+Behind the attack was the menace of the bodefully unseen--the
+lawlessness of the fantastically unprecedented.
+
+"I don't blame the fellers with the guns, if they have quit," commented
+Vittum. "They might as well try to lick the lightning in a
+thundercloud."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
+
+
+Mern's mercenaries were not cowards. They had served valiantly as guards
+of strike breakers, had fought in many forays, had winged their
+attackers, and had been winged in return. At mill gates they had
+resisted mobs and had endured missiles; they had ridden on trucks,
+protecting goods and drivers, through lanes of howling, hostile
+humanity; they had thrown the cordon of their bodies around dock
+workers.
+
+But the gunmen's exploits in intrepidity had been, of and in the cities.
+
+The environment at Skulltree was the Great Open.
+
+They were not backed by solidity or barricaded behind walls. There was
+not the reassurance of good, honest earth under their feet; they were
+precariously perched in space, so it seemed--standing on the stringers
+of the dam, peering into a void of shrouding mists and thunderous
+waters, the wilderness all about them!
+
+In their battles in past times they had been able to see the foe; now
+they were called on to fight a noise--the bodeful detonations of blasts,
+to right, to left--here and there.
+
+There was a foe; he was on his way. They did not know what sort of ruin
+he purposed to wreak as the climax of his performance. Craig himself did
+not know, so he affirmed in reply to anxious queries, and the boss's
+uncertainty and increasing consternation added to the peculiar
+psychological menace of the thing.
+
+"Give us orders, Mr. Craig!" pleaded the captain of the guards. "Show us
+something to fight against. How many of 'em are there? Where are they?
+
+"It's that damnable Latisan, working single-handed. I'm sure of it. Go
+get him!"
+
+"If you don't get him, he's going to blow up this dam," stated the
+frightened lawyer.
+
+A far-flung bomb of dynamite landed in the water and shot a geyser
+spraying against the fog pall.
+
+"I'm taking that guess for gospel," affirmed the chief gunman, wiping
+spray from his face. "Mr. Craig, you can't expect us to hang on here,
+facing a thing like what's coming!"
+
+"Shoot him!" gasped the Comas director, but he was revolving on unsteady
+feet and the aimlessness of his gaze revealed that he had no definite
+idea of procedure; his incertitude wrecked all the courage of his
+supporters.
+
+"It can't be done, sir. Not in this fog! We'd better get ashore----"
+
+"And let him wreck this dam?"
+
+"If he's going to wreck it, we'd better be off it."
+
+In his fear Craig became insulting, and that attitude ended his control
+of the situation. "You're hired with money, you cowards! Now earn it!"
+
+"This is where your money can't buy something for you, Mr. Craig," the
+captain of the gunmen declared, and then he led the retreat of his squad
+across Skulltree dam and into the woods on the far shore from the
+portentous, invisible peril.
+
+And with dire extremity clearing for the moment his clouded vision,
+enabling him to look squarely at the matter of service and loyalty as he
+was able to command it, Craig knew that when his money failed him in the
+north country he had no other resource. He had blinked that fact in the
+past, having found that in ordinary affairs his dollars were dominant;
+but this extraordinary event was knocking out from under him all the
+props of confidence; he felt bitterly alone all of a sudden.
+
+"We'll have to vamoose off this dam," declared the deputy sheriff.
+
+"You've got your duty as an officer of the law," shouted Craig,
+desperately feeling that in the case of this man, at least, he was
+making an appeal to something that was not covered by a money
+consideration.
+
+"And I've got my common sense, too!" retorted the sheriff. He started
+away.
+
+"So have I," agreed the attorney, a lawyer who had obeyed a telegram and
+had joined the Craig expedition at the shire town of the county the
+night before.
+
+"There's an injunction!" stormed the field director.
+
+"And there's a lunatic with a sack of dynamite." The lawyer crooked his
+arm across his face; a missile from the white void had splashed near by
+and water sprayed him. "You have told me that Latisan is no longer in
+Flagg's service. I'm not depending now on law, Mr. Craig, I'm depending
+on my legs."
+
+He fled on the trail of the officer. But he left a pregnant thought in
+Craig's mind: Latisan was not an employee of Echford Flagg. As a matter
+of fact, Craig owned to himself--his clarity of vision persisting in
+that time of overwhelming disaster, in the wreck of the hopes built on
+the power of his money--that the thing had now become almost wholly a
+personal, guerrilla warfare between himself and Latisan; and when the
+truth came out, if the matter were forced to that issue, Craig would
+lack the backing of authority fully as much as Latisan lacked it then,
+in his assault on property. The bluff of the guns had not worked! Craig
+was realizing that in hiring such men, as he had on the spur of the
+moment, his rage instead of his business good judgment had prevailed.
+
+There were the repeated warnings of his superiors! The law would be
+obliged to investigate if Skulltree dam were wrecked, and would probe to
+the bottom of the moving reasons! Scandal, rank scandal! Craig could
+behold President Horatio Marlow as he sat that day with upraised,
+monitory forefinger, urging the touchy matter of credits and reputation.
+Craig could hear Dawes, the attorney: "That talk puts the thing up to
+you square-edged!"
+
+Down from the mist-shrouded cliff was advancing a vengeful man who
+walked with the footsteps of thunder.
+
+As Craig had looked ahead, basing his judgment on his experience with
+men and matters, it had seemed an easy matter to guard Skulltree with
+money and law. But in this astounding sortie of Latisan's, Comas money
+was of no use and Craig was developing an acute fear of the law which,
+invoked, would take matters into court. Over and over, his alarmed
+convictions pounded on his caution.
+
+He crouched under a rain of dirt and pebbles--then he ran away.
+
+When he reached the far shore he jumped into a bateau that was pulled up
+there. With all the power of his lungs he yelled for rowers. He was
+obliged to confess loudly and unreservedly that he was giving up the
+fight--was seeking a way of stopping Latisan--before any of his men
+would come from the shelter of woods and fog and serve him.
+
+He cursed them with the vigor of a master of galley slaves when the
+bateau was frothing along the deadwater. Then he bellowed into the fog,
+seeking a replying hail which would locate for him the Flagg crew. There
+was no repentance in him; his was a panic of compromise--a headlong rush
+to save himself from consequences. There was just as much uncertainty
+about what Latisan would do as there was about the dynamiter's exact
+location in that fog.
+
+Therefore, Craig announced himself with raucous staccato of: "I quit! I
+quit! Get that man! Tell him I quit!"
+
+Men hailed from the shore and their voices guided the rowers. Craig
+leaped from the bow of the bateau and waded for the last few yards.
+
+"Go stop him! Bring him here!" He tossed his arms.
+
+"Huh!" scoffed old Vittum. "That's a job for somebody who can tell which
+way the next stroke of lightning is heading."
+
+"I'll give five hundred dollars to the man who'll get to him and stop
+him before he smashes that dam!"
+
+Craig added to the other visions which had been torturing him the
+possible catastrophe of the Comas logs roaring through past the mouth of
+a useless canal; he could look ahead still farther and see the grins of
+the sawmill men down the Noda, setting their own prices.
+
+Once more Craig was finding that his money was getting him nothing that
+day, and his sense of helplessness was revealed by his sagging jowls and
+dolorous eyes; and he had always depended on what money could buy!
+
+There was no alacrity for service shown by any man of Flagg's crew.
+
+"We're not afraid," said Felix Lapierre, breaking on Craig's furious
+taunts. "We have promise' to keep off and let him make good for
+himself--the lone hand--that's it!"
+
+"That's it!" agreed Vittum.
+
+"He has made good," bleated the Comas man. "If he goes any farther it
+will only be bad."
+
+The dialogue was taking place disjointedly in the silences between the
+blasts. But Craig made himself heard above the next explosion. "He's
+ripping hell out of that dam now. Get to him. A thousand dollars for the
+man who stops him!"
+
+"No man in this crew needs any of your money!" Lida was defiantly in
+front of the Comas director. "But if you're ready to listen to reason
+after this----"
+
+She broke off and turned from him.
+
+Before they realized that she had volunteered, she was away in the fog.
+
+In a moment they heard her voice, raised in a thrilling call, appealing
+to the avenger.
+
+"That'll fetch him back--even if he was two miles deep in hell," Craig
+was informed by one of the men. "It's a lucky thing for the Three C's
+that she's on the job to-day."
+
+The Comas director stood holding to a tree. He shivered every time an
+explosion clanged its echoes from cliff to cliff.
+
+And when, after a waiting that was agony, the dreadful bombardment
+ceased, Craig staggered to the bateau and sat down on its prow.
+
+"I don't blame you for looking that way," said Vittum. "If Latisan had
+been driven to get that dam to-day you would have lost your drive for
+the canal; and, before God and your directors, you would have been
+responsible!"
+
+When Latisan came out of the fog he had put away, somewhere, the sack
+which had held destruction.
+
+When he had gone away from them, entering upon the perils of his
+undertaking, he was calm and resolute. Now that he was back, a champion
+who had prevailed single-handed, he was pale, trembling, and broken;
+they did not understand, at first.
+
+Lida came with him, trying to soothe him, pleading and protesting; he
+constantly muttered broken speech and seemed to be trying to control a
+mood that was half frenzy. He left her and stumbled across the open
+space to Craig.
+
+"Everything else you have done--it's nothing as bad as this last. You
+sent her where you didn't dare to go yourself. Good God! you Comas
+sneak, I ought to kill you where you sit! For all you cared you were
+making me a murderer of an innocent girl!"
+
+"You had to be stopped. She went before I knew what she was going to
+do."
+
+"And if she hadn't gone on her own account you would have tried to hire
+her to do it! It's always a case of what you can buy with your
+money--that's your style, Craig. Now you're up against something you
+can't buy. I'm still working alone--understand that? If you want to
+report me as an outlaw, go ahead! I'm giving you squarer warning than
+you gave me on the Tomah when you smashed the Latisans. If I smash that
+dam down there I'll be smashing you! I'll do it if you put as much as a
+toothpick in the way of the independent drives. I'll blow the bottom out
+of your canal, in the bargain. And if you think you or your gang can
+locate me over there"--he pointed in the direction of the hills of the
+watershed between the rivers basins--"try it! I know every hole in those
+hills. I'll keep bombing your drives till you can't keep a man on the
+job. That's the kind of an outlaw I am from now on."
+
+"It's between us now, Latisan. I'll own up to it. It has come to that."
+
+"Yes, it's between renegades. I'm admitting that I'm one," retorted
+Ward.
+
+Craig stood up. If there was any of the spirit of Three C's bluster left
+in him he was concealing it successfully.
+
+"Latisan, all these men have heard me say that I quit. I lost my head
+and was pushing the thing too far, considering it from a business
+standpoint. Can I be any more honest than that?"
+
+"It sounds all right, but I take stock in you only to the extent that
+you'll stay in line if I stay on the job. I shall stay, as I have warned
+you."
+
+"Suppose we talk turkey about the common rights at Skulltree!"
+
+"You'll have to talk with Miss Kennard about her grandfather's
+interests. I'm simply a chance comer here!"
+
+Latisan walked away and leaned against a tree.
+
+Craig approached Lida. "We have already had some talk about the matter,
+I believe. I retreat from the position I have taken. Evidently we must
+make mutual allowances. What have you thought out about the details of a
+plan to let your logs through?"
+
+The girl did not reply; she had no plans; she did not understand such
+matters.
+
+"We'll have to decide on the head of water you'll need, and I take it
+you'll allow us enough for the canal so that we can save our drive."
+Craig was trying hard to offer compromise, but he was not able to
+repress all his sarcastic venom. "There's the matter of sorting and the
+other details. I'll have to ask for your views, Miss Kennard, because
+any misunderstanding may be dangerous, so I have been informed."
+
+She looked helplessly from Craig to Latisan. The latter's aloofness,
+which he had displayed ever since he first appeared to her that day, his
+present peculiar relationship to the affair, his insistence that he
+must serve alone, made her problem more complex. Her vivid yearning was
+to give all into Latisan's keeping, but she did not dare to propose it.
+
+She looked at Vittum and Felix, seeking advice. The French Canadian
+smiled and shrugged his shoulders, evading responsibility. He did not
+understand such matters, either.
+
+"I suppose I might be able to dig up some sort o' general ideas, give me
+time enough," said Vittum, when her eyes questioned him anxiously. "But
+I'm sort of hazy right now." He winked at her and ducked his head to
+indicate Latisan.
+
+"I'm afraid!" she phrased the lament with a doleful motion of her lips
+rather than with spoken words.
+
+"It can't be said but what he'll be impartial--the best one to ask,"
+mumbled Vittum, stepping close to her. "He ain't hired by either side,
+as I understand it!" He was ironic, but there was a suggestion which she
+grasped desperately. She went to Latisan. Their conversation was in an
+undertone and the bystanders did not hear the words.
+
+When she returned to Craig, Lida, confident in her new poise, reassured,
+informed in a fashion which fortified her self-reliance, met the Comas
+man with a demeanor which did credit to the granddaughter of Echford
+Flagg.
+
+"I have not tried to involve Mr. Latisan in any way. I have asked his
+advice as an expert." She looked straight into the shifting eyes of the
+Comas director. "Last fall he was at Tech, and took a special course in
+hydraulic engineering. You know that, of course, Mr. Craig!" She paused
+till he bowed to admit the truth with which she insisted on displacing
+the lie which had followed Latisan in the north country. "And Mr.
+Latisan has had a great deal of practical experience on his own drives.
+It seems absolutely necessary to have a sorting gap here, with men of
+both crews handling the logs. When our timber is through the
+sluiceway--the daily run of logs--we are to be given a head of water
+which will take us through the gorge. As to the logs upriver--the
+rear--we are willing to join drives with you, Mr. Craig, so that we may
+use all the water together." She set back her shoulders. "That plan will
+serve us this season. For another season the independents will have laws
+of their own from the legislature. I'm quite sure that the independents
+have waked up and know now what some special legislative acts can do for
+their interests."
+
+"I beg your pardon for breaking in, Miss Kennard," said Latisan, from
+his distance. "But this seems to be the time for me to say to Mr. Craig,
+in the presence of witnesses, that the same plan goes for the Tomah
+region. The independents over there can't be licked, sir."
+
+"Nor the Latisans," shouted somebody in the Flagg crew.
+
+That friendly corroboration of the young man's inmost determination
+served as a challenge. The drive master walked toward Craig and shook
+his fist. "No, nor the Latisans! We have a sawmill, and we're not
+worrying about the logs to feed it. But you understand, Mr. Craig, that
+the independents must have gangway on the river for their cut. And we
+know how to get gangway!"
+
+He went back to his tree and resumed his whittling.
+
+"To me the future looks very promising," said Lida. "We're all a little
+disturbed now, Mr. Craig, but we're coming to a perfect understanding.
+Don't you think so?"
+
+Craig did not reply at once, and she added, with ingenuous affectation
+of desiring to bring forward reasons for his agreement, "If the Comas
+company does join drives with us you will have the help of a perfectly
+wonderful crew, Mr. Craig. I'm told that we're a week or ten days ahead
+of the usual time--and the men have never seemed to be considering mere
+wages!"
+
+The Three C's director rolled his eyes, avoiding her candidly provoking
+regard. He shifted his gaze to Latisan, who had turned his back on the
+group and was still whittling placidly, propped against a tree by his
+shoulder. "Wonderful teamwork," growled the Comas man. "But sticking out
+for anything else will be a fool stunt. Miss Kennard, there's a lawyer
+over there in the woods, somewhere! The thing to do now seems to be to
+hunt him up so that he can help us to pass papers of agreement." He
+swung his hand to indicate the bateau. "Will you go with me?"
+
+She hesitated. Then she smiled amiably on Craig. "I think I'd rather
+walk along the path, sir. I'll meet you and the lawyer at this end of
+the dam."
+
+Craig trudged down to the boat and was swept away into the fog.
+
+Latisan did not turn; he kept on whittling.
+
+"Mr. Latisan!" she invited. "May I have your company to the dam? I'm
+sorry to trouble you, but I may be obliged to refer to you for further
+advice."
+
+"I feel called on to remark," said old Vittum, always an irrepressible
+commentator when comment seemed to be necessary, speaking after Latisan
+and Lida had walked away into the mist--"I'll say to all that she knows
+her business."
+
+"But it was Latisan who advised her," objected a literalist.
+
+"Hell! I ain't speaking of this drive," snapped the old man. "I'm
+complimenting her on a job where she doesn't need anybody's advice!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY
+
+
+The sun at meridian that day burned away the mists, for it was May and
+the high sun was able to prevail.
+
+The sluiceway of Skulltree dam was open and in the caldron of the gorge
+a yeasty flood boiled and the sunlight painted rainbows in the drifting
+spume. Rolling cumbrously, end over end, at the foot of the sluice,
+lifting glistening, dripping flanks, sinking and darting through the
+white smother of the waters, the logs of the Flagg drive had begun their
+flight to the holdbooms of Adonia.
+
+Lida and the taciturn squire whom she had drafted had climbed to the
+cliffs above the gorge in order to behold the first fruits of the
+compact which had been concluded with Craig and the Comas. Latisan went
+with her to the cliff because she had asked him to show her the way. His
+manner with her was not exactly shyness; she had been studying him,
+trying anxiously to penetrate his thoughts. He was reserved, but
+awkwardly so; it was more like embarrassment; it was a mingling of
+deference and despair in the face of a barrier.
+
+It was warm up there where the sun beat against the granite, and she
+pulled off the jacket which had been one of her credentials in the north
+country. "I took the liberty of wearing it--and the cap. I'll not need
+them any more."
+
+She took the cap from her head. The breeze which had followed the calm
+of the mist fluttered a loose lock of her hair across her forehead and
+the sun lighted a glint within the tress. He gazed and blinked.
+
+"I heard you had them--I heard it in Mern's office in New York," he
+said, with poor tact.
+
+She offered them and he took the garments, clutching the cap and holding
+the jacket across his arm.
+
+"I don't blame you for looking at me as you do," she went on, demurely
+and deprecatingly feminine at that moment. She smoothed her blouse with
+both hands and glanced down at her stained and ragged skirt. "It's my
+only warm dress and I've lived and slept in it--and I haven't minded a
+bit when the coffee slopped. I was trying to do my best."
+
+He rocked his head voicelessly, helplessly--striving to fit speech to
+the thoughts that surged in him.
+
+Then she made a request which perturbed him still more: "You came up
+here on horseback, I think you said. May I borrow the horse?"
+
+"Do you mean that you're going away?" he gulped.
+
+She spread her hands and again glanced down at her attire. She was
+hiding deeper motives behind the thin screen of concern for her
+wardrobe, trying to make a jest of the situation, and not succeeding.
+"You must own up that I need to go shopping."
+
+He turned from her to the chasm where the logs were tumbling along.
+
+"And there's nothing to keep me here any longer, Mr. Latisan, now that
+you have come back!"
+
+He faced her again, swinging with a haste that ground his heels sharply
+on the ledge. But she put up her hand when he opened his mouth.
+
+"Do you think it will do us any good to bring up what has happened? I
+don't. I implore you not to mention it. You have come back to your
+work--it's waiting for you. After what you have done to-day you'll never
+need to lower your eyes before any man on this river. In my heart, when
+I gave you your cap and jacket, I was asking you to take back your work.
+I ask you with all the earnestness that's in me! Won't you do it?" There
+was a hint of a sob in her tones, but her eyes were full of the
+confidence of one who felt that she was not asking vainly.
+
+He did not hesitate. But words were still beyond the reach of his
+tongue. He dragged off the billycock hat which he had bought in town and
+scaled it far out into the turbid flood. He pulled off the wrinkled coat
+of the ready-made suit and tossed it down the side of the cliff. With
+the cap on his head and buckling the belt of the jacket he stood before
+her. "The men gave me my chance to-day; you're giving me a bigger one."
+
+"Then I'm only wasting your time--up here!"
+
+It had not been in Latisan's mind that he would make any reference to
+the past; she had implored him to keep silent and he was determined to
+obey. He was rigidly resolved to offer no plea for the future; this was
+the granddaughter--presumably the heiress of Echford Flagg, to be taken
+into her own after this service she had rendered. A Latisan of the
+broken Latisans had no right to lift his eyes to her!
+
+If there had been a twinkle of hope for his comfort in her attitude of
+reliance on him after he had arrived at Skulltree, there was none at
+that moment, for she had become distinctly dignified and distant. He
+swung back to that bitter conclusion which he had made a part of his
+convictions when he had pondered on the matter in his little room in New
+York--her frantically pledged affection had been only a part of her
+campaign of sacrifice. He was not blaming her for the pretense--he was
+not calling it deceit. She had fought for her own with such weapons as
+she could command in a time of stress.
+
+He followed her meekly when she hurried down from the cliff.
+
+On the path which led back to the Flagg camp a breathless cookee met
+them. "A team is here from Adonia, miss. It's the big bays--Mr. Flagg's
+horses."
+
+Instinctively she turned to Ward, making him her prop as she had done
+previously on that day.
+
+"I've been expecting it," he told her. "It's just what your grandfather
+would do after he got word that Craig had gone through Adonia with his
+roughnecks. Mr. Flagg wouldn't leave you here to face what was
+threatened."
+
+"I didn't tell my grandfather who I was. Dick promised to keep the
+secret," she faltered.
+
+"Remember! Words have wings up in this region! I explained to you once,
+Miss Kennard, and you know what happened when I let loose that flock of
+them at Adonia--like a fool. I don't dare to think about it!"
+
+He paced away from her; then he returned, calm again. "Mr. Flagg must
+have heard--he would keep in touch with what has been going on up
+here--and after he knew, it would be his style to let you go ahead and
+win out. He would understand what it is you're trying to do. His sending
+that team, now that he is afraid of danger, proves that he knows."
+
+When she ran on ahead Latisan did not try to keep up with her; he was
+once again the drive boss of Flagg's crew, a hired man; he had no excuse
+for meddling in the family affairs of his employers, he reflected, and
+in his new humility he was avoiding anything which might savor of
+inquisitive surveillance.
+
+The man who had put the horses to the jumper in Adonia, the man whom she
+knew as Jeff, was the deputy whom Flagg had sent. He had come in
+haste--that was plain to her; he was mopping the flanks of the sweating
+bays.
+
+The deference with which he touched his cap informed her fully as to the
+amount of knowledge possessed by the Flagg household. He unbuttoned, one
+after the other, his overcoat, his inner coat, his waistcoat, and from
+the deepest recess in his garments produced a sealed letter; his
+precautions in regard to it attested the value he put on a communication
+from the master to the master's granddaughter.
+
+The envelope was blank.
+
+The men of the shift that had been relieved stood about her in a circle.
+The arrival of the bays was an event which matched the other sensational
+happenings of the crowded day, and she was conscious that, without
+meaning to be disrespectful, the men were hankering to be taken wholly
+into her confidence--were expecting that much favor from her.
+
+Granddaughter of Echford Flagg she might be--but more than all she was
+one of the crew, that season, a companion who had inspired them, toiled
+with them, and triumphed with them. If any more good news had come they,
+as friends, were entitled to know it, their expressions told her. They
+were distinctly conveying to her their notion that she should stand
+there and read the letter aloud.
+
+The hand which clutched the missive was trembling, and she was filled
+with dread in spite of the consoling thought that she had achieved so
+much. She was afraid to open the letter and she escaped out of the
+circle of inquiring faces and hid herself in her tent; even the crude
+flourish of importance displayed by the manner of Jeff in delivering the
+communication to her had its effect in making her fears more profound.
+The whims of old age--Flagg had dwelt on the subject! She remembered
+that when she was in the big house with Latisan, her grandfather had
+beat on the page of the Bible and had anathematized the ties of family
+in his arraignment of faults. He had been kind, after his fashion, when
+she was incognito, but now that he knew----
+
+She ripped the envelope from the letter and opened the sheet; it was a
+broad sheet and had been folded many times to make it fit the envelope.
+
+It was more like rude print than handwriting. At first she thought that
+her grandfather had been able to master a makeshift chirography with his
+left hand. But boldly at the top of the sheet, as a preface of apology,
+was this statement: "Dicktated to Dick and excuse looks and mesteaks.
+Hese a poor tool at writtin."
+
+Crouching on her bed of boughs, the sheet on her knees, her hands
+clutched into her wind-rumpled hair above her temples, she read the
+letter which her grandfather had contrived with the help of his drafted
+amanuensis.
+
+    To my Grand-daughter. He have to use short words and few. Dick
+    is slow and can't spel.
+
+Lida's thoughts were running parallel with her reading, and she
+remembered that, in those letters of hideous arraignment which she had
+found in her mother's effects, Echford Flagg's own spelling was
+fantastically original. But under the layers of ugly malediction she had
+found pathos: he said that he'd had no schooling of his own, and on that
+account had been led to turn his business over to the better but
+dishonest ability of Alfred Kennard.
+
+Reading on, she could picture the scene--the two old men toiling with
+pathetic earnestness over the task of preparing that letter; here and
+there, the words only partially deleted by lines run across them, were
+evidences that in his flustration under the master's vitriolic
+complaints, old Dick had confused comment with dictated matter--and had
+included comment in his unthinking haste to get everything down. Three
+times a "Dam your pelt" had been written and crossed out.
+
+    He tell you I knew you when I gave you my old cant dog.
+
+Lida gasped when she read the blunt declaration. She might have guessed
+that Echford Flagg would have repulsed a stranger; he had disguised his
+true sentiments under the excuse of an old man's whim!
+
+    I let you go. It was making a squair deal between you and me.
+    Nicola sent me a man to tell me how you had gorn north with his
+    men and so I took Dick back after I had fired him.
+
+It was at this point that a particularly prominent "Dam your pelt" was
+interjected.
+
+    The old fool would have blabbed to me what you told him to keep
+    quiet about. He aint fit to be trusted with any secrits. But he
+    was scard to tell me you was Lida. I told him. But the Comas
+    helyun has gorn past here with men and guns. Let him have the
+    logs. I want you, my granddaughter. Come home.
+
+Tears flooded her eyes. "Come home!" Old Dick had printed those words in
+bold letters.
+
+    This is in haist but he has been 2 hours writtin it and so
+    I send Jeff to bring you. Dont wait. Kepe away from danjur.
+    Come home.
+
+And old Dick, the toiling scribe, had smuggled in at the bottom of the
+sheet a postscript, a vicarious confession which Echford Flagg did not
+know how to make, "Hese cryin and monein for you. Come home!"
+
+It was as if those two summoning words were spoken in her ear,
+plaintively and quaveringly.
+
+She ran from the tent, carrying her little bag and the cant dog scepter
+of the Flaggs.
+
+"Can you start back at once?" she called to Jeff.
+
+"Aye! It's orders."
+
+She saw Latisan at the shore, directing the movements of the men; he was
+once more the drive master, his cant dog in his hand, terse in his
+commands, obeyed in his authority.
+
+He pulled off his cap and walked to meet her when she hastened toward
+him.
+
+"I'm going back to Adonia."
+
+"My guess was right, you see!"
+
+"Are you coming soon to report?--Shall I tell my grandfather----" She
+halted in her query as if she were regretting the eagerness in her tone.
+
+"I'll leave it to you to tell him all that has happened up here. But you
+may say to him, if you will, that I'm staying with the drive from now
+on."
+
+Her charioteer swung the big bays and headed them toward the mouth of
+the tote road, halting them near her.
+
+Her emotions were struggling from the fetters with which she tried to
+bind them. Those men standing around! She wished they would go away
+about their business, but they surveyed her with the satisfied air of
+persons who felt that they belonged in all matters that were on foot.
+
+Latisan was repressed, grave, keeping his place, as he had assigned a
+status to himself. She was glad when old Vittum broke upon the silence
+that had become embarrassing. "It won't be like what it has been, after
+you're gone, Miss Lida Kennard. But I feel that I'm speaking for the men
+when I say that you're entitled to a lay-off, and if you'll be out on
+the hill where you can wave your hand to us when we ride the leader
+logs into the hold-boom, we'll all be much obligated to you! I was
+thinking of calling for three cheers, but I remember how this idea
+seemed to hit better." He led the procession of men past her; they
+scrubbed their toil-roughened palms across their breasts and gave her
+silent pledges when they grasped her hand. "It's sort of a family
+party," said Vittum.
+
+There was inspiration for her in that suggestion. This was no time for
+convention, for placid weighing of this consideration against that, for
+strait-laced repression. The environment encouraged her. Her exulting
+joy drove her on.
+
+Once before, forced by the intensity of her need, she had made small
+account of convenances. But she acknowledged that a half truth had
+nearly compassed destruction of her hopes and the ruin of a man; a liar
+had taken advantage of an equivocal position. But now the whole truth
+about her was clear. Her identity was known--her motives were beyond all
+question. And there were no vindictive liars among those loyal followers
+who had come storming down the river for the sake of her cause.
+
+If she did what she had in her mind to do, what was it except the
+confirmation of a pledge and the carrying out of a promise?
+
+But when she looked appealingly up at Latisan he was steadfastly staring
+past her. Her impulses were already galloping, but the instant prick of
+pique was the final urge which made the impulses fairly run away.
+
+She reached out and took Ward's hand and pressed it between her palms.
+
+"If it's because I'm Lida Kennard instead of the table girl at Brophy's
+tavern, you're foolish," she whispered, standing on tiptoe. "I gave you
+my promise. But perhaps you think it isn't binding because there was no
+seal, such as I put on that lawyer's paper down at the dam.
+Well--then--here's the seal."
+
+She flung her arms about his neck and kissed his cheek.
+
+"Now let the winged word take flight through the region!" she told
+herself. No man could misunderstand the declaration of that kiss!
+
+When Latisan came to his senses sufficiently to move his muscles, she
+avoided his groping arms and ran to the wagon. For a moment the big bays
+crouched, expecting the whistling sweep of the whip, bending their necks
+to watch the passenger climbing to her seat.
+
+"Wait!" begged Latisan. He stumbled toward the wagon, staring at her,
+tripped by the earth ridges to which he paid no heed.
+
+"Yes!" she promised. And then in tones that were low and thrilling and
+significant with honest pledge she said, "I'll wait for you--at home--at
+home!"
+
+Jeff obeyed her quick command and swung the whistling whip, and Latisan
+stood gazing after her.
+
+The men respected his stunned absorption in his thoughts. They went
+scattering to their work. Felix walked with Vittum.
+
+"Ba gor!" The French Canadian vented the ejaculation after taking a
+deep breath. "When she say it to him--as she say it--it make goose flesh
+wiggle all over maself!"
+
+"As I have said!" Vittum was trudging along, his eyes on a big plug of
+tobacco from which he was paring a slice. "As I have said!" He slid the
+slice into his mouth from the blade of the knife. "She knows her
+business!"
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 22667-8.txt or 22667-8.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/6/6/22667
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/22667-8.zip b/22667-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd0ba56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-8.zip
diff --git a/22667-h.zip b/22667-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aed8856
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-h.zip
diff --git a/22667-h/22667-h.htm b/22667-h/22667-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4b3ba0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-h/22667-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,11132 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Joan of Arc of the North Woods, by Holman Day</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+
+    body{margin-left: 15%;
+            margin-right: 15%;
+            }
+
+    p { margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
+         text-indent: 1em;
+         line-height: 1.2em;
+         }
+     p.cap {text-indent: 0em;}
+     p.cap1 {text-indent: 0em;}
+     p.cap:first-letter {float: left; clear: left;
+        padding: 0px 1px 0 0;
+        line-height: .9em; font-size: 250%;
+        font-weight: 600; }
+     p.cap1:first-letter {
+          float: left;
+          padding: 0px 0 0 0;
+          font-size: 250%;
+          font-weight: 600;
+          line-height: .9em;
+          }
+
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         margin-top: 2em;
+         word-spacing: .5em;
+         }
+    h3.pg {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         margin-top: 0em;
+         word-spacing: 0em;
+         }
+
+     h2.sub {font-style: italic; font-size: 1.8em; margin-top: 5em;}
+     h2.con {margin-top: 5em;}
+     hr {
+         margin: 3em auto 5em auto;
+         height: 1px;
+         border-width: 1px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+         border-style: solid;
+         border-color: #999999;
+         width: 55%;
+         clear: both;
+         text-align: center;
+         }
+       hr.hr2 {width: 25%; margin: 1em auto 1em auto;}
+
+    table {margin: 3em auto 8em auto;
+           font-size: 90%;
+           width: 30em;
+           background-color: #eeeeee;
+           border: thin solid #999999;
+           }
+    td {padding: 2px;}
+    th {padding: 2px; border-bottom: 1px solid #999999;}
+    .tda {text-align: left; vertical-align: top;}
+    .tdb {text-align: right; vertical-align: top;}
+
+    em {font-style: italic;}
+
+    .bbox {border-top: 1px solid #999999;
+              border-bottom: 1px solid #999999;
+              padding: 6px;
+              margin-bottom: 5em;
+              width: 20em;
+              margin: 0 auto 0 auto;
+              }
+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+                /*visibility: hidden;*/
+                position: absolute;
+                right: 10%;
+                font-size: 10px;
+                font-weight: normal;
+                font-variant: normal;
+                font-style: normal;
+                letter-spacing: normal;
+                text-indent: 0em;
+                text-align: right;
+                color: #999999;
+                background-color: #ffffff;
+                } /* page numbers */
+
+
+    div.block {margin: auto; text-align: center; width: 90%; font-size: 90%;}
+    p.block {text-indent: 0;}
+    .i3 {margin-left: 3em;}
+    .center   {text-align: center; text-indent: 0;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+    .figleft     {float: left; clear: left; margin: -.4em -2.8em 0 0em; padding: 0; text-align: left;}
+    .figcenter {margin: 4em auto 4em auto; text-align: center;}
+    .nowrap {white-space: nowrap;}
+    .noindent {text-indent: 0em;}
+    .ws {word-spacing: .5em;}
+    .b {margin-bottom: 5em;}
+    .t {margin-top: 3em;}
+
+    .title {font-size: 300%; word-spacing: .5em; letter-spacing: .1em; margin: 5em auto 5em auto; line-height: 1.5em;}
+    .by {line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 1.1em; font-style: italic;}
+    .author {line-height: 2em; font-size: 1.5em;}
+    .author2 {line-height: 2em; font-size: 1em; font-style: italic;}
+    .books {font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em; word-spacing: .5em;}
+    .pub {font-size: 1.3em; word-spacing: .3em; line-height: 1.5em;}
+
+    hr.full { width: 100%;
+              margin-top: 3em;
+              margin-bottom: 0em;
+              margin-left: auto;
+              margin-right: auto;
+              height: 4px;
+              border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+              border-style: solid;
+              border-color: #000000;
+              clear: both; }
+    pre      {font-size: 85%;}
+
+    // -->
+    /* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Joan of Arc of the North Woods, by Holman Day</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Joan of Arc of the North Woods</p>
+<p>Author: Holman Day</p>
+<p>Release Date: September 18, 2007  [eBook #22667]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by<br />
+    Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Jacqueline Jeremy,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>JOAN OF ARC<br />
+OF THE NORTH WOODS</h1>
+
+<h2 class="con">CONTENTS</h2>
+<table summary="table of contents">
+<colgroup span="2">
+<col width="50%"></col>
+<col width="50%"></col>
+</colgroup>
+<tr>
+<th class="tda">CHAPTER</th>
+<th class="tdb">PAGE</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#one">CHAPTER ONE</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#one">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#two">CHAPTER TWO</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#two">11</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#three">CHAPTER THREE</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#three">18</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#four">CHAPTER FOUR</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#four">25</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#five">CHAPTER FIVE</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#five">30</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#six">CHAPTER SIX</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#six">43</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#seven">CHAPTER SEVEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#seven">53</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#eight">CHAPTER EIGHT</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#eight">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#nine">CHAPTER NINE</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#nine">75</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#ten">CHAPTER TEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#ten">86</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#eleven">CHAPTER ELEVEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#eleven">96</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twelve">CHAPTER TWELVE</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twelve">109</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#thirteen">CHAPTER THIRTEEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#thirteen">129</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#fourteen">CHAPTER FOURTEEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#fourteen">139</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#fifteen">CHAPTER FIFTEEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#fifteen">151</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#sixteen">CHAPTER SIXTEEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#sixteen">167</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#seventeen">CHAPTER SEVENTEEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#seventeen">183</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#eighteen">CHAPTER EIGHTEEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#eighteen">200</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#nineteen">CHAPTER NINETEEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#nineteen">212</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty">CHAPTER TWENTY</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty">219</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty-one">CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty-one">232</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty-two">CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty-two">240</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty-three">CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty-three">248</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty-four">CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty-four">261</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty-five">CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty-five">272</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty-six">CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty-six">285</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty-seven">CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty-seven">296</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty-eight">CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty-eight">302</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#twenty-nine">CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#twenty-nine">326</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tda"><a href="#thirty">CHAPTER THIRTY</a></td>
+<td class="tdb"><a href="#thirty">339</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Books By</span><br />
+HOLMAN DAY</p>
+<div class="bbox">
+<p class="smcap ws noindent">Joan of Arc of the North Woods<br />
+When Egypt Went Broke<br />
+All-wool Morrison<br />
+The Rider of the King Log<br />
+The Skipper and the Skipped<br />
+The Red Lane<br />
+The Ramrodders<br />
+The Landloper<br />
+Where Your Treasure Is<br />
+Squire Phin<br />
+Blow the Man Down</p>
+</div>
+<p class="center b">Harper &#38; Brothers Publishers<br />
+New York and London</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="title">Joan of Arc<br />
+of the North Woods</span><br /><br /><br />
+
+<span class="by">By</span><br />
+
+<span class="author">HOLMAN DAY</span><br />
+
+<span class="author2">Author of</span><br />
+<span class="books">&#8220;THE RIDER OF THE KING LOG,&#8221; &#8220;WHEN<br />
+EGYPT WENT BROKE,&#8221; ETC.</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/logo.png" width="100" height="121" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="center b"><span class="pub">HARPER &#38; BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS<br />
+NEW YORK AND LONDON</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center">Joan of Arc of the North Woods</p>
+<div class="bbox">
+<p class="center">Copyright, 1922<br />
+By Harper &#38; Brothers<br />
+Printed in the U.S.A.</p>
+</div>
+<p class="center"><em>First Edition</em><br />
+H&#8211;W</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="sub"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span>Joan of Arc<br />
+of the North Woods</h2>
+
+<h2><a name="one" id="one"></a>CHAPTER ONE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">THE timber situation in the Tomah country was surcharged.</p>
+
+<p>When Ward Latisan came upon Rufus Craig, one afternoon in autumn, steel
+struck flint and trouble&#8217;s fuse was lighted.</p>
+
+<p>Their meeting was on the Holeb tote road just below Hagas Falls.</p>
+
+<p>Young Ward was the grandson of old John, a pioneer who was in his day a
+saw-log baron of the times of pumpkin pine; by heredity Ward was the
+foremost champion in the cause of the modern independent operators.</p>
+
+<p>In his own way, Craig, the field director of the Comas Consolidated
+Paper Company, was the chief gladiator for an invading corporation which
+demanded monopoly of the Tomah timber by absorption of the independents.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan tramped down the tote road from the shoulder of Holeb Mountain,
+where he had been cruising alone for a week on the Walpole tract,
+blazing timber for the choppers, marking out twitch roads and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+haul-downs, locating yards; his short-handled ax was in his belt, his
+lank haversack flapped on his back; he carried his calipers in one hand;
+with the other hand he fed himself raisins from his trousers pocket,
+munching as he went along. He had eaten the last of his scanty supply of
+biscuits and bacon; but, like other timber cruisers&#8212;all of them must
+travel light&#8212;he had his raisins to fall back on, doling them one by
+one, masticating them thoroughly and finding the nourishment adequate.</p>
+
+<p>He had been on the go every day from sunup till dark; nights he cinched
+his belted jacket closely and slept as best he could, his back against a
+tree; he had cruised into every nook and corner of the tract, spending
+strength prodigally, but when he strode down the tote road his vitality
+enabled him to hit it off at a brisk gait; his belt was a few holes
+tighter, yet his fasting made him keenly awake; he was more alert to the
+joy of being alive in the glory of the crisp day; his cap was in his
+pocket, his tousled brown hair was rampant; and he welcomed the flood of
+sunshine on his bronzed face.</p>
+
+<p>Craig was making his way along the tote road in a buckboard, with a
+driver. The road bristled with rocks and was pitted with hollows; the
+fat horses dragged their feet at a slow walk. Craig was a big man, a bit
+paunchy, and he grunted while he was bounced. He wore his city hard hat
+as if he wished by his headgear to distinguish himself from the herd of
+woodsmen whom he bossed.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan overtook the toiling buckboard, and his stride was taking him
+past when Craig hailed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>&#8220;Ride?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No&#8212;thank you!&#8221; The negative was sharp. Privation and toil had put an
+edge on the young man&#8217;s temper, and the temper was not amiable where
+Craig was concerned.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got some business to talk with you, Latisan.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If that&#8217;s so I can listen while I walk alongside.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But Craig ordered the driver to halt. Then the Comas director swung
+around and faced Latisan. &#8220;I&#8217;m putting it up to you again&#8212;will you and
+your father sell to the Comas?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is it going to be&#8212;a fight to a finish?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you keep your hands off us saw-log fellows, Mr. Craig, there&#8217;ll be
+no fight. We were here first, you know!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s got nothing to do with the present situation, Latisan. We&#8217;ve
+built a million-dollar paper mill on the Toban, and it&#8217;s up to me to
+feed it with pulp stuff. We can&#8217;t lug our plant off in a shawl strap if
+supply fails.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nor can the folks who have built villages around the sawmills lug away
+their houses if the mills are closed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Paper dominates in this valley nowadays, instead of lumber. Latisan,
+you&#8217;re old-fashioned!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The young man, feeling his temper flame, lighted his pipe, avoiding too
+quick retort.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You stand to lose money in the lumber market, with conditions as they
+are,&#8221; proceeded Craig, loftily counseling another man about his own
+business. The Comas director, intent on consolidation, had persist<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>ently
+failed to understand the loyalty, half romantic, which was actuating the
+old-line employers to protect faithful householders. &#8220;Let the workers
+move down the river to our model town.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And live in those beehives of yours, paying big rent, competing with
+the riffraff help you hire from employment agencies? We can&#8217;t see it
+that way, Mr. Craig!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here! I&#8217;ve got some news for you. I&#8217;ve just pulled five of the
+independents in with us&#8212;Gibson, Sprague, Tolman, Brinton, and Bodwell.
+The Comas now controls the timber market on the Toban. How about logs
+for your mills?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig believed he was hitting Latisan five solid jolts to the jaw when
+he named the recreant operators.</p>
+
+<p>However, the young man had heard rumors of what the bludgeoning methods
+of the Comas had accomplished; he surveyed Craig resolutely through the
+pipe smoke.</p>
+
+<p>He had come down from the Walpole tract that day in a spirit of new
+confidence which put away all weariness from him. He was armed with a
+powerful weapon. In his exultation, fired by youth&#8217;s natural hankering
+to vaunt success in an undertaking where his elders had failed, he was
+willing to flourish the weapon.</p>
+
+<p>Craig waggled a thick forefinger. &#8220;What are you going to saw, Latisan?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Two million feet from the Walpole tract&#8212;where no ax has chipped a tree
+for twenty-five years.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was a return jolt and it made the Comas man blink. &#8220;But nobody can
+buy the right to cut there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>&#8220;I have bought the right, Mr. Craig. An air-tight stumpage
+contract&#8212;passed on by the best lawyer in this county&#8212;a clear title.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Latisan, the Comas has never been able to round up those heirs&#8212;and
+what we can&#8217;t do with all our resources can&#8217;t be done by you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Latisans know this region better than the Comas folks know it, sir.
+Five cousins by hard hunting&#8212;two gravestones by good luck! All heirs
+located! Why don&#8217;t you congratulate me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Just then the Comas director was thinking instead of talking.</p>
+
+<p>In his operations he was a cocksure individual, Mr. Craig was! In his
+hands, by his suggestion, his New York superiors had placed all the
+details of business in the field of the north country. He had promised
+consolidation with full belief in his ability to perform; one explicit
+promise had been that this season would mark the end of the opposition
+by the independents; the Comas would secure complete control of the
+Toban timber and fix prices. But here were the ringleader Latisans in a
+way to smash the corner which Craig had manipulated by bulldozing and
+bribery! In the past Craig had not bothered headquarters with any minute
+explanations of how he accomplished results. This crusher which
+threatened all his plans and promises would make a monkey of him in New
+York, he reflected.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I want to say a last word to you, Mr. Craig,&#8221; continued Latisan,
+stiffly. &#8220;Probably we are now in for that fight on which you&#8217;ve been
+insisting. I don&#8217;t want to fight, but I&#8217;m ready for a fair stand-up.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>Just a moment, please!&#8221; Craig had barked a few oaths preliminary to an
+outpouring of his feelings. &#8220;I&#8217;m warning you to let up on those
+guerrilla tactics of yours. I propose to find out whether your big men
+in New York are backing you. I&#8217;m telling you now to your face, so you
+can&#8217;t accuse me later of carrying tales behind your back, of my
+intention to go to New York and report conditions to the president of
+the Comas.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you dare!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I do dare. I&#8217;m going. I expect you to run in ahead of me, but no
+matter. And speaking of tales behind a man&#8217;s <span class="nowrap">back&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>Craig was having difficulty in finding speech for retort; Latisan was
+rushing the affair. Again Craig blustered, &#8220;Don&#8217;t you dare!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I do dare. When I went away last summer I had good reasons for
+keeping my plans to myself. I got back to the Toban and found slander
+accusing me of sporting in the city, deviling around with liquor and
+women. That&#8217;s a damnable lie!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan delivered the accusation hotly; there was unmistakable challenge
+in his demeanor. &#8220;You yourself have handed around some of that slander,
+Mr. Craig. I get it straight from men whose word is good!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I only said what others were saying.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know, of course, who started those stories, but I do know that
+they have been used against me. They have helped you, it seems! I wanted
+to keep my plans under cover&#8212;but I&#8217;ve got to protect myself with the
+truth, even if the truth gives you a tip. I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>went away to take a special
+course in hydraulic engineering, so as to know more about protecting the
+common rights in the flowage of this river.&#8221; He swung his hand to
+indicate the thundering falls of Hagas. &#8220;You have used your tongue to
+hurt my standing with some of the independents&#8212;they distrust my
+reliability and good faith&#8212;you have pulled in a few of them. The others
+will stand by me. Frankly, Mr. Craig, I don&#8217;t like your style! It&#8217;ll be
+a good thing for both of us if we have no more talk after this.&#8221; He
+walked rapidly down the tote road, not turning his head when Craig
+called furiously after him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Pretty uppish, ain&#8217;t he?&#8221; ventured the driver, touching the horses with
+the whip.</p>
+
+<p>Craig, bouncing alone on the middle seat of the buckboard, grunted.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Excuse me, Mr. Craig, but that&#8217;s some news&#8212;what he said about getting
+aholt of the old Walpole tract.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The Comas boss did not comment.</p>
+
+<p>The driver said nothing more for some time; he was a slouchy woodsman of
+numb wits; he chewed tobacco constantly with the slow jaw motion of a
+ruminating steer, and he looked straight ahead between the ears of the
+nigh horse, going through mental processes of a certain sort. &#8220;Now &#8217;t I
+think of it, I wish I&#8217;d grabbed in with a question to young Latisan. But
+he doesn&#8217;t give anybody much of a chance to grab in when he&#8217;s talking.
+Still, I&#8217;d have liked to ask him something.&#8221; He maundered on in that
+strain for several minutes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ask him what?&#8221; snapped Craig, tired of the monologue.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>&#8220;Whuther he&#8217;s talked with my old aunt Dorcas about the heir who went
+off into the West somewheres. Grandson of the old sir who was the first
+Walpole of the Toban&#8212;real heir, if he&#8217;s still alive! My aunt Dorcas had
+letters about him, or from him, or something like that, only a few years
+ago.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here!&#8221; stormed Craig. &#8220;Why haven&#8217;t you said something about such
+letters or such an heir?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nobody has ever asked me. And he&#8217;s prob&#8217;ly dead, anyway. Them lawyers
+know everything. And he&#8217;s a roving character, as I remember what my aunt
+said. No use o&#8217; telling anybody about him&#8212;it would cost too much to
+find him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Cost too much!&#8221; snarled the Comas director. &#8220;Oh, <span class="nowrap">you&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> But he choked
+back what he wanted to say about the man&#8217;s intellect. Craig pulled out
+notebook and pencil and began to fire questions.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan was headed for home, the old family mansion in the village of
+Toban Deadwater where Ward and his widowed father kept bachelor&#8217;s hall,
+with a veteran woods cook to tend and do for them. The male cook was
+Ward&#8217;s idea. The young man had lived much in the woods, and the ways of
+women about the house annoyed him; a bit of clutter was more
+comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long tramp to the Deadwater, but he knew the blazed-trail short
+cuts and took advantage of the light of the full moon for the last stage
+of the journey. He was eager to report progress and prospects to his
+father.</p>
+
+<p>Ward was not anticipating much in the way of practical counsel from
+Garry Latisan.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>Old John had been a Tartar, a blustering baron of the timberlands.</p>
+
+<p>Garry, his son, had taken to books and study. He was slow and mild,
+deprecatory and forgiving. Ward Latisan had those saving qualities in a
+measure, but he was conscious in himself of the avatar of old John&#8217;s
+righteous belligerency when occasion prompted.</p>
+
+<p>Ward, as he was trudging home, was trying to keep anger from clouding
+his judgment. When he felt old John stirring in him, young Latisan
+sought the mild counsel of Garry, and then went ahead on a line of
+action of his own; he was steering a safe course, he felt, by keeping
+about halfway between John&#8217;s violence in performance and Garry&#8217;s
+toleration.</p>
+
+<p>Ward was the executive of the Latisan business and liked the job; his
+youth and vigor found zest in the adventures of the open. Old John&#8217;s
+timber man&#8217;s spirit had been handed along to the grandson. Ward finished
+his education at a seminary&#8212;and called it enough. His father urged him
+to go to college, but he went into the woods and was glad to be there,
+at the head of affairs.</p>
+
+<p>The operations on the old tracts, thinned by many cuttings, had been
+keeping him closely on the job, because there were problems to be solved
+if profits were to be handled.</p>
+
+<p>His stroke in getting hold of the Walpole tract promised profits without
+problems; there were just so many trees to cut down&#8212;and the river was
+handy!</p>
+
+<p>In spite of his weariness, Ward sat till midnight on the porch with his
+father, going over their plans. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>young man surveyed the Latisan mill
+and the houses of the village while he talked; the moon lighted all and
+the mill loomed importantly, reflected in the still water of the pond.
+If Craig prevailed, the mill and the homes must be left to rot, empty,
+idle, and worthless. As Ward viewed it, the honor of the Latisans was at
+stake; the spirit of old John blazed in the grandson; but he declared
+his intention to fight man fashion, if the fight were forced on him. He
+would go to the Comas headquarters in New York, he said, not to ask for
+odds or beg for favors, but to explain the situation and to demand that
+Craig be required to confine himself to the tactics of square business
+rivalry.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And my course in engineering was a good investment; I can talk turkey
+to them about our dams and the flowage rights. I don&#8217;t believe they&#8217;re
+backing up Craig&#8217;s piracy!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Garry Latisan agreed fully with his son and expressed the wistful wish,
+as he did regularly in their conferences, that he could be of more real
+help.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Your sympathy and your praise are help enough, father,&#8221; Ward declared,
+with enthusiasm. &#8220;We&#8217;re sure of our cut; all I&#8217;m asking from the Comas
+is gangway for our logs. There must be square men at the head of that
+big corporation!&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span><a name="two" id="two"></a>CHAPTER TWO</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">IN New York young Latisan plunged straight at his business.</p>
+
+<p>The home office of the Comas Consolidated Company was in a towering
+structure in the metropolis&#8217;s financial district. On the translucent
+glass of many doors there was a big C with two smaller C&#8217;s nested. In
+the north country everybody called the corporation The Three C&#8217;s.</p>
+
+<p>After a fashion, the sight of the portentous monogram made Ward feel
+more at home. Up where he lived the letters were familiar. Those nested
+C&#8217;s stood for wide-flung ownership along the rivers of the north. The
+monogram was daubed in blue paint on the ends of countless logs; it
+marked the boxes and barrels and sacks of mountains of supplies along
+the tote roads; it designated as the property of the Comas Company all
+sorts of possessions from log camps down to the cant dog in the hands of
+the humblest Polack toiler. Those nested C&#8217;s were dominant, assertive,
+and the folks of the north were awed by the everlasting reduplication
+along the rivers and in the forests.</p>
+
+<p>Ward, indignantly seeking justice, resolved not to be awed in the castle
+of the giant. He presented himself at a gate and asked to see the
+president. The president could not be seen except by appointment,
+Latisan learned.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>What was the caller&#8217;s business? Latisan attempted to explain, but he
+was halted by the declaration that all details in the timber country
+were left to Rufus Craig, field manager!</p>
+
+<p>When Ward insisted that his previous talks with Craig had only made
+matters worse for all concerned, and when he pleaded for an opportunity
+to talk with somebody&#8212;anybody&#8212;at headquarters, he finally won his way
+to the presence of a sallow man who filmed his hard eyes and listened
+with an air of silent protest. He also referred Latisan back to Craig.
+&#8220;We don&#8217;t interfere with his management of details in the north.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Evidently Mr. Craig had been attending to his defenses in the home
+office.</p>
+
+<p>Ward&#8217;s temper was touched by the listener&#8217;s slighting apathy. &#8220;I&#8217;ve come
+here to protest against unfair methods. Our men are tampered with&#8212;told
+that the Latisans are on their last legs. We are losing from our crews
+right along. We have been able to hire more men to take the places of
+those who have been taken away from us. But right now we are up against
+persistent reports that we shall not be able to get down our cut in the
+spring. Sawmill owners are demanding bonds from us to assure delivery;
+otherwise they will cancel their orders.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you know any good reason why you can&#8217;t deliver?&#8221; probed the Comas
+man, showing a bit of interest.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Your Mr. Craig seems to know. I blame him for these stories.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid you&#8217;re laboring under a delusion, Mr. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>Latisan. Why don&#8217;t
+you sell out to our company? Most of the other independents have found
+it to their advantage&#8212;seen it in the right light.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Craig&#8217;s tactics have driven some small concerns to see it that way,
+sir. But my grandfather was operating in the north and supplying the
+sawmills with timber before the paper mills began to grab off every tree
+big enough to prop a spruce bud. Villages have been built up around the
+sawmills. If the paper folks get hold of everything those villages will
+die; all the logs will be run down to the paper mills.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Naturally,&#8221; said the sallow man. &#8220;Paper is king these days.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then he received a handful of documents from a clerk who entered, again
+referred Ward to Mr. Craig, advised him to treat with the latter in the
+field, where the business belonged, and hunched a dismissing shoulder
+toward the caller.</p>
+
+<p>Ward had not been asked to sit down; he swung on his heel, but he
+stopped and turned. &#8220;As to selling out, even if we can bring ourselves
+to that! Mr. Craig has beaten independents to their knees and has made
+them accept his price. It&#8217;s not much else than ruin when a man sells to
+him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Persecutional mania is a dangerous hallucination,&#8221; stated the sallow
+man. &#8220;Mr. Craig has accomplished certain definite results in the north
+country. We have used the word Consolidated in our corporation name with
+full knowledge of what we are after. We assure stable conditions in the
+timber industry. You must move with the trend of the times.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had been revolving in his mind certain <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>statements which he
+proposed to make to the big men of the Comas. He had assorted and
+classified those statements before he entered the castle of the great
+corporation. With youth&#8217;s optimism he had anticipated a certain measure
+of sympathy&#8212;had in some degree pictured at least one kindly man in the
+Comas outfit who would listen to a young chap&#8217;s troubles.</p>
+
+<p>Walking to the door, standing with his hand on the knob, he knew he must
+go back to the woods with the dolorous prospect of being obliged to
+fight to hold together the remnants of the Latisan business. He set his
+teeth and opened the door. He would have gone without further words, but
+the sallow man snapped a half threat which brought Ward around on his
+heels.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Latisan, I hope you will carry away with you the conviction that
+fighting the Comas company will not get you anything.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ward choked for a moment. Old John was stirring in him. A fettered yelp
+was bulging in his throat, and the skin of the back of his head tingled
+as if the hair were rising. But he spoke quietly when he allowed his
+voice to squeeze past the repressed impulse. &#8220;There&#8217;s a real fight ready
+to break in the north country, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you propose to be captain?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have no such ambition. But your Mr. Craig is forcing the issue. No
+company is big enough to buck the law in our state.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, my good fellow!&#8221; The sallow man came around in his chair.
+Ward immediately was more fully informed as to the personage&#8217;s status.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>&#8220;I am one of the attorneys of this corporation. I have been attending
+to the special acts your legislature has passed in our behalf. We are
+fully protected by law.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The question is how much you&#8217;ll be protected after facts are brought
+out by a fight,&#8221; replied Ward, stoutly. &#8220;I know the men who have been
+sent down to the legislature from our parts and how they were elected.
+But even such men get cold feet after the public gets wise.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;ll be enough!&#8221; snapped the attorney. He turned to his desk again.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it looks like it,&#8221; agreed young Latisan; he did not bang the door
+after him; he closed it softly.</p>
+
+<p>The attorney was obliged to look around to assure himself that his
+caller was not in the room. Then he pushed a button and commanded a
+clerk to ask if Mr. Craig was still in the president&#8217;s office. Informed
+that Mr. Craig was there, the attorney went thither.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have just been bothered by that young chap, Latisan, from the Tomah
+region,&#8221; reported Dawes, the attorney. &#8220;He threatens a fight which will
+rip the cover off affairs in the north country. How about what&#8217;s
+underneath, provided the cover is ripped off, Craig?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Everything sweet as a nut! Any other kind of talk is bluff and
+blackmail. So that&#8217;s young Latisan&#8217;s latest move, eh?&#8221; he ejaculated,
+squinting appraisingly at Dawes and turning full gaze of candor&#8217;s fine
+assumption on Horatio Marlow, the president.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just who is this young Latisan?&#8221; inquired Marlow.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, only the son of one of the independents who <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>are sticking out on a
+hold-up against us. Did he name his price, Dawes?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He didn&#8217;t try to sell anything,&#8221; acknowledged the attorney. &#8220;Craig, let
+me ask you, are you moving along the lines of the law we have behind us
+in those special acts I steered through?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sure thing!&#8221; asserted the field director, boldly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got to ask for more from the next legislature,&#8221; stated the
+lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>The president came in with a warning. &#8220;Credit is touchy these days, Mr.
+Craig. We&#8217;re going into the market for big money for further
+development. It&#8217;s easy for reports to be made very hurtful.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m achieving results up there,&#8221; insisted Craig, doggedly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re very much pleased with conditions,&#8221; agreed the president. &#8220;We&#8217;re
+able to show capital a constantly widening control of properties and
+natural advantages. But remember Achilles&#8217;s heel, Mr. Craig.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t been able to fight &#8217;em with feathers all the time,&#8221; confessed
+the field director. &#8220;There wasn&#8217;t much law operating up there when I
+grabbed in. I have done the best I could, and if I have been obliged to
+use a club once in a while I have made the fight turn something for the
+corporation.&#8221; He exhibited the pride of the man who had accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>The attorney warned Craig again. &#8220;We can&#8217;t afford to have any uproar
+started till we get our legislation properly cinched. Tomah seems to be
+attended to. But we need some pretty drastic special acts before we can
+go over the watershed and control the Noda <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>waters and pull old Flagg
+into line. He&#8217;s the last, isn&#8217;t he?&#8212;the king-pin, according to what I
+hear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll attend to his case all right,&#8221; declared Craig, with confidence.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ll tackle the Noda basin next. Flagg must be licked before he&#8217;ll
+sell. He&#8217;s that sort. A half lunatic on this independent thing. I reckon
+you&#8217;ll leave it to me, won&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll leave all the details of operation in the field to you, Craig,&#8221;
+promised the president. &#8220;But you must play safe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll take full responsibility,&#8221; affirmed Craig, whose pride had been
+touched.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then we shall continue to value you as our right bower in the north,&#8221;
+said Marlow. &#8220;The man on the ground understands the details. We don&#8217;t
+try to follow them here in the home office.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig walked out with Dawes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That talk has put the thing up to you square-edged, Craig.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig had been heartened and fortified by the president&#8217;s compliments.
+&#8220;Leave it to me!&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span><a name="three" id="three"></a>CHAPTER THREE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">LATISAN had eaten his breakfast in the grill of a big hotel with a vague
+idea that such an environment would tune him up to meet the magnates of
+the Comas company.</p>
+
+<p>In his present and humbler state of mind, hungry again, he went into a
+cafeteria.</p>
+
+<p>Waiting at the counter for his meat stew and tea&#8212;familiar woods
+provender which appealed to his homesickness&#8212;he became aware of a young
+woman at his elbow; she was having difficulty in managing her tray and
+her belongings. There was an autumn drizzle outside and Ward had stalked
+along unprotected, with a woodman&#8217;s stoicism in regard to wetness. The
+young woman had her umbrella, a small bag, and a parcel, and she was
+clinging to all of them, impressed by the &#8220;Not Responsible&#8221; signs which
+sprinkled the walls of the place. When her tray tipped at an alarming
+slant, as she elbowed her way from the crowded counter, Ward caught at
+its edge and saved a spill.</p>
+
+<p>The girl smiled gratefully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you don&#8217;t mind,&#8221; he apologized; his own tray was ready. He took that
+in his free hand. He gently pulled her tray from her unsteady grasp.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ll carry it to a table.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The table section was as crowded as the counter <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>space. He did not offer
+to sit opposite her at the one vacant table he found; he lingered,
+however, casting about himself for another seat.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;May I not exchange my hospitality for your courtesy?&#8221; inquired the
+girl. She nodded toward the unoccupied chair and he sat down and thanked
+her.</p>
+
+<p>She was an extremely self-possessed young woman, who surveyed him
+frankly with level gaze from her gray eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You performed very nicely, getting through that crush as you did
+without spilling anything,&#8221; she commended.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had plenty of practice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She opened her eyes on him by way of a question. &#8220;Not as a waiter,&#8221; he
+proceeded. &#8220;But with those trays in my hand it was like being on the
+drive, ramming my way through the gang that was charging the cook tent.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The drive!&#8221; she repeated. He was surprised by the sudden interest he
+roused in her. &#8220;Are you from the north country?&#8221; Her color heightened
+with her interest. She leaned forward.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan, in his infrequent experiences, had never been at ease in the
+presence of pretty girls, even when their notice of him was merely
+cursory. In the region where he had toiled there were few females, and
+those were spouses and helpers of woods cooks, mostly.</p>
+
+<p>Here was a maid of the big city showing an interest disquietingly
+acute&#8212;her glowing eyes and parted lips revealed her emotions. At the
+moment he was not able to separate himself, as a personality, from the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>subject which he had brought up. Just what there was about him or the
+subject to arouse her so strangely he did not pause to inquire of
+himself, for his thoughts were not coherent just then; he, too, was
+stirred by her nearer propinquity as she leaned forward, questioning him
+eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>He replied, telling what he was but not who he was; he felt a twinge of
+disappointment because she did not venture to probe into his identity.
+Her questions were concerned with the north country as a region. At
+first her quizzing was of a general nature. Then she narrowed the field
+of inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You say the Tomah waters are parallel with the Noda basin! Do you know
+many folks over in the Noda region?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very few. I have kept pretty closely on my own side of the watershed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t there a village in the Noda called Adonia?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh yes! It&#8217;s the jumping-off place&#8212;the end of a narrow-gauge
+railroad.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have been in Adonia?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A few times.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had&#8212;there were friends of mine&#8212;they were friends of a man in
+Adonia. His name was&#8212;let&#8217;s see!&#8221; He wondered whether the faint wrinkle
+of a frown under the bronze-flecked hair on her forehead was as much the
+expression of puzzled memory as she was trying to make it seem; there
+did appear something not wholly ingenuous in her looks just then. &#8220;Oh,
+his name is Flagg.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Echford Flagg?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that&#8217;s it. My friends were very friendly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>with him, and I&#8217;d like
+to be able to tell <span class="nowrap">them&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> She hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have given me some news,&#8221; he declared, bluntly; in his mood of the
+day he was finding no good qualities in mankind. &#8220;I never heard of Eck
+Flagg having any friends. Well, I&#8217;ll take that back! I believe he&#8217;s ace
+high among the Tarratine Indians up our way; they have made him an
+honorary chief. But it&#8217;s no particular compliment to a white man&#8217;s
+disposition to be able to qualify as an Indian, as I look at it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This time he was not in doubt about the expression on her face; a sudden
+grimace like grief wreathed the red lips and there was more than a
+suspicion of tears in her eyes. He stared at her, frankly amazed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If I have stepped on toes I am sorry. I never did know how to talk to
+young ladies without making a mess sooner or later.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She returned no reply, and he went on with his food to cover his
+embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you know Mr. Flagg?&#8221; she asked, after the silence had been
+prolonged.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not very well. But I know about him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What especially?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That he&#8217;s a hard man. He never forgets or forgives an injury. Perhaps
+that&#8217;s why he qualified so well as an Indian.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She straightened in her chair and narrowed those gray eyes. &#8220;Couldn&#8217;t
+there have been another reason why he was chosen for such an honor?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I beg your pardon for passing along to you the slurs of the north
+country, <span class="nowrap">miss&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> he paused but <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>she did not help him with her name.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s mostly slurs up there,&#8221; he went on, with bitterness, &#8220;and I get
+into the habit, myself. The Indians did have a good reason for giving
+Flagg that honor. He is the only one in the north who has respected the
+Indians&#8217; riparian rights, given by treaty and then stolen back. He pays
+them for hold-boom privileges when his logs are on their shores. They
+are free to come and go on his lands for birch bark and basket
+stuff&#8212;he&#8217;s the only one who respects the old treaties. That&#8217;s well
+known about Flagg in the north country. It&#8217;s a good streak in any man,
+no matter what folks say about his general disposition.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad to hear you say that much!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She pushed back her chair slightly and began to take stock of her
+possessions. A sort of a panic came upon him. There were a lot of things
+he wanted to say, and he could not seem to lay a tongue to one of them.
+He stammered something about the wet day and wondered whether it would
+be considered impudence if he offered to escort her, holding over her
+the umbrella or carrying her parcel. He had crude ideas about the matter
+of squiring dames. He wanted to ask her not to hurry away. &#8220;Do you live
+here in New York&#8212;handy by?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The cafeteria was just off lower Broadway, and she smiled. He realized
+the idiocy of the question.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I work near here! You are going home to the north soon?&#8221; The polite
+query was in a tone which checked all his new impulses in regard to her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m headed north right now. If there&#8217;s any information I can send
+<span class="nowrap">you&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>She shook her head slowly, but even the negative was marked by an
+indecisive quality, as if she were repressing some importunate desire.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wish you a pleasant journey, sir.&#8221; All her belongings were in her
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s queer&#8212;it&#8217;s almost more than queer how we happened to meet&#8212;both
+interested in the north country,&#8221; he stuttered, wanting to detain her.</p>
+
+<p>He was hoping she would make something of the matter.</p>
+
+<p>But she merely acknowledged the truth of his statement, adding, &#8220;There
+would be more such coincidences in life if folks took the trouble to
+interest themselves a bit in one another and compare notes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She started to walk away; then she whirled and came back to the table
+and leaned over it. Her soul of longing was in her eyes&#8212;they were
+filled with tears. &#8220;You&#8217;re going back there,&#8221; she whispered. &#8220;God bless
+the north country! Give a friendly pat to one of the big trees for me
+and say you found a girl in New York who is homesick.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She turned from him before he could summon words.</p>
+
+<p>He wanted to call after her&#8212;to find out more about her. He saw her
+gathering up her change at the cashier&#8217;s wicket. The spectacle reminded
+him of his own check. Even love at first sight, if such could be the
+strange new emotion struggling within him, could not enable him to leap
+the barrier of the cashier&#8217;s cold stare and rush away without paying
+scot. He hunted for his punched check. He pawed all over the marble top
+of the table, rattling the dishes.</p>
+
+<p>A check&#8212;it was surely all of that!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>The search for it checked him till the girl was gone, mingled with the
+street crowds. He found the little devil of a delayer in the paper
+napkin which he had nervously wadded and dropped on the floor. He shoved
+money to the cashier and did not wait for his change. He rushed out on
+the street and stretched up his six stalwart feet and craned his neck
+and hunted for the little green toque with the white quill.</p>
+
+<p>It was a vain quest.</p>
+
+<p>He did not know just what the matter was with him all of a sudden. He
+had never had any personal experience with that which he had vaguely
+understood was love; he had merely viewed it from a standpoint of a
+disinterested observer, in the case of other men. He hated to admit, as
+he stood there in the drizzle, his defeat by a cafeteria check.</p>
+
+<p>He remained in New York for another night, his emotions aggravatingly
+complex. He tried to convince his soul that he had a business reason for
+staying. He lied to himself and said he would make another desperate
+sortie on the castle of the Comas company. But he did not go there the
+next day. Near noon he set himself to watch the entrance of the
+cafeteria. When he saw a table vacant near the door he went in, secured
+food, and posted himself where he could view all comers.</p>
+
+<p>The girl did not come.</p>
+
+<p>At two o&#8217;clock, after eating three meals, he did not dare to brave the
+evident suspicions of that baleful cashier any longer. Undoubtedly the
+girl had been a casual customer like himself. He gave it up and started
+for the north.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span><a name="four" id="four"></a>CHAPTER FOUR</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">WHEN Ward Latisan was home again and had laced his high boots and
+buttoned his belted jacket, he was wondering, in the midst of his other
+troubles, why he allowed the matter of a chance-met girl to play so big
+a part in his thoughts. The exasperating climax of his adventure with
+the girl, his failure to ask her name frankly, his folly of bashful
+backwardness in putting questions when she was at arm&#8217;s length from him,
+his mournful certainty that he would never see her again&#8212;all conspired
+curiously to make her an obsession rather than a mere memory.</p>
+
+<p>He had never bothered with mental analysis; his effort to untangle his
+ideas in this case merely added to his puzzlement; it was like one of
+those patent trick things which he had picked up in idle moments,
+allowing the puzzle to bedevil attention and time, intriguing his
+interest, to his disgust. He had felt particularly lonely and helpless
+when he came away from Comas headquarters; instinctively he was seeking
+friendly companionship&#8212;opening his heart; he had caught something, just
+as a man with open pores catches cold. He found the notion grimly
+humorous! But Latisan was not ready to own up that what he had
+contracted was a case of love, though young men had related to him their
+experiences along such lines.</p>
+
+<p>He went into the woods and put himself at the head <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>of the crews. He had
+the ability to inspire zeal and loyalty.</p>
+
+<p>In the snowy avenues of the Walpole tract sounded the rick-tack of busy
+axes, the yawk of saws, and the crash of falling timber. The twitch
+roads, narrow trails which converged to centers like the strands of a
+cobweb, led to the yards where the logs were piled for the sleds; and
+from the yards, after the snows were deep and had been iced by watering
+tanks on sleds, huge loads were eased down the slopes to the landings
+close to the frozen Tomah.</p>
+
+<p>Ward Latisan was not merely a sauntering boss, inspecting operations. He
+went out in the gray mornings with an ax in his hand. He understood the
+value of personal and active leadership. He was one with his men. They
+put forth extra effort because he was with them.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, when the April rains began to soften the March snow crusts
+and the spring flood sounded its first murmur under the blackening ice
+of Tomah, the Latisan logs were ready to be rolled into the river.</p>
+
+<p>And then something happened!</p>
+
+<p>That contract with the Walpole second cousins&#8212;pronounced an air-tight
+contract by the lawyer&#8212;was pricked, popped, and became nothing.</p>
+
+<p>An heir appeared and proved his rights. He was the only grandson of old
+Isaac. The cousins did not count in the face of the grandson&#8217;s claims.</p>
+
+<p>In the past, in the Tomah region, there had been fictitious heirs who
+had worked blackmail on operators who took a chance with putative heirs
+and tax <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>titles. But the Latisans were faced with proofs that this heir
+was real and right.</p>
+
+<p>Why had he waited until the cut was landed?</p>
+
+<p>The Latisans pressed him with desperate questions, trying to find a way
+out of their trouble.</p>
+
+<p>He was a sullen and noncommunicative person and intimated that he had
+suited his own convenience in coming on from the West.</p>
+
+<p>The Latisans, when the heir appeared, were crippled for ready cash,
+after settling with the cousin heirs for stumpage and paying the
+winter&#8217;s costs of operating. Those cousins were needy folks and had
+spent the money paid to them; there was no hope of recovering any
+considerable portion of the amounts.</p>
+
+<p>The true heir attached the logs as they lay, and a court injunction
+prevented the Latisans from moving a stick. The heir showed a somewhat
+singular disinclination to have any dealings with the Latisans. He
+refused their offer to share profits with him; he persistently returned
+an exasperating reply: he did not care to do business with men who had
+tried to steal his property. He said he had already traded with
+responsible parties. Comas surveyors came and scaled the logs and nested
+C&#8217;s were painted on the ends of the timber.</p>
+
+<p>The Latisans had &#8220;gone bump&#8221; the word went up and down the Tomah.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, go ahead and say it!&#8221; suggested Rufus Craig when he had set
+himself in the path of Ward Latisan, who was coming away from a last,
+and profitless, interview with the obstinate heir.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have nothing to say, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>Craig calculatingly chose the moment for this meeting, desiring to
+carry on with the policy which he had adopted. By his system the Comas
+had maneuvered after the python method&#8212;it crushed, it smeared, it
+swallowed.</p>
+
+<p>The Latisans had been crushed&#8212;Craig quieted his conscience with the
+arguments of business necessity; he had a big salary to safeguard; he
+had promised boldly to deliver the goods in the north country. Though
+his conscience was dormant, his fears were awake. He was not relishing
+Latisan&#8217;s manner. The repression worried him. The grandson had plenty of
+old John in his nature, and Craig knew it!</p>
+
+<p>Craig tried to smear!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Latisan, I&#8217;ll give you a position with the Comas, and a good one.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And the conditions are?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That you&#8217;ll turn over your operating equipment to us at a fair price
+and sign a ten-year contract.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I knew you&#8217;d name those conditions. I refuse.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re making a fool of yourself&#8212;and what for?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For a principle! I&#8217;ve explained it to you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And I&#8217;ve explained how our consolidated plan butts against your
+old-fashioned principle. Do you think for one minute you can stop the
+Comas development?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m still with the independents. We&#8217;ll see what can be done.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re licked in the Toban.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s still good fighting ground over in the Noda Valley&#8212;and some
+fighters are left there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>Craig squinted irefully at the presumptuous rebel.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan hid much behind a smile. &#8220;You see, Mr. Craig, I&#8217;m just as frank
+as I was when I said I was going to New York. You may find me in the
+Noda when you get there with your consolidation plans.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Another case of David and Goliath, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps! I&#8217;ll hunt around and see what I can find in the way of a sling
+and pebble.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span><a name="five" id="five"></a>CHAPTER FIVE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">A SUMMONS sent forth by Echford Flagg, the last of the giants among the
+independent operators on the Noda waters, had made that day in early
+April a sort of gala affair in the village of Adonia.</p>
+
+<p>Men by the hundred were crowded into the one street, which stretched
+along the river bank in front of the tavern and the stores. The
+narrow-gauge train from downcountry had brought many. Others had come
+from the woods in sledges; there was still plenty of snow in the woods;
+but in the village the runner irons squalled over the bare spots. Men
+came trudging from the mouths of trails and tote roads, their duffel in
+meal bags slung from their shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>An observer, looking on, listening, would have discovered that a
+suppressed spirit of jest kept flashing across the earnestness of the
+occasion&#8212;grins lighting up sharp retort&#8212;just as the radiant sunshine
+of the day shuttled through the intermittent snow squalls which dusted
+the shoulders of the thronging men.</p>
+
+<p>There was a dominant monotone above all the talk and the cackle of
+laughter; ears were dinned everlastingly by the thunder of the cataract
+near the village. The Noda waters break their winter fetters first of
+all at Adonia, where the river leaps from the cliffs into the whirlpool.
+The roar of the falls is a trumpet call for the starting of the drive,
+though the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>upper waters may be ice-bound; but when the falls shout
+their call the rivermen must be started north toward the landings where
+logs are piled on the rotting ice.</p>
+
+<p>On that day Echford Flagg proposed to pick his crew.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, he had picked a crew every year in early April, but the
+hiring had been done in a more or less matter-of-fact manner.</p>
+
+<p>This year the summons had a suggestion of portent. It went by word o&#8217;
+mouth from man to man all through the north country. It hinted at an
+opportunity for adventure outside of wading in shallows, carding ledges
+of jillpoked logs, and the bone-breaking toil of rolling timber and
+riffling jams.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Eck Flagg wants roosters this year,&#8221; had gone the word. Spurred
+roosters! Fighting gamecocks! One spur for a log and one for any hellion
+who should get in the way of an honest drive!</p>
+
+<p>The talk among the men who shouldered one another in the street and
+swapped grins and gab revealed that not all of them were ready to
+volunteer as spurred roosters, ready for hazard. It was evident that
+there were as many mere spectators as there were actual candidates for
+jobs. Above all, ardent curiosity prevailed; in that region where events
+marshaled themselves slowly and sparsely men did not balk at riding or
+hoofing it a dozen miles or more in order to get first-hand information
+in regard to anything novel or worth while.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, Echford Flagg stalked down the hill from his big, square
+house&#8212;its weather-beaten grayness <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>matching the ledges on which it was
+propped. His beard and hair were the color of the ledges, too, and the
+seams in his hard face were like ledgerifts. His belted jacket was stone
+gray and it was buttoned over the torso of a man who was six feet
+tall&#8212;yes, a bit over that height. He was straight and vigorous in spite
+of the age revealed in his features. He carried a cant dog over his
+shoulder; the swinging iron tongue of it clanked as he strode along.</p>
+
+<p>The handle of the tool was curiously striped with colors. There was no
+other cant dog like it all up and down the Noda waters. Carved into the
+wood was an emblem&#8212;it was the totem mark of the Tarratines&#8212;the sign
+manual by Sachem Nicola of Flagg&#8217;s honorary membership in the tribe.</p>
+
+<p>He was no popular hero in that section&#8212;it was easy to gather that much
+from the expressions of the men who looked at him when he marched
+through the crowd. There was no acclaim, only a grunt or a sniff. Too
+many of them had worked for him in days past and had felt the weight of
+his broad palm and the slash of his sharp tongue. Ward Latisan had
+truthfully expressed the Noda&#8217;s opinion of Flagg in the talk with the
+girl in the cafeteria.</p>
+
+<p>The unroofed porch of the tavern served Flagg for a rostrum that day. He
+mounted the porch, faced the throng, and drove down the steel-shod point
+of his cant dog into the splintering wood, swinging the staff out to
+arm&#8217;s length.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m hiring a driving crew to-day,&#8221; he shouted. &#8220;As for <span class="nowrap">men&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s one,&#8221; broke in a volunteer, thrusting him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>self forward with
+scant respect for the orator&#8217;s exordium.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg bent forward and peered down into the face uplifted hopefully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I said men,&#8221; he roared. &#8220;You&#8217;re Larsen. You went to sleep on the Lotan
+<span class="nowrap">ledges&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had been there alone for forty-eight hours, carding &#8217;em, and the
+<span class="nowrap">logs&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You went to sleep on the Lotan ledges, I say, and let a jam get
+tangled, and it took twenty of my men two days to pull the snarl loose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The man was close to the edge of the porch. Flagg set his boot suddenly
+against Larsen&#8217;s breast and drove him away so viciously that the victim
+fell on his back among the legs of the crowd, ten feet from the porch.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I never forget and I never forgive&#8212;and that&#8217;s the word that&#8217;s out
+about me, and I&#8217;m proud of the reputation,&#8221; declared Flagg. &#8220;I don&#8217;t
+propose to smirch it at this late day. And now I look into your faces
+and realize that what I have just said and done adds to the bunch that
+has come here to-day to listen and look on instead of hiring out. I&#8217;m
+glad I&#8217;m sorting out the sheep from the goats at the outset. It happens
+that I want goats&#8212;goats with horns and sharp hoofs <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The word was you wanted roosters,&#8221; cried somebody from the outskirts of
+the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>There was laughter, seeking even that small excuse for vent; the
+hilarity was as expressive as a <em>viva voce</em> vote, and its volume
+suggested that there were more against Flagg than there were for him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>He did not lower his crest. &#8220;You all know what is happening this
+season. You know why I have sent out for men. The Three C&#8217;s crowd has
+started stealing from my crews. I want men who have a grudge against the
+Three C&#8217;s. I want men who will fight the Three C&#8217;s. Rufe Craig proposes
+to steal the Noda as he has stolen the Tomah. He has been making his
+brags of what he&#8217;ll do to me. He won&#8217;t do it, even if I have to make a
+special trip to hell and hire a crew of devils. Now let me test out this
+crowd.&#8221; He was searching faces with a keen gaze. &#8220;All proper men to the
+front ranks! Let me look at you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A slow movement began in the throng; men were pushing forward.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lively on the foot!&#8221; yelled Flagg. &#8220;I&#8217;m standing here judging you by
+the way you break this jam of the jillpokes. Walk over the cowards, you
+real men! Come on, you bully chaps! Come running! Hi yoop! Underfoot
+with &#8217;em!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He swung his cant dog and kept on adjuring.</p>
+
+<p>The real adventurers, the excitement seekers, the scrappers, drove into
+the press of those who were in the way. The field became a scene of
+riot. The bullies were called on to qualify under the eyes of the
+master. There were fisticuffs aplenty because husky men who might not
+care to enlist with old Eck Flagg were sufficiently muscular and ugly to
+strike back at attackers who stamped on their feet and drove fists into
+their backs.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg, on the porch, followed all phases of the scattered conflict,
+estimated men by the manner in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>which they went at what he had set them
+to do, and he surveyed them with favor when they crowded close to the
+edge of his rostrum, dwelling with particular interest on the faces
+which especially revealed that they had been up against the real thing
+in the way of a fight. Behind and around the gladiators who had won to
+the porch pressed the cordon of malcontents who cursed and threatened.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Much obliged for favor of prompt reply to mine of day and date,&#8221; said
+Flagg, with his grim humor. He drove his cant-dog point into the floor
+of the porch and left the tool waggling slowly to and fro. He leaped
+down among the men. He did not waste time with words. He went among
+them, gripping their arms to estimate the biceps, holding them off at
+arm&#8217;s length to judge their height and weight. He also looked at their
+teeth, rolling up their lips, horse-trader fashion. The drive provender
+did not consist of tender tidbits; a river jack must be able to chew
+tough meat, and the man in the wilderness with a toothache would have
+poor grit for work in bone-chilling water after a sleepless night.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg carried a piece of chalk in his right hand. When he accepted a man
+he autographed the initials &#8220;E F&#8221; on the back of the fellow&#8217;s shirt or
+jacket, in characteristic handwriting. &#8220;Show your back as you go north,&#8221;
+he proclaimed for the benefit of the strangers to his custom. &#8220;My
+initials are good for stage team, tote team, lodging, and meals&#8212;the
+bills are sent to Flagg. The sooner you start the sooner you&#8217;ll get to
+headwaters.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A big chap followed at Flagg&#8217;s back as the despot <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>moved among the men.
+He was Ben Kyle, Flagg&#8217;s drive boss, the first mate of the Flagg ship of
+state. He was writing down the names of the men as they were hired.
+Occasionally the master called on the mate to give in an opinion when a
+candidate ran close to the line between acceptance or rejection.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg began to show good humor beyond his usual wont. He was finding men
+who suited him. Many of them growled anathema against the Three C&#8217;s.
+They had worked for that corporation. They had been obliged to herd with
+roughscuff from the city employment agencies, unskilled men who were all
+the time coming and going and were mostly underfoot when they were on
+the job. One humorist averred that the Three C&#8217;s had three complete sets
+of crews&#8212;one working, one coming in, and one going out.</p>
+
+<p>Kyle began to loosen up and copy some of Flagg&#8217;s good humor.</p>
+
+<p>He encouraged the wag who had described the three shifts to say more
+about the Comas crews; he had some witticisms of his own to offer.</p>
+
+<p>And so it came to pass that when he tackled one hulking and bashful sort
+of a chap who stuttered, Kyle was in most excellent mood to have a
+little fun with a butt. Even Echford Flagg ceased operations to listen,
+for the humor seemed to be sharp-edged enough to suit his satiric taste.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You say you&#8217;re an ox teamster!&#8221; bawled the boss. &#8220;Well, well! That&#8217;s
+good. Reckon we&#8217;ll put some oxen onto the drive this spring so as to
+give you a job. How much do you know about teaming oxen?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>After a great deal of mirth-provoking difficulty with b and g, the man
+meekly explained that he did know the butt end of a gad from the brad
+end.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who in the crowd has got an ox or two in his pocket?&#8221; queried Kyle. &#8220;We
+can&#8217;t hire an ox teamster for the drive&#8221;&#8212;he dwelt on oxen for the drive
+with much humorous effect&#8212;&#8220;without being sure that he can drive oxen.
+It would be blasted aggravating to have our drive hung up and the oxen
+all willing enough to pull it along, and then find out that the teamster
+was no good.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Martin Brophy, tavernkeeper, was on the porch, enjoying the events that
+were staged in front of his place that day.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hey, Martin, isn&#8217;t there a gad in the cultch under your office desk?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Most everything has been left there, from an umbrella to a clap o&#8217;
+thunder,&#8221; admitted Brophy. &#8220;I&#8217;ll look and see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Better not go to fooling too much, Ben,&#8221; warned the master. &#8220;I&#8217;ve seen
+fooling spoil good business a lot of times.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was rebuke in the hearing of many men who were showing keen zest in
+what might be going to happen; it was treating a right-hand man like a
+child. Kyle resented it and his tone was sharp when he replied that he
+knew what he was doing. He turned away from the glaring eyes of the
+master and took in his hand the goad which Brophy brought.</p>
+
+<p>There was a sudden tautness in the situation between Flagg and Kyle, and
+the crowd noted it. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>master was not used to having his suggestions
+flouted.</p>
+
+<p>The boss thrust the goad into the hand of the bashful fellow. &#8220;There&#8217;s a
+hitchpost right side of you, my man. Make believe it&#8217;s a yoke of oxen.
+What are your motions and your style of language in getting a start. Go
+to it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The teamster swished the goad in beckoning fashion after he had rapped
+it against the post in imitation of knocking on an ox&#8217;s nose to summon
+attention. His efforts to vault lingually over the first &#8220;double-u&#8221;
+excited much mirth. Even the corners of Flagg&#8217;s mouth twitched.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wo, wo hysh! Gee up, Bright! Wo haw, Star!&#8221; Such was the opening
+command.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They don&#8217;t hear you,&#8221; declared Kyle. &#8220;Whoop &#8217;er up!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The teamster did make a desperate effort to drive his imaginary yoke of
+oxen. He danced and yelled and brandished the goad as a crazy director
+might slash with his baton. He used up all his drive words and
+invective.</p>
+
+<p>Kyle could not let the joke stop there after the man had thrown down the
+goad, wiped his forehead, and declared that it wasn&#8217;t fair, trying to
+make him start a hitching post.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Pick up your gad,&#8221; commanded the boss. He dropped on his hands and
+knees. &#8220;Now you show us what you can do. I&#8217;m a yoke of oxen.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You ain&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I tell you I am. Get busy. Start your team.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s about enough of that!&#8221; warned Flagg, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>sourly. &#8220;Kyle, get up onto
+your feet where you belong.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But the spirit of jest made the boss reckless and willfully disobedient.
+He insisted doggedly on his r&ocirc;le as a balky ox and scowled at the
+teamster. &#8220;If you want a job you&#8217;ll have to show <em>me</em>!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The teamster adjured Mr. Kyle in very polite language, and did not bring
+the swishing goad within two feet of the scornful nose; the candidate
+wanted a job and was not in a mood to antagonize a prospective boss.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re a hell of a teamster!&#8221; yapped Kyle. &#8220;What&#8217;s your system? Do you
+get action by feeding an ox lollypops, kissing him on the nose and
+saying, &#8217;Please,&#8217; and &#8217;Beg your pardon&#8217;?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The big chap began to show some spirit of his own under the lash of the
+laughter that was encouraging Kyle.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I ain&#8217;t getting a square deal, mister. That post wa&#8217;n&#8217;t an ox; you
+ain&#8217;t an ox.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am, I tell you! Start me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You vow and declare that you&#8217;re an ox, do you, before all in hearing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what!&#8221; Mr. Kyle was receiving the plaudits and encouragement of
+all his friends who enjoyed a joke, and was certain in his mind that he
+had that bashful stutterer sized up as a quitter. Flagg folded his arms
+and narrowed his eyes&#8212;his was the air of one who was allowing fate to
+deal with a fool who tempted it.</p>
+
+<p>The candidate did not hurry matters. He spat meditatively into first one
+fist and then into the other. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>He grasped the goad in both hands. He
+looked calculatingly at Mr. Kyle, who was on his hands and knees, and
+was cocking an arch and provocative look upward, approving the grins of
+the men near him.</p>
+
+<p>When the teamster did snap into action his manner indicated that he knew
+how to handle balky oxen. First he cracked Mr. Kyle smartly over the
+bridge of the nose. &#8220;Wo haw up!&#8221; was a command which Kyle tried to obey
+in a flame of ire, but a swifter and more violent blow across the nose
+sent him back on his heels, his eyes shut in his agony.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Gee up into the yoke, you crumpled-horn hyampus!&#8221; The teamster welted
+the goad across Kyle&#8217;s haunches and further encouraged the putative ox
+by a thrust of a full inch of the brad.</p>
+
+<p>When the boss came onto his feet with a berserker howl of fury and
+started to attack, the ox expert yelled, &#8220;Dat rat ye, don&#8217;t ye try to
+hook your horns into me!&#8221; Then he flailed the stick once more across
+Kyle&#8217;s nose with a force that knocked the boss flat on his back.</p>
+
+<p>Echford Flagg stepped forward and stood between the two men when Kyle
+struggled to his feet and started toward the teamster with the mania of
+blood lust in his red eyes. The master put forth a hand and thrust back
+the raging mate. Flagg said something, but for a time he could not be
+heard above the tempest of howling laughter.</p>
+
+<p>It was riotous abandonment to mirth. Men hung helplessly to other men or
+flapped their hands and staggered about, choking with their merriment.
+The savageness of the punishment administered to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>boastful Kyle
+might have shocked persons with squeamish dispositions; it was wildly
+humorous in the estimation of those men o&#8217; the forest. They were used to
+having their jokes served raw.</p>
+
+<p>The roar that fairly put into the background the riot of the falling
+waters of the Noda was what all the region recognized as the ruination
+of a man&#8217;s authority in the north country; it was the Big Laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg, when he could make himself heard by his boss, holding Kyle in his
+mighty grip, made mention of the Big Laugh, too. &#8220;Kyle, you&#8217;ve got it at
+last by your damn folly. You&#8217;re licked forever in these parts. I warned
+you. You went ahead against my word to you. You&#8217;re no good to me after
+this.&#8221; He yanked the list of names from Kyle&#8217;s jacket pocket.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me loose! I&#8217;m going to kill <span class="nowrap">that&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re going to walk out&#8212;and away! You&#8217;re done. You&#8217;re fired. You
+can&#8217;t boss men after this. A boss, are you?&#8221; he demanded, with bitter
+irony. &#8220;All up and down this river, if you tried to boss men, they&#8217;d
+give you the grin and call you &#8217;Co Boss&#8217;. They&#8217;d moo after you. Look at
+&#8217;em now. Listen to &#8217;em. Get out of my sight. I don&#8217;t forgive any man who
+goes against my word to him and then gets into trouble.&#8221; He thrust Kyle
+away with a force that sent the man staggering. He turned to the bashful
+chap, who had resumed his former demeanor of deprecation. &#8220;You&#8217;re hired.
+You&#8217;ve showed that you can drive oxen and I reckon you can drive logs.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The teamster was too thoroughly bulwarked by admirers to allow the
+rampant Kyle an opportunity to get at him. And there was Flagg to reckon
+with if <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>violence should be attempted. The deposed first mate slunk
+away.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That, my men,&#8221; proclaimed the master, &#8220;is what the Big Laugh can do to
+a boss. No man can be a boss for me after he gets that laugh. I reckon
+I&#8217;ve hired my crew,&#8221; he went on, looking them over critically. &#8220;Stand by
+to follow me north in the morning.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span><a name="six" id="six"></a>CHAPTER SIX</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">WHEN the autocrat of the Noda strode away, a stalwart young man
+instantly obeyed Flagg&#8217;s command&#8212;seizing the occasion to follow then
+and there. He had been standing on the outskirts of the throng,
+surveying the happenings with great interest. The men who were in his
+immediate vicinity, lumberjacks who were strangers in the Noda region,
+were plainly of his appanage and had obeyed his advice to keep out of
+the m&ecirc;l&eacute;e that had been provoked by Flagg&#8217;s methods of selection.</p>
+
+<p>When the big fellow hurried in pursuit of Flagg a bystander put a
+question to one of the strangers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You ought to know who he is,&#8221; returned the questioned. &#8220;That&#8217;s Ward
+Latisan.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And just then, apart from the crowd, having overtaken the autocrat, the
+young man was informing Flagg to that same effect.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg halted, swung around, and rammed his cant dog into the ground.
+&#8220;You&#8217;ve changed from a sapling into fair-sized timber since I saw you
+last. You look like old John, and that&#8217;s compliment enough, I reckon.
+How do you happen to be over in the Noda country?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t happen! I heard of the word you sent out. I came here on
+purpose, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What for?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>&#8220;To hire with you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg looked Latisan up and down and showed no enthusiasm. &#8220;Yes, I heard
+that you and your father had let the Three C&#8217;s slam you flat. And what
+makes you think I want that kind of a quitter in my crew?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ward met the disparaging stare with a return display of undaunted
+challenge. &#8220;Because I belong in the crew of a man who is proposing to
+fight the Three C&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg grunted.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan kept on. &#8220;You have been hiring men because they have been
+parading a lot of little grouches against the Comas folks. You need a
+man who has a real reason for going up against that outfit. And I&#8217;m the
+man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What you think about yourself and what I may think about you are two
+different things,&#8221; retorted Flagg, with insolence. &#8220;Looks to me like you
+had got the Big Laugh over in your section. You have probably noticed
+what I just did in a case of that sort.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I took it all in, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, what then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They are not laughing with us or against us over in the Tomah, Mr.
+Flagg. They all know what happened, and that we fought the Comas fair
+and square as long as we could keep on our feet. It was a trick that
+licked us. Craig held out the Walpole heir on us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know about it; I manage to get most of the news.&#8221; Flagg started to go
+on his way, but Ward put his clutch on the autocrat&#8217;s arm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Pardon me, Mr. Flagg, but you&#8217;re going to hear what I have to ask of
+you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>Mere apologetic suit would not have served with Flagg. He found this
+bold young man patterning after the Flagg methods in dealings with men.
+The boldness of the grip on his arm gained more effectively than
+pleading.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ask it. I&#8217;m in a hurry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have fired Kyle. I want his place.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I&#8217;ll <span class="nowrap">be&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You needn&#8217;t be, sir. I&#8217;m a Latisan and I have bossed our drives. I have
+brought along a bunch of my own men who have bucked white water with me
+and are with me now in standing up for the principle of the
+independents. Allow me to say that luck is with you. Here&#8217;s your chance
+to get hold of a man who can put heart and soul into this fight you&#8217;re
+going to make.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And now go on and tell me how much you admire me,&#8221; suggested Flagg,
+sarcastically.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t do that, sir. I&#8217;m going to tell you frankly I don&#8217;t relish what
+I have heard about you. It&#8217;s for no love of you that I&#8217;m asking for a
+chance to go up against the Comas people. It&#8217;s because you&#8217;re hard&#8212;hard
+enough to suit me&#8212;hard enough to let me go to it and show the Three C&#8217;s
+they can&#8217;t get away with what they&#8217;re trying to do up here through Rufus
+Craig.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right. You&#8217;re hired. You&#8217;ve got Ben Kyle&#8217;s job,&#8221; stated Flagg.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan was not astonished by this precipitate come-about. He was
+prepared for Flagg&#8217;s tactics by what he had set himself to learn about
+the autocrat&#8217;s nature&#8212;quick to adjudge, tenacious in his grudges,
+inflex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>ible in his opinion, bitterly ruthless when he had set himself in
+the way his prejudices selected.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have seen what happened to Kyle. Can you govern yourself
+accordingly?&#8221; Flagg in his turn had set his grip on Ward&#8217;s arm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll kick you out just as sudden as I kicked him if anything happens to
+make men give you the grin. Can you start north with me in the morning?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now or in the morning; it makes no difference to me, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg shifted his hand from Ward&#8217;s arm to the young man&#8217;s shoulder and
+propelled him back a few paces toward the crowd in front of the tavern.
+&#8220;Listen, one and all! Here&#8217;s my drive boss. He&#8217;s old John Latisan&#8217;s
+grandson. If that isn&#8217;t introduction enough, ask questions about old
+John from those who remember him; this chap is like his grandfather.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan went into the tavern after Flagg had marched away to the big
+house on the ledges. The crowd made way for the new drive boss; those in
+his path stared at him with interest; mumble of comment followed as the
+men closed in behind him. When he sat down in a corner of the tavern
+office and lighted his pipe his subalterns showed him deference by
+leaving him to himself. That isolation gave Landlord Brophy his
+opportunity to indulge his bent in gossip unheard by interlopers.</p>
+
+<p>Brophy plucked a cigar from a box in the little case on the desk and sat
+down beside Ward. &#8220;I sympathize with you,&#8221; he said by way of backhanded
+congratulation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>&#8220;Thank you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I was born in this tavern; my father built it and run it before me,&#8221;
+said Brophy, tucking his cigar through the shrubbery of his gray
+mustache. &#8220;And so I&#8217;ve had the chance to know Ech Flagg a good many
+years. He&#8217;s a turk.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have heard so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He has always had a razor edge to his temper. Maybe you know what put
+the wire edge onto it?&#8221; It was query with the cock of an eyebrow
+accompanying.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What I know about Mr. Flagg is only a general reputation of being a
+hard man. I can say that much to you because I told him the same thing.
+And that&#8217;s as far as I care to gossip about an employer,&#8221; stated Ward,
+stiffly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a safe stand,&#8221; said Brophy, unperturbed. &#8220;Keep to it and they
+can&#8217;t be running to him with stories about what you have said. But he
+don&#8217;t pay me wages and I can say what I feel like saying. A new boss
+ought to know a few things about the man who hires him. It&#8217;s my
+disposition to set a good chap on the right road with a tip. Whatever
+you may say to Flagg in the way of chat, don&#8217;t you ever try to bring up
+the subject of his family affairs.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not at all likely to,&#8221; snapped Latisan, with asperity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, such a subject is easy out when folks get to going confidential,&#8221;
+pursued the persistent Brophy. The suggestion that he would ever be on
+confidential terms with Flagg provoked an ill-tempered rebuke from Ward,
+but Brophy paid no attention.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>&#8220;If you lose your job with him, as you probably will, Latisan, let it
+be in the straight way of business, as he conducts it, instead of being
+by some fool slip of your tongue about family matters.&#8221; He puffed at his
+cigar complacently and still was giving no heed to Ward&#8217;s manifest
+repugnance at being made the repository of gossip.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Eck&#8217;s wife died when the daughter Sylvia was small, and he sent the
+girl off to school somewheres when she was big enough to be sent. And
+she fell in with a dude kind of a fellow and came back home married to
+him. She was so much in love that she dared to do a thing like that with
+Eck Flagg&#8212;and that&#8217;s being in love a whole lot, I&#8217;ll say. Well, none of
+us knew what was said back and forth in the family circle, but we
+figured that the new husband&#8217;s cheeks didn&#8217;t tingle with any kisses that
+Eck gave him. At any rate, Eck set Kennard to work&#8212;that was the name,
+Alfred Kennard. Eck was never much good at ciphering. Office had been in
+his hip pocket, where he carried his timebook and his scale sheet.
+Kennard had an education and it came about that Eck let Alf do the
+ciphering; then he let him keep the books; then he let him handle
+contracts and the money; then he gave him power of attorney so that Alf
+wouldn&#8217;t be hampered whilst Eck was away in the woods. Just handed
+everything over for the first and the only time in his life, figuring
+that it was all in the family. I guess that Alf went to figuring the
+same way, seeing that he was good at figures; felt that what was Eck&#8217;s
+was his, or would be later&#8212;and Alf proceeded to cash in. Stole right
+and left, that was the amount <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>of it. Prob&#8217;ly reckoned he&#8217;d rather have
+a sore conscience than have his feelings all ripped to pieces when he
+asked Eck for money.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We all knew when Eck found out that he had been properly trimmed by the
+only man he had ever trusted.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It happened in the dooryard of the big house up there, when Eck came
+home, wised up, and tackled Alf. Eck felt that the inside of the house
+might get mussed up by his language, so he stood in the yard and
+hollered for Alf to come out. We all went up and stood around; it seemed
+to be a free show, all welcome. We got the full facts in the case from
+Eck.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sylvia came out on the heels of Alf, and she had with her the little
+Lida, Eck&#8217;s granddaughter. And after Eck had had his say to Alf and had
+thrown him over the fence, he gave Sylvia her choice&#8212;stay with her
+father or go away with Alf. Well, she had loved Alf well enough to come
+home and face Eck with him; she loved Alf enough to turn her back on Eck
+and face the world with her husband. Natural, of course! Eck tried to
+grab the little girl away&#8212;to save his own from the thieves, so he said.
+Sylvia fought him off and hung to the girl. It was a tough sight,
+Latisan! And he stood there and shook his fists and cast &#8217;em all off for
+ever and aye. That&#8217;s his nature&#8212;no allowance made if anybody does him
+dirt.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll admit that Eck did make an allowance later, after Alf died and the
+news of it got back here to Adonia. Lida was grown up to around sixteen
+by that time. I got this from Rickety Dick. Know him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>Latisan, relighting his pipe, shook his head with an indifferent wag.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, you soon will. He cooks and waits and tends on Eck. Looks up to
+Eck. Loves Eck&#8212;and that&#8217;s going some! Dick told me about the allowance
+Eck made for once in his life after I had touched Dick up by telling him
+that Eck Flagg never made an allowance to anybody. Eck allowed to Dick
+that Lida was too young to choose the right way that day in the yard.
+When she had grown up Eck sent old Dick to hunt for her in the city, to
+tell her she could come back to him, now that she was old enough to make
+her choice. Said Sylvia couldn&#8217;t come back. Now that was a devil of a
+position to put a girl in. What? Hey?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan nodded, displaying faint interest.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And Sylvia right then was in bed with her never-get-over, so Dick told
+me. Of course Lida wouldn&#8217;t come back. And she was working her fingers
+to the bone to take care of her mother. Old Dick cried like a baby when
+he was telling me. He cries pretty easy, anyway. He never dared to give
+to Eck the word that Lida sent back. She&#8217;s got the spirit of the Flaggs,
+so I judge from what Dick told me. She wouldn&#8217;t even take the eggs and
+the truck Dick lugged down, though Dick had bought &#8217;em with his own
+money; she thought the stuff came from her grandfather. Dick had to hide
+&#8217;em under the table when he came away. And so Eck has crossed Lida off
+for ever and aye. Now that&#8217;s some story, ain&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t enjoyed it,&#8221; said Ward, brusquely.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Prob&#8217;ly not. I wasn&#8217;t telling it thinking you&#8217;d <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>give three cheers when
+I finished. But I&#8217;ve been warning you not to make a foolish break by
+stubbing your toe over the family topic. I&#8217;ve heard what has happened to
+the Latisans over Tomah way. You&#8217;re our real sort, and I&#8217;m blasted sorry
+for you. I reckon you need a job and I&#8217;m trying to help you hold it. I
+like your looks, young Latisan. I hate the Comas crowd. Craig has never
+set down to my table but what he has growled about the grub. The cheap
+rowdies he hires for his operations on these waters come through here
+with bootleg booze and try to wreck my house. I&#8217;d like to be friends
+with you, young Latisan, and if you feel that way about it, put it
+there!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Brophy held out a fat hand and Latisan grasped it cordially.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In my position I hear all the news,&#8221; stated the landlord. &#8220;I&#8217;ll sift
+the wheat out of the chaff and hand you what&#8217;s for your own good. And
+now you&#8217;ll have to excuse me whilst I go and pound steak and dish up
+dinner and wait on the table. That&#8217;s the trouble with running a tavern
+up here in the woods. I can&#8217;t keep help of the girl kind. They either
+get homesick or get married.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was an ominous crash in the dining room.</p>
+
+<p>Brophy swore roundly and extricated his rotund haunches from the arms of
+his chair. &#8220;There goes Dirty-Shirt Sam! I have to double him as hostler
+and waiter. He&#8217;d smash the feed pails in the stable if they wasn&#8217;t
+galvanized iron.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He pounded with heavy gait across the office and flung open the
+dining-room door, disclosing a lop-sided <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>youth who was listlessly
+kicking broken dishes into a pile.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re fourteen dollars behind your wages, already, with dishes you&#8217;ve
+dropped and smashed,&#8221; shouted Brophy. &#8220;I&#8217;d give a thousand dollars for
+the right kind of a girl to stay here and wait on tables if she wouldn&#8217;t
+get married or homesick. I&#8217;ll make it a standing offer.&#8221; He cuffed the
+youth in a circle around the heap of broken crockery and went on his way
+to the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan smoked and reflected on the nature of Echford Flagg as Brophy
+had exposed it from the family standpoint.</p>
+
+<p>Then he looked at the sullen youth who was sweeping up the fragments of
+the dishes. The whimsical notion occurred to Ward that he might post
+Brophy on the advantages of a cafeteria plan of operating his hostelry.
+But he had by these thoughts summoned the memory of one certain
+cafeteria, and of a handsome girl who sat across from him and who had so
+suddenly been swallowed up in the vortex of the city throngs&#8212;gone
+forever&#8212;only a memory that troubled him so much and so often that he
+was glad when his own Tomah men appeared to him, asking for commands and
+taking his mind off a constantly nagging regret.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span><a name="seven" id="seven"></a>CHAPTER SEVEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">THE set-off of the Flagg expedition in the gray of early dawn had an
+element of picaresque adventure about it.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan was making an estimate of his crew while he mixed with the men,
+checking them up, as they assembled again in front of the tavern of
+Adonia. Old Cap&#8217;n Blackbeard would have cheerfully certified to the
+eminent fitness of many of them for conscienceless deeds of derring-do.
+The nature of Flagg&#8217;s wide-flung summons and his provocative method of
+selection must needs bring into one band most of the toughest nuts of
+the region, Latisan reflected, and he had brought no milk-and-water
+chaps from the Tomah. He had come prepared for what was to face him. He
+had led his willing men in more or less desperate adventures in his own
+region; his clan had been busy passing the word among the strangers that
+old John Latisan&#8217;s grandson was a chief who had the real and the right
+stuff in him. It was plain that all the men of the crew were receiving
+the information with enthusiasm. Some of them ventured to pat him on the
+shoulder and volunteered profane promises to go with him to the limit.
+They did not voice any loyalty to Flagg. Flagg was not a man to inspire
+anything except perfunctory willingness to earn wages. The men saw real
+adventure ahead if they followed at the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>back of a heroic youth who was
+avenging the wrongs dealt to his family fortunes.</p>
+
+<p>There were choruses of old river chanteys while the men waited for the
+sleds. A devil-may-care spirit had taken possession of the crew. Latisan
+began to feel like the brigand chief of bravos.</p>
+
+<p>He was jubilantly informed by one enthusiast that they were all in
+luck&#8212;that Larry O&#8217;Gorman, the woods poet, had picked that crew as his
+own for that season on the river.</p>
+
+<p>The songs of Larry O&#8217;Gorman are sung from the Mirimichi to the Megantic.
+He is analyst as well as bard. He makes it a point&#8212;and he still lives
+and sings&#8212;to attach himself only to forces which can inspire his lyre.</p>
+
+<p>It was conveyed to the new boss that already was Larry busy on a new
+song. Ward, his attention directed, beheld the lyricist seated on the
+edge of the tavern porch, absorbed in composition, writing slowly on the
+planed side of a bit of board, licking the end of a stubby pencil,
+rolling his eyes as he sought inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>A bit later Larry rehearsed his choristers and Latisan heard the song.</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<p class="block">Come, all ye bold and bully boys&#8212;come lis-sun unto me!<br />
+&#8217;Tis all abowit young Latis-an, a riverman so free.<br />
+White water, wet water, he never minds its roar,<br />
+&#8217;Cause he&#8217;ll take and he&#8217;ll kick a bubble up and ride all safe to shore.<br />
+Come, all, and riffle the ledges! Come, all, and bust the jam!<br />
+And for all o&#8217; the bluff o&#8217; the Comas crowd we don&#8217;t give one good&#8212;<br />
+<span class="i3">Hoot, toot, and a hoorah!</span><br />
+We don&#8217;t give a tinker&#8217;s dam.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>Every man in the crowd was able to come in on the simple chorus.</p>
+
+<p>They were singing when Echford Flagg appeared to them. He was riding on
+a jumper, with runners under it, and he was galloping his strapping bay
+horses down from the big house on the ledges. On the bare ground the
+runners shrieked, and he snapped his whip over the heads of the horses.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is this, a singing school or a driving crew?&#8221; he demanded,
+raucously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The sleds have just come, sir,&#8221; explained Latisan, who had been
+marshaling the conveyances.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Listen, all ye!&#8221; shouted Flagg. &#8220;Nothing but dunnage bags go on those
+sleds till the runners hit the woods tote road and there&#8217;s good slipping
+on the snow. The man who doesn&#8217;t hoof it till then hears from me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He ordered Latisan to get onto the jumper seat beside him, slashed his
+horses with the whip, and led the way toward the north.</p>
+
+<p>There was no word between the two for many a mile.</p>
+
+<p>Near noon they arrived at a wayside baiting place, a log house in a
+clearing. They ate there and the horses were fed. There was plenty of
+snow in the woods and the first rains of April had iced the surface so
+that the slipping had been good.</p>
+
+<p>As if the chewing of food had unlocked Flagg&#8217;s close-set jaws, he talked
+a bit to Latisan after the meal and while the horses were put to the
+jumper.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to swing off here and ride down to Skulltree dam. I&#8217;m hearing
+reports of something going on there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>They heard something very definite in the way of reports before they
+reached Skulltree. The sound of explosions came booming through the
+trees. It was dynamite. Its down-thrusting thud on the frozen ground was
+unmistakable.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I knew that all those boxes of canned thunder that have been going
+through Adonia, with the Three C&#8217;s on the lid, weren&#8217;t intended to blow
+up log jams,&#8221; vouchsafed Flagg, after a few oaths to spice his opinion
+of the Comas company.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan knew something about the lay of the land at Skulltree, himself.
+When he was a young chap the Latisans had operated in a small way as a
+side-line on the Noda waters. There was a rift in the watershed near
+Skulltree. There was a ca&ntilde;on leading down to the Tomah end, and the
+waters of the gorge were fed by a chain of ponds whose master source was
+near the Noda. The Latisans had hauled over to the pond from the Noda
+Valley.</p>
+
+<p>When Flagg pulled his horses to a halt on the edge of a cliff which
+commanded a view of the Skulltree and its purlieus, he sat in silence
+for five minutes until he had taken in every detail of what was going on
+there.</p>
+
+<p>Every little while there was an explosion across the river among the
+trees, and clotted frozen earth and rocks shot up into the air. When the
+horses leaped in fright Flagg slashed them and swore. It was plain that
+his ire was mounting as he made sure of what was taking place.</p>
+
+<p>They were blasting a rude canal from the Noda across the low horseback
+which divided the Noda <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>waters from Tomah ponds. It meant the diversion
+of flowage. It was contemptuous disregard of the Noda rights in favor of
+the million-dollar paper mill of the Three C&#8217;s on the Tomah lower
+waters. Rufus Craig had said something to young Latisan about the
+inexpediency of picking up a million-dollar paper mill and lugging it
+off in a shawl strap. It would be easier to blow a hole through the
+earth and feed in the logs from the Noda.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By the red-hot hinges of Tophet!&#8221; bawled Flagg, having made sure that
+the enormity he was viewing was not a dream. He cut his whip under the
+bellies of his horses, one stroke to right and the other to left, and
+the animals went over the cliff and down the sharp slope, skating and
+floundering through the snow. The descent at that place would have been
+impossible for horses except for the snow which trigged feet and runners
+in some degree; it was damp and heavy; but the frantic threshing of the
+plunging beasts kicked up a smother of snow none the less. It was like a
+thunderbolt in a nimbus&#8212;the rush of Flagg down the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus Craig was in the shack at the end of Skulltree dam&#8212;his makeshift
+office. Somebody called to him, and from his door he beheld the last
+stages of Flagg&#8217;s harebrained exploit, a veritable touch-and-go with
+death.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There ain&#8217;t much doubt about who it is that&#8217;s coming for a social
+call,&#8221; said the understrapper who had summoned the field director. &#8220;And
+the question is whether he&#8217;s bound for hell or Skulltree.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig did not comment; he had the air of one who <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>had been expecting a
+visitor of this sort and was not especially astonished by the mode of
+getting there suddenly, considering the spur for action.</p>
+
+<p>Tempestuous was the rush of the horses across the narrow flats between
+the cliff and the end of the dam. So violently did Flagg jerk them to a
+standstill in front of the shack, one horse fell and dragged down the
+other in a tangle of harness. Flagg left them to struggle to their feet
+as best they were able. He leaped off the jumper and thrust with the
+handle of his whip in the direction of the dynamite operations.</p>
+
+<p>The old man&#8217;s features were contorted into an arabesque&#8212;a pattern of
+maniacal rage. His face was purple and its hue was deepened because it
+was set off against the snow which crusted his garments after his
+descent through the drifts. Knotted veins stood out on his forehead.
+There was no coherence in the noises he was making in his effort to
+speak words. He kept jabbing with his whip handle.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently Craig&#8217;s first thought was that the menace of the whip was for
+him; he half put up a curved arm to ward off blows. In spite of his
+attention to Flagg he surveyed Latisan with considerable astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>Ward had not recovered his poise. A passenger is usually more perturbed
+than a driver in desperate situations. That crazy dash down the cliff
+had frightened him into speechless and numb passivity. He still clung to
+the jumper seat with his stiffened fingers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Before you do anything you&#8217;ll be sorry for, Mr. Flagg, let me assure
+you that we have the law behind us in what we&#8217;re doing,&#8221; suggested
+Craig, with nerv<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>ous haste. &#8220;The legislature extended our charter for
+development purposes and a special act protects us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg strode away a dozen paces and then came back with better command
+over his faculties of speech. &#8220;Damn your legislature! What right has it
+got to tamper with a landbreak that God Almighty has put between
+waters?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The act was passed, Mr. Flagg. There was an advertised hearing. If you
+were interested you should have been there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What does a legislature know about conditions up here?&#8221; demanded Flagg,
+with fury. &#8220;They loaf around in swing chairs and hearken to the first
+one who gets to &#8217;em. They pass laws with a joker here and a trick there,
+and they don&#8217;t know what the law is really about. You&#8217;re stealing my
+water. By the gods! there&#8217;s no law that allows a thief to operate. And
+if you&#8217;ve got a law that helps you steal I&#8217;ll take my chance on keeping
+my own in spite of your pet and private law.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Go ahead, Flagg,&#8221; said Craig, impudently, no longer apprehensive about
+the whip. &#8220;I&#8217;m not your guardian to save you from trouble. There&#8217;s water
+enough for all of us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have swept the slopes so clean for your cursed pulp-wood slivers
+that you have dried up the brooks, and there isn&#8217;t enough water any
+more, and you know it. Your damnation canal will suck the life out of
+the Noda.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You listen to me, Flagg!&#8221; adjured Craig, getting back all his
+confidence as the executive of a powerful corporation. &#8220;Another special
+act allows us to raise <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>this dam and conserve the water so that there&#8217;ll
+be plenty after we use our share for the canal. You&#8217;re safe <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Safe!&#8221; raged the old man, and again the veins knotted on his forehead
+and he panted for breath. Latisan wanted to urge him to be careful.
+Flagg was exhibiting the dread symptoms of apoplexy. &#8220;Safe! I&#8217;ll be
+locked into this dam by you, with sluiceway refused to me&#8212;that&#8217;s what
+it will come to&#8212;you offering me a cut price for the logs I can&#8217;t get
+down to the Adonia sawmills. If you can&#8217;t kill one way, as you killed
+off the Latisans, you&#8217;ll kill in another way. You&#8217;re a devilish thief,
+Craig. I wonder if the men who hire you know what you are. Special acts,
+hey? That legislature has given a robber a loaded gun without knowing
+it. By the bald-headed jeesicks! I&#8217;ve got a drive coming down this
+river! And for fifty years, every spring, it has gone through. It&#8217;s
+going through this year, too, and if you&#8217;re underfoot here you&#8217;ll be
+walked on. And that&#8217;s just as good as your trumped-up law; it&#8217;s
+better&#8212;it&#8217;s justice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg acted like a man who did not dare to remain longer in the presence
+of such an enemy; his big hands were doubling into hard fists; he was
+shaking in all his muscles. He leaped back onto the seat of his jumper,
+swung his team and sent his horses leaping up a whiplash road which
+traversed the cliff&#8212;a road he had disdained in his wild impatience to
+meet his foe.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the level of the wooded country Flagg had something to
+say about his abrupt depar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>ture from Craig, as if the master feared that
+his employe might suspect that there was an element of flight in the
+going-away. &#8220;There&#8217;s a law against killing a man, and I&#8217;ve got to
+respect that law even if I do spit on special acts that those gum-shoers
+have put through. I didn&#8217;t go down to their legislature and fight
+special acts, Latisan. I found these waters running downhill as God
+Almighty had set &#8217;em to running. I have used &#8217;em for my logs. And if any
+man tries now to steal my water at Skulltree, or block me with a raised
+dam, there&#8217;s going to be one devil of a fight at Skulltree and I&#8217;ll be
+there in the middle of it. What I wanted to do to Craig to-day can well
+wait till then when the doing can count for full value.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ward had been casting solicitous side glances at the empurpled face and
+the swollen veins. He did not dare to counsel Flagg as to his motions or
+his emotions. But he felt sure that an old man could not indulge in such
+transports without danger. He knew something about the effects of an
+embolism. His violent grandfather had been a victim of a fit of flaming
+anger in his old age.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be in the middle of it, a club in each hand,&#8221; promised Flagg. And
+his molten ponderings kept alight the fires in his face.</p>
+
+<p>They halted for the night at one of the Flagg store depots and were
+lodged in the office camp, reserved sacred to the master and his boss.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan slept in the bunk above the master.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg had been silent all the evening, poring over the accounts that the
+storekeeper had turned over.</p>
+
+<p>He sighed frequently; he seemed to be weary. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>After a time he kicked off
+his larrigans and rolled into his bunk, ready dressed as he had stood.
+He seemed to lack the volition to remove his clothing.</p>
+
+<p>He was snoring calmly when Latisan went to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Sometime in the night the young man awoke. The sounds which he heard
+below him were not the snores of a man who was sleeping peacefully.
+There was something ominous about the spasmodic and stertorous
+breathing.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan slipped to the floor and lighted a lamp. He found the wide eyes
+of Flagg staring from the gloom of the bunk.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is it, Mr. Flagg? What is the matter?&#8221; he asked, with solicitude.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg slowly reached with his left hand, picked up his right hand, and
+when he released it the hand fell as helplessly as so much dead flesh.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s it,&#8221; he said, without apparent emotion. &#8220;It&#8217;s a shock.&#8221; He
+employed the colloquial name for a stroke of paralysis. &#8220;My mother was
+that way. I&#8217;ve been afraid of it&#8212;have expected it, as you might say.
+Mother lived ten years after her shock. I hope to God I won&#8217;t. For it
+has taken me just when I&#8217;m ready to put up my best fight&#8212;and it&#8217;s my
+good right hand, Latisan, my right hand!&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span><a name="eight" id="eight"></a>CHAPTER EIGHT</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">THAT was Flagg&#8217;s reiterated lament on the journey back to Adonia. &#8220;It&#8217;s
+my right hand, Latisan!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ward had insisted on being the charioteer for the stricken master,
+promising to rush back to headwaters and take charge of the crew. He
+tried to console the old man by urging that getting in touch as soon as
+possible with capable doctors might restore his strength. &#8220;It may be
+only a clot in the brain, sir. Such cases have been helped.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s my right hand. It&#8217;s like my mother&#8217;s. She never could lift it
+again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They had started before dawn; a gibbous moon shed enough light on the
+tote road to serve Latisan. Flagg was couched on a sled, his blanket
+propped up by hay. His scepter, the curiously marked cant dog, lay
+beside him. He had made sure of that before he allowed the team to
+start.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I propose to be your right hand in so far as I&#8217;m able, Mr. Flagg,&#8221;
+declared Latisan, at last, pricked by the repeatedly iterated plaint.
+&#8220;You can depend on me just as far as I can stretch my ability.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you told me you didn&#8217;t like me for myself. You said you were
+joining drives with me because I was proposing to fight. Now I can&#8217;t
+fight. No man will do my fighting for me unless he likes me for myself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>&#8220;I&#8217;ll do it for you, sir,&#8221; insisted Ward, determinedly. &#8220;It&#8217;s right in
+line with my plans. I&#8217;ll take your orders. I&#8217;ll come to you regularly at
+Adonia. You shall know every move. I&#8217;ll be merely your right hand to do
+what you want done.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m a hard man with my help, Latisan. You have agreed with me on that
+point. I shall be ugly when I&#8217;m chained up. I shall say something to
+you, and then you&#8217;ll quit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had been looking the situation squarely in the eye on his own
+account. He was confronted by something wholly outside all his
+calculations. He had enlisted merely as a lieutenant and had never
+considered that he would be called on to assume authority as chief in
+the field. He had been led to serve with Flagg because the old man was
+the personification of permanency in the north country&#8212;seemed to be
+something that could not be shaken by the assaults of the Comas&#8212;a man
+who impressed all as being above the hazards of death and accident.
+Somehow, after all the years and because he had been there as a fixture
+through so many changes, Echford Flagg was viewed as something
+perennial&#8212;as sure as sunrise, as solid and everlasting as the peak of
+Jerusalem Knob, which overshadowed the big house on the ledges at
+Adonia; he was a reality to tie to in a fight against a common foe.</p>
+
+<p>But right then he was a whimpering old man who plucked and fumbled at a
+dead right hand.</p>
+
+<p>He was as helpless as a little man whom Latisan had plucked from a
+brutal clutch of an assailant in front of a bulletin board. Craig was
+still able enough. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>Craig was man size. Craig would be even more vicious
+when the news of Flagg&#8217;s condition reached him; he would perceive his
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s sort of the code up where I come from. There&#8217;s no objection to a
+clean fight. But if you don&#8217;t pick your bigness you must expect that
+your bigness will offer himself mighty sudden.&#8221; Latisan was not
+recollecting what he had said to the chaps of Tech; he was putting
+before his mind one of his fundamental principles as he listened to the
+laments of the stricken giant and urged the horses down the tote road.
+Craig would keep on fighting; but Flagg was no longer of Craig&#8217;s
+bigness. There was only one thing for Latisan to do&#8212;so that was why he
+put so much of determination and warmth into his pledges to a man whom
+he did not like from a personal standpoint. Flagg could not understand
+why this stranger should be loyal; the old man&#8217;s wits were numbed along
+with his body.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be ripping at you with my tongue, because it&#8217;s been my style&#8212;and
+I&#8217;ll be worse when I&#8217;m penned up.&#8221; Flagg could not seem to hope for any
+reform in himself. He was accepting his nature as something forged
+permanently in the fires of his experience, not to be remolded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not thin-skinned, sir. If you can&#8217;t keep from abusing me about
+business details, go ahead and abuse. It will ease your feelings and the
+abuse will not hurt me, because I don&#8217;t propose to do anything knowingly
+to justify abuse. Twitting on real facts is what hurts. You hired me
+because you knew I had good reasons for fighting the Comas on account of
+the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>principle involved in the stand of the independents; you know that
+I still have the reasons, no matter how much your tongue may run away
+with you about foolish details.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was looking forward to an opportunity to place himself even more
+definitely on record in the hearing of Flagg. After the sun was up
+Latisan expected to be able to grasp that opportunity at almost any turn
+of the tote road. He knew he would meet the upcoming crew. Flagg&#8217;s
+horses on the trip north had made twice the speed of the plodding woods
+teams, and the crew had been ordered to spend the night at any camp
+where darkness overtook them.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan heard, long before he came in sight of them, the shrill yells
+with which sled load interchanged repartee with sled load; everlastingly
+there was the monotone of the singers. It was plain that the same spirit
+of gay adventure was inspiring the men.</p>
+
+<p>The tote road was a one-track thoroughfare; Latisan picked a cleared
+knoll at one side for his turnout switch and swung his horses up there
+in order to give the heavy sleds passage.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How the hell can they come singing? Stop &#8217;em,&#8221; moaned Flagg.</p>
+
+<p>There were half a dozen sleds in close procession, and Ward&#8217;s upflung
+hand halted them when the leading sled came abreast.</p>
+
+<p>By his own efforts Flagg propped himself into a sitting posture, braced
+by his left arm.</p>
+
+<p>Men leaped off the sleds and crowded forward in a phalanx, cupping with
+their ranks the sledge where <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>their master was couched. Voices were
+hushed and eyes were wide.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been hit a wallop, boys,&#8221; quavered the old man. &#8220;Overnight it has
+hit me. Shock. It ain&#8217;t surprising at my age. Mother had the same.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>For that moment Flagg had put aside the shell of his nature; he found
+instant sympathy in the gaze which rough men of the forest bestowed on a
+stricken one of their ilk. He was responding to that sympathy. There
+were tears in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Men, I&#8217;m hurrying Mr. Flagg home where he can be looked after by the
+doctors. I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;ll soon be all right again,&#8221; Latisan assured them,
+lying for the good of the cause. &#8220;In the meantime I&#8217;m saying to him for
+myself that I&#8217;m standing by for every ounce that&#8217;s in me. What do you
+say to him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The same!&#8221; they yelled, in a ragged chorus.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Fact is,&#8221; went on Ward, as spokesman for all, &#8220;to make up for your not
+being with us, Mr. Flagg, we&#8217;ve got to put in twice as many licks
+because you&#8217;re not on the job, and you can depend on us. What, boys?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They bellowed promises and shrieked a pledge.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Get along to headwaters and start to rolling the jackstraws onto the
+ice,&#8221; shouted Latisan. &#8220;Have the dynamite warmed when I get back there.
+If we have to do it, well beat the April rains to the job.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They went on their way, cheering.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve heard us. It ought to help some,&#8221; stated Ward, urging his team
+along toward Adonia.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The songs of the angels never will sound any better, and the angels
+will never look any better than <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>those men did just now,&#8221; declared the
+old man, still in his softened mood.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan turned about and grinned at the master.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know what you mean,&#8221; averred Flagg. &#8220;Of course I know. I was after
+pirates and I&#8217;ve got the toughest gang in the north country. Feed &#8217;em
+raw meat, Latisan!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Over the snow, which was slushy under the April sun of midday, and
+finally into Adonia over the rutted grit that the evening chill had
+frozen, the baron of the Noda was driven to the door of his mansion on
+the ledges.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had picked up men at the tavern as helpers.</p>
+
+<p>A hail brought out a little old man whose white, close beard and fluffy
+hair gave his face the appearance of a likeness set into a frame of
+cotton batting. It was Rickety Dick; Brophy had told Latisan about him.
+He flung his hands above his head; it was his involuntary action when
+deep emotion stirred him; and his customary ejaculation was, &#8220;Praise the
+Lord!&#8221; It was possible that he would have shouted those words even then
+without regard to their irrelevance; but he was not able to utter a
+sound when Brophy and Latisan and the other men came bearing Flagg into
+the house.</p>
+
+<p>The master stoutly refused to be laid in his bed. There was his big
+armchair in the middle of the sitting room; he commanded that he be
+placed there. &#8220;I can&#8217;t fight lying down. If I can&#8217;t stand up, I can sit
+up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Praise the Lord!&#8221; cried old Dick, finding an opportunity to interject
+his thanksgiving phrase.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>&#8220;I&#8217;ll come to you often, Mr. Flagg,&#8221; promised Ward, taking leave. &#8220;I&#8217;ll
+not neglect matters up the river, of course. But I want you to feel that
+I&#8217;m merely your right hand, moving according to your orders.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He went away with a thrill of sympathy inspiring his new resolution in
+behalf of the master&#8217;s interests. The spectacle that he closed the door
+on had pathos in it. The tyrant of the Noda was shut away from the woods
+where he had ruled&#8212;away from the rush of white water under the prow of
+his great bateau; he could hear only the tantalizing summons of the
+cataract whose thunder boomed above the village of Adonia.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had promised to send for the best doctors in the city&#8212;he had a
+messenger already on the way. But he knew well enough that Echford
+Flagg, if he lived, was doomed to sit in that big chair and wield his
+scepter vicariously. And Latisan knew, too, what sort of the torments of
+perdition Flagg would endure on that account.</p>
+
+<p>In the office of Brophy&#8217;s tavern Rufus Craig, apparently a casual
+wayfarer, was sitting when Latisan entered after leaving the big house
+on the ledges.</p>
+
+<p>Craig either felt or assumed contrite concern. &#8220;Excuse me, Latisan, but
+is it true that Mr. Flagg has suffered a stroke of paralysis?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is true, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry. I&#8217;m not on pleasant terms with him, or with you, for that
+matter. But I hate to see a good fighter struck down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan went to the desk and wrote his name on <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>a leaf of the dog-eared
+register. He proposed to stay the night at Brophy&#8217;s and start north in
+the morning.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Go up and take Number Ten,&#8221; said Brophy, who had been called as a
+helper and who had walked down from the mansion with Latisan.</p>
+
+<p>When Craig plodded heavily along the upper corridor, on his way to bed a
+little later, the door of Number Ten was open for ventilation; Latisan
+was smoking his pipe and reading a newspaper which he had picked up in
+the tavern office. His stare, directed at Craig over the top of the
+newspaper, was inhospitable when the Comas man stopped and leaned
+against the door jamb.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Latisan, I&#8217;m presuming on that frankness of yours; you have bragged
+about it in the past.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That was before my experience with you in the Walpole matter, sir. But
+go ahead! What do you want?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re over here in the Noda region, according to your threat. You may
+be willing to inform me as to your status in the Flagg proposition, now
+the old man is on his back.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Flagg has put me in full charge of his drive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Has he delegated to you any authority to compromise?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There ought to be an opportunity to compromise, now that he&#8217;s down and
+out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I just left Mr. Flagg sitting in his chair, and he says he intends to
+keep sitting there. Therefore, he isn&#8217;t down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>&#8220;Is his mind clear for business?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I should say so&#8212;yes!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig tipped his hat and scratched the side of his head. &#8220;Then I&#8217;m
+afraid there isn&#8217;t much use in my going to him to talk compromise,&#8221; he
+confessed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s your affair, Mr. Craig.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And your affair&#8212;where he&#8217;s <span class="nowrap">concerned&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is to bring down his drive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He has threatened a big fight at Skulltree. You heard him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And if he gives his orders to blow hell out of the bottom of the river,
+I suppose you&#8217;ll obey, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He has ordered me to bring his logs into the hold-boom here at Adonia.
+I have promised to do so. I see no need of going into details of how I&#8217;m
+to do it.&#8221; Latisan raised the shield of his newspaper in front of his
+face.</p>
+
+<p>But Craig persisted. He had promised the Noda to his superiors; he had
+not been sure how he could maneuver to deliver, but his past success had
+impelled him to go on with his cocksure pledges of performance; he was
+spurred by a hint of a raise in salary, a gift of Comas common stock; he
+had depended on the situation at Skulltree as his principal weapon, if
+bravado backed the special legislative act. But that act had been
+juggled, just as Echford Flagg had asserted. The thing was ticklish, and
+Craig knew it. Anger and apprehensiveness were working twin leverage on
+the Comas executive.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Latisan, by coming over here into the Noda and grabbing in where you
+have no timber interests of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>your own, you have shown your animus. You
+have made it a personal matter between you and me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of truth in what you say,&#8221; admitted Ward, lowering his
+shield. &#8220;Let&#8217;s exchange accusations! You held that Walpole heir up your
+sleeve till we had our cut on the landings. If you had worked such a
+trick on my grandfather he wouldn&#8217;t be sitting on this chair, as I&#8217;m
+doing. He&#8217;d be kicking you around this tavern. I&#8217;ll save my strength for
+the Flagg drive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got some frankness of my own, Latisan. I&#8217;m at a point where my
+future with the Comas is in the balance, and I&#8217;m going to fight for that
+future. I&#8217;m not asking you to lie down. But you have it in your
+power&#8212;the circumstances being as they are&#8212;to swing the Flagg interests
+in with ours to mutual advantage. Why isn&#8217;t that better than a fight?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It would be better!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig brightened.</p>
+
+<p>But Latisan added: &#8220;For your interests! You&#8217;re afraid of a fight&#8212;at
+Skulltree!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I am,&#8221; blurted Craig, trying candor. &#8220;Let&#8217;s arrange a hitch-up!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now the trouble with that plan is this,&#8221; returned Latisan, quietly,
+slowly. &#8220;It can&#8217;t be done, not with a man like you&#8217;ve shown yourself to
+be. Hold in your temper, Mr. Craig! You&#8217;re coming round now to ask
+square men to deal with you. You can&#8217;t appeal on the ground of
+friendship&#8212;you haven&#8217;t tried to make any friends up here. You have
+played too many tricks. We&#8217;re all doubtful in regard to your good faith,
+no matter what the proposition may be. We <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>can&#8217;t deal with you. It&#8217;s all
+your own doing. You are paying the penalty.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Much obliged for the sermon!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I could say a lot more, but it wouldn&#8217;t amount to anything in your
+case.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then it has settled into a personal fight between you and me, has it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bluntly speaking, yes!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have accused me of playing tricks!&#8221; Craig&#8217;s rage burst bounds. &#8220;You
+young hick, you have never seen real tricks yet! You don&#8217;t think I&#8217;m
+coming after you with fists or a cant dog, do you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wish you were younger and would try it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m from the city. In the city we use our brains. Latisan, I have tried
+to show you in the past that the Comas means business. If you&#8217;ll go back
+to the Toban, where you belong, I&#8217;ll do something for you on that
+Walpole matter, now that I&#8217;ve taught you a lesson.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Latisans are not out after charity, Mr. Craig.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re out after punishment&#8212;a damnation good smashing, personally, and
+you&#8217;re going to get it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan leaped from his chair and slammed the door suddenly and
+violently; expecting an attack. Craig leaped back and saved his fingers
+from a jamming.</p>
+
+<p>From behind his curtain in the morning he saw Latisan drive the Flagg
+team into the tavern yard.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be coming down often, Brophy, to see Mr. Flagg. I&#8217;ll depend on you
+to save out a room for me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Number Ten is yours if it suits.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>Craig grunted with the satisfaction of one who had received interesting
+information; knowledge that Latisan would be regularly in Adonia helped
+some plans which the director had been revolving.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan lashed his horses away toward the north.</p>
+
+<p>Craig took the forenoon train down over the narrow-gauge, headed for New
+York. He was seeking that aid of which he had boasted&#8212;city brains. In
+handling certain affairs of his in the past he had found the Vose-Mern
+Detective Agency both crafty and active&#8212;and the roundabout method of
+craft, he decided, was the proper way to get at Latisan, without
+involving the Comas folks in any scandal.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span><a name="nine" id="nine"></a>CHAPTER NINE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">NOT cattishly, but with patronizing pity, Miss Leigh, bookkeeper,
+remarked to Miss Javotte, filing clerk, that if Miss Kennard did not
+change that green toque with the white quill to something else pretty
+soon, she could be identified by her hat better than by her
+fingerprints.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Leigh had been showing one of her new spring hats to Miss Javotte;
+she was able to express a <em>sotto voce</em> opinion about Miss Kennard&#8217;s
+toque because Miss Kennard, stenographer, was rattling her typewriter
+full tilt. Miss Javotte agreed, spreading her fingers fan shape and
+inspecting certain rings with calm satisfaction. &#8220;And not even a
+rock&#8212;only that same old-fashioned cameo thing&#8212;speaking of fingers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I was speaking of fingerprints,&#8221; said Miss Leigh, tartly, frowning at
+the display of rings, perfectly well aware that they were not bought on
+the installment plan out of a filing clerk&#8217;s wages.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite natural for Miss Leigh to speak of fingerprints. She was an
+employe in the Vose-Mern offices. &#8220;Vose-Mern Bureau of Investigation&#8221;
+was the designation on the street corridor directory board of a building
+in the purlieus of New York City Hall. On the same board other parties
+frankly advertised themselves as detectives. The Vose-Mern agency called
+its men and women by the name of operatives. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>The scope of its
+activities was unlimited. It broke strikes, put secret agents into
+manufacturing concerns to stimulate efficiency, or calculatingly and in
+cold blood put other agents in to wreck a concern in the interests of a
+rival. It was a matter of fees. Mern could defend the ethics of such
+procedure with interesting arguments; he had been an inspector of police
+and held ironic views of human nature; he had invented an anticipatory
+system, so he called it, by which he &#8220;hothoused&#8221; criminal proclivities
+in a person in order to show the person&#8217;s latent possibilities up to an
+employer before damage had been wrought to the employer&#8217;s business or
+funds. That is to say&#8212;and this for the proper understanding of Mr.
+Mern&#8217;s code in his operations as he moved in the special matters of
+which this tale treats&#8212;his agency deliberately set women of the type
+well hit off by the name &#8220;vamps&#8221; &#8220;sicked&#8221; those women onto bank clerks
+and others who could get a hand into a till, and if the women were able
+to cajole the victim to the point of stealing or of grabbing in order to
+make a get-away to foreign parts with the temptress, the trick was
+considered legitimate work of the &#8220;anticipatory&#8221; sort. The operative
+would order the treasure <em>cached</em>, would appoint the day and hour for
+the get-away&#8212;and a plain-clothes man would be waiting at the <em>cache</em>!
+The Vose-Mern system thus nabbed the culprit, who had revealed his lack
+of moral fiber by reason of the hothouse forcing of the situation; Mern
+insisted that if the germ were there it should be forced. By his plan
+the loot was pulled back and returned to the owner.</p>
+
+<p>Mern had broken the big paper-mill strike for the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>Comas Consolidated;
+he calmly assured his clients that he could furnish a thousand men as
+well as one. When he did a thing it was expensive&#8212;for he had bands of
+picked men always on call, and the men must be paid during their loafing
+intervals, waiting for other strikes.</p>
+
+<p>Craig had been close to Mern during the strike. Mern stated that the
+ethics of the law allowed a lawyer to defend and extricate, if he could,
+a criminal whom he knew was hideously guilty; the lawyer&#8217;s smartness was
+applauded if he won by law against justice. Mern excused on the same
+lines his willingness to accept any sort of a commission. It was a
+heartless attitude&#8212;Mern admitted that it was and said that he didn&#8217;t
+pose as a demon. He seemed to get a lot of comfort out of declaring that
+if the fellow he was chasing had the grit and smartness to turn around
+and do Mern up, Mern would heartily give the fellow three cheers. Thus
+did Mern put his remarkable business on the plane of a man-to-man fight
+by his argument, not admitting that there was any baseness in his plots
+and his persecution.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Lida Kennard, as confidential stenographer, was deep into the
+methods of Mern. It was Mern&#8217;s unvarying custom to have Miss Kennard in
+to listen to and take down all that a client had to state. She was
+extremely shocked in the first stages of her association with the
+Vose-Mern agency by the nature of the commissions undertaken. But it was
+the best position she had secured, after climbing the ladder through the
+offices of more or less impecunious attorneys. She needed the good pay
+because her mother <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>was an invalid; she continued to need the pay after
+her mother died. There were bills to be settled. She had grown used to
+setting the installments on those bills ahead of new hats, and the cameo
+ring which had been her mother&#8217;s keepsake was for the sake of memory,
+not adornment.</p>
+
+<p>By dint of usage, the Vose-Mern business had come to seem to her like a
+real business. Certainly some big men came and solicited Mern&#8217;s aid and
+appeared to think that his methods were proper. In course of time,
+listening to Mern&#8217;s ethics, she came to accept matters at their
+practical value and ceased to analyze them for the sake of seeking for
+nice balances of right and wrong. She was in and of the Vose-Mern
+organization! She sat in on conferences, wrote down placidly plots for
+doing up men who had not had the foresight to hire Mern&#8212;Vose had been
+merely an old detective, and he was dead&#8212;and she sometimes entertained
+a vague ambition to be an operative herself. She liked pretty hats and
+handsome rings&#8212;though she was scornfully averse to the Leigh-Javotte
+system as she was acquainted with it by the chance remarks the
+associates dropped. As to operatives&#8212;Miss Kennard had heard&#8212;well, she
+had heard Miss Elsham, for instance, a crack operative, reveal what the
+rewards of the regular work were; and, the way Miss Elsham looked at it,
+a girl did not have to lower her self-respect.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of these thoughts, getting a side glance at the new hat
+which Miss Leigh was showing to Miss Javotte, Miss Kennard was called to
+conference; the buzzer summoned her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>Mern introduced her to the client of the day; the chief made that his
+custom; it always seemed to put the client more at his ease because an
+introduction made her an important member of the party&#8212;and Mern
+stressed the &#8220;confidential secretary&#8221; thing.</p>
+
+<p>The client was Director Craig of the Comas company.</p>
+
+<p>He rose with a haste which betrayed a natural susceptibility to the
+charms of pretty women. He cooed at her rather than spoke, altering his
+natural tone, smoothing out all the harshness; it was that clumsy
+gallantry by which coarse men strive to pay court to charm.</p>
+
+<p>The girl warranted the approving gaze which Mr. Craig gave to her. He
+looked from her frank eyes to her copper-bronze hair, which seemed to
+have a glint of sunshine in its waves. He liked the uplift of that round
+chin&#8212;he remembered that it had seemed to indicate spirit&#8212;and he liked
+spunk in a girl. He had enjoyed the conferences of the days of the
+strike-breaking when he could survey her profile as she busied herself
+with her writing, admiring the beauty curve of her lips.</p>
+
+<p>Now he was thrilled by her manner of recognition; he had not expected
+that much.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I remember you, Mr. Craig,&#8221; she assured the big man, her fingers as
+firm in the grip as were his. &#8220;You were in here so much on the strike
+matter two years ago.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a long time for a New York young lady to remember a man from the
+north woods.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>&#8220;To save myself from seeming like a flatterer, I must say it&#8217;s because
+of the woods feature that I remember you so well. The forest interests
+me. I&#8217;m afraid I&#8217;m inclined to be very foolish about the woods. Why, in
+a cafeteria&#8212;last fall&#8212;there <span class="nowrap">was&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>But she checked herself and flushed. She turned to Mern. &#8220;I beg your
+pardon. I&#8217;m ready.&#8221; She sat down and opened her notebook.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But what about it?&#8221; quizzed Craig.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A mere chance meeting with a man from the north country. I really don&#8217;t
+understand why I mentioned it. My interest in the woods&#8212;the thought of
+the woods&#8212;tripped my tongue.&#8221; She nodded to the stolid Mern as if to
+remind him of the business in hand, and Mern ducked his square head at
+Craig.</p>
+
+<p>It was the habit of Mern to go thoroughly over a case with a client
+before calling in Miss Kennard. At the second going-over in her presence
+the topic was better shaken down, was in a more solidified form for her
+notebook. The Comas director had already told his story once to the
+chief.</p>
+
+<p>Craig leaned back in his chair and gazed up at the ceiling, again
+collecting his data in his mind. He had dictated before to Miss Kennard
+and knew how Mern wanted his names and his facts. &#8220;Subject, the spring
+drives on the Noda water. Object, hanging up or blocking the independent
+drive of Echford Flagg <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>Miss Kennard&#8217;s pencil slipped somehow. It fell from her fingers, bounced
+from the floor on its rubber <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>tip, and ticked off the sharpened lead
+when it hit the floor again.</p>
+
+<p>Lida darted for it, picked it up, and ran out of the room. &#8220;I&#8217;m going
+for another,&#8221; she explained.</p>
+
+<p>She was gone for some time. Craig glanced out of the window into the
+slaty sky, from which rain was falling. It was a day unseasonably warm
+and humid for early spring. &#8220;I hope it&#8217;s raining in the Noda. But it&#8217;s
+just as liable to be snow. Latisan can&#8217;t do much yet awhile.&#8221; He looked
+at his watch as if starting the Noda drives was a matter of minutes. He
+was showing some impatience when Miss Kennard returned. She went to the
+window, and sat in a chair there, her face turned from them. &#8220;If you
+don&#8217;t mind,&#8221; she apologized. &#8220;It&#8217;s on account of the light. I can hear
+perfectly from here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She heard then that the Comas wanted to put Echford Flagg down and out
+as an operator, now that paralysis had stricken him. She had Craig&#8217;s
+assurance delivered to Mern that, without a certain Ward Latisan old
+Flagg would not be able to bring his drive down. The Comas director
+declared that an ordinary boss could never get along with the devils who
+made up the crew. He declared further that Latisan was of a sort to suit
+desperadoes and had put into the crew some kind of fire which made the
+men dangerous to vested interests on the river. He devoted himself to
+Latisan with subdued profanity, despite the presence of the young woman.
+He averred that Latisan himself had no love for Flagg&#8212;nobody up-country
+gave a tinker&#8217;s hoot for Flagg, anyway. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>He insisted, desperate in spite
+of certain modifying private convictions, that Latisan could be pried
+off the job if some kind of a tricky influence could be brought to bear
+or if his interest in the fight, as just a fight, could be dulled or
+shifted to something else or side-tracked by a ruse. He pictured Flagg
+as a man for whom nobody would stand up in his present state, now that
+he was sick and out of the game.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hate to kick a cripple, even in my business,&#8221; demurred Mern. &#8220;I have
+flashes of decency,&#8221; he continued, dryly. &#8220;You seem to be particularly
+set on getting to the lumberjack, Latisan. Can&#8217;t you do him up, and then
+let Flagg have half a show for this season&#8212;probably his last?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now you&#8217;re talking of violence to Latisan, aren&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let the plug-ugly have what he seems to be looking for,&#8221; advised Mern.
+&#8220;That is, if I get it straight from you what his nature is.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s all of that&#8212;what I have said,&#8221; reaffirmed Craig, venomously. &#8220;But
+look here, Mern, you can&#8217;t go up into that region, where everything is
+wide open to all men, and kill a man or abduct him. I&#8217;m obliged to
+gum-shoe. I have to keep my own executive details away from the home
+office, even. We&#8217;re waiting on the courts for law and on the legislature
+for more favors.&#8221; Craig was sweating copiously, and he wiped his
+forehead with the back of his hand. &#8220;It&#8217;s touchy business. If I can pull
+old Flagg into camp, it&#8217;s my biggest stroke outside of nailing the
+Latisans in the Tomah. A monopoly will give us settled prices and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>control of the flowage. But I insist on doing the job through Latisan.
+I&#8217;m after him! Now do some thinking for me. No violence,
+however&#8212;nothing which can be traced to the Three C&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In the silence Miss Kennard asked, &#8220;How do you spell Latisan, Mr.
+Craig?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He told her. &#8220;First name Ward. He&#8217;s the grandson of old John of the
+Tomah.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m trying to get the facts straight for Mr. Mern. Do I understand you
+to say that the Latisans have failed in their business?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re down and out. I gave the young fool a good tip to save the
+remnants, but he wouldn&#8217;t take it. The only thing I&#8217;ll give him after
+this is poison&#8212;if it can&#8217;t be traced to me or my company.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mern had swung about in his chair, his vacant stare on the murky sky,
+doing the thinking to which he had been exhorted by his client. &#8220;Suppose
+I slip a picked crowd of my operatives into his crew?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s too wise to take on strangers. And while he&#8217;s on the job with the
+crew the men are so full of that hell-whoop spirit that they can&#8217;t be
+tampered with. Mern, he&#8217;s got to be cut out of the herd.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s his particular failing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig, if his sour rage against Latisan had been less intense, might
+have been less ready to believe that Latisan had taken several months
+off as a prodigal son. But Craig wanted to believe that the young man
+had been doing what scandal said he had done. That belief strengthened
+Craig&#8217;s hopes. He affected to believe in the reports. He told Mern that
+Latisan <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>had been leading a sporting life in the city until the family
+money gave out.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How about bumping him on his soft spot?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig asked questions with his eyes, blinking away the perspiration.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;With a girl,&#8221; Mern explained. &#8220;With one who looks as if she had been
+picked right out of the rosy middle of the big bouquet he was attracted
+by in the city. With the background of the woods, a single bloomer will
+surely hold his attention.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig showed interest; he had been obliged to pass up violence, bribery,
+bluster. This new plan promised subtlety and subterfuge that would let
+out the Three C&#8217;s. &#8220;Got her?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Call Miss Elsham on the phone, Miss Kennard! You may do it from the
+other room. Ask her to hurry down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The girl, her face hidden from them, paused at the door. &#8220;Are there more
+notes? Shall I come back?&#8221; She was having difficulty with her voice, but
+the men were now talking eagerly about the new plan, and her
+discomposure was not remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I think not,&#8221; said Mern. &#8220;Write out what you have. Make especially full
+characterizations of Flagg and Latisan as you have gathered facts about
+them from our talk.&#8221; He had found Miss Kennard to be especially apt in
+that work. Not only did she deduce character from descriptions, but she
+worked in many valuable suggestions as to how men of a certain nature
+should be handled. She seemed to understand the vagaries of men&#8217;s
+dispositions very well indeed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter with Ken?&#8221; muttered Miss Javotte, nudging the
+bookkeeper.</p>
+
+<p>Lida had flung her arms across the frame of her typewriter and had
+hidden her face in her hands.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Headache,&#8221; returned Miss Leigh, sapiently. &#8220;That toque has struck into
+the brain. No girl ought to take chances that way.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span><a name="ten" id="ten"></a>CHAPTER TEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">HOWEVER, by the time Miss Marguerite Elsham&#8212;having given full attention
+to her person and attire&#8212;arrived at the office, Miss Kennard had
+completed her manuscript and the sheets were lying at Mern&#8217;s elbow on
+his desk.</p>
+
+<p>In order to bridge a part of the gap of waiting Mern had given his
+client some information about Miss Elsham and her ability.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very competent on the coax, Mr. Craig. Last job was a paying teller. He
+had twenty thousand in his jeans when he stepped out of the taxi that
+had taken him and Elsham to the steamer dock. Tickets for Rio! Crowley,
+our pinch artist, nabbed him and bawled out Elsham, who was weeping in
+the cab. Crowley and Elsham work well together. You understand that if
+she goes to the woods Crowley must go along on the side. They won&#8217;t
+appear as knowing each other. But Crowley may be called on to shove his
+mitt between Elsham and trouble.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t care how many are on pay&#8212;if you achieve results,&#8221; said Craig.</p>
+
+<p>The field director, introduced to Miss Elsham when she entered breezily,
+termed her in his thoughts as being at least a 1925 model. He wondered
+just what words he would find in the way of advice about toning down her
+style for north country operations.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>She took her seat sideways on the edge of Mern&#8217;s desk, thus testifying
+to her sure standing in the establishment, her tightly drawn skirt
+displaying an attractive contour. For a fleeting moment&#8212;hating Latisan
+so venomously&#8212;Craig rather envied Latisan his prospects as a victim.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham produced a silver cigarette case, lighted up, and exhaled
+twin streams of smoke from a shapely nose. &#8220;Shoot!&#8221; she counseled.</p>
+
+<p>Mern, after his slow fashion, fumbled with the sheets of Miss Kennard&#8217;s
+manuscript.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham thriftily utilized the moments allowed her by Mern&#8217;s
+hesitation. She always tried to impress a client favorably. &#8220;I don&#8217;t
+presume to pick and choose when it comes to cases,&#8221; she informed Craig.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m an All-for-the-good-cause Anne! But I hope&#8212;I&#8217;m allowed to hope, I
+suppose&#8212;I do hope that my next one is going to remember some of the
+lessons he learned at mother&#8217;s knee. The last one had forgotten
+everything. I was dragged through caf&eacute;s till at the present time a
+red-shaded table lamp and a menu card make me want to bite holes in any
+man with a napkin over his arm. I&#8217;ve danced to jazz and listened to
+<span class="nowrap">cabaret&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>Mern was trying to say something, but she rattled on: &#8220;And that flask on
+his hip&#8212;he must have done all his breathing while he was asleep; he
+never allowed time enough between drinks while he was awake.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The next one is different,&#8221; stated Mern.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Much obliged! But of course it&#8217;s caf&eacute;s again <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>Mern sliced off her complaints, chopping his flat hand to and fro in
+the air. &#8220;Nothing to it, sis! It&#8217;s a tall-timber job, this time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In the woods&#8212;the real woods,&#8221; supplemented Craig.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Great!&#8221; indorsed Miss Elsham, accustomed to meeting all phases of
+action with agility. &#8220;I&#8217;ve just seen a movie with that kind of a girl in
+it. Leggings and knicks. I can see myself. Great!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Director Craig surveyed her and nodded approvingly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll decide on what part you&#8217;ll play before we measure you for a rig,&#8221;
+objected the chief, with his official caution. &#8220;Listen to the size-up of
+your man.&#8221; He began to read from Miss Kennard&#8217;s manuscript. &#8220;&#8216;Ward
+Latisan. Young woodsman. Has lived and worked among rough men and has no
+particular amount of moral stamina, a fact shown by his desertion of his
+father in time of need in order to indulge in orgies in the city.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, it&#8217;s to go and set my hook and fish him out of the woods, and then
+he and I lean on our elbows across from each other&#8212;the caf&eacute;s some
+more,&#8221; said Miss Elsham, pouting.</p>
+
+<p>Mern suspended, for a moment, his reading and addressed Craig. &#8220;Miss
+Kennard, of course, is sizing up according to what you have said of
+Latisan. You&#8217;re sure about his weakness for dames, are you? We don&#8217;t
+want to give Miss Elsham any wrong tips.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig hung tenaciously to his estimate of Latisan, in no mood to uproot
+the opinion which gossip had implanted and hatred had watered. And at
+the end <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>of his arraignment he attempted an awkward compliment. &#8220;And
+even if he could have stood out against the Queen of Sheba up till now,
+I&#8217;ll say <span class="nowrap">he&#8217;ll&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> Craig gazed with humid indorsement of Miss Elsham&#8217;s
+attractions and waved his hand in the way of a mute completion of the
+sentence.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham smiled broadly and patted together her manicured thumbnails.
+&#8220;Loud applause!&#8221; she cried. &#8220;Pardon me if I don&#8217;t blush, sir. I have
+used up my stock. The last case was oozing with flattery&#8212;after the
+flask had got in its work.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mern went on with his reading, portraying the character of Latisan as
+Miss Kennard had gathered and assimilated data. She had even gone to the
+extent of giving Latisan a black mustache and evil eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hold on,&#8221; objected Craig. &#8220;Nothing was said about his looks. She&#8217;s
+picking that up because I was strong on how he had acted. He doesn&#8217;t
+look as savage as he is; he fools a lot of folks that way,&#8221; stated
+Craig, in surly tones.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, how will I know when I meet up with him in the woods?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You go to the Adonia tavern and make your headquarters, and you won&#8217;t
+miss him. How does the thing look to you as a proposition?&#8221; demanded
+Craig, solicitously. &#8220;You ought to know pretty well what you can do with
+men, by this time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham tossed away her cigarette butt and referred mutely to Mern
+by a wave of her hand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She always gets &#8217;em&#8212;gets the better of the best of &#8217;em. Rest easy,&#8221;
+said the chief.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And it must be worked easy,&#8221; warned Craig, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>catching at the word.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s why you&#8217;re in it, Miss Elsham, instead of its being a man&#8217;s
+fight up there. We can&#8217;t afford to let Latisan slam that drive down
+through our logs, as he threatens to do. If he does it&#8212;if we turn on
+Flagg and sue for damages, as we can do, of course&#8212;court action will
+only bring out a lot of stuff that better be kept covered. I want the
+agency to understand fully, Mern!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m achieving results without showing all the details to the home
+office. And I&#8217;m not a pirate. You spoke of kicking a cripple, Mern.
+We&#8217;ll take over Flagg&#8217;s logs as soon as he gets reasonable. His fight is
+only an old notion about the independents sticking on. Sawmills are in
+our way these days. Flagg is done, anyway. He ought to be saved from
+himself. I&#8217;m after Latisan. He&#8217;s ready to fight and to ruin Flagg,&#8221;
+declared Mr. Craig, with a fine assumption of righteous desire to aid a
+fallen foe, &#8220;just to carry out his grudge against me&#8212;using Flagg&#8217;s
+property as his tool. It&#8217;ll be too bad. So get busy, Miss Elsham&#8212;and
+keep him busy&#8212;off the drive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Read on, Chief,&#8221; she implored Mern. &#8220;I&#8217;m seeing as quick as this just
+how I&#8217;ll do it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The conference continued.</p>
+
+<p>When Miss Elsham departed she stopped in the main office on her way out.
+&#8220;Good-by, girls! I&#8217;m off for the big sticks. I&#8217;ll bring each of you a
+tree.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She went to a mirror, taking out her vanity case. Beside the mirror were
+hooks for hats and outer garments. &#8220;Perfect dream!&#8221; she commented,
+examining a hat. &#8220;Whose?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>&#8220;Mine,&#8221; said Miss Leigh.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham took the hat in admiring hands, dislodging a green toque,
+which fell upon the floor. She did not notice the mishap to the toque
+and left it where it had fallen. She touched up her countenance and went
+away.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Your hat is on the floor,&#8221; Miss Leigh informed Miss Kennard. The girl
+did not reply; she was looking down upon the keys of her typewriter, and
+her demeanor suggested that her heart was on the floor, too.</p>
+
+<p>When Lida sat by the open window of her room that evening her depression
+had become doleful to the point of despair.</p>
+
+<p>The night was unseasonably warm with enervating humidity; in that
+atmosphere the dormant germs of the girl&#8217;s general disgust with the
+metropolis and all its affairs were incubated. Breathing the heavy air
+which sulked at the window, she pondered on the hale refreshment of the
+northern forests. But it seemed to her that there was no honesty in the
+woods any more. That day, fate searching her out at last, she had been
+dragged in as a party in a plot against her stricken grandfather. She
+indulged her repugnance to her employment; it had become hateful beyond
+all endurance. Her association with the cynical business of the agency
+and her knowledge of the ethics of Mern had been undermining the
+foundations of her own innate sense of what was inherently right, she
+reflected, taking account of stock.</p>
+
+<p>Dispassionately considered, it was not right for her to use her acquired
+knowledge of the plot against <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>Echford Flagg in order to circumvent the
+plans of an employer who trusted her. But after a while she resolutely
+broke away from the petty business of weighing the right and the wrong
+against each other; she was bold enough to term it petty business in her
+thoughts and realized fully, when she did so, that her Vose-Mern
+occupation had damaged her natural rectitude more than she had
+apprehended.</p>
+
+<p>But there was something more subtle, on that miasmatic metropolitan
+night, something farther back than the new determination to break away
+from Mern and all his works of mischief. It was not merely a call of
+family loyalty, a resolve to stand by the grandfather who had disowned
+his kin. She was not sure how much she did care for the hard old man of
+the woods. But right then, without her complete realization of what the
+subtle feeling was, the avatar of the spirit of the Open Places was
+rising in her. She longed avidly for the sight and the sound of many
+soughing trees. She was urged to go to her own in some far place where
+her feet could touch the honest earth instead of being insulated by the
+pavements which were stropped glossy by the hurry of the multitude.</p>
+
+<p>That urge really was just as insistent as consideration of the personal
+elements involved, though she did not admit it, not being able to
+analyze her emotions very keenly right then. Family affection needs
+propinquity and service to develop it. Her sentiments in regard to
+Echford Flagg were vague. This Latisan, whoever he was, was plainly a
+rough character with doubtful morals who was loyal to a grudge <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>instead
+of to her grandfather. She knew what the Elsham girl had been able to
+with other men, in the blas&eacute; city; it stood to reason that in the woods,
+having no rivals to divert the attentions of a victim, Elsham would be
+still more effective.</p>
+
+<p>At last, having kept her thoughts away from an especial topic because of
+the shame that still dwelt with her, Lida faced what she knew was the
+real and greater reason for her growing determination to step between
+Echford Flagg and his enemies. Alfred Kennard had stolen money from
+Echford Flagg. Sylvia Kennard had grieved her heart out over the thing.
+There were the bitter letters which Lida had found among her mother&#8217;s
+papers after Sylvia died. The mother had torn the name from the bottoms
+of those letters; it was as if she had endeavored to shield Echford
+Flagg from the signed proof of utter heartlessness.</p>
+
+<p>The debt to Echford Flagg had not been canceled. Could the daughter of
+Alfred Kennard repay in some degree for the sake of the father? That
+sense of duty surmounted all qualms involved in the betrayal of an
+employer, if it could be called betrayal, considering the ethics that
+had been adopted and preached by Mern.</p>
+
+<p>It was midnight when she reached her firm decision. She would go to the
+north country. She would do her best, single-handed, as opportunity
+might present itself. She would fight without allowing her grandfather
+to know her identity. Perhaps she might tell him when it was all over,
+if she won. The debt was owed by the father; it might help if <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>it was
+known that the daughter had paid. Then she would go away; it was not in
+her mind to gain any favor for herself. If she merely ran to him,
+tattling an exposure of the plot, Echford Flagg, if her well-grounded
+estimate of his character were correct, might repudiate her as a mere
+tale-bearer; she remembered enough to know that he was a square fighter.
+She felt that she had some of the Flagg spirit of that sort in her. She
+had been fighting her battle with the world without asking odds of
+anybody or seeking favors from her only kin.</p>
+
+<p>She would go north and do her best, for her own, according to the code
+she had laid down.</p>
+
+<p>She was conscious then, having made up her mind, of the subtle longing
+that was back of the fierce impatience to repay her father&#8217;s debt: the
+woods of the north and the hale spirit of the Open Places were calling
+her home again.</p>
+
+<p>She would not admit to herself that she was engaged in a quixotic
+enterprise, and in order to keep herself from making that admission she
+resolutely turned her thoughts away from plans. To ponder on plans would
+surely sap her courage. She could not foresee what would confront her in
+the north country and she was glad because her ideas on that point were
+hazy. It was not in her mind to hide herself from the other operatives
+of the Vose-Mern agency when she was at the scene; her experience had
+acquainted her with the efficacy of guile in working with human nature,
+and she was well aware that her bold presence where the operatives were
+making their campaign would prove such a mixture <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>of honesty and guile
+that Miss Elsham and Crowley, and even Mern, himself, when he learned,
+would be obliged to expend a portion of their energy on guessing.</p>
+
+<p>She did not know how or whether one girl could prevail against the
+organization threatening her grandfather and Latisan, but she was fully
+determined to find out.</p>
+
+<p>She served the agency dutifully for one more day. She learned that the
+two operatives had started for the north.</p>
+
+<p>A day later she departed from New York on their trail. She did not
+inform Chief Mern that she was leaving.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span><a name="eleven" id="eleven"></a>CHAPTER ELEVEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">ADONIA, terminus of the narrow-gauge, has one train arrival per day, in
+the late afternoon. That arrival always attracts the populace of the
+village. The train brings freight and mail and passengers.</p>
+
+<p>Ward Latisan had come down from the headwaters of the Noda and was at
+the station, waiting for the train. He had ordered more dynamite for the
+drive and proposed to take especial charge of the consignment. The drive
+was starting off slowly. There was ice in the gorges; the first logs
+through would have the freshet head of water. Latisan had heard more
+threats and he had definitely detected the trigs which the river bosses
+of the Three C&#8217;s were laying&#8212;and he had ordered more dynamite!</p>
+
+<p>The arriving train dragged slowly into the station and Latisan kept pace
+with the freight car which was attached next behind the locomotive.</p>
+
+<p>The conductor swung off the steps of the coach before the train halted.
+He hailed Latisan, calling the name loudly. He beckoned with vigor and
+the drive master swung around and walked back to meet the trainman.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I did my best, Latisan, to have your shipment loaded from the freight
+car on the main line, but they wouldn&#8217;t let me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who wouldn&#8217;t?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>&#8220;Our super. He was acting under orders from higher up. There was a
+special officer on hand to see that the orders were obeyed. Law says
+that explosives shall not be conveyed on a mixed train.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know all about that law,&#8221; retorted Latisan. &#8220;But it has been eased up
+on in these parts because you pull a passenger coach on every train.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But law is law; it has been jammed down on us!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You mean that Craig has put the twist ring into your snout,&#8221; shouted
+the drive master. &#8220;And he&#8217;s leading your railroad by the nose like he&#8217;s
+leading a good many others in the Noda country.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m only a hired <span class="nowrap">man&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And the Three C&#8217;s will have everybody in this section hired if the
+money holds out, and that&#8217;s the hell of it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Latisan, you&#8217;re on railroad property, and that&#8217;s no kind of
+talk to have over in front of passengers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The train was at a standstill; the new arrivals were on the platform.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan, well advertised by the name the conductor had bawled, glanced
+around and perceived that he was the center of observation. Especially
+was he concerned with the direct stare of a young woman; she continued
+to regard him steadfastly and he allowed his attention to be engaged
+with her for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had his own mental tags for womankind; this was &#8220;a lady.&#8221; He had
+set himself back to the plane of the woods and his rough associates. He
+felt a woodsman&#8217;s na&iuml;ve embarrassment in the presence of a lady. Her
+survey of him was rebuke for his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>language, he was sure. There could be
+no other reason why &#8220;a lady&#8221; should look at a man who was fresh down
+from the drive, unshaven and roughly garbed. She was from town, he could
+see that. Those sparkling eyes seemed like something that was aimed at
+him; he was in a helpless, hands-up sort of mood!</p>
+
+<p>He pulled off his cap. He had the courageous frankness of sincere
+manhood, at any rate. &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry! I was expecting dynamite. It didn&#8217;t
+come. I blew up just the same.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The lady smiled.</p>
+
+<p>Then she turned and started away.</p>
+
+<p>A stout man had been standing close behind her. Nobody among the
+loungers at the railroad station entertained any doubt whatever as to
+just what this stranger was. His clothes, his sample case, his ogling
+eyes, his hat cockily perched on one side of his head proclaimed him &#8220;a
+fresh drummer,&#8221; according to Adonia estimates.</p>
+
+<p>He leaped forward and caught step with the girl. &#8220;Pardon! But I&#8217;m going
+your way! Allow me!&#8221; He set his hand on her traveling case.</p>
+
+<p>She halted and frowned. &#8220;I thank you. I can carry it myself!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But I heard you asking the conductor the way to the hotel. I&#8217;m going
+right there!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So am I, sir! But not in your company.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, come on and be sociable! We&#8217;re the only two of our kind up among
+these bushwhackers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham&#8217;s fellow operative was stressing his play; he grabbed away
+her bag. &#8220;We may as well <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>get a quick rise out of him,&#8221; muttered
+Crowley. It was a plan they had devised in case their man should help
+their luck by being at the railroad station.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll call an officer!&#8221; she threatened.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t need to,&#8221; Latisan informed her. He had followed the couple.
+&#8220;Besides, there isn&#8217;t any. The only place they need officers is in a
+city where a rab like this is let run loose.&#8221; He leaped to the stout
+chap and yanked away the girl&#8217;s bag. &#8220;I&#8217;ll carry it if you&#8217;re going to
+the tavern.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She accepted his proffer with another smile&#8212;a smile into which she put
+a touch of understanding comradeship. They walked along together.</p>
+
+<p>There was no conversation. The spring flood of the Noda tumbled past the
+village in a series of falls, and the earth was jarred, and there was an
+everlasting grumble in the air. The loungers stared with great interest
+when the drive master and the girl went picking their way along the
+muddy road.</p>
+
+<p>The volunteer squire delivered the traveling bag into the hand of Martin
+Brophy, who was on the porch of the tavern, his eye cocked to see what
+guests the train had delivered into his net. Mr. Brophy handled the bag
+gingerly and was greatly flustered when the self-possessed young lady
+demanded a room with a bath.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan did not wait to listen to Brophy&#8217;s apologies in behalf of his
+tavern&#8217;s facilities. He touched his cap to the discomposing stranger and
+marched up to the big house on the ledges; he was not approaching with
+alacrity what was ahead of him.</p>
+
+<p>He had arrived in Adonia from headwaters the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>previous evening, and had
+spent as much of that evening as his endurance would allow, listening to
+Echford Flagg, sitting in his big chair and cursing the fetters of fate
+and paralysis. Unable to use his limbs, he exercised his tongue all the
+more.</p>
+
+<p>That forenoon and again in the afternoon Latisan had gone to the big
+house and had submitted himself to unreasonable complaints when he
+reported on what was going forward at headwaters. He had ventured to
+expostulate when the master told him how the thing ought to be done.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No two drive bosses operate the same, sir. And the whole situation is
+different this season.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was your offer to be my right hand, young Latisan&#8212;and I&#8217;m drive
+boss still! You move as I order and command.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ward was wondering how long the Latisan temperament could be restrained.
+In the matter of Craig at the tavern the scion of old John had been
+afforded disquieting evidence that the temperament was not to be trusted
+too far.</p>
+
+<p>He entered the mansion without knocking; it was the custom.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg was reading aloud from a big Bible for which Rickety Dick had
+rigged props on the arm of the chair. Dick was sitting on a low stool,
+the sole auditor of the master&#8217;s declamation. The old servitor was
+peeling onions from a dish between his knees; therefore, his tears of
+the moment were of questionable nature.</p>
+
+<p>The caller stood for a time outside the open door of the room, averse to
+tempting the hazard of Flagg&#8217;s <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>temper by an interruption of what seemed
+to be absorbing all the attention of the old man.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He
+hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath
+set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me
+about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg halted and looked up from the page. &#8220;Lamentations&#8212;lamentations,
+Dick! The best of &#8217;em have whined when the smash came. It&#8217;s human nature
+to let out a holler. Jeremiah did it. I&#8217;m in good company; it ain&#8217;t
+crying baby; it&#8217;s putting up a real man holler. <span class="nowrap">It&#8217;s&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>Latisan stepped through the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>Flagg instantly grabbed at a wooden spill that made a marker in the
+volume and nipped back the pages. He shook aloft his clinched left hand.
+He raised his voice and boomed. &#8220;&#8216;And if any mischief follow, then thou
+shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
+foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for
+stripe.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg beat his knotted fist on the open page. &#8220;Do you hear that,
+Latisan? That&#8217;s for you. I hunted it up. I haven&#8217;t had time till now to
+read the Bible like I should. Plenty of good stuff in it&#8212;but in the Old
+Testament, mind you! Too much turn-your-cheek stuff in the New
+Testament. &#8217;Eye for an eye.&#8217; Do you know who said that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. I&#8217;m sorry to admit it, <span class="nowrap">but&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;God Almighty said it. Said it to Moses on the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>mount. First
+straight-arm orders from God to man. It ought to be good enough for you
+and me, hadn&#8217;t it? Take it for rule o&#8217; conduct, and if Rufe Craig says
+anything to you on the drive refer him here&#8212;to headquarters!&#8221; Again he
+beat his fist on the page.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what part of the Bible Craig ought to study, sir, but some
+of it ought to be good for him. I&#8217;m just from the train. They wouldn&#8217;t
+load our dynamite at the junction. Craig is behind that!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t haul our dynamite?&#8221; raged Flagg. &#8220;And he has been shipping his
+canned thunder through here for Skulltree by the carload! Latisan,
+you&#8217;re falling down on the job. When I, myself, was attending to it, my
+dynamite was loaded for Adonia all right enough!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The drive master did not reply to that amazing shifting of blame to him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did you say what ought to be said to that conductor?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When I started to say something he bawled me out for using that kind of
+language on railroad property.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg lifted the useless right hand with his left, let it fall again,
+and groaned. &#8220;How many times, and where, did you hit him? And then what
+did you say?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I did not hit him, sir. I said nothing more. And there was a lady
+present.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg choked and struggled with words before he could speak. &#8220;Do you
+mean to tell me you&#8217;re allowing any ladee&#8221;&#8212;he put exquisite inflection
+of sarcasm on the word&#8212;&#8220;to stand betwixt you and your duty, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>when that
+duty is plain? Latisan, they tell me that you&#8217;re a sapgag where women
+are concerned. I&#8217;m told that you have been down to the city <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Flagg, we&#8217;ll stick to the subject of the dynamite!&#8221; broke in the
+young man, sharply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Women are the same thing and belong in the talk.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then we&#8217;ll stick to the dynamite that comes in boxes.&#8221; Latisan was just
+as peremptory as the master and was hurrying his business; he felt the
+dog of the Latisan temperament slipping neck from the leash. &#8220;You may
+have been able to make &#8217;em haul dynamite for you, in spite of the law. I
+can&#8217;t make &#8217;em, it seems. I&#8217;m here merely to report, and to say that
+I&#8217;ll have the dynamite up from the junction just the same.&#8221; He started
+for the door.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By tote team&#8212;three times the cost! My Gawd! why ain&#8217;t I out and
+around?&#8221; lamented the Adonia Jeremiah.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan wanted to say that he would pay the extra cost of transportation
+out of his own pocket, if that would save argument, but he did not dare
+to trust himself. He hurried out of the big house and slammed the door.</p>
+
+<p>On his way down the hill he was obliged to marshal a small host of
+reasons for hanging on to his job; the desire to quit then and there was
+looming large, potent, imperative.</p>
+
+<p>He was still scowling when he tramped into the office of the tavern
+where many loafers were assembled. Through the haze of tobacco smoke he
+saw Martin Brophy beckoning, and went to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>desk. Brophy ran his
+smutted finger along under a name; &#8220;Mrs. Dana Haines Everett, New York
+City.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She has been asking for you. Matter o&#8217; business, she says. I&#8217;ve had to
+give her the front parlor for her room. Say, she&#8217;s the kind that gets
+what she goes after, I reckon. Is eating her supper served in there
+private. Never was done in my tavern before.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Business&#8212;with me?&#8221; demanded Latisan. &#8220;Brophy, what&#8217;s her own business
+in these parts?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Can&#8217;t seem to find out,&#8221; admitted the landlord, and the young man
+bestowed on Brophy an expansive grin which was a comment on the latter&#8217;s
+well-known penchant for gimleting in search of information. &#8220;Will say,
+however, that she&#8217;s a widder&#8212;grass if I ain&#8217;t much mistook&#8212;believes
+that a woman is equal to a man and should have all a man&#8217;s privileges
+about going around by her lonesome if she so feels.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, you seem to have extracted a fair amount of information,
+considering that she&#8217;s hardly got her feet planted.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh,&#8221; confessed Brophy, &#8220;it came out because I made her mad when I
+hinted that it was kind of queer for a woman to be traveling around
+alone up here. Well, now that they&#8217;re voting, you can look for &#8217;most
+anything. What shall I tell her from you when I take in her pie?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll wait on the lady after I eat my supper.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When the drive master was ushered into the parlor-presence by the
+landlord, the lady was sitting in front of an open Franklin stove,
+smoking a ciga<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>rette. She had made a change in attire since her arrival,
+the new garb suggesting that she proposed to suit herself to the nature
+of the region to which she had come. She was in knickerbocker costume,
+had tipped back her chair, one foot on the hearth and the other foot
+propped on her knee, and she asked Latisan to sit down, pointing to a
+chair beside her. She offered a cigarette with a real masculine
+offhandedness. The caller faltered something about a pipe. She insisted
+that he smoke his pipe. &#8220;It rather puts strangers at their ease, don&#8217;t
+you think, a little tobacco haze in the room?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan, packing the bowl of his briar, agreed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I take it that you&#8217;re well acquainted with this region?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Fairly so, though I know the Tomah country better.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re a guide, I understand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t understand where you got that information, madam,&#8221; replied the
+drive master, a bit pricked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t remember that anybody did tell me that in so many words.
+Somehow it was my impression. But no matter. Please listen a moment.&#8221;
+She smiled on him, checking his attempt at a statement regarding
+himself; she had conned her little speech and used her best vocabulary
+to impress this woodsman. &#8220;No doubt you have something very important in
+the way of occupation. A man of your bearing is bound to. You needn&#8217;t
+thank me for a compliment&#8212;I&#8217;m very frank. That&#8217;s the way to get on and
+accomplish things quickly. So I&#8217;m frank enough to say it&#8217;s my habit to
+meet men on the plane of man <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>to man. Please do not regard me as a
+woman&#8212;that sort of stuff is old-fashioned in these days. I vote and pay
+taxes. Yet if I were merely a woman you gave evidence on the station
+platform to-day that you know how to protect one from insults. I was
+attracted by that trait in you&#8212;and afterwards minded your own business
+quite after my heart. I need outdoor life. I&#8217;m up here early for the
+first fishing. I want to tour the woods. I may invest in timberlands.
+Putting out of your mind all this foolish sex matter&#8212;as I have
+explained my man-to-man theory&#8212;will you go with me? I&#8217;ll have a cook,
+of course. Pardon my sudden reference to pay&#8212;I&#8217;ll pay you twice what
+you&#8217;re getting now&#8212;providing you&#8217;re working for wages.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am working for wages. And I can&#8217;t leave the work.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m the master of the Flagg drive on these waters.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you prefer to boss rough men and endure hardship rather than to
+come with me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The bitterness of the last interview with Flagg was still with Latisan.
+&#8220;If it was a matter of preference&#8212;but that isn&#8217;t the way of it!&#8221; He
+returned her gaze and flushed. In spite of his resolve to go on with the
+battle that was ahead, he was tempted, and acknowledged to himself the
+fact; but Flagg was trying him cruelly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have been the drive master here for a long time&#8212;that&#8217;s why you
+cannot be spared?&#8221; She tossed away her cigarette and gave him earnest
+attention.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>&#8220;I&#8217;m just beginning my work with Flagg.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then of course you&#8217;re not vital. Let the man who used to be <span class="nowrap">master&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That was Flagg, himself. He&#8217;s laid up with paralysis.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; she drawled, provokingly. &#8220;A matter of conscientiousness&#8212;loyal
+devotion&#8212;champion of the weak&#8212;or a young man&#8217;s opportunity to be lord
+of all for the future!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s an old devil to work for, and the job promises no future,&#8221; blurted
+Latisan, his manner leaving no doubt as to his feelings.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then come with me,&#8221; she invited. &#8220;If I get to own timberlands, who
+knows?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head. &#8220;There are reasons why I can&#8217;t quit&#8212;not this
+season.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hoped I&#8217;d seem to you like a good and sufficient reason,&#8221; she
+returned, insinuatingly; in her anxiety to make a quick job of it, in
+her cynical estimate of men as she had been finding them out in the
+city, she was venturing to employ her usual methods as a temptress,
+naturally falling into the habit of past procedure.</p>
+
+<p>She found it difficult to interpret the sudden look he gave her, but her
+perspicacity warned her that she was on the wrong tack with this man of
+the north country.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid you&#8217;re finding me a peculiar person, Mr. Latisan,&#8221; she
+hastened to say. &#8220;I am. I&#8217;m quick to judge and quick to decide. Your
+gallantry at the railroad station influenced me in your behalf. I like
+your manners. And I know now what&#8217;s in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>your mind! You think it will be
+very easy for me to find somebody else as a guide&#8212;and you&#8217;re quite sure
+that you can&#8217;t give up your responsibility for a woman&#8217;s whim.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The drive master owned to himself that she had called the turn.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll continue with my frankness, Mr. Latisan. It&#8217;s rather more than a
+guide I&#8217;m looking for on that man-to-man plane I have mentioned. You can
+readily understand. I need good advice about land. Therefore, mine is
+not exactly a whim, any more than your present determination to go on
+with your job is a whim. This matter has come to us very suddenly.
+Suppose we think it over. We&#8217;ll have another talk. At any rate, you can
+advise me in regard to other men.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She rose and extended her hand. &#8220;We can be very good friends, I trust.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He took her hand in a warm clasp. &#8220;I&#8217;ll do what I can&#8212;be sure of that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I feel very much alone all of a sudden. I&#8217;m depending on you. You&#8217;re
+not going back to the drive right away, are you?&#8221; she asked, anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be held here for a day or so.&#8221; The matter of the dynamite was on
+his mind.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good!&#8221; she said, and patted his arm when he turned to leave the room.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span><a name="twelve" id="twelve"></a>CHAPTER TWELVE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">LATISAN took the forenoon train down from Adonia to the junction the
+next day. He was keeping his own counsel about his intent.</p>
+
+<p>He had done some busy thinking during the evening after he left the new
+star boarder in her parlor. In spite of his efforts to confine his
+attention, in his thoughts, to business, he could not keep his mind
+wholly off her attractive personality and her peculiar proposition. He
+was obliged to whip up his wrath in order to get solidly down to the
+Flagg affairs.</p>
+
+<p>By the time he went to sleep he knew that he was determinedly ugly.
+There was the slur of Flagg about his slack efficiency in meeting the
+schemes of Craig. There was the ireful consciousness that the
+narrow-gauge folks were giving him a raw deal on that dynamite matter.
+They had hauled plenty of explosive for the Comas&#8212;for Craig. To admit
+at the outset of his career on the Noda that he could not get what the
+Three C&#8217;s folks were getting&#8212;to advertise his impotency by making a
+twenty-mile tote trip over slushy and rutted roads&#8212;was a mighty poor
+send-off as a boss, he told himself. He knew what sort of tattle would
+pursue him.</p>
+
+<p>The stout young man&#8212;that &#8220;drummer&#8221;&#8212;was at the station. Latisan was
+uncomfortably conscious that this person had been displaying more or
+less <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>interest in him. In the dining room at breakfast, in the office
+among the loafers, and now at the railroad station the stranger kept his
+eyes on Latisan.</p>
+
+<p>The drive master was just as ugly as he had been when he went to sleep.
+He was keeping his temper on a wire edge for the purposes of the job of
+that day, as he had planned the affair. He did not go up to the
+impertinent drummer and cuff his ears, but the stranger did not know how
+narrowly he escaped that visitation of resentment.</p>
+
+<p>The fellow remained on the platform when the train pulled out; it
+occurred to Latisan that the fresh individual maybe wished to make sure
+of a clear field in order to pursue his crude tactics with the lady of
+the parlor.</p>
+
+<p>After the arrival at the junction Latisan had matters which gave him no
+time to ponder on the possible plight of the lady.</p>
+
+<p>As he had ascertained by cautious inquiry, the crew of the narrow-gauge
+train left it on its spur track unattended while they ate at a boarding
+house. There were workmen in the yard of a lumber mill near the station,
+loafing after they had eaten their lunches from their pails. The Flagg
+dynamite was in a side-tracked freight car of the standard gauge.
+Latisan promptly learned that the lumber-yard chaps were ready and
+willing to earn a bit of change during their nooning. He grabbed in with
+them; the boxes of dynamite were soon transferred to the freight car of
+the narrow-gauge and stacked in one end of the car. Latisan paid off his
+crew and posted himself on top of the dynamite. In one hand he held a
+coupling <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>pin; prominently displayed in the other hand was a fuse.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m in here&#8212;the dynamite is here,&#8221; he informed the conductor when that
+official appeared at the door of the car, red-faced after hearing the
+news of the transfer. &#8220;I&#8217;m only demanding the same deal you have given
+the Three C&#8217;s. You know you&#8217;re wrong. Damn the law! I&#8217;m riding to Adonia
+with this freight. What&#8217;s that? Go ahead and bring on your train crew.&#8221;
+He brandished coupling pin and fuse. &#8220;If you push me too far you&#8217;ll have
+a week&#8217;s job picking up the splinters of this train.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Bravado was not doing all the work for Latisan in that emergency. The
+conductor&#8217;s conscience was not entirely easy; he had made an exception
+in the case of the Three C&#8217;s&#8212;and Craig, attending to the matter before
+he went to New York, had borne down hard on the need of soft-pedal
+tactics. The conductor was not prepared to risk things with canned
+thunder in boxes and an explosive young man whose possession just then
+was nine points and a considerable fraction.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan was left to himself.</p>
+
+<p>At last the train from downcountry rumbled in, halted briefly, and went
+on its way. From his place in the end of the freight car Latisan could
+command only a narrow slice of outdoors through the open side door.
+Persons paraded past on their way to the coach of the narrow-gauge. He
+could see their backs only. There had been a thrill for him in the job
+he had just performed; he promptly got a new and more lively thrill even
+though he ridiculed his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>sensations a moment later. Among the heads of
+the arrivals he got a glimpse of an object for which he had stretched
+his neck and strained his eyes&#8212;the anxious soul of him in his eyes&#8212;on
+the street in New York City. He saw a green toque with a white quill.</p>
+
+<p>As though a girl&#8212;such a girl as he judged her to be&#8212;would still be
+wearing the same hat, all those months later! But that hat and the very
+cock of the angle of the quill formed, in a way, the one especially
+vivid memory of his life. However, he had a vague, bachelor notion that
+women&#8217;s hats resembled their whims&#8212;often changed and never twice alike,
+and he based no hopes on what he had seen.</p>
+
+<p>Whoever she was, she was on the train. But there were stations between
+the junction and Adonia&#8212;not villages, but the mouths of roads which led
+far into remote regions where a green toque could not be traced readily.
+He acutely desired to inform himself regarding the face under that hat.
+But he had made possession the full ten points of his law, sitting on
+that load of dynamite. What if he should allow that train crew an
+opening and give Echford Flagg complete confirmation of the report that
+his drive master was a sapgag with women?</p>
+
+<p>After the intenseness of the thrill died out of him he smiled at the
+idea that a chance meeting in New York could be followed up in this
+fashion in the north country. At any rate, he had something with which
+to busy his thoughts during the slow drag of the train up to Adonia, and
+he was able to forget in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>some measure that he was sitting on dynamite
+and would face even more menacing explosives of another kind when the
+drive was on its way.</p>
+
+<p>He posted himself in the side door of the car when the train rolled
+along beside the platform at Adonia. He had ordered men of the Flagg
+outfit to be at the station with sleds, waiting for the train; they were
+on hand, and he shouted to them, commanding them to load the boxes and
+start north.</p>
+
+<p>There was a man displaying a badge on the platform&#8212;a deputy sheriff who
+had his eye out for bootleggers headed toward the driving crews; the
+conductor ran to the officer and reported that Latisan had broken the
+law relating to the transportation of explosives; the trainman proposed
+to shift the responsibility, anticipating that the sheriff might give
+official attention to the cargo.</p>
+
+<p>Just then Latisan spied the green toque; the face was concealed because
+the head was bowed to enable the toque&#8217;s wearer to pick her way down the
+steps of the coach.</p>
+
+<p>The drive master leaped from the door of the car and his men scrambled
+past him to enter.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;About that <span class="nowrap">dynamite&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>Latisan elbowed aside the questioning sheriff, and looked straight past
+the officer. &#8220;If you go after me on that point you&#8217;ll have to go after
+Craig and the Three C&#8217;s, too&#8212;and I&#8217;ll put the thing up to the county
+attorney myself. Right now I&#8217;m busy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The men were lugging out the boxes. &#8220;If anybody gets in your way, boys,
+drop a box on his toes,&#8221; he shouted, starting up the platform.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>&#8220;Leave it to us, Mr. Latisan,&#8221; bawled one of the crew.</p>
+
+<p>The drive master had his eyes on the girl who was walking ahead of him.
+He could hardly believe that the voicing of his name attracted her
+attention. She did not know his name! But she stopped and whirled about
+and stared at him.</p>
+
+<p>It was surely the girl of the cafeteria!</p>
+
+<p>She plainly shared Latisan&#8217;s amazement, but there was in her demeanor
+something more than the frank astonishment which was actuating him.</p>
+
+<p>He pulled off his cap and hurried to her and put out his hand. &#8220;I saw
+you&#8212;I mean I saw your hat. I thought it might be you&#8212;but I looked for
+you in New York&#8212;for that <span class="nowrap">hat&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> He knew he was making a fool of
+himself by his excitement and incoherence. &#8220;I have been thinking about
+<span class="nowrap">you&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> He was able to check himself, for her eyes were showing
+surprise of another sort. Her manner suggested to Latisan that she, at
+any rate, had not been thinking especially about him during the months.
+She had recovered her composure.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is not surprising about the hat, Mr.&#8212;I believe I heard somebody
+call your name&#8212;Mr. Latisan?&#8221; There was an inflection of polite query,
+and he bowed. &#8220;My sarcastic friends are very explicit about this hat
+serving as my identifier.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t mean it that way. I don&#8217;t know anything about girls&#8217; hats. But
+to see you away up <span class="nowrap">here&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>She forced a flicker of a smile.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It seems quite natural to find you here in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>woods, though I believe
+you did tell me that your home is over Tomah way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was not able to understand the strange expression on her countenance.
+And she, on her part, was not able to look at him with complete
+composure; she remembered the character given to this man by Craig, and
+she had ventured to give him something else in her report&#8212;the swagger
+of a <em>rou&eacute;</em> and a black mustache!</p>
+
+<p>There was an awkward moment and he put his cap back on his head. He
+looked about as if wondering if she expected friends. He had treasured
+every word of hers in the cafeteria. She had spoken of the woods as if
+her home had been there at one time.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not expecting anybody to meet me&#8212;here&#8212;to-day,&#8221; she informed him,
+understanding his side glances. She was showing incertitude,
+uneasiness&#8212;as if she were slipping back into a former mood after the
+prick of her surprise. &#8220;There&#8217;s a hotel here, I suppose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He took her traveling case from her hand, muttering a proffer to assist
+her. They walked away together. For the second time the loafers at
+Adonia saw Latisan escorting a strange woman along the street, and this
+one, also, was patently from the city, in spite of her modest attire.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Seems to be doing quite a wholesale business, importing dynamite and
+wimmen,&#8221; observed a cynic.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;According to the stories in Tomah, he has put in quite a lot of time
+looking over the market in regard to that last-named,&#8221; agreed another
+detractor.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And when Eck Flagg gets the news I&#8217;d rather <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>take my chances with the
+dynamite than with the wimmen,&#8221; stated the cynic.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I guess I talked to you like an idiot at first,&#8221; said Latisan, when he
+and his companion were apart from the persons on the station platform.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m getting control of my surprise. I remember you told me you were
+homesick for the woods. That&#8217;s why you&#8217;re up here, I suppose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s one reason, Mr. Latisan.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry it isn&#8217;t a better time of year. I&#8217;d like to&#8212;to&#8212;If you
+aren&#8217;t going to be tied up too much with friends, I could show you
+around a little. But right now I&#8217;m tied up, myself. I&#8217;m drive master for
+Echford Flagg&#8212;you remember about speaking of him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes; but I shall not trouble Mr. Flagg,&#8221; she hastened to say. &#8220;He will
+not be interested in me simply on account of my friends. You are very
+busy on the drive, are you?&#8221; she questioned, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh yes. I&#8217;ve got to start for headwaters in the morning.&#8221; There was
+doleful regret in his tones.</p>
+
+<p>He was rather surprised to find so much pleased animation in her face;
+truly, this girl from the city acted as if she were delighted by the
+news of his going away; she even seemed to be confessing it. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad!&#8221;
+she cried. Then she smoothed matters after a glance at his grieved and
+puzzled face. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad to hear a man say that he&#8217;s devoted to his work.
+So many these days don&#8217;t seem to take any interest in what they&#8217;re
+doing&#8212;they only talk wages. Yours must be a wonderful work&#8212;on the
+river&#8212;the excitement and all!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he admitted, without enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>The street was muddy and they went slowly; he hung back as if he wanted
+to drag out the moments of their new companionship.</p>
+
+<p>He cast about for a topic; he did not feel like expatiating on the
+prospects ahead of him in his work. &#8220;If you&#8217;re going to make much of a
+stop <span class="nowrap">here&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>She did not take advantage of his pause; he hoped she would indicate the
+proposed length of her stay, and he was worrying himself into a panic
+for fear she would not be in Adonia on his next visit to report to
+Flagg.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wish we had a better hotel here, so that you&#8217;d stay all contented for
+a time&#8212;and&#8212;and enjoy the country hereabouts.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t the hotel a fit place for a woman who is unaccompanied?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, that isn&#8217;t it! It&#8217;s the slack way Brophy runs it. The help
+question! Martin does the best he knows how, but he finds it hard to
+keep table girls here in the woods. Has to keep falling back on his
+nephew, and the nephew isn&#8217;t interested in the waiter job. Wants to
+follow his regular line.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what&#8217;s that?&#8221; she asked, holding to a safe topic.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Running Dave&#8217;s stable. Nephew says the horses can&#8217;t talk back.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She stopped and faced him. &#8220;Do you think the landlord would hire me as a
+waitress?&#8221; She had come to Adonia in haste, leaving her plans to hazard.
+Now she was obeying sudden inspiration.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>If she had slapped him across the face she could not have provoked more
+astonishment and dismay than his countenance showed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have done much waiting at tables.&#8221; She grimly reflected on the caf&eacute;s
+where she had sought the most for her money. &#8220;I&#8217;m not ashamed to confess
+it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He stammered before he was able to control his voice. &#8220;It isn&#8217;t that.
+You ought to be proud to work. I mean I&#8217;m glad&#8212;no, what I mean is I
+don&#8217;t understand <span class="nowrap">why&#8212;why&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why I have come away up here for such a job?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t the grit to ask any questions of you!&#8221; he confessed,
+plaintively, his memory poignant on that point.</p>
+
+<p>The stout &#8220;drummer&#8221; had been trailing them from the station. When they
+halted he passed them slowly, staring wide-eyed at the girl, asking her
+amazed questions with his gaze. She flung the Vose-Mern operative a look
+of real fury; she had come north in a fighting mood.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have left the city to escape just such men as that&#8212;men who aren&#8217;t
+willing to let a girl have a square chance. I lost my last position
+because I slapped a cheap insulter&#8217;s face in a hotel dining hall.&#8221; She
+looked over Latisan&#8217;s head when she twisted the truth. &#8220;I came north, to
+the woods, just as far as that railroad would take me. I hate a city!&#8221;
+Then she looked straight at him, and there was a ring of sincerity in
+her tone. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad to be where those are!&#8221; She pointed to the trees
+which thatched the slopes of the hills.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re speaking of friends of mine!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>They had stopped, facing each other. Crowley, lashed by looks from the
+girl and Latisan, had hurried on toward the tavern.</p>
+
+<p>Lida knew that the drive master was having hard work to digest the
+information she had given him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They are standing up straight and are honest old chaps,&#8221; he went on. He
+was looking into her eyes and his calm voice had a musing tone. &#8220;I like
+to call them my friends.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was trying hard to down the queer notions that were popping up. He
+would not admit that he was suspecting this girl of deceit. But she was
+so manifestly not what she claimed that she was! Still, there were
+reverses that <span class="nowrap">might&#8212;&#8212;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am alone in a strange land&#8212;nobody to back my word about myself. I
+must call on a reliable witness. You know the witness.&#8221; She put up her
+hand and touched her hat. Then came laughter&#8212;first from her and then
+from Latisan&#8212;to relieve the situation. &#8220;You saw me wearing it more than
+six months ago. What better proof of my humble position in life do you
+want?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t dare to tell you what you ought to be, <span class="nowrap">Miss&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Patsy Jones,&#8221; she returned, glibly; his quest for her name could not be
+disregarded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But what you are right now is good enough because it&#8217;s honest work.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you think I can get the job?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am a witness of Martin Brophy&#8217;s standing offer to give one thousand
+dollars for a table girl who won&#8217;t get homesick or get married.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>&#8220;Take me in and collect the reward, Mr. Latisan. I&#8217;m a safe
+proposition, both ways.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hope not!&#8221; he blurted&#8212;and then marched on with the red flooding
+beneath his tan.</p>
+
+<p>And though he strove to put all his belief in her word about herself, he
+was conscious of a persistent doubt, and was angered by it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you please, I&#8217;ll do the talking to Mr. Brophy&#8212;is that his
+name?&#8212;when we reach the hotel,&#8221; said the girl. &#8220;You really do not know
+me.&#8221; There was a flash of honesty, she felt, in that statement, and she
+wanted to be as honest as she could&#8212;not wholly a compound of lies in
+her new r&ocirc;le. &#8220;It might seem queer, my presenting myself under your
+indorsement, as if we had been acquainted somewhere else. Gossip up here
+is easily started, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He surrendered her bag to her at the porch, as if his services had been
+merely the cursory politeness of one who was traveling her way. It was
+in Latisan&#8217;s mind to go along to the big house on the ledges and inform
+Flagg what had been done that day, and glory in the boast that there was
+a new man in the region who could make a way for himself in spite of
+Flagg&#8217;s opinions as to the prowess of an old man.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan was feeling strangely exhilarated. She had come there to stay!
+Martin Brophy was in the desperate state of need to chain a girl like
+that one to a table leg in his desire to keep her. And she had announced
+her own feelings in the matter! She was in the Noda&#8212;the girl who had
+stepped out of his life never to enter it again, so he had feared in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>his lonely ponderings. He was in the mood of a real man at last! He was
+resolved to take no more of Echford Flagg&#8217;s contumely. He was heartsick
+at the thought of starting north and leaving her in the tavern, to be
+the object of attentions such as that cheap drummer man bestowed when he
+passed them on the street.</p>
+
+<p>The plea of the lady of the tavern parlor had made merely a ripple in
+his resolves. He had not thought of her or her proposition during that
+busy day.</p>
+
+<p>Now he was wondering whether the fight for Flagg&#8212;the struggle against
+Craig, even for vengeance, was worth while.</p>
+
+<p>Lida was having no difficulty in locating the landlord. He stood just
+beyond the dining-room door and was proclaiming that he was the boss and
+was shaking his fist under the nose of a surly youth who had allowed
+several dishes to slide off a tray and smash on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you want to hire a waitress from the city?&#8221; she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You bet a tin dipper I do,&#8221; snapped back Brophy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m ready to begin work at once. If you&#8217;ll show me my <span class="nowrap">room&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You go up one flight, by them stairs there, and you pick out the best
+room you can find&#8212;the one that suits you! That&#8217;s how much I&#8217;m willing
+to cater to a city waitress. And you needn&#8217;t worry about wages.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shall not worry, sir.&#8221; She hurried up the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>The hostler-waiter slammed down the tray with an ejaculation of
+thankfulness. Brophy picked up the tray and banged it over the youth&#8217;s
+head. &#8220;You <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>ain&#8217;t done with the hash-wrassling till she has got her feet
+placed. Sweep up that litter, stand by to do the heavy lugging, and take
+your orders from her and cater to her&#8212;cater!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan, lingering on the porch, had hearkened and observed. He caught a
+glimpse of himself in the dingy glass of the door. He scrubbed his hand
+doubtfully over his beard. Then he turned and hurried away.</p>
+
+<p>The single barber shop of Adonia was only a few yards from the door of
+the tavern. There was one chair in the corner of a pool room.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan overtook a man in the doorway and yanked him back and entered
+ahead.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m next!&#8221; shouted the supplanted individual.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, after me!&#8221; declared Latisan, grimly. He threw himself into the
+chair. &#8220;Shave and trim! Quick!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The barber propped his hands on his hips. &#8220;What&#8217;s the newfangled idea of
+shedding whiskers before the drive is down?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Shave!&#8221; roared Latisan. &#8220;And if you&#8217;re more than five minutes on the
+job I&#8217;ll carve my initials in you with your razor.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So constantly did he apostrophize the barber to hurry, wagging a
+restless jaw, that blood oozed from several nicks when the beard had
+been removed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got a pride in my profession, just the same as you have in your
+job,&#8221; stormed the barber when Latisan refused to wait for treatment for
+the cuts. &#8220;And I don&#8217;t propose to have you racing out onto the
+<span class="nowrap">streets&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>But the drive master was away, obsessed by visions of that fresh
+drummer presuming further in his tactics with the new waitress. The
+barber, stung to defense of his art, grabbed a towel and a piece of alum
+and pursued Latisan along the highway and into the tavern office,
+cornered the raging drive master, and insisted on removing the evidences
+which publicly discredited good workmanship. The affair was in the
+nature of a small riot.</p>
+
+<p>The guests who were at table in the dining room stared through the
+doorway with interest. The new waitress, already on her job, gave the
+affair her amused attention. Especially absorbed was the sullen youth
+who halted in the middle of the room, holding a loaded tray above his
+head. In his abstraction he allowed the tray to tip, and the dishes
+rained down over Crowley, who was seated directly under the edge of the
+tray.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan strode in and took his seat at the small table with the city
+stranger while Brophy was mopping the guest off; the city chap had
+received his food on his head and in his lap.</p>
+
+<p>The waitress came and stood demurely at one side, meeting the flaming
+gaze of the Vose-Mern man with a look that eloquently expressed her
+emotions. &#8220;Shall I repeat the order?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be fresh!&#8221; snarled Crowley.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan rapped his knuckles on the table warningly. &#8220;Be careful how you
+talk to this lady!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What have you got to say about it?&#8221; The stout chap started to rise.</p>
+
+<p>But Latisan was up first. He leaned over and set <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>his big hand, fingers
+outspread like stiff prongs, upon the man&#8217;s head, and twisted the caput
+to and fro; then he drove the operative down with a thump in his chair.
+&#8220;This is what I&#8217;ve got to say! Remember that she is a lady, and treat
+her accordingly, or I&#8217;ll twist off your head and take it downstreet and
+sell it to the bowling-alley man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was plain that the girl was finding a piquant relish in the affair.</p>
+
+<p>From the moment when she came down the stairs and took the white apron
+which Brophy handed to her she had ceased to be the city-wearied girl.
+It was homely adventure, to be sure, but the very plainness of it, in
+the free-and-easy environment of the north woods, appealed to her sense
+of novelty. There was especial zest for her in this bullyragging of
+Crowley by the man who was to be victim of the machinations by the
+Vose-Mern agency. Her eyes revealed her thoughts. The city man opened
+his mouth. He promptly shut it and turned sideways in his chair, his
+back to Latisan. Detective Crowley was enmeshed in a mystery which he
+could not solve just then. What was the confidential secretary doing up
+there?</p>
+
+<p>The girl smiled down on her champion&#8212;an expansive, charming, warming
+smile. &#8220;I thank you! What will you have?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She surveyed his face with concern; his countenance was working with
+emotion. In her new interest, she noted more particularly than in the
+New York cafeteria, that he apparently was, in spite of what Craig had
+said, a big, wholesome, na&iuml;ve chap <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>who confessed to her by his eyes,
+then and there, that he was honestly and respectfully surrendering his
+heart to her, short though the acquaintance had been, and she was
+thrilled by that knowledge. She was not responding to this new appeal,
+she was sure, but she was gratified because the man was showing her by
+his eyes that he was her slave, not merely a presumptuous conquest of
+the moment, after the precipitate manner of more sophisticated males.</p>
+
+<p>She repeated her question.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident enough what Latisan wanted at that moment, but he had not
+the courage to voice his wishes in regard to her; he had not enough
+self-possession left to state his actual desires as to food, even. There
+was one staple dish of the drive; he was heartily sick of that food, but
+he could not think of anything else right then.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bub&#8212;bub&#8212;beans!&#8221; he stuttered.</p>
+
+<p>She hurried away.</p>
+
+<p>When she returned with her tray she did not interrupt any conversation
+between the two men at the little table; the Vose-Mern man still had his
+back turned on Latisan; the drive master sat bolt upright in a prim
+attitude which suggested a sort of juvenile desire to mind his manners.</p>
+
+<p>The girl&#8217;s eyes were still alight with the spirit of jest. She placed
+steak and potatoes and other edibles in front of Latisan. She gave the
+gentleman from the agency a big bowl of beans.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t order those!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry, sir. I must have got my orders mixed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>&#8220;You have! You&#8217;ve given that&#8221;&#8212;he stopped short of applying any epithet
+to Latisan&#8212;&#8220;you&#8217;ve given him my order!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Won&#8217;t you try our beans&#8212;just once? The cook tells me they were baked
+in the ground, woodman style.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then give &#8217;em to the woodsmen&#8212;it&#8217;s the kind of fodder that&#8217;s fit for
+&#8217;em.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan leaned across the table and tugged Crowley&#8217;s sleeve. &#8220;Look me in
+the eye, my friend!&#8221; The man who was exhorted found the narrowed, hard
+eyes very effective in a monitory way. &#8220;I don&#8217;t care what you eat, as a
+general thing. But you have just slurred woodsmen and have stuck up your
+nose at the main grub stand-by of the drive. You&#8217;re going to eat those
+beans this lady has very kindly brought. If you don&#8217;t eat &#8217;em, starting
+in mighty sudden, I&#8217;ll pick up that bowl and tip it over and crown you
+with it, beans and all. Because I&#8217;m speaking low isn&#8217;t any sign I don&#8217;t
+mean what I say!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The beans were steaming under the stout man&#8217;s nose. He decided that the
+heat would be better in his stomach than on the top of his head; he had
+just had one meal served that way. He devoured the beans and marched out
+of the dining room, his way taking him past the sideboard where the new
+waitress was skillfully arranging glasses after methods entirely
+different from those of the sullen youth.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t jazz the game any more&#8212;not with <em>me</em>,&#8221; growled Crowley, fury in
+his manner. &#8220;And I want to see you in private.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She stiffened, facing him. She knew that Lat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>isan&#8217;s earnest eyes were on
+her. She assumed the demeanor of a girl who was resentfully able to take
+care of herself, playing a part for the benefit of the drive master.
+&#8220;Attend strictly to your end of the program, Crowley!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you mean&#8212;my end?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Protecting me from insults by these rough woodsmen. I suppose you are
+doing the same for Miss Elsham.&#8221; Her irony was biting. He scowled and
+put his face close to hers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re up here on the job&#8212;it&#8217;s not a lark. It&#8217;s a case of he-men in
+these parts. If you&#8217;re not careful you&#8217;ll start something you can&#8217;t
+stop.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Keep away from me. They&#8217;re watching us. You&#8217;re bungling your part
+wretchedly. Can&#8217;t you understand that I&#8217;m on the case, too?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She had planned her action, forestalling possibilities as well as she
+was able. She was determined to be bold, trusting to events as they
+developed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You will kindly remember that I&#8217;m on this case along with you, and you
+can&#8217;t make me jump through hoops!&#8221; Crowley, fresh from the city, narrow
+in his urban conceit, was seeing red because of a petty humiliation he
+had suffered in public.</p>
+
+<p>Another man was seeing red for a different reason. Latisan strode across
+the room, nabbed Crowley by the ear, and led him into the tavern office,
+where the aching ear was twisted until the city man subsided into a
+chair.</p>
+
+<p>The girl appraised at its full value the rancor that was developing in
+the Vose-Mern operative; his glaring eyes were accusing her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>But the adoring eyes of Latisan promised really more complicated
+trouble for her.</p>
+
+<p>It was borne in on her that there were dangerous possibilities in the
+frank atmosphere of the north woods. Lida had the poignant feeling of
+being very much alone just then&#8212;and she was afraid!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span><a name="thirteen" id="thirteen"></a>CHAPTER THIRTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">SUPPERS were always over with early in Adonia. The red west was banded
+with half on hour&#8217;s April daylight when the new waitress finished her
+work. She hurried up to her room; she locked her door with the
+panic-stricken air of one who desires to shut out danger.</p>
+
+<p>She was in no mood to question the worthiness of the impulse which had
+sent her into the north, but she was realizing in fuller measure the
+difficulties with which she must deal. In the dining room she had felt
+recklessly intrepid and the utter mystification of Buck Crowley had
+amused her. But she had had plenty of opportunity in her Vose-Mern work
+to know the nature of Crowley&#8212;he had the shell of an alligator and the
+scruples of a viper and would double-cross a twin brother if the project
+could help the fortunes of Buck himself.</p>
+
+<p>Once more she admitted that she was afraid. It was if she had touched
+levers and had started machinery which she could not stop; she had
+launched two men at each other and had observed the first ominous
+clinches&#8212;and Crowley had warned her that she was in the region of
+&#8220;he-men.&#8221; But Crowley was not of a sort to use the manly weapons of the
+frank fighters of the north.</p>
+
+<p>With the sense of hiding away from impending <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>trouble, sorry for her
+share in starting it, she sat by the window, put her forehead on her
+arms, wept weakly, and told herself that she was a very poor article of
+a heroine.</p>
+
+<p>However, the sunset soothed and invited her when she wiped her eyes. She
+beheld the honest outdoors of the forest country. She was hungry for
+those open places of earth. She knew that her resolution was ebbing the
+longer she hid herself in that hole of a room, like a terrified animal.
+She put on a hat and a wrap and started out.</p>
+
+<p>She was perfectly well aware of the gantlet she must run.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley was patrolling the porch; she issued from a side door of the
+tavern, but she was obliged to pass him in order to get into the street.
+His high sign to her was peremptory and unmistakable&#8212;Mr. Crowley had
+business with her! Right then, in spite of her planned intent to bluff
+out the situation just as long as she could at that distance from Mern,
+she was not in a state of mind to meet Crowley.</p>
+
+<p>She heard steps behind her and was accosted, but her frown of
+apprehensiveness became a smile of welcome when she turned and beheld
+Latisan; the welcome was not so much from interest in Latisan as from
+the sense that she would have a respite from Crowley.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re going to look the place over, won&#8217;t you allow me to go
+along?&#8221; he pleaded. &#8220;I&#8217;ll follow behind like a terrier, if you tell me
+to. I want to keep you from being bothered by anybody.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She showed concern and looked about her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>&#8220;Oh, by that cheap drummer, I mean. You needn&#8217;t ever be afraid of
+woodsmen up here. I was watching him when you came out. If it wasn&#8217;t for
+starting a lot of tattle I&#8217;d beat him up on the street.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Really, you&#8217;d better come along with me, Mr. Latisan, out of the reach
+of any such temptation.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps you&#8217;d like to get a view of the falls from the best point,&#8221; he
+suggested, as they walked on.</p>
+
+<p>When they turned into a path and disappeared from Crowley&#8217;s ken the
+latter buttoned his coat and started leisurely on their trail.</p>
+
+<p>On the edge of the gorge there was a niche in the cliff, a natural seat
+padded with moss. Latisan led her to the spot. He did not indulge his
+longing to sit beside her; he stood at a little distance, respectfully,
+and allowed her to think her thoughts. Those thoughts and her memories
+were very busy just then; she was glad because the everlasting diapason
+of the falls made conversation difficult.</p>
+
+<p>Until then, in her reflections, she had been considering Ward Latisan
+merely as her stricken grandfather&#8217;s staff of hope, an aid so essential
+that the Comas had determined to eliminate him. She surveyed him as he
+stood there in his own and fitting milieu and found him reassuringly
+stalwart as a dependable champion.</p>
+
+<p>Alone with him, making estimate with her eyes and her understanding, she
+was conscious that her first surprise at sight of the real Latisan was
+giving way to deepening interest.</p>
+
+<p>She reflected again on the character which had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>been given this man by
+Rufus Craig, and remembered more vividly what she had written about him
+for the guidance of the Vose-Mern agency.</p>
+
+<p>There must be something wrong in Craig&#8217;s estimate! She felt that she had
+an eye of her own for qualities in a man, and this man&#8217;s clean sincerity
+had impressed her in their first meeting in the New York cafeteria.</p>
+
+<p>He turned from his survey of the waters and met her gaze. &#8220;I was pretty
+much flustered that day in New York, Miss Jones. I was more so to-day at
+the railroad station. I don&#8217;t know how to act with girls very well,&#8221; he
+confessed na&iuml;vely. &#8220;I want to say something right here and now. There
+are mean stories going the rounds about me up in this country. I&#8217;m
+afraid you&#8217;ll hear some of them. I don&#8217;t want you&#8212;I don&#8217;t want
+everybody to think I&#8217;m what they are trying to make out I am&#8212;they lied
+over Tomah way to hurt me in business. But perhaps you don&#8217;t care one
+way or the other,&#8221; he probed, wistfully.</p>
+
+<p>He found encouragement in her expression and went on. &#8220;I was away at
+Tech, taking a special course, and they lied about me. I was trying to
+make something more of myself than just a lumberjack. And I thought
+there was a chance for me to help things on the Tomah after I learned
+something about engineering. I was doing my best, that&#8217;s all, and the
+liars saw their opening and took it. If you hear the stories I hope you
+won&#8217;t believe them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Hastily she looked away from his earnest and imploring eyes and gave her
+attention to the turbid <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>freshet flood, shredded into a yellow and
+yeasty riot of waters.</p>
+
+<p>Her recollection of childhood became clearer now that she was back
+beside the cataract which was linked with all her early memories. He did
+not venture to disturb her with more talk.</p>
+
+<p>She remained there until the chill from the air and the mist from the
+falling waters and the growing dusk warned her.</p>
+
+<p>They were back at the edge of the village street before he spoke again.
+&#8220;The falls are pretty wild now; they&#8217;re beautiful in the summer when the
+water is low. When I was a boy I footed it over here from the Tomah a
+few times and sat in that niche and listened to the song the waters
+seemed to sing. It was worth the long hike. Being there just now brought
+back something I&#8217;d almost forgotten. One day the waters sung me to sleep
+and when I woke up there was a little girl dancing in front of me and
+pointing her finger, and I looked at myself and saw she had made a chain
+of daisies and hung it around my neck and had stuck clover blooms all
+over me. And when she saw that I was awake she scampered off with some
+other children. Queer how the funny little thoughts like that pop up in
+a person&#8217;s mind!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Fresh from the scene, softened by her ponderings, Lida felt the surge of
+an impulse to tell him that the same memory had come to her while she
+sat in the niche. She was the child who had made the daisy chain&#8212;who
+had been bolder than the other children in approaching the sleeping
+stranger. And she was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>not ready to agree with him that the memory was
+&#8220;queer.&#8221; She wished she could confess her identity to him right then,
+because the confession would enable her to bring up a topic which had
+been interesting her very much&#8212;how personalities, meeting as strangers,
+often prompt each other through subtle psychic qualities of past
+association; there were instances in the books she had read where
+persons claimed to have recognized each other from past incarnations;
+but Lida did not believe that stuff, she had told herself. As to the
+mutual remembrance of the daisy chain&#8212;that was different&#8212;it seemed
+quite natural. She could remember just how comically that boy&#8217;s nose
+twitched when she was waking him up with a buttercup blossom.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan was conscious of a queer unwillingness to have her leave him. He
+wondered what excuse he could offer to prolong the companionship of the
+evening. He wanted to link up her affairs with his in some way, if he
+could&#8212;that there might be something in common between them. To solicit
+her aid&#8212;her counsel; it is the first hankering of a man in his striving
+toward a woman&#8217;s favor.</p>
+
+<p>In this case, the drive master, desperately casting about for an excuse,
+was guilty of something like an enormity in venturesomeness. His own
+business was calling him to the big house on the ledges; in his new
+state of softened spirit he was dreading any run-in with Echford Flagg.
+Perhaps gossip had already carried to Flagg the reason why the drive
+master had not hastened to report about the dynamite victory. To exhibit
+the actual reason for the delay, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>in her own winning person, seemed a
+very proper thing to do according to Latisan&#8217;s clouded judgment of the
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me tell you!&#8221; he urged. &#8220;I&#8217;ve got to run up to Flagg&#8217;s on business.
+You&#8217;ll have something to talk to him about&#8212;those <span class="nowrap">friends&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, no!&#8221; She hurried on toward the tavern.</p>
+
+<p>He ventured to clasp her arm, detaining her. &#8220;He&#8217;s a poor, sick old man.
+A little talk with you will do him good.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her memory was vivid. &#8220;But you told me in New York that he won&#8217;t have a
+woman near his house.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s different nowadays,&#8221; persisted Latisan. &#8220;He&#8217;s sick and it will be
+a treat for him to have a girl say some kind words. I want him to meet
+<span class="nowrap">you&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>But she shook off his hand and resolutely kept on her way. &#8220;I must go
+in. I&#8217;m tired after my long journey&#8212;and my work.&#8221; There were loafers in
+front of the tavern. &#8220;I&#8217;m very much obliged to you, Mr. Latisan,&#8221; she
+called so that all could hear, &#8220;for your kindness in showing me the way
+to the falls. Good night!&#8221; She disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing for Latisan to do but to brave the old tiger of the
+big house alone. Outside of his desire to keep her with him as long as
+possible, he had wanted her to go along into the presence of Flagg as a
+guaranty of the peace; he did not believe that Flagg would launch
+invective in the hearing of the girl; furthermore, Latisan was conscious
+of a proud anxiety to exhibit her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>Flagg tipped the shade of the lamp so that Latisan&#8217;s face was
+illuminated when the drive master was in the room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Shaved!&#8221; snorted the tyrant. &#8220;All duded up and beauing around a table
+girl. I know all about it. Latisan, <span class="nowrap">you&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just a moment, Mr. Flagg!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Shaved, right in the start of the driving season! Shut up! I can see
+what&#8217;s happening. I heard you had brought the dynamite. But somebody
+else told me. Yes, told me other news! I can&#8217;t depend on you any longer
+to bring me reports. But you&#8217;re planting something worse than dynamite
+under yourself. Parading a girl and keeping me waiting <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me warn you, sir. Only my pride in doing a job I have set out to do
+is keeping me on with you. If you insult that young lady by another word
+I&#8217;ll quit you cold, here and now!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment of silence.</p>
+
+<p>Rickety Dick, sitting on his stool with a cat in his arms, wriggled as
+uneasily as did the cat, who had been alarmed by the high voices.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Talk about dynamite being dangerous!&#8221; muttered Flagg. &#8220;There&#8217;s
+something <span class="nowrap">else&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>But when he looked into Latisan&#8217;s countenance he lowered the shade of
+the lamp and did not state what the something else was.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you know about the dynamite, sir, there&#8217;s no need of my saying
+anything. It&#8217;s on its way north. I shall start for headwaters at
+daybreak. I&#8217;ll be down to report as soon as possible.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>&#8220;When you get up on the drive, you stay there, Latisan.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s my pledged word that I must report to you in person. You insisted
+on it. I don&#8217;t propose to give you any chance for come-backs. I shall
+report, Mr. Flagg.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He walked out.</p>
+
+<p>Soon he heard the pattering of feet behind him on the ledges and he was
+hailed cautiously by the quavering voice of old Dick.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who is she, Mr. Latisan? Who is that girl?&#8221; panted Dick; &#8220;I saw her
+when she walked with you. I was side of the road.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And ran and tattled to Flagg, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No&#8212;no, sir! It was old Dempsey who came and gossiped. But what&#8217;s her
+name?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Patsy Jones.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are you sure?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure because she told me so,&#8221; retorted the drive master. &#8220;Her word
+goes with me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="nowrap">&#8220;But&#8212;but&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But what?&#8221; Latisan&#8217;s manner was ominous.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course she knows who she is,&#8221; faltered old Dick. &#8220;And my eyesight
+ain&#8217;t clear&#8212;and it was a long time ago&#8212;and my memory ain&#8217;t good, of
+course, <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And your wits don&#8217;t seem to be of the best, either,&#8221; snapped the young
+man. &#8220;You and Flagg better keep your tongues off that young lady. Do you
+understand?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Mr. Latisan. Yes, sir!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan stepped back and took hold of Dick by <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>the sleeve of the ragged
+jacket. &#8220;Who did you think she was?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I guess I didn&#8217;t really think&#8212;I only dreamed,&#8221; was the old man&#8217;s
+stammering reply. &#8220;If you say she&#8217;s Patsy Jones that&#8217;s enough for me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She says that she is&#8212;and that makes it so.&#8221; Latisan strode on his way.</p>
+
+<p>Rickety Dick lifted his arms, then he lowered them without his &#8220;Praise
+the Lord!&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span><a name="fourteen" id="fourteen"></a>CHAPTER FOURTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">CROWLEY, shrouded in the evening gloom, tapped on the parlor window the
+signal tattoo agreed upon between himself and Miss Elsham. The light in
+the parlor went out promptly and she came and replied to Crowley under
+the edge of the lifted sash. She had been apprised by her associate of
+the advent of Miss Kennard on the scene; Crowley had hastened to slip a
+note under her door.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You saw &#8217;em start for a walk, did you? Well, you saw me follow &#8217;em,
+then. Chased &#8217;em to the edge of the falls and hid.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What sort of talk is she giving him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Talk! I couldn&#8217;t hear. I don&#8217;t like water, anyway. I like it less when
+it bangs down over rocks and stops me from hearing what I want to hear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What does she tell you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She has only shot a few words at me like beans out of an air gun.
+Claims she&#8217;s here on the case.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you believe that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t dare to tell her that I don&#8217;t believe it&#8212;considering the way
+she stands in with Mern. It may be his afterthought&#8212;he&#8217;s a bird that
+flies funny sometimes, you know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Leave her to me; I&#8217;ll dredge her to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;ll be good dope; she&#8217;ll have to bring in your meals as soon as you
+give orders to Brophy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>&#8220;They&#8217;ll have to be snappy orders to make him stop bringing &#8217;em
+himself,&#8221; said Miss Elsham. &#8220;The old fool stood around while I was
+eating supper and told me how much money he has saved and how lonesome
+he is since his wife died. I have told him to send Latisan to me this
+evening on a matter of business, no matter how late Latisan comes in.
+He&#8217;s too jealous to give the word, I do believe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t understand the hang of it&#8212;her grabbing him so quick,&#8221; lamented
+Crowley. &#8220;It&#8217;s a devil of a note when we have to take time off the main
+job to detect out a mystery right in our own concern! What are you going
+to say about her when you write up your report to-night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was referring to the inviolable rule of the Vose-Mern office that a
+daily report must be made by each operative.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing, Buck. Let&#8217;s tread easy. We may seem to be trying to tell Mern
+his business. She&#8217;s here and he must be perfectly well aware that she&#8217;s
+here. Don&#8217;t you write anything in your report. Leave her to me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right! You handle it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then Crowley departed and sat down in his room and put into his report a
+full statement about Miss Kennard&#8217;s arrival and actions and his own
+activity in regard to her. Crowley had elaborate ideas about the art of
+double-crossing everybody, even his associates in the agency. He figured
+that it could not hurt anything to give Mern a full report on all
+matters; and if there was anything peculiar in Kennard&#8217;s presence there,
+Crowley&#8217;s assiduity would <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>contrast to his credit and shame Elsham&#8217;s
+negligence. He had frequently made good hits by cajoling fellow
+operatives to suppress certain matters which he had then reported to his
+advantage with Mern. And Elsham, in this case, was claiming to be in
+charge, making him only the watchdog of her safety.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley growled derogatory comments on her temptress qualities when he
+peered past the edge of his curtain in the morning and looked down on
+Latisan mounting into his jumper seat. The young man did not seem to be
+in an amiable or a confident state of mind, and his plain dolor
+comforted Crowley somewhat, even though Latisan was going back to the
+drive.</p>
+
+<p>The drive master had not been able to see Miss Patsy Jones that morning,
+as he had hoped; he had no excuse to hang around the tavern till she did
+appear. Brophy served the breakfast; he declared that he was going to
+hang on to that table girl if good treatment could prevail, and he was
+never going to ask her to wait on early breakfasters.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley got additional comfort out of Latisan&#8217;s loud proclamation that
+he would be down in Adonia again very soon. The drive master seemed to
+be striving to draw somebody&#8217;s attention to that fact. He cast looks
+behind him at the upper windows of the tavern when he drove away.</p>
+
+<p>That day, according to the plans he had made in New York, Mr. Crowley
+took pains to give himself an occupation in Adonia; loafers who were not
+bashful were quizzing him about the nature of his business up there.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>The barber had one corner of the village pool room; Crowley made a
+trade to occupy another corner. He opened up a case of cheap jewelry and
+traded it by day and raffled it evenings; he was not molested in his
+sporting propositions, as he called the procedure, after he had arranged
+a private talk with the deputy sheriff. Crowley, with his fancy
+waistcoat and his tip-tilted hat, fitted the r&ocirc;le he was playing. He was
+right in the path of all the gossip that traveled to and fro; therefore,
+the r&ocirc;le suited his needs.</p>
+
+<p>His nightly conferences with Miss Elsham at the parlor window were not
+pleasant; Miss Elsham was not in a state of mind which conduced to
+cordial relations.</p>
+
+<p>She had not been able to &#8220;dredge&#8221; Miss Kennard. That young lady waited
+on Miss Elsham, but not with a tray. After a talk with Brophy, who
+agreed with her absolutely and placatingly, begging her to suit herself
+in all her acts provided she would stay on, Miss Kennard went into the
+parlor, closed the door carefully, and told Miss Elsham where that young
+woman got off as an exacting lady of leisure. &#8220;Mr. Mern would not allow
+it&#8212;one operative doing menial work for another. If you choose to come
+into the dining room, that&#8217;s different.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Miss Kennard then turned and walked out. She refused to stay with Miss
+Elsham and have a talk. &#8220;We are ordered to be very careful up here,&#8221; she
+reminded the operative. Miss Elsham was impressed. It was as if Mern
+were sending new cautions by this latest arrival.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>Miss Kennard, in her dabblings in psychoanalysis, had secured some
+concrete aids for action in addition to the vague abstractions which had
+come into her mind when Latisan had so na&iuml;vely confessed on the cliff
+above the cataract. She understood fully the potency of a suggestion
+which left a lot to the imagination of the other party; only a bit of a
+suggestion is needed&#8212;and it must be left to itself, like yeast, to
+induce fermentation. For that reason Miss Kennard abruptly walked out
+and left Miss Elsham alone to reflect&#8212;not running away, but retiring
+with the air of one who had said a sufficient number of words to the
+wise.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham, in her conference at the window with Crowley that evening,
+revealed how actively her batch of ponderings had been set to working by
+that bit of suggestion. Crowley, listening, wished privately that he
+could call back that report to Mern; Mern had repeatedly warned him to
+keep to his place as a strong-arm operative, bluntly bearing down on the
+fact that Crowley&#8217;s brains were not suited for the finer points of
+machination. According to Miss Elsham&#8217;s figuring&#8212;and Crowley
+acknowledged her innate brightness&#8212;the plot had thickened and Kennard,
+known to all operatives as Mern&#8217;s close confidant, was up there as chief
+performer.</p>
+
+<p>Several days elapsed before Crowley&#8212;perspiring whenever his worries
+assailed him&#8212;got any word from Mern. The chief wrote guardedly, and
+Crowley read the letter over a dozen times without being exactly sure
+just what course he was to pursue. The truth was, Mr. Mern himself was
+doing so much <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>guessing as to Miss Kennard that he was in no state of
+mind to give clean-cut commands.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley&#8217;s letter was the first intimation to the chief of the
+whereabouts of his confidential secretary. She had not resigned, nor had
+she asked for a leave of absence, nor had she bothered to write or
+telephone; she did not show up at the office&#8212;that was all!</p>
+
+<p>Lida, having discarded ethics, had decided to play her game from an
+ambuscade, just as the Vose-Mern agency did its business.</p>
+
+<p>To give any information to the foes of Echford Flagg would be giving
+odds&#8212;and she was working single-handed and deserved odds for herself.
+She resolved to make her game as peculiar as possible&#8212;to keep all of
+them guessing&#8212;to oblige them to take the initiative against her if they
+should find out the secret of her strange actions. The element of time
+entered largely into her calculations: every day on which she stood
+between them and Ward Latisan&#8212;every day that he devoted to the
+drive&#8212;was a day to be charged to her side of the ledger; and there are
+not many days in the driving season when the waters <em>are</em> high and the
+river is rushing.</p>
+
+<p>A keener mind than Crowley&#8217;s would have detected in Mern&#8217;s letter all
+the chief&#8217;s inability to understand. What Crowley did get from the
+letter was the conviction that Miss Kennard was not to be molested at
+that time. Mern made that clear, though he was vague on other points.
+The chief was wondering whether excess of zeal might be the reason for
+Miss Kennard&#8217;s amazing performance. He remembered certain hints which
+she had dropped as to her finan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>cial needs, and she had not seemed
+averse when he had told her on occasions that he thought of giving her a
+commission when the right kind of a case came along. To turn a trick for
+a rich corporation&#8212;working alone so that she might claim full
+credit&#8212;undoubtedly had appealed to her as her great opportunity, Mern
+reflected, and she had set off on her own hook, fearful that he would
+not alter the arrangements he had made. He was angry; he muttered oaths
+as he weighed the situation. But he did not put any of his anger into
+his letter to Crowley. Miss Kennard knew too much about the general
+inner workings of the agency! In this new case there was specifically a
+five-thousand-dollar net fee in case Latisan could be eliminated and his
+crew left to the mercies of Comas bluster and cash. Miss Kennard, if
+unduly molested, could say two words in the north country and put that
+contingent fee into limbo.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, Chief Mern was treading softly at first.</p>
+
+<p>But from the letter which treated the general situation so gingerly the
+strong-arm operative extracted one solid and convincing command. He was
+to watch Miss Kennard. The command seemed entirely natural. Had he not
+been sent up there to watch&#8212;or watch over&#8212;no matter which&#8212;Miss
+Elsham? His instructions in regard to Miss Kennard seemed to make her a
+particularly valuable person in the Vose-Mern plans. He was not to allow
+anything to interfere with his watching of Miss Kennard, not even for
+the sake of Miss Elsham. He was to observe every movement, catch every
+word, if possible, mark every detail of Miss Kennard&#8217;s operations.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>Crowley did not show the letter to Miss Elsham, nor did he speak of it.
+He would mortally offend her by revealing his double-crossing tactics;
+as a woman she would be more offended by being relegated to the
+background in favor of the newcomer.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley found his espionage an easy job at first. All he had to report
+to Mern for three or four days was that &#8220;Patsy Jones&#8221; did her work in
+the hotel and remained in her room till after dark&#8212;and then went out
+and strolled aimlessly. She would not talk with Crowley when he grasped
+at opportunities to speak to her on her walks. She reminded him that
+fellow operatives must be careful; furthermore, scandal might oblige her
+to abandon her job; he would be responsible if he insisted on dogging
+her about the village.</p>
+
+<p>However, Crowley was able, a few days later, to slip her a letter from
+Mern; the chief had inclosed it in a missive containing further
+instructions to the operative to make sure of every move of Lida. The
+inclosed letter was addressed to &#8220;Patsy Jones.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lida read it when she was back in her room. She noted with satisfaction
+that Chief Mern was still guessing and that his detective mind was
+unable to solve the mystery except on the ground that she was so loyal
+to the agency and so ambitious for herself that she had tackled the job
+as a speculation. He chided her because she had not reported her
+intention. He asked for a full statement.</p>
+
+<p>She hid the letter carefully in her bureau. Having put it away for
+further reference in case she did make up her mind to answer the
+questions when forced to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>do so, she delayed replying. She did not want
+to lie needlessly to Mern&#8212;she was willing to let him do imagining, too,
+seeing how well it was working, to all appearances, in the cases of
+Elsham and Crowley.</p>
+
+<p>She had her own reasons for keeping withindoors in the daytime. The
+matter of Rickety Dick was worrying her. He had seen her as a girl of
+sixteen, worn with her vigils beside a sick mother; the light through
+the area windows had been dim, and he had stumbled against chairs in the
+room as if his vision were poor.</p>
+
+<p>However, she discovered at the outset of her stay in Adonia that she had
+become the object of old Dick&#8217;s intent regard whenever he found
+opportunity. He often trudged past the tavern on his errands; he dragged
+slow steps and squinted and peered. Once she caught him peeping at her
+through the open door of the dining room. She had feared some such
+closer inspection and had drawn back her hair and twisted its waviness
+into an unsightly pug; the moment she saw him she slipped into her mouth
+a piece of spruce gum which an admiring woodsman had presented, and then
+she chewed vigorously and slatted herself about in a tough manner. He
+sighed and went away muttering.</p>
+
+<p>He ventured another and a last sortie, as if he wanted to make an end of
+his doubts. He also made a sensation.</p>
+
+<p>Rickety Dick came to take dinner at the tavern!</p>
+
+<p>He was in his best rig, with which he was accustomed to outfit himself
+for the funerals of his old friends. There was a faded tail coat which
+flapped <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>against baggy gray trousers. A celluloid collar on a flannel
+shirt propped up his wrinkled chin.</p>
+
+<p>Martin Brophy stared at old Dick and then cast a look up at the office
+clock, whose hands, like Dick&#8217;s in the moment of mental stress, were
+upraised on the stroke of twelve.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Flagg dead?&#8221; inquired Brophy, unable otherwise to account for Dick&#8217;s
+absence from the big house at the dinner hour.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No! Toothache! Can&#8217;t eat to-day. He let me off to go to a burying.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Whose?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Old Dick shook his head and passed on into the dining room, peering hard
+into the face of the waitress as he plodded toward her. &#8220;Burying!&#8221; he
+muttered. &#8220;May as well make sure it&#8217;s dead&#8212;and put it away.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lida met him as she was meeting her other problems up there&#8212;boldly.</p>
+
+<p>She leaned over him when he was seated and recited the daily bill of
+fare. He did not take his eyes off her face, now close to his.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lida Kennard,&#8221; he whispered, hoarsely, panting, pulling the hard collar
+away from his throat with trembling fingers, &#8220;why ain&#8217;t ye home with
+your poor old grandfather, where ye belong? Lida Kennard, why ain&#8217;t ye
+home?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes did not waver. Brophy had followed, to be better informed as to
+the funeral, and stood in the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who&#8217;s the nut?&#8221; inquired Patsy Jones, acridly, turning her gaze to the
+landlord. &#8220;He&#8217;s calling me names.&#8221; Her hard tones made the old man
+wince.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>&#8220;He&#8217;s all right&#8212;safe&#8212;only a little crazier than usual,&#8221; returned
+Brophy. &#8220;If you want to eat, Dick, go ahead and eat&#8212;but don&#8217;t bother
+Miss Jones. I don&#8217;t allow anybody to bother her. And where&#8217;s that
+funeral, I ask you again?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here!&#8221; said the old man, rapping his knuckles on his breast. &#8220;It&#8217;s
+buried. I guess I am crazy. Oh yes, I&#8217;ll admit it. I see things that
+ain&#8217;t so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, go ahead and eat,&#8221; commanded Brophy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to eat&#8212;I can&#8217;t, now.&#8221; He pushed back his chair and rose.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What names did he call you?&#8221; demanded the landlord, truculently. &#8220;I
+won&#8217;t have your feelings hurt, you know!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, only made some funny noises,&#8221; retorted Miss Jones, flippantly. &#8220;Let
+him go. I don&#8217;t mind.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Rickety Dick plodded out as he had plodded in; he was shaking his head,
+dismissing all his hopes and his dreams.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Jones went to another guest. &#8220;The world is full of &#8217;em,&#8221; she said.
+&#8220;We have lamb, beef, and pork.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Brophy retired, entertaining no further curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>The surge of homesickness that swept through the girl choked her&#8212;its
+spray blurred her eyes as she gazed after old Dick, pitying his bent
+shoulders under the sun-faded coat. But even in her sorrow, because she
+had been obliged to deny his wistful plaint so heartlessly, she was
+conscious of relief. She had been afraid of his recognition of her;
+after this she would be more free to come and go.</p>
+
+<p>That evening at supper there was a guest who <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>troubled her thoughts more
+than had Rickety Dick, but in another way. Ward Latisan was down again
+from the drive, still adoring her frankly and unabashed with his eyes,
+following all her movements; it was plain that he had taken counsel with
+himself while he had been away from her and that his love had been made
+acute by separation. She was of a mind to hide away from him in her room
+after her work was done. But there was the cultivation of his friendship
+to consider! She must keep up that friendship in order to be able to
+influence him.</p>
+
+<p>Timorously, wondering what was to come from the coil of events as she
+saw them shaping in that region of barehanded conflict, she put on her
+hat and went forth. Latisan stepped off the porch and joined her,
+plainly no longer concerned with what the gossipers of Adonia might say
+or think.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span><a name="fifteen" id="fifteen"></a>CHAPTER FIFTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">AS on a previous occasion, when the gloom of the night had settled, they
+were again at the side of the village street, at the mouth of the path
+by which they had returned from the cliff above the falls.</p>
+
+<p>She had sought the falls that evening because the din of the waters
+would keep him from talking too much. She was afraid of the light in his
+eyes and of the repressed feeling in his tones. She knew that she must
+repulse him if he wooed. Her emotions were mixed, but she was sure there
+was no love in her heart&#8212;all her thoughts were concerned with her
+quest. If love should by any possibility develop in her and she should
+allow him to see it, what would become of his man&#8217;s appetite for fight
+and danger? She felt obliged to view surrender to him in that light. On
+the other hand, she could not afford to offend him deeply by allowing
+matters to come to a climax between them right then; the climax must
+disclose her lack of affection. She had been estimating that hale man of
+the woods&#8212;she was certain that what she felt toward him was only
+friendly respect for his character, and she could not lie to him or fawn
+falsely for her purposes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must go up now and face the usual music,&#8221; he said, sourly. &#8220;I&#8217;m
+getting to be afraid of myself with Flagg.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>&#8220;I&#8217;ve heard he&#8217;s afflicted with the toothache to-day. You must make all
+allowances,&#8221; she entreated, with a dash of jest in her earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then I especially need a protector. I&#8217;m going to ask you again to go
+along with me. Really, you&#8217;re needed if I&#8217;m expected to stay on my job.
+Why,&#8221; he went on, jest mingling with seriousness in his own case, &#8220;if
+the Flagg drive comes down all right through my efforts, you can take
+the credit of the victory because you were present to-night and smoothed
+things; he&#8217;ll just have to be decent, with a strange young lady in the
+room.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was not ready with peremptory refusal, as she had been on the other
+occasion; she had met the bugbear of Rickety Dick and had prevailed over
+the old man&#8217;s suspicions. As Latisan averred, her presence might help
+matters; she would entertain strange and acute regrets if her absence
+should allow the split that Latisan seemed to apprehend.</p>
+
+<p>He timidly put his hand on her arm. &#8220;Please!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be intruding on a business talk. I may make him all the more
+touchy.&#8221; She was hesitating, weighing the hazards of each plan&#8212;to go or
+to stay away.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no private business to be talked. I&#8217;m simply going to tell him
+that I have blown the ice and have the logs in the river and I want to
+have his orders about how many splash dams I can blow up if I need to do
+it for a head o&#8217; water to beat the Three C&#8217;s drive to Skulltree. Really,
+he needs to talk with somebody who is gentle,&#8221; he went on, and she
+responded to the touch on her arm and walked slowly with him up the
+hill. &#8220;He sits there day by day and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>reads the tooth-for-tooth part of
+the Old Testament, and it keeps hardening his heart. I&#8217;ve thought of a
+plan. Suppose you get friendly with him! You can take some soothing
+books up to him in your off hours and read aloud. Let&#8217;s try to make a
+different man of Eck Flagg, you and I.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So, over the ledges where her childish feet had stumbled, Lida Kennard,
+trembling, anxious, yearning for her kin, went again to the door of the
+big mansion on the hill.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan&#8217;s words had opened a vista of hope to her; she might be able,
+after all, to render the service to which old Dick had exhorted her,
+hiding her identity behind a woman&#8217;s desire to cheer an invalid.</p>
+
+<p>It was the same square, bleak house of her early memories, now dark
+except for a dim glow through two dingy windows in the lower part; the
+yee-yawed curtains were eloquent evidence of the housekeeping methods.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He won&#8217;t have any women around, as I told you.&#8221; Latisan was not tactful
+in his excuse for the slack aspect of the house.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid it isn&#8217;t best for me to go in,&#8221; she said, making a final
+stand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you go with me you&#8217;re all right,&#8221; declared the drive boss, with
+pride of power where the Flagg interests were concerned. &#8220;It&#8217;ll do him
+good to be jumped out of himself&#8212;to see a young lady from the city.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan did not knock; he walked in, escorting the girl.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the sitting room, in a wheel chair <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>that was draped
+with a moosehide tanned with the hair on it, she beheld an old man with
+a fleece of white mane and beard. A shaded oil lamp shed a circle of
+radiance on a big book which lay on his knees. The girl noted that the
+book was the Bible. Outside that circle of radiance the room was in
+darkness and the old man heard footsteps without being able to see who
+had entered; in the shadows was old Dick on his stool.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That you, Latisan?&#8221; demanded the master.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir!&#8221; Ward was about to say more, introducing the girl, but Flagg
+broke in, paying no attention to what his drive master might have on his
+mind.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s the stuff for real men in this book! You ought to take time to
+read it. I&#8217;m sorry I didn&#8217;t read it regular when I was going about on
+two legs.&#8221; He pounded his hand on the opened pages. &#8220;The parsons are now
+preaching too much New Testament stuff. When my folks dragged me to the
+meetinghouse in the pod-auger days we got Old Testament&#8212;red hot. I&#8217;ve
+been hoping I remembered it right&#8212;I&#8217;ve been looking it up. Listen!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or
+the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is thine soul, entice thee
+secretly, saying, &#8220;Let us go and serve other gods,&#8221; which thou hast not
+known, thou, nor thy fathers; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor
+hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou
+spare, neither shalt thou conceal him; but thou shalt surely kill him;
+thine hand shalt be first upon him to put <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>him to death, and afterward
+the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that
+he die.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Again the old man beat his hand upon the book. &#8220;There are the orders for
+you, Latisan!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know as I just get you, sir!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t expect to find the Three C&#8217;s mentioned by name in Holy Writ,
+do you? But the case is covered. They&#8217;re asking you and me to serve
+other gods. They&#8217;re asking us to go into their combine. If we do so it
+means that the sawmills on this river will be closed and the homes
+deserted. They&#8217;re taking all the timber down to the paper mills. To hell
+with their paper! The folks need lumber for houses. The Three C&#8217;s shan&#8217;t
+control the market and boost prices so that folks can&#8217;t buy. Latisan! I
+tell you again, you&#8217;ve got your orders, backed by the Scripture. An eye
+for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! Families or corporations, it&#8217;s all the
+same! Why don&#8217;t you say something?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m waiting to introduce a young lady, sir. This is Miss Jones who has
+just come to town.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Flagg tipped the shade of the lamp and deflected the light upon the
+couple. He bawled an ugly oath. &#8220;Clean shaved, again! Making a dude of
+yourself! Sapgagging with a girl?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan stepped forward and broke in on the tirade. &#8220;I&#8217;ll have to ask
+you to trig that kind of talk, Mr. Flagg. Miss Jones has come here to
+cheer you up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When I want any girl to come here and cheer me up I&#8217;ll drop her a line
+and give her thirty days&#8217; notice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The caller who had been snubbed so bluntly turned <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>on her heel. She
+pleaded, faintly, &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry, sir. I&#8217;ll leave you and Mr. Latisan to
+talk over your business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t blame you for going,&#8221; said Latisan. He followed her, and to her
+profound amazement she discovered that a woodsman could be as
+temperamental as a prima donna. &#8220;I&#8217;m going, too, Mr. Flagg,&#8221; he called
+over his shoulder. &#8220;I&#8217;m going for good and all where you&#8217;re concerned.
+I&#8217;m done with you. I gave you your fair warning. Send another man north
+to the drive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just one minute, there, Latisan!&#8221; called the master, harshly. &#8220;Unless
+you&#8217;re afraid to stay here that length of time or can&#8217;t spare the minute
+away from your wench!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The drive master stopped at the door and spun around on his heel.</p>
+
+<p>There had been but one flash of the light&#8217;s rays on Lida&#8212;the old man
+had immediately allowed the shade to drop; standing just beyond the
+doorway in the hall, she was safely in the shadows.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you expect to hear me whinny like a sick horse you&#8217;re mistaken,&#8221;
+went on Flagg, with the staccato of ire. &#8220;Now I know what you&#8217;re worth.
+You have appraised yourself. A girl&#8217;s grin has bought you. I don&#8217;t know
+what sort she is, nor care I. But unless she&#8217;s a fool she can see what
+you&#8217;re worth, too. Go along, now!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was compunction in Latisan, and he realized it. But there was that
+untamed spirit of old John, as well, and it made for rancor and
+rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>In that room at the moment old John&#8217;s spirit was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>veritably present in
+the grandson, reviving the ancient north-country duello of unconquered
+wills with old Echford in the flesh&#8212;and a Latisan had never lowered the
+crest before a Flagg.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a cheap hired man you want!&#8221; Compromise was offered no opportunity
+by young Latisan&#8217;s manner and tone. &#8220;Hire one&#8212;of your picking! And a
+devilish fine boss that kind will make for you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll hire nobody,&#8221; roared Flagg. &#8220;I&#8217;ll ride to the head of the drive in
+this chair. Even with both sides of me paralyzed I&#8217;ll be worth more than
+you are, you lallygagging, love-cracked loon! Get out of here!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When the two were outside in the night the girl faced Latisan. &#8220;I insist
+on going alone, sir. You have no right to leave a helpless man as you&#8217;re
+doing. I cannot believe that you mean what you said just now!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m through! I have let him curse me out all along and I took it whence
+it came. But this time it&#8217;s different.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Please go back to him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I will not. I&#8217;m done!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The grim thought came to her that she had ineluctably become a valuable
+operative in the interests of the Vose-Mern agency. According to
+appearances the work was finished. However, she promptly blazed into
+indignation which rang true. &#8220;I&#8217;m only a stranger to that poor old man.
+He did not understand. I had no right to rush in on him as I did.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had the right to invite you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I won&#8217;t have it on my conscience that I have been a party to this break
+between you two. If it were not so dreadful it would be silly, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>&#8220;I have the right to be silly about my own business, if you&#8217;re bound to
+call it silly, what I have done.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Go back, I tell you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I will not!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You shall not walk away with me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I invited you to come up here. I shall see you to the door of that
+tavern. You may never speak to me again, but you won&#8217;t be able to say
+about me that I deserted you in the dark night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Will you come back here after you have escorted me to the tavern?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No! It&#8217;s settled into a stand-off between Flagg and me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you want to please me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, even to lying down here in the mud and letting you walk on me,&#8221; he
+declared, his fervor breaking from the repression he had been
+maintaining with difficulty. &#8220;And it&#8217;s because he has insulted somebody
+that I feel like that toward&#8212;that&#8217;s why I&#8217;m done with him. I&#8217;m not
+putting it very smoothly. But it&#8217;s in here!&#8221; He pounded his fist on his
+breast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Latisan, this is folly. I&#8217;m only a waitress.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m thanking God that you are and that you aren&#8217;t too high above me, as
+I was afraid you were when I met you in New York. You&#8217;re down where I
+can talk to you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She started to walk away, but he leaped and seized both her arms. &#8220;This
+is going mighty fast,&#8221; he gasped. &#8220;I never talked to a girl in this way
+in all my life. I&#8217;ll probably never dare to talk to you if I wait for
+daylight to-morrow&#8212;I&#8217;ll be too scared of my thoughts overnight.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>She did not try to twist herself free from his grasp; she was more
+self-possessed than he was&#8212;he was trembling in all his frame.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s like dynamite,&#8221; he stammered. &#8220;I reckon it was in me all the time!
+The first flash of your eyes lighted the fuse! I&#8217;ve blown up.&#8221; He pulled
+her close to him, flung his arms about her, and kissed her. But
+immediately he loosed her and stepped back. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t intend to do that!
+My feelings got away from me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And now may I go along?&#8221; she inquired, coldly, after he had remained
+silent for a time.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry I have made you angry. I don&#8217;t know how to go at a thing like
+this one I&#8217;m tackling,&#8221; he said contritely. &#8220;But I feel that talking out
+straight and man fashion is the only way. Will you marry me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly not, sir!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He did not attempt to stay her when she walked on. He trod humbly by her
+side.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I was afraid you wouldn&#8217;t. But I couldn&#8217;t keep back the asking any more
+than I can push back that flood you can hear down in the gorge. It just
+had to pour along, that asking!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Latisan, you astonish me. You desert your employer on account of a
+mere <span class="nowrap">whim&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you call my standing up for you any whim, if you please!&#8221; The
+change in his tone from humility to stern and masterful command caused
+her to catch her breath. She was not accustomed to dominance by men.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At any rate, sir, you have proposed marriage to a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>stranger, a mere
+come-by-chance into this place, not knowing who or what I am. I have a
+right to be astonished.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Probably! But you aren&#8217;t any more so than I was in New York when I
+realized what had happened to me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So, now you can forget all about me and go back to your work on the
+drive!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have said I did not know much about you. It&#8217;s plain you don&#8217;t know
+me! I have told Eck Flagg I am done. And I am! You don&#8217;t understand. I&#8217;m
+a Latisan <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> he faltered then; it sounded like boyish boasting and
+he was a bit ashamed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Somehow that helpless old man has stirred all my sympathy. Why won&#8217;t
+you do as I ask?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because a girl who throws a man down as you have hasn&#8217;t any right to
+ask him to do this or that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They were near the tavern before either spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not saying that I&#8217;m not sorry for Eck Flagg,&#8221; the drive master
+stated. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want you to leave me to-night with the idea that I&#8217;m a
+quitter or a coward or a sneak about what&#8217;s my duty. I&#8217;ll be honest with
+you. You think I&#8217;m a fool because I&#8217;ve fallen in love with you so
+suddenly. A man who has tussled with drives and log jams for as many
+years as I have needs to think quickly, make up his mind about what it&#8217;s
+right to do, and then stick to it. I&#8217;m not going to sacrifice myself for
+Flagg&#8212;a man with the hard heart that&#8217;s in him.&#8221; He caught his breath
+and plunged on: &#8220;You say to-night that you won&#8217;t marry me. I&#8217;m going to
+stay close by and see if you <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>won&#8217;t change your mind. A roaring fire is
+in me right now!&#8221; His demeanor terrified her. The primitive man was
+blazing. &#8220;I don&#8217;t dare to take the chances on what would be in me if I
+should go back to the drive and leave you here to be smirked at by every
+cheap man who comes along. I have dreamed too much about you!&#8221; He was
+wooing with the avatar of old John. &#8220;By the gods! you&#8217;re my girl! I&#8217;m
+going to have you! I&#8217;ll stay on that job!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shall leave this place to-morrow. It will be very&#8212;well, very unwise
+for you to annoy me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to follow you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Latisan, I have listened to you; you shall listen to me!&#8221; She spoke
+sharply. Now she displayed the equipoise of one who had learned much
+from self-reliant contact with men. &#8220;I&#8217;ll not argue with you about what
+you call love. But there&#8217;s something which love must have, and that&#8217;s
+self-respect. If your folly on account of me takes you away from your
+honest duty you&#8217;ll despise me when you come to yourself. You have been
+honest with me. I&#8217;ll be honest with you. I like you. I can see that
+you&#8217;re a big, true man&#8212;much different from most of the men I have met
+before this. But I shall lose all my good opinion of you if you desert
+your job. And, as I have said, you&#8217;ll hate me if I allow you to do so.
+Can we afford to take chances?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>While he pondered she made hurried mental account of stock in her own
+case.</p>
+
+<p>She was not admitting that she felt any especial consideration for this
+man as a lover; she was protecting her grandfather and striving for her
+own <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>peace of mind as a payer of a debt of honor. He followed her when
+she walked on toward the tavern.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;May I ask what you mean by taking chances? Chances on being something
+more to each other than we are now?&#8221; he asked, wistfully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I think we have gone quite far enough for one evening, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He pulled off his cap. &#8220;Before I go to sleep I shall say my little
+prayer. I shall ask that you won&#8217;t be thinking I have gone too far. I&#8217;m
+sure it won&#8217;t be a prayer to the God of the Old Testament, such as Eck
+Flagg was reading about. I&#8217;ll whisper up to Mother Mary. She understands
+women. I don&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He bowed in silence when she gave him a hasty &#8220;good night!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan whirled suddenly after the girl closed the door behind her&#8212;came
+about on his heels so quickly that he nearly bumped into the assiduous
+operative Crowley, who had been taking desperate chances that evening.</p>
+
+<p>But Latisan&#8217;s gaze was directed downward in deep thought as he walked
+slowly away, and he did not perceive the eavesdropper.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crowley had heard aplenty, so he informed himself; he had followed
+them all the way from the big house down to the tavern, treading close
+behind, depending on their absorption in each other, his shoes in his
+hand, not minding the ledges and the mud; and he was in his mental
+stocking feet, too, treading on the bedrock of the obvious, as he
+figured on the proposition.</p>
+
+<p>He had been told many times, Mr. Crowley had, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>that he possessed a
+single-track mind and was not fitted to deal with the subtleties of
+criminal investigation and had not the expansive wit to comprehend the
+roundabout ways of steering victims to their doom. But Mr. Crowley was
+indubitably fitted by training to write a handbook on the art of
+double-crossing&#8212;and he reckoned he knew an out-and-out job of that sort
+after what he had heard that evening. For his own peace of mind, and to
+save himself from going crazy by reason of any more puzzlement over Miss
+Kennard&#8217;s alleged mysterious methods in her work, he kept insisting to
+himself that she was merely double-crossing the Vose-Mern agency in the
+good old-fashioned way. Not his the task to wonder why!</p>
+
+<p>He rushed up to his room and started in on his report. It had stuck
+in Crowley&#8217;s crop&#8212;seemed humiliating&#8212;to be made a subaltern in the
+case of women operatives. He believed that at last he was in right
+and proper on the grand opportunity of his career; he would come down
+from the bush with the bacon; Elsham had fallen down and Kennard was
+double-crossing&#8212;and Crowley, good old reliable Crowley, would show
+Chief Mern where the credit should go! He set his little, cheap
+typewriter on his sturdy knees and pecked away stolidly with his
+forefingers.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan remained outdoors a long time, for the night matched the gloom
+of his thoughts. And once more, in spite of himself, his dark ponderings
+concerned themselves with suspicions as to what and who this girl really
+was.</p>
+
+<p>In his early deference to her he had been ready and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>willing to believe
+all she said about herself, and his suspicion had seemed to be
+extinguished; he realized that it merely had been smoldering. Why would
+not a waitress marry him, one of the Latisans of the Tomah? Was he what
+old Flagg had so inelegantly stated&#8212;a sapgag where a girl was
+concerned? He began to distrust his strength as a man; he had wasted a
+day in New York; he was ready to give up his man&#8217;s job on the Noda
+because he could not get his thoughts away from her and on his work. His
+last stay at headwaters had been hours of torture. He had gone to sleep
+dreaming of the girl instead of putting his attention on the problems of
+the morrow&#8212;and the details of the drive that spring needed all sorts of
+judgment and foresight.</p>
+
+<p>While he was in that state of mind, trying to excuse defection, he told
+himself, as he trudged to and fro, that he was not a fit man for Flagg.
+Nevertheless he cursed himself for being so weak. He had read stories of
+woman&#8217;s subjugation of the famous and the strong and had wondered what
+sort of lunacy had overtaken such men. Here he was making an invalid&#8217;s
+tantrums an excuse to give up his work and dangle at the skirts of an
+unknown girl; and he knew it was because of the mystery of her real
+identity and because his jealousy was afire on account of an uncertainty
+which was now aggravated by her refusal to marry him.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had not been in the village ten minutes that afternoon before
+Gossip Dempsey had giggled and told him he&#8217;d better keep sharp watch on
+his girl, because the jewelry man was everlastingly after her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>like a
+puppy chasing the butcher&#8217;s cart; the simile was not nice, but Latisan
+was impressed by its suggestion of assiduity.</p>
+
+<p>In the tumult of his thought, grudgingly conscious that he was ashamed
+of the real reason for giving up his work, Latisan evasively decided
+that the thing was now up to Echford Flagg. He had warned Flagg man
+fashion. He had given his word to Flagg as to what would happen if Flagg
+persisted in treating him like a lackey. Flagg had persisted. Latisan
+had kept his word. He could not retreat from that stand; he could not
+crawl back to Flagg and still maintain the self-respect that a drive
+master must have in the fight that was ahead.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, Latisan decided to stay in Adonia and let Flagg make
+overtures; for their future relations the drive master would be able to
+lay down some rules to govern Flagg&#8217;s language and conduct. Under that
+decision persisted the nagging consciousness that he wanted to be with
+the girl instead of on the drive and he was more and more ashamed of the
+new weakness in his character. And he was also ashamed of the feeling
+that he wanted to find out more about her. In the past his manliness had
+despised prying and peering. He had been able to bluster loyally to old
+Dick; he was more truthful to himself. What was she, anyway? He would
+not admit that he had been so completely tipped upside down in all his
+hale resolves, aims, and objects by a mere nonentity who looked no
+higher than a job as waitress at Brophy&#8217;s tavern.</p>
+
+<p>Then he went into the tavern out of the darkness <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>and blinked at the
+landlord, who called him to the desk and gave a letter into his hands.
+It was sealed, but there was no stamp on it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ordered by Mrs. Everett to hand it to you,&#8221; reported Brophy, sourly.
+&#8220;She wanted to see you last time you were down, but it slipped my mind
+to tell you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan read the note. The lady of the parlor entreated him to come to
+her on a matter of business, no matter how late the hour might be. He
+tore up the paper on his way to the fireplace and tossed the bits on the
+embers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Same room for me?&#8221; he asked Brophy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but Mrs. Everett said for <span class="nowrap">me&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Damn Mrs. Everett! I&#8217;m going to bed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It consoled him a little, as he walked upstairs, to reflect that he was
+not dominated by all the women in the world, even if he was in the way
+of making himself a fool over one.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span><a name="sixteen" id="sixteen"></a>CHAPTER SIXTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">LATISAN, going to sleep, hoped that he would awake with a saner
+viewpoint.</p>
+
+<p>He did admit to himself in the morning that if Echford Flagg should show
+the right spirit of compromise the thing could be patched up on terms
+which would allow the drive master to be his own man instead of being a
+spanked youngster.</p>
+
+<p>The girl seized an opportunity to speak to him when she brought his
+breakfast. &#8220;Things look better this morning&#8212;I&#8217;m sure they do. Tell me.
+I worried half the night. I must not be the cause of trouble.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, they look better.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you&#8217;re starting back to-day for the drive?&#8221; Her voice was low but
+eager. &#8220;Tell me that you are!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His smouldering suspicion! Red tongues of fire darted up from it!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid you won&#8217;t be able to get rid of me to-day. Business is
+keeping me here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her entreating smile faded; she backed way from him as if she had
+received a rude thrust, and then she went about her work.</p>
+
+<p>There was a real sensation in the tavern that morning! The exclusive
+star boarder of the parlor came into the public room to eat her
+breakfast. Her charms were enhanced by a becoming morning wrap, and,
+following out her liberal code governing the relations <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>of sex in modern
+days, she seated herself at Latisan&#8217;s table, greeting him with a
+mingling of bright good humor and gentle rebuke.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Give me a good reason why you have not been the advising friend you
+promised to be, and I may not be too angry, Mr. Latisan.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8212;I thought I&#8217;d wait till this <span class="nowrap">morning&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thank you! Then I&#8217;m welcome at your table.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She lowered her voice after that. She was engrossed with ordinary topics
+whenever the waitress&#8217;s duties brought Lida to the table. If there was
+to be rivalry between the operatives of Vose-Mern, Miss Elsham decided
+that her tactics with the Flagg drive master should not be known. She
+did the talking and Latisan gave the appearance of being an earnest
+listener. At a matter of fact, he played up strongly his affectation of
+devoted interest. Ingenuous amateur that he was in the subtleties of
+love, he was trying out a method which he had heard commended; he was
+wondering how much an aroused jealousy might accomplish in the case of
+Miss Patsy Jones.</p>
+
+<p>He cast side glances and saw that she seemed to be disturbed. He
+bestowed on Mrs. Everett more profound attention. He even allowed
+himself to say when the waitress was within earshot, &#8220;I think I&#8217;ll know
+by to-morrow whether I&#8217;m to keep on at the head of the drive. If I don&#8217;t
+and if matters allow, I&#8217;ll be glad to take charge of your trip into the
+north country.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan, boyishly crude in his methods, felt that Miss Jones would have
+an interpretation of her own for &#8220;matters&#8221; and would do some earnest
+thinking <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>before she turned him over to the companionship of a rich
+young widow, even in the humble r&ocirc;le of a chief guide.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of Brophy&#8217;s sign, &#8220;No Smoking in This Dining Room&#8221;&#8212;a
+restriction intended for woodsmen&#8212;Miss Elsham lighted a cigarette in
+her satisfaction; her failure to interest the man of the woods even to
+the extent of a second interview had been worrying the seductress de
+luxe of the Vose-Mern establishment after her unbroken successes with
+the men of the city.</p>
+
+<p>She went out of the room chatting with Latisan, and found an opportunity
+to sweep Miss Kennard with a patronizing glance.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan spent the forenoon on the tavern porch, smoking his pipe and
+waiting&#8212;even hoping&#8212;for a message from Echford Flagg. Rickety Dick
+passed the place several times on his usual errands. Flagg, therefore,
+would be informed that the drive master was loafing in the village. But
+old Dick did not bring any word from the big house to Latisan.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, the split of the evening before had seemed discouragingly
+final. But after the girl&#8217;s rebuke and appeal Ward was ashamed of the
+persisting stubbornness which was making him an idler in that exacting
+period when the thunderous Noda waters were sounding a call to duty. He
+did not want her to think of him as vindictive in his spirit, and still
+less did he desire her to consider him petty in his motives and notions.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the proposition was strictly a man-to-man affair, and
+Echford Flagg had made relations unendurable.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>Ward wished devoutly that he could clear his thoughts; they were
+muddled. Back of the inertia which was hiding him in Adonia there seemed
+to be reasons other than the new animosity toward his employer. Really,
+he confessed to himself, he would like to go to Flagg and win to a
+manlike and mutual understanding which would serve both of them. But he
+muttered when he looked up at the big house, and he kept on waiting for
+the master to offer an opening.</p>
+
+<p>He confessed that his was a childish attitude toward an employer. Had he
+allowed his infatuation to twist him into this being who was putting the
+burden of an offer of compromise upon a poor old stricken man who ought
+to be protected from his own intolerance?</p>
+
+<p>However, the drive master was aware of a certain satisfaction in being
+on hand to watch and weigh affairs in Adonia that day.</p>
+
+<p>The raffle man, as the villagers called Crowley, seemed to have a great
+deal on his mind, Latisan reflected. Crowley made several trips to the
+telegraph office at the railroad station.</p>
+
+<p>At dinner Miss Jones averted her eyes from Latisan and there was no talk
+between them. Latisan tried to comfort himself, by the thought that
+jealousy was operating. He saw her go out in the afternoon for a walk,
+but he did not offer to accompany her. His na&iuml;ve conviction was that his
+indifference and the threat of interest in Mrs. Everett would suffice to
+bring Miss Patsy Jones down from her coquette&#8217;s pedestal.</p>
+
+<p>He was tempted to leap up and follow when he saw Crowley trailing after
+the waitress; but Crowley <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>went only a little distance, and then he came
+back and went into the tavern and upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>Again in midafternoon old Dick passed, but he brought no word to the
+waiting drive master.</p>
+
+<p>This insulting indifference, as Latisan considered it, indicated that
+Echford Flagg was no longer depending on Ward as champion. There had
+been no misunderstanding of language. Latisan had quit&#8212;and Flagg was
+contented to let him stay quit.</p>
+
+<p>The young man felt more acutely cheap and small. He had been setting
+himself up as the one man who could drive down the Flagg logs. The fact
+that he could not bring himself to break away instanter and go north to
+his duty&#8212;without orders from Flagg and without considering further his
+entanglement with a girl&#8212;was a fact that steadily lessened his
+self-esteem. He had been able to go straightforwardly in all matters
+till then; this new inability to handle complex affairs and to untangle
+the situation made him distrust himself and wonder whether he was much
+of a man, anyway!</p>
+
+<p>Then came night&#8212;and he went to his room to brood.</p>
+
+<p>At supper the girl of his thoughts had been conspicuously rude in the
+manner with which she banged down dishes in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>Lida had been doing some pondering of her own. She would not admit that
+she had been piqued by his attentions to Elsham and by his partial
+promise to that complacent young lady. But she was finding him to be
+very much of a child, she told herself. He needed to be protected from
+himself at that juncture. And he needed to be convinced that he was
+wasting his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>time just then by staying away from duty and playing the
+lover. Lida&#8217;s first thought was that if he found no profit in lovemaking
+he would go back to his work in spite of what he had told her. She could
+not bring herself to believe that a man like Latisan would succumb to
+Elsham&#8217;s wiles.</p>
+
+<p>In that mood, both as protectress and as stanch believer in his
+uprightness, she found that her interest in him was becoming more vivid
+than she had realized. Her warming heart sent a flush into her cheeks
+when she remembered the passionate embrace. She noted that flush when
+she looked into her mirror. She was making herself ready for slumber.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be a fool!&#8221; she warned the reflection in the mirror.</p>
+
+<p>Having clarified the situation to that extent in her thoughts before
+going to sleep, she awoke and began the new day with better confidence.
+The spirit of the Open Places certainly did make folks honest, she told
+herself! She felt that the morning must have brought common sense to
+Latisan, as it had to her.</p>
+
+<p>From her window she saw him walking to and fro in front of the tavern.
+The early dawn was flushing the east. His being abroad at that hour
+suggested that he was going back to his work instead of playing the
+idling lover. She decided to be frank with him; she dressed in haste,
+hurried down and faced him, and told him how glad she was that he had
+come into his right senses; she had determined that her best course was
+to take his reformed mental state for granted.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I&#8217;m sensible enough to quit being a boss bulldog for a man like
+Eck Flagg.&#8221; He was sorry <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>after he said it. But there was no word from
+Flagg&#8212;and her insistence, as if she wanted to be rid of him, rasped his
+raw temper.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you&#8217;re going back to the drive!&#8221; she gasped.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am not.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you value your reputation among men?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I do!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;ll say you&#8217;re a quitter.&#8221; She spoke boldly and sharply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me tell <em>you</em> something! When you told me that you wouldn&#8217;t marry
+me I came nigh quitting where you&#8217;re concerned. But I am back in my
+right senses, as you say! You&#8217;re mine! I have told you so. I tell you
+again this morning. It&#8217;s something of a fix you&#8217;ve got yourself into,
+eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She grew pale and her wide eyes were filled with startled protest; he
+was placid enough, but his calmness made the thing more grim and
+threatening when she reflected on the suggestiveness of that word &#8220;fix.&#8221;
+She was unable to endure his scrutiny. He did not try to restrain her
+when she turned away, hastening into the tavern.</p>
+
+<p>Brophy came into the dining room when he heard her setting the tables.
+&#8220;Well, by swanny! You&#8217;re up without being called! You ain&#8217;t much like
+the others I&#8217;ve had here!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was silent for some time, and when she turned she found him surveying
+her with curious intentness. &#8220;It ain&#8217;t none of my business, of course,
+but I hope you ain&#8217;t of a marrying notion, just yet awhile.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That remark seems a little uncalled for, Mr. Brophy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>&#8220;I&#8217;m speaking out because Ward Latisan doesn&#8217;t seem to be the flirting
+kind, miss. You can&#8217;t fool with him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thank you. I shall avoid Mr. Latisan from now on. I have
+thoughtlessly taken walks with him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If it&#8217;s such a thing as you&#8217;re intending to get married I&#8217;d rather lose
+you to Latisan than to anybody else in this region. He&#8217;s solid goods,
+miss! Solid!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was seeking confirmation to strengthen her resolves. &#8220;I hear that
+his employer is an invalid. I suppose that makes Mr. Latisan pretty nigh
+indispensable, doesn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;ll be no Flagg drive down this spring without Ward on the
+job&#8212;I&#8217;ll say that much,&#8221; declared Brophy, with vigor. &#8220;I can&#8217;t afford
+to make any loud talk about the Three C&#8217;s, miss,&#8221; he went on, lowering
+his voice cautiously, &#8220;because I cater to all comers. But I don&#8217;t know
+another boss driver who couldn&#8217;t be scared off or bought off at the
+present time, considering the hold the big corporation has got on things
+up this way. They&#8217;re bound to monopolize the river&#8212;the Three C&#8217;s gang.
+But they can&#8217;t freeze out the independents this year if Ward Latisan
+stays on the job for Eck Flagg. The death clinch comes this season!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where&#8217;s your law up this way, Mr. Brophy?&#8221; she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I guess neither side dares to call on the law right now. Law might tie
+up everything. Logs have got to come along with the spring driving
+pitch, and high water won&#8217;t wait till lawyers get done arguing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He took down a gong and pounded on it with a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>padded mallet while he
+marched through the office to the porch and back again. It was the
+breakfast call.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll say about Eck Flagg,&#8221; he stated, when he hung the gong back on its
+hook, &#8220;that he ain&#8217;t so much to blame for his sour temper as some folks
+are bound to have it. Old Job of the Bible had nothing on Eck for
+troubles. No matter what he has done, Eck has been a square fighter.
+Probably you ain&#8217;t interested, even to the extent of a hoot, in gossip
+about the neighbors. But Eck had a bad one put over on him years ago. He
+hasn&#8217;t been right since that time. Square dealing is his religion. But
+to get his worst trimming right in his own family, it was awful.
+Son-in-law done it. But I reckon I&#8217;d better hang up on that subject,
+miss. Here comes Latisan for breakfast.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The landlord plodded out.</p>
+
+<p>This man who seated himself, waiting to be served by her, who was
+determined to possess her, had been unwittingly alienated by her from
+the duty which was owed to that helpless grandfather in his extremity.</p>
+
+<p>The reminder which Brophy had tossed at her carelessly had served to
+rouse her to desperation. She clung to a service table to keep from
+falling. She staggered when she started to cross the room to Latisan;
+her hands and feet were prickling as the blood resumed its course in her
+veins.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re sick,&#8221; he suggested, solicitously.</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head. She turned her face from him, afraid of his
+questioning gaze. &#8220;Give your order, please!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bring anything.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She started away, but turned and hurried back to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>his table, her face
+hard with resolution. She feared that the resolution would be weakened
+by delay; in a few moments others would come into the room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have changed my mind about that offer of marriage. This morning I
+say, &#8217;Yes!&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He gaped at her and started to rise.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t leave that chair!&#8221; she commanded, her low tones tense. &#8220;There are
+men in the office looking this way. I&#8217;ll marry you when the Flagg drive
+is down, with you at the head of it, doing your duty. You may think that
+over while I&#8217;m in the kitchen.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When she returned with food, Latisan, flushed, eager, only partially
+assured, looked her in the eye, challenging her candor. &#8220;That&#8217;s straight
+talk, is it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thank God! But why&#8212;right here in the open&#8212;where I <span class="nowrap">can&#8217;t&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll answer no questions.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to know why you picked out this place to tell me. I can&#8217;t be
+shut away from all the glory in the grandest moment of my life! I want
+to get up and yell for joy. I want to take you in my arms.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll not allow that. Furthermore, you are to leave for the drive
+immediately after you have eaten your breakfast.&#8221; Her manner cowed him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well!&#8221; he returned, meekly. &#8220;When I looked into your eyes I knew
+that your word to me was good!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was finding the fixity of his gaze disconcerting and leaned above
+the table, arranging the dishes which contained his food. She was
+grateful for the protection the public room was affording; she would not
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>have been able to declare herself in the privacy which love, in most
+circumstances, demands.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who are you?&#8221; he asked, in a half whisper, taking advantage of her
+nearness. &#8220;You are more than you seem to be. You are, I say! You are not
+silly and selfish like most girls in a time like this. You are able to
+make me do anything you ask. I&#8217;ll go north and fight because you want me
+to. But an ordinary girl wouldn&#8217;t take a big view of things, as you do.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes&#8212;for the sake of having a man be what he ought to be.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He wagged his head doubtfully. &#8220;But if you&#8217;ll tell me the honest truth
+<span class="nowrap">about&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hush! Here comes a man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was Crowley. He had looked from his chamber window and had seen the
+two in conversation in front of the tavern. He was strictly on the job
+that day; he had dressed in such a hurry that he was tying his necktie
+as he entered the room. He sat down at a table and glared grimly at
+Latisan and the girl; provided with ammunition that fortified his
+courage, Crowley had resolved to make his bigness in the matter,
+unafraid.</p>
+
+<p>His appearance at that moment and the manner of his espionage and the
+memory of what had been said concerning his pursuit of the girl stirred
+Latisan to the depths. His emotions had been in a tumult ever since the
+girl had declared her promise. He was in no mood to reason calmly. He
+could not control himself. He purposed to go to what he thought was his
+duty as her accepted champion. Therefore, he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>leaped from his chair, put
+his arm about her waist, and pulled her across the room, in spite of her
+resistance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Listen to me, you sneak!&#8221; he adjured Crowley. &#8220;This young lady and I
+are engaged to be married.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hush!&#8221; she cried, in mingled fright and fury. &#8220;You <span class="nowrap">promised&#8212;&#8212;It
+isn&#8217;t&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I made no promise except to go north because you have asked me to go.
+I&#8217;m going back to my job, and I&#8217;ll have the Flagg logs down if I have to
+smash the bottom out of the river,&#8221; he boasted, in his new pride.
+&#8220;Crowley&#8212;as I believe your name is&#8212;you have heard me announce the
+engagement. If you give this young lady another twisted look or crooked
+word while I&#8217;m away, may God have mercy on your soul!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was talking to the one man who ought to hear that news, so the lover
+felt, but his voice was raised in his emotion and Brophy and the
+loungers in the office heard, too.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan kissed her once, swiftly and rapturously.</p>
+
+<p>According to the code of social procedure in Adonia, as the office
+onlookers viewed the matter of congratulation, the occasion called for
+three cheers; they were proposed and given and even Brophy joined, but
+with sour grace.</p>
+
+<p>She had endeavored ineffectually to check Latisan&#8217;s outburst,
+understanding fully the interlocking perils involved in the promulgation
+to Crowley that the drive master was going back to his work. It had
+become her own personal, vital affair, this thing! She was far from
+admitting even then that love was urg<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>ing her to the promise she had
+made so precipitately. The wild spirit of sacrifice had surged in her.
+She was able to pay&#8212;to redeem! It was all for the sake of the family!
+But this love-cracked idiot, babbling his triumph, had thrown wide the
+gate of caution&#8212;had exposed all to the enemy; she feared Crowley in his
+surly, new mood!</p>
+
+<p>Poor Ward turned to her a radiant, humid stare of devotion; she
+responded by flashing fury at him from her eyes. Her cheeks were
+crimson. &#8220;Haven&#8217;t you any wit in you?&#8221; she raged, holding her tones in
+leash with effort, her convulsed face close to his amazed countenance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was to put you <span class="nowrap">right&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> he stammered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It has made everything all wrong!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Men had come into the room. She hurried away from the dumfounded lover.</p>
+
+<p>While she went about her work, sedulously keeping her gaze from Latisan,
+she heard the men jocosely canvassing the matter. They called to the
+drive master, giving him clumsy congratulation. There were timber
+cruisers who were going into the north country; they declared with
+hilarity that they would spread the news. They ate and went stamping
+away, news bureaus afoot.</p>
+
+<p>She marched to the pathetic incarnation of doubt and dolor after a time;
+he was lingering at table in a condition that was near to stupefaction.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why aren&#8217;t you on your way?&#8221; she demanded, with ireful impatience.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll have to tell me what the matter is with you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>&#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you nothing&#8212;not now! But you have something to tell Mr.
+Flagg, haven&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re right! I&#8217;ll go and tell him that I&#8217;m starting for the drive. If
+I have to smash the hinges off the door of Tophet I&#8217;ll put our <span class="nowrap">logs&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s it!&#8221; she cried, eagerly. &#8220;Our logs! We&#8217;ll call them our logs.
+Don&#8217;t mind because I seemed strange a little while ago. You&#8217;ll
+understand, some day. But now hurry! Hurry!&#8221; She forced herself to
+smile. She was eagerly in earnest, almost hysterical. She spoke his
+name, though with effort. &#8220;Remember, Ward! Our logs! Bring them
+through!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He leaped out of his chair. The other breakfasters were gone. She stood
+on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after Latisan had left on his way to assure Echford Flagg,
+the girl was reminded of her putative Vose-Mern affiliations. Crowley
+lounged back into the room, taking advantage of the fact that she was
+alone. &#8220;Put me wise as to why you&#8217;re playing this shot with the reverse
+English.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hands off, Crowley! You&#8217;re only a watchdog, paid to guard me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t propose to have our folks double-crossed. You have started that
+drive boss back onto his job, and you and he announce an engagement this
+morning! You&#8217;re cagy or crazy! I won&#8217;t have anything put over! If you&#8217;re
+straight, come through to me and I&#8217;ll back you. <span class="nowrap">Otherwise&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> He tossed
+his hands in an eloquent gesture.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll wire to have you pulled down to the city.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have done some wiring ahead of you. It&#8217;s up to our folks to find out
+what&#8217;s the big idea.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>&#8220;Crowley, won&#8217;t you leave it all to me?&#8221; she pleaded, fighting to the
+last ditch for her secret and for time. &#8220;Can&#8217;t you see that I&#8217;m placing
+a double-crosser in the enemy&#8217;s camp?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her hard and long and his lips curled into a sardonic grin.
+&#8220;You&#8217;re a good one. I&#8217;ll admit that. But you can&#8217;t stand there and give
+me the straight eye and make me believe you have made over Latisan to
+that extent. I&#8217;ve got him sized. It can&#8217;t be done!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Crowley was right&#8212;she could not meet his sophisticated gaze.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you expect me to do?&#8221; she asked, lamely.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Keep him off the drive. If he starts to leave this village to-day I&#8217;m
+going to grab in.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She knew Crowley&#8217;s obstinacy in his single-track methods. There was no
+telling what he would undertake nor what damage might be wrought by his
+interference. She tried to force from him his intentions; he paid no
+heed to her appeals or her threats.</p>
+
+<p>She was fighting for her own with all the wit and power that were in
+her; she was standing in the path by which the enemies must advance,
+resolved to battle as long as her strength might last, serving as best
+she could to distract attention from the main fight to herself, willing
+to sacrifice herself utterly.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley walked with a bit of a swagger from the room, lighted a
+cigarette in the office, puttered for a few moments with some old
+newspapers on a table, and then went out of doors and strolled along the
+road in the direction of the big house on the hill. She observed his
+course from a side window. She felt <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>the impulse to run after him and
+beat her fists against that broad and stubborn back.</p>
+
+<p>She saw Latisan come striding down from the Flagg mansion, determination
+in his manner.</p>
+
+<p>The two men met. They halted.</p>
+
+<p>Her apprehension became agony, but she did not dare to interfere between
+them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span><a name="seventeen" id="seventeen"></a>CHAPTER SEVENTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">CROWLEY, standing in front of Latisan, twisted his countenance into an
+expression of deprecatory, appealing remorse.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have taken the liberty of apologizing to the young lady, sir! Now
+that I know how matters stand, I want to beg your pardon very humbly. I
+haven&#8217;t meant anything wrong, but a man of my style gets cheeky without
+realizing it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had come off well in his interview with Echford Flagg. The old
+man seemed to be in a chastened mood. When he had been informed of the
+part the girl was playing, the master had admitted that the right kind
+of a woman can influence a man to his own good.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, when the drive master strode down the hill, the radiance of
+his expansive joy had cleared out all the shadows. He was willing to
+meet a penitent halfway. He put out his hand frankly. Crowley held to
+the hand for a moment and put his other palm upon Latisan&#8217;s shoulder.
+&#8220;Congratulations! I know my place, now that it has become a man-to-man
+matter between us. But before&#8212;well, I&#8217;ll tell you, Mr. Latisan, I had
+met Miss Jones in New York in a sort of a business way and I was
+probably a little fresh in trying to keep up the acquaintance.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had extricated his hand, intending to hurry <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>on about his
+affairs. But here was a person who seemed to be in a way to tell him
+something more definite about one who was baffling his wild anxiety to
+fathom her real identity. However, Latisan did not dare to ask
+questions. His own pride and the spirit of protecting her reasons for
+reticence, if she had any, fettered his tongue; he was ashamed to admit
+to this man, whom he had so recently hated, that the real character of a
+fianc&eacute;e was a closed book.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Honestly, she ought to have told you that she knew me,&#8221; complained
+Crowley. &#8220;It would have saved all that trouble between you and me.&#8221; He
+rubbed his ear reminiscently. &#8220;But perhaps she did,&#8221; he pursued,
+affecting to misinterpret the hardness which had come into Latisan&#8217;s
+face. &#8220;But how she could say anything against me, as far as she and I
+are concerned, I can&#8217;t understand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She has not mentioned you to me,&#8221; returned Latisan, curtly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s queer, too,&#8221; said Crowley, wrinkling his brow, his demeanor
+adding to the young man&#8217;s conviction that the whole situation was
+decidedly queer. Once more the smoldering embers were showing red
+flames! &#8220;Mr. Latisan, get me right, now! I don&#8217;t propose to discuss the
+young lady, seeing what she is to you. But perhaps you&#8217;ll allow me to
+refer back to what you said to me, personally, in the tavern a little
+while ago. We can make that our own business, can&#8217;t we?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Crowley accepted a stiff nod as his answer and went on. &#8220;You told me
+that you are going back to the drive <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>because the young lady has
+insisted on your doing so. That right?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is. But I fail to see how you can make it any part of your business
+and mine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It happens to belong in my business.&#8221; He put his hand to his breast
+pocket as if to reassure himself. He proceeded with more confidence.
+&#8220;Are you afraid of the truth, Mr. Latisan&#8212;scared to meet it face to
+face in a showdown?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m in the habit of going after the truth, no matter where it hides
+itself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then I guess you&#8217;d better come along with me. I&#8217;ve got to the point
+where I&#8217;ve got to have the truth, too, or else fetch up in a crazy
+house.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Crowley&#8217;s determination was set definitely on his mind&#8217;s single track.
+If a man had an urgent reason for doing a certain thing and the
+compelling reason were removed, he might naturally be expected to do
+something else, Crowley figured.</p>
+
+<p>If Latisan proposed to go back to work because his love and allegiance
+caused him to obey a girl&#8217;s commands, he would do the opposite of what
+she asked if his love and confidence were destroyed. It seemed to be a
+case of two and two making four, as Crowley viewed the thing. He was
+done with tangled subtleties.</p>
+
+<p>He put his hand again on his breast pocket as he walked with the drive
+master down the hill. There was a letter in that pocket; Crowley had
+purloined it from the girl&#8217;s bureau that day when he had so quickly
+returned from following her. And he also had a telegram in that pocket;
+the wire had come along that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>morning, addressed to Miss Patsy Jones, in
+his care.</p>
+
+<p>The job, as Crowley understood orders, was to keep Latisan off the river
+that season. Crowley saw a way of doing that job and of getting the
+credit for the performance.</p>
+
+<p>The girl, staring through the window with strained attention, noting
+every detail of the meeting, seeing the appearance of amity and of
+understanding, beholding Crowley put his hand on Latisan&#8217;s shoulder in
+the pose of friendly adviser, suspected the worst; she was stricken with
+anguished certainty when Latisan strode toward the tavern; according to
+her belief, two men were now arrayed against her. The drive master&#8217;s
+haste indicated that she had been betrayed by the sullen botcher of
+methods.</p>
+
+<p>In that room she felt like a creature that had been run to
+cover&#8212;cornered. She wanted to escape into the open. There was honesty
+outside, anyway, under the sky, at the edge of the forest, where the
+thunder of the great falls made human voices and mortal affairs so petty
+by contrast.</p>
+
+<p>She ran through the tavern office and faced Latisan in the yard; there
+were curious spectators on the porch, the loungers of the hamlet, but
+she paid no attention to them; she was searching the countenance of
+Latisan, avidly anxious, fearfully uncertain regarding what mischief had
+been wrought in him.</p>
+
+<p>He smiled tenderly, flourishing a salute. &#8220;All serene in the big house!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The white was succeeded by a flush in her cheeks. She looked up into his
+honest eyes and was thrilled <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>by an emotion that was new to her. It was
+impossible not to answer back to that earnest affection he was
+expressing. Gratitude glowed in her&#8212;and gratitude is a sister of love!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I beg your pardon,&#8221; put in Crowley, &#8220;But can&#8217;t the three of us step
+inside and have a little private talk?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He made a gesture to indicate the gallery of listeners on the tavern
+porch.</p>
+
+<p>Once that morning Lida had found protection by handling an important
+crisis in a public place. She was having no time just then to think
+clearly. She was feeling sure of Latisan, after his look into her eyes.
+She mustered a smile and shook her head when the drive master mutely
+referred the matter to her, raising his eyebrows inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d better,&#8221; warned Crowley, bridling.</p>
+
+<p>The girl felt that she had no option except to keep on in the bold
+course she had marked for herself. She could not conceive that the
+operative would prejudice the Vose-Mern proposition in public. &#8220;I cannot
+understand what private matters we three have in common, sir. I have no
+desire to listen. Mr. Latisan has no time, I&#8217;m sure. He is leaving for
+the north country.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true,&#8221; agreed Latisan, under the spell of her gaze, won by her,
+loyal in all his fiber, determined to exclude all others in the world
+from the partnership of two. He had put aside his anxiety to know what
+she had been in the city, as Crowley knew her; that quest seemed to be
+disloyalty to her. &#8220;I&#8217;m starting mighty sudden! Sorry, sir! Let Brophy
+put <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>your business with us in his refrigerator till the drive is down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Careless of the onlookers, the girl patted his cheek, encouraging his
+stand. &#8220;Till <em>our</em> drive is down. Remember, it&#8217;s ours!&#8221; she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Harness in my horses,&#8221; Latisan called to Brophy&#8217;s nephew in the door of
+the tavern stable.</p>
+
+<p>She was human; she was a girl; Latisan&#8217;s manner assured her that she had
+won her battle with Crowley, whatever might have been the methods by
+which he had tried to prevail over the drive master. She could not
+resist the impulse to give the Vose-Mern operative a challenging look of
+triumph that was lighted by the joy of her victory.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley&#8217;s slow mind speeded up on its one track; he opened the throttle,
+smash or no smash! He marched up to Latisan and displayed a badge,
+dredging it from his trousers pocket. &#8220;That&#8217;s what I am, mister, an
+operative for a detective agency. So is she!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am not,&#8221; she declared defiantly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Maybe not, after your flop in this case. But you were when you struck
+this place, if your word means anything!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re a liar,&#8221; shouted Latisan. He doubled his fist and drew it back;
+the girl seized the hand and unclasped the knotted grip and braided her
+fingers with his.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t blame you, Latisan. It&#8217;s natural for you to feel that way
+toward me right now,&#8221; agreed Crowley. &#8220;She has slipped the cross-tag
+onto you. But you&#8217;re no fool. I don&#8217;t ask you to take my word. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>Go down
+to that railroad station and wire to an address I&#8217;ll give you in New
+York. Ask her if she dares to have you do it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was no longer a smolder in Latisan&#8212;it was all a red flame!</p>
+
+<p>He had not realized till then how penetratingly deep had been his
+conviction that this girl was something other than she assumed to be.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley pulled a letter from his pocket, flapped it open, and shoved it
+under Latisan&#8217;s nose.</p>
+
+<p>There was no further attempt to deal behind doors with the affair. It
+was in Crowley&#8217;s mind, then, that spreading the situation wide open
+before the gaping throng, which was increasing, crowding about in a
+narrowing circle, would assist his plan to make intolerable Latisan&#8217;s
+stay in that region.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look at the letterhead&#8212;Vose-Mern Agency! Look and you&#8217;ll see that it&#8217;s
+addressed to Miss Patsy Jones, Adonia. Take it and read it! It&#8217;s orders
+to her from the chief!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan was plainly in no state of mind to read; he crumpled the letter
+in his hand and stuffed the paper into his trousers pocket.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s a telegram,&#8221; continued the operative. &#8220;It&#8217;s for her to go back
+to New York. It hasn&#8217;t been enough for her to double-cross you; she&#8217;s
+doing the same thing to the folks who have hired her. Nice kind of dame,
+eh? I don&#8217;t know just what her game is, friend! But I&#8217;m coming across to
+you and tell you that the big idea is to keep you off the drive this
+season. Good money has been put up to turn the trick.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>In the midst of the whirling torches which made up his thoughts just
+then, Latisan was not able to give sane consideration to her zeal in
+urging him to duty; he was conscious only of the revelation of her
+character. Out of the city had come some kind of a design to undo him!</p>
+
+<p>The village was still agog with the news of his engagement; the news
+bureaus on legs had gone north to tattle the thing among all the camps;
+and she was a detective sent to beguile him! The faces of the bystanders
+were creasing into grins.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ask her!&#8221; urged Crowley, relentlessly. &#8220;Or ask New York.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Postponement of the truth was futile; denial was dangerous; a confession
+forced by an appeal to New York would discredit her motives; she had not
+formally severed her connection with the agency. She determined to meet
+this man of the woods on his own plane of honesty.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come with me where we can talk privately,&#8221; she urged; her demeanor told
+Latisan that she was not able to back the defiant stand he had taken
+with Crowley a moment before.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s too late now,&#8221; he objected, getting his emotions partly under
+control. &#8220;The thing has been advertised too much to have any privacy
+about it now. When they are left to guess things in this section the
+guessing is awful! I&#8217;m never afraid to face men with the truth. He has
+said you came here as a detective. Those men standing around heard him.
+What have you to say?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Won&#8217;t you let me talk to you alone?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>&#8220;If I&#8217;m to stand up here before men after this, the facts will have to
+come out later; they may as well come out now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He spoke mildly, but his manner afforded her no opportunity for further
+appeal; he was a man of the square edge and he was acting according to
+the code of the Open Places. She put away womanly weakness as best she
+was able and continued with him on his own ground.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There is a plot to keep you away from your duty on the drive this
+season. You know as well as I do what interests furnished the money for
+such a purpose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you know about it, do you, because you are one of the detective
+gang?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have worked for the Vose-Mern agency.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She could not deny the evidence of that letter which he had shoved deep
+down into his pocket. He had reminded her of it by whacking his hand
+against his thigh.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So that&#8217;s what you are!&#8221; Again he was losing control of himself.</p>
+
+<p>Men in the crowd snickered. They were perceiving much humor in the
+situation.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can explain later.&#8221; She, too, was breaking down under the strain. She
+whimpered, pleading with him. &#8220;After you have brought down the drive I
+can explain <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now! It must be now! I can&#8217;t bring down any drive till you do explain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She did not understand.</p>
+
+<p>But he knew all too bitterly under what a sword of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>Damocles he was
+standing. Ridicule was ready to slay him! The Big Laugh was already
+gurgling deep in the throats of all the folks. The news of his
+engagement had gone ahead of him to the north country; the Big Laugh
+would roar along in the wake of that news.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The truth! It must come out now!&#8221; he shouted. &#8220;All the truth&#8212;the whole
+truth about yourself!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t tell you!&#8221; wailed Lida Kennard, turning her back fearsomely on
+the big house on the ledges.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got a mouthful of truth out of me. Can&#8217;t you see how it is?&#8221;
+growled Crowley.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So that&#8217;s what you are, is it?&#8221; Latisan dwelt on the subject, twisting
+the handle that Crowley had given him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Latisan, listen to me! I implore you to forget me&#8212;what I am! Go to
+your work.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My work has nothing to do with this matter between you and me. So
+that&#8217;s what you are!&#8221; he repeated, insistent on his one idea, looking
+her up and down. &#8220;A detective sneak!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am done with the work. I am a human being, at any rate, and you
+promised <span class="nowrap">me&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>He sliced his hand through the air. &#8220;That&#8217;s all off! You lied to me. It
+must have been a lie, seeing what you are. But I believed, and I stood
+up and took you for mine. The word has gone out. Every man on the Noda
+will know about it. I had no rights over your life till you met me. But
+when a woman lies to a man to make him do this or that she is laughing
+at him behind his back. You have played me for <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>a poor fool in the tall
+timber. That&#8217;s the word that&#8217;s starting now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you have found out how worthless I am,&#8221; she sobbed, &#8220;you can go on
+with your work and be a real man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He loosed the leash on himself. He mocked her with bitter irony, his
+face working hideously. &#8220;&#8216;Go on with your work!&#8217; Don&#8217;t you have any idea
+what men are up these woods? Who&#8217;ll take orders from me after this?
+They&#8217;ll hoot me off the river! I&#8217;m done. You have put me down and
+under!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>More than the spirit of sacrifice was actuating her then. Her impulses
+were inextricably mingled, but they all tended to one end, to save him
+from error. His scorn had touched her heart; meeting him on his own
+plane&#8212;on the level of honesty&#8212;woman with man, she was conscious of
+bitter despair because he was leaving her life. She was fighting for her
+own&#8212;for the old man in the big house, for the new love that was
+springing up out of her sympathy for this champion from whom, without
+realizing the peril of her procedure, she had filched the weapons of his
+manhood at the moment when he needed them most.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The heart has gone out of me! You have taken it out!&#8221; he cried.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I swear before our God that I&#8217;ll be straight with you from now on.
+Won&#8217;t it put heart in you if I&#8217;m your wife, standing by you through
+everything?&#8221; She took a long breath. Her desperation drove her to the
+limits of appeal. &#8220;I love you! I know it. I must have known it when I
+urged you on to your <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>duty. I&#8217;m willing to say it here before all. Take
+me, and let&#8217;s fight together.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In her hysterical fear lest she was losing all, she took no thought of
+her pride; she was making passionate, primitive appeal to the chosen
+mate.</p>
+
+<p>But she did not understand how absolutely hopeless was the wreck of this
+man&#8217;s fortunes, as Latisan viewed the situation. Ridicule, the taunt
+that he had been fooled by a girl from the city, was waiting for him all
+along the river. Echford Flagg would be the first to deny the worth of a
+man who had received the Big Laugh. No man on the Noda had ever incurred
+mock to such a degree. And he had vaunted his engagement to her!</p>
+
+<p>She went toward him, her hands outstretched; he had been backing away
+from her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look out!&#8221; he warned. &#8220;I never struck a woman!&#8221; He spread his big hand.
+All the fury of his forebears was rioting in him.</p>
+
+<p>He was not swayed by rage, merely; there would have been something petty
+in ordinary human resentment at that moment. There was another quality
+that was devilishly and subtly complex in the sudden mania which
+obsessed him. He had seen woodsmen leaping and shouting in the ecstasy
+of drunkenness; liquor seemed to affect the men of the woods in that
+way&#8212;to accentuate their sense of wild liberty. Latisan had been obliged
+to pitch in and quell riots where woodsmen had heaped their clothes and
+were making a bonfire of the garments they needed for decency&#8217;s sake.
+And a mere liquid had been able to put them into that temper!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>But this that was sweeping through all his being was liquid fire!</p>
+
+<p>He had never been else than a spectator of what alcohol would do to a
+man; he had never tasted the stuff.</p>
+
+<p>Here he was, all of a sudden, drunk with something else&#8212;he knew that he
+was drunk&#8212;and he let himself go! He leaped up and tossed his arms above
+his head. By action alone a woodsman expressed his feelings, he told
+himself, and he was only a woodsman; the hellions of the world were not
+allowing him to make anything else of himself! The north country was
+closed to him; his power as a boss was gone. Look at those grinning
+faces around him!</p>
+
+<p>Then he yelled shrilly. Many who stood around understood what that whoop
+meant, though it had not been heard for a long time on the Noda. It was
+&#8220;the Latisan lallyloo&#8221;! It had echoed among the hills in the old days
+when John Latisan was down from the river and had grabbed a bottle from
+the hand of the first bootlegger who offered his wares.</p>
+
+<p>The grandson, then and there, was veritably drunk with the frenzy of
+despair!</p>
+
+<p>Yanking his arms free, he dragged off his belted jacket and flung it on
+the ground; on the jacket, with a pile-driver sweep of his arm, he drove
+down his cap.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lie there, drive master!&#8221; he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>The down train of the narrow-gauge was dragging out of the station; a
+succession of shrill whistle toots, several minutes before, had warned
+prospective passengers.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>Latisan ran down the middle of the road and leaped aboard the slowly
+moving train when it crossed the highway. Standing on the platform of
+the passenger car, he shook his fists at assembled Adonia and yelled
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Brophy, from the tavern porch, looked hard at the girl and started down
+the steps, making his way toward the jacket and cap which Latisan had
+thrown away.</p>
+
+<p>She ran and picked them up and hugged them in her arms with defiant
+proprietorship.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How come?&#8221; sneered Brophy. &#8220;Latest bulletin seemed to be that the
+engagement was broke!&#8221; He was suddenly hostile.</p>
+
+<p>She turned from the landlord and faced Crowley. The operative was
+triumphant. &#8220;It&#8217;s understood that I get the credit for this job,&#8221; he
+informed her, <em>sotto voce</em>. His air suggested that he was convinced that
+the destiny of the Flagg drive had been settled.</p>
+
+<p>All about her were implacable faces. The grins were gone. There was no
+misunderstanding the sentiments which those men entertained toward a
+woman who had wrought the undoing of a square man. She presented
+completely then the pathetic spectacle of a baited, cowering, wild
+creature at bay. She was bitterly alone among them. Even Crowley of the
+city was against her. In her agony of loneliness the thought of her kin
+in the big house on the hill came to her mind. But to her, in spite of
+her passionate efforts to aid, must be ascribed the defection of
+Latisan&#8212;the breaking of her grandfather&#8217;s last prop. She had
+intensified in woeful degree the fault of her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>father; she had compassed
+the ruin of the old man at a time when he was unable to restore his
+fortunes by his own effort. The doors of the house on the hill were
+barred by the iron of unforgiveness and by these new fires of her fault,
+involuntary though that fault was.</p>
+
+<p>Brophy stood before her. &#8220;I reckon you ain&#8217;t going to be very popular
+hereabout as a hash-slinger, Miss Whatever-your-name is.&#8221; He snapped his
+fingers and stretched his hand to command the transfer of the jacket and
+cap. &#8220;I&#8217;ll take &#8217;em and put &#8217;em in Ward&#8217;s room.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But she clung to what she had retrieved as if she felt that she held a
+hostage of fortune. Brophy refrained from laying violent hands on the
+articles, and to save his face and create a diversion he turned on
+Crowley.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s see! You have bragged about being a detective! We don&#8217;t stand for
+your kind or tricks in this neck o&#8217; woods.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was the menace of growls in the crowd. The mob spirit was
+stirring. A man said something about a rail and tar and feathers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll argue with the boys and try to give you a fair start,&#8221; stated the
+landlord. &#8220;But you&#8217;d better pack up in a hurry. You can&#8217;t wait for
+to-morrow&#8217;s train under my roof. I&#8217;ll furnish you a livery hitch to the
+junction. Take the woman with you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was an ugly crowd; the landlord was obliged to push back men when
+Crowley followed Lida into the tavern.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham was just inside the door, where she <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>had posted herself as a
+spectator and listener. &#8220;There&#8217;s no telling what they&#8217;ll do; they&#8217;re
+bound to find out that I&#8217;m an operative,&#8221; she quavered. &#8220;You must take
+me with you, Buck.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He had been appointed her guardian and he could not refuse. But he
+glowered at Lida, white and trembling.</p>
+
+<p>Brophy came in after a struggle at the door; he slammed the portal and
+bolted it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re usually pretty genteel up here where wimmen are concerned,&#8221; he
+told Lida, &#8220;but they&#8217;re laying it all to you. They&#8217;ll let you go,
+Crowley, if you&#8217;ll go in a hurry. Are you one of &#8217;em, too?&#8221; he bluntly
+asked Miss Elsham, ready to suspect all strangers.</p>
+
+<p>She nodded. &#8220;I&#8217;m going with Crowley.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Understanding that you give me full credit,&#8221; her associate told her,
+his lips close to her ear.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I ain&#8217;t sure but what I&#8217;d better hide you till night,&#8221; the landlord
+informed Lida. &#8220;As I said, they&#8217;re naturally genteel, <span class="nowrap">but&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> He
+hesitated when he heard the growing grumble of voices.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got trouble enough in getting away without taking you on for an
+extra load,&#8221; was Crowley&#8217;s rough repudiation of Lida. &#8220;You have
+<span class="nowrap">double-crossed&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll accept your opinion as an expert in that line,&#8221; she said, lashing
+her courage back to meet the situation. &#8220;I am not asking any favors from
+Vose-Mern or their operatives. Nor from you,&#8221; she informed the landlord.</p>
+
+<p>She settled Ward&#8217;s cap and jacket more securely in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>the clutch of her
+arms. &#8220;Unbar and open the door, if you please, Mr. Brophy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He demurred.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the door of a public inn. You must open it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He obeyed, standing ready to repel intruders.</p>
+
+<p>She walked straight out and through the crowd of hostile natives, who
+parted to allow her to pass; her chin was up and her eyes were level in
+meeting the gaze of any man who stared at her.</p>
+
+<p>She had made up her mind where she was going, and the thought of that
+intended destination put some of the spirit of old Echford Flagg in her.</p>
+
+<p>When she was free from the crowd she began to run; instinct of the
+homing sort impelled her to hasten. She had not settled in her mind what
+she would say or do when she got there, but there seemed to be no other
+place in all the world for her right then except the big house on the
+ledges.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span><a name="eighteen" id="eighteen"></a>CHAPTER EIGHTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">LIDA did not wait to be admitted to her grandfather&#8217;s house in the
+conventional manner; she did not dare to test her new resolution by a
+pause on the steps, and she was afraid that Rickety Dick would enforce
+the Flagg injunction against a woman.</p>
+
+<p>Gasping for breath after her run across the ledges, she flung herself
+into the presence of her grandfather.</p>
+
+<p>Dick was holding a flaming splint of wood to the bowl of Flagg&#8217;s pipe.
+Startled, he dropped the splint, and the fire burned out unheeded on the
+bare floor.</p>
+
+<p>She held on to the cap and the jacket and with her free hand she beat
+upon her breast and tried to pour out a confession of her part in the
+mischief which had been done. She could not tell Flagg who she was; she
+was telling him what she was. She made herself a part of the Vose-Mern
+conspiracy; that seemed to be the best way. She did not try to make
+herself better than her associates; she admitted that she was an
+operative; in no other way could she account for her presence in the
+north country; and the old man&#8217;s keen eyes warned her that a less
+plausible statement would endanger her secret. Therefore, she arraigned
+herself bitterly as the cause of Latisan&#8217;s undoing, and to explain her
+new attitude she pleaded love and resulting repentance. There seemed to
+be no other way of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>giving Flagg a good reason why she was interested in
+speeding the fortunes of Latisan and the Flagg drive.</p>
+
+<p>She began to babble rather incoherently. His silence troubled her. His
+gaze was intent.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, allowing her to talk on, he ordered Dick to bring more
+fire for the pipe, and then he puffed and listened a little longer.</p>
+
+<p>At last he jabbed his pipe stem toward the door, and Dick obeyed the
+silent command and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, my girl, hold up a moment and get your breath. Sit down!&#8221; She
+obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I see that you&#8217;re hanging on to Latisan&#8217;s cap and jacket. Did he pull
+himself out of the jacket whilst you were clinging to his collar?&#8221; In
+spite of the seriousness of the news which she had brought to him, there
+was a touch of dry humor in his tone. &#8220;He must have had a pretty
+desperate change of heart to run away from such a girl, after what he
+told me of his feelings this morning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He talked on, allowing her to recover. &#8220;Your words have been tumbling
+along like logs coming down the Hulling Machine Falls, but I reckon I
+understand that a detective agency sent you up here to Delilah my
+Samson. I&#8217;ve just been reading about that case in the Old Testament. And
+you&#8217;re sorry, eh? It&#8217;s a start in the right direction&#8212;being sorry. He
+told me this morning that he was going back to the drive in spite of
+me&#8212;he said it was because you had torched him on to do so. I&#8217;ll admit I
+haven&#8217;t got over being thankful to you for that help. And now it&#8217;s <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>all
+tipped upside down, eh? I&#8217;m not surprised. It&#8217;s the Latisan nature to
+blow up! I knew his grandfather well&#8212;and I remember! We seem to have
+made a bad mess of it, you and I. I&#8217;ll own to it that I haven&#8217;t been
+careful in the management of my tongue where he&#8217;s concerned. If I had,
+all the girls this side o&#8217; Tophet couldn&#8217;t have made him jump his job in
+this style. You see, I&#8217;m willing to admit my mistake, and that makes me
+feel kinder toward you, now that you admit yours.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her courage was coming back to her. Only a veritable frenzy of despair
+had forced her into the presence of that old man who had declared his
+unalterable hostility to her and hers. She found him singularly and
+surprisingly mild in this crisis. Wreathed in the tobacco smoke, his
+countenance was full of sympathy. It was an amazing alteration in
+Echford Flagg, so those who knew him would have stated, had they been
+there to behold.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose you have to slap on a lot of deceit in that detective
+business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m done with deceit. I&#8217;ve left that work forever.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So I reckoned whilst I looked at you and heard you talk. I&#8217;ve got quite
+an eye for a change of heart in persons. I hate to see young folks in
+trouble. &#8217;Most always I&#8217;m pretty hard on people. I&#8217;ve grown to be that
+way. Had good reasons! But you seem to have caught me to-day in a
+different frame of mind. I didn&#8217;t get a good look at you last evening.
+I&#8217;ve just been telling myself that you remind me very much of somebody I
+used to know. There was a time,&#8221; he went on, wrinkling his forehead,
+&#8220;when I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>would have ordered you out of this house, simply on your looks.
+But to-day, somehow, I like to keep my eyes on you. Old age has a lot of
+whims, you know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She did not venture to speak. Tears were rolling down her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s too bad, sis! Too bad! &#8217;Tis a tough thing to work out, this
+Latisan matter. You have started the old John devil a-roaring in him!
+And I reckon that now you&#8217;re falling in love with the fool, even if you
+did come up-country to do something mean to him!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She nodded; her emotions were too deeply stirred to permit evasion or
+more deceit.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have to depend on hired help, sis. And the trouble with any other
+drive master than Latisan is that the opposition crowd can hire away
+what Latisan wouldn&#8217;t sell&#8212;I&#8217;ll say that for the boy! It&#8217;s a matter of
+principle with him&#8212;this fight for the independents.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But your men will keep on working, won&#8217;t they, sir?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;ll work&#8212;yes! But they won&#8217;t fight without Latisan to lead &#8217;em.
+That&#8217;s why the Three C&#8217;s folks are so hot on the trail of one man.
+They&#8217;re going to trig my drive at the Skulltree dam unless we are
+through ahead of &#8217;em. Conservation of water, that&#8217;s what they will call
+it when they make their play for a court order,&#8221; he snarled. &#8220;But it&#8217;s
+only devilish theft of the rights I hold in common&#8212;and that&#8217;s where
+lawyers have their chance to argue, when rights are common.&#8221; He found
+himself becoming garrulous <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>in his emotion. He frowned. &#8220;But why talk
+such matters to you; you can&#8217;t understand!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; she admitted, sadly. &#8220;I haven&#8217;t any knowledge about drives. I can
+only understand that through me a great mischief has been done.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, it might have been worse for young Latisan if they hadn&#8217;t got rid
+of him by this underhand way. Now that he has quit and has gone
+larruping off on his own hook, you may as well get what comfort out of
+it you can,&#8221; he said, trying to ameliorate her distress. &#8220;There&#8217;s no
+telling what they might have been savage enough to do to him if he had
+stayed to make the fight as he intended to make it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you give up the fight?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With the left hand he lifted his helpless right arm across his knees.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s a two-fisted proposition this year. I guess I&#8217;m licked. They&#8217;ll
+buy in my logs at what price they have a mind to pay and will turn &#8217;em
+into paper. The sawmills will have to shut down, and the chap who wants
+to build a home will keep on cussing the price of lumber. I have made a
+good try of it, sis, but the big combinations are bound to have their
+way in the end.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It isn&#8217;t right for anybody to have his own way without giving the other
+man a square deal,&#8221; she cried, adding, with bitterness, &#8220;though I&#8217;m the
+last person entitled to preach on that subject.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all in the way of progress, so the syndicate fellows tell us,&#8221; he
+remarked, dryly. &#8220;Maybe they know. Whilst they&#8217;re grabbing in all the
+money, they may be getting control of all the brains, too.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She flung up her arms and accused herself, pas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>sionately: &#8220;I have been a
+fool. I&#8217;d give my very heart to make matters right again!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I think so,&#8221; he admitted. &#8220;I reckon you&#8217;re in earnest.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Again his fixed, appraising stare was disturbing her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;About <span class="nowrap">Mr. Latisan&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> she hurried on. &#8220;I can&#8217;t believe that he&#8217;ll stay
+away long.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I guess you know as little about the ways of men up here as you know
+about the drives, my girl. There&#8217;s plenty of iron in their natures, but
+there isn&#8217;t much brass in their cheeks. He&#8217;s done&#8212;he can&#8217;t face the Big
+Laugh. He&#8217;s seen what it has done to others. But you city folks don&#8217;t
+understand woods ways and notions!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She set her firm teeth over her lower lip to control its quivering. Then
+she ventured. It was a resolve born out of her desperate desire to
+redeem, if she were able. There was one thing she could do&#8212;it seemed a
+natural thing to do, in that extremity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have something to ask of you. Please don&#8217;t be angry! I&#8217;m trying to
+square myself!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Go ahead! I&#8217;m ready now to be pretty easy natured when somebody is
+really in earnest about helping me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Give me your permission to go north and explain to your men why Mr.
+Latisan isn&#8217;t on the drive! I&#8217;ll tell them everything. I&#8217;ll open my soul
+to those men. They&#8217;ll understand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not a girl&#8217;s job,&#8221; he declared, sternly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have been trained in a hard school, sir. I have been forced to study
+men and to deal with men. I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>have been sorry because I have been obliged
+to do the things I have done. But my knowledge of men may help your
+affairs. I am glad I have been through my trials. Let me go north to
+your crews! I beg it of you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to have you messing into any such business. There&#8217;s
+something about you&#8212;something that makes me want to put a safeguard
+over you, sis, instead of sending you into danger.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll make the danger worse for me if you don&#8217;t give me that
+permission&#8212;a word from you to them that I&#8217;m your agent.&#8221; She arose,
+flaming with her resolution. &#8220;I am going anyway, sir! You can&#8217;t stop me
+from going where I will in the woods.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re right!&#8221; he admitted, sadly. &#8220;I&#8217;m so old and helpless that I
+can&#8217;t even boss a girl.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She stood in front of him and put Latisan&#8217;s cap on her head; she pulled
+on the belted jacket. &#8220;They&#8217;ll know this jacket and cap! I&#8217;ll tell the
+story! Do you think it is folly? No! I can see in your face that you
+know what those men will do!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I do know! I have been a woodsman in my time, too! After they have
+listened to you they&#8217;ll hammer hell out of anything that gets in front
+of &#8217;em.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His face lighted up. He beamed on her. &#8220;I told you that old age has its
+whims. A minute ago a whim made me want to keep you away from trouble.
+Now, by the gods! the same whim makes me want to send you north. You
+will stand for Eck Flagg, saying what he&#8217;d like to say to his men! The
+right spirit is in you! I ain&#8217;t afraid that you won&#8217;t make good!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>He pointed to an object on the wall of the room. It was a stout staff
+of ash tipped with a steel nose and provided with a hook of steel; it
+was the Flagg cant dog. The ash staff was banded with faded red stripes
+and there was a queer figure carved on the wood.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lift it down and bring it here and lay it across my knees,&#8221; he
+commanded.</p>
+
+<p>She ran and brought it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They know that stick along the Noda waters,&#8221; he told her, caressing the
+staff with his hale hand. &#8220;I carried it at the head of the drive for
+many a year, my girl. You won&#8217;t need letters of introduction if you go
+north with that stick in your hand. I would never give it into the hands
+of a man. It has propped the edge of my shelter tent, to keep the spring
+snow off my face when I caught a few winks of sleep; that steel dog has
+rattled nigh my ear when I couldn&#8217;t afford to sleep and kept walking.
+Tell &#8217;em your story, with that stick in your hand when you tell it! Take
+it and stand up in front of me!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her face was white; she trembled when she lifted the staff from his
+knees.</p>
+
+<p>An old man&#8217;s whim! The girl believed that she understood better than he
+the instinct which was prompting him to deliver over the scepter which
+he had treasured for so long.</p>
+
+<p>And some sort of instinct, trickling in the blood from that riverman
+forebear, prompted her strike a pose, which brought a yelp of admiration
+from the old man. She had set the steel nose close to her right foot and
+propped the staff, with right arm fully extended, swinging the stick
+with a man-fashion sweep.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>&#8220;Sis, where did ye learn the twist of the Flagg wrist when ye set that
+staff?&#8221; It was a compliment rather than a question, and the girl did not
+reply. She was not able to speak; a sob was choking her. Her grip on
+that badge of the family authority thrilled her; here was the last of
+her kin; he was intrusting to her, as his sole dependence, the mission
+of saving his pride and his fortunes. Her tear-wet eyes pledged him her
+devoted loyalty.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;God bless you!&#8221; he said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And may God help me,&#8221; she added fervently. Impulse was irresistible.
+She succumbed. She dropped the staff and ran to the old man and threw
+her arms convulsively about his neck and kissed him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry,&#8221; she faltered, stepping back. &#8220;I&#8217;m afraid I startled you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he told her, after a moment of reflection, &#8220;I guess I rather
+expected you&#8217;d do that before you went away. Some more of that whim,
+maybe! When do you think of leaving?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to go at once. I cannot stay any longer in this village.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d best get to my drivers as soon as the Three C&#8217;s slander does.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He shouted at a door and old Dick appeared.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Move spry now!&#8221; commanded the master. &#8220;Have Jeff hitch the big bays
+into the jumper. And Jeff will be able to tend and do for me whilst
+you&#8217;re away. For here&#8217;s the job I&#8217;m sending you on. Take this young
+woman north to the drive. She&#8217;s tending to some business for me. See to
+it that she&#8217;s taken good <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>care of. And bring her back when she feels
+that she&#8217;s ready to come.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Am I to come here&#8212;back to your house <span class="nowrap">to-to&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> she faltered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To report? Of course you are!&#8221; He was suddenly curt and cold after his
+softness of the moment before. He looked as if he were impatient for her
+to be gone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have Dick stop at the tavern for your belongings.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s only a small bag, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re short of clothes&#8212;well, I advise you to wear Latisan&#8217;s cap
+and jacket. They&#8217;ll keep you warm&#8212;and they&#8217;ll keep you&#8212;reminded!&#8221; He
+put much meaning in his emphasis of the last word.</p>
+
+<p>She bowed her head humbly; the clutch at her throat would not permit her
+to reply to him. Then, bearing with her the Flagg scepter, she went out
+to where the horses were being put to the jumper.</p>
+
+<p>When he was alone the old man laid his hand on the Bible at his side.
+For a long time he gazed straight ahead, deep in his ponderings. Then he
+opened the volume and leaved the pages until he came to the family
+register, midway in the book. After the New England custom, there were
+inscribed in faded ink the names of the Flaggs who had been born, the
+names of those who had died, the records of the marriages. Echford
+Flagg&#8217;s father had begun the register; the son had continued it. Across
+the marriage record of Alfred Kennard and Sylvia Flagg were rude
+penstrokes. On the page of births was the name of Lida Kennard, and he
+slowly ran his finger under it. When he gazed down at the floor again in
+meditation <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>he met the stare of the cat that Rickety Dick loved and
+petted.</p>
+
+<p>The cat was bestowing no friendly look on Flagg. He had often cuffed her
+whenever she ventured to leap into his lap. He had repulsed the cat as
+he repelled human beings who had sought to make up to him. Now he called
+to her softly, inviting her with his hand. She backed away with
+apprehensive haste.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m starting late, pussy,&#8221; he muttered. &#8220;And I was never much of a hand
+at coaxing anybody to come to me. But I wish you&#8217;d hop up here on my
+knee. Come, kitty! Please come!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was a long time before he was able to gain her confidence. He heard
+the big bays go trampling away down the ledges. At last the cat came
+cautiously, climbing up his leg, and sat on his knees and stared up at
+his face in a questioning way.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s too much like her mother for me not to know her&#8212;like her mother
+looked when she went away,&#8221; he informed the cat. &#8220;I reckon I&#8217;m a whole
+lot different right now than I ever was before. I&#8217;m old and sick&#8212;and
+I&#8217;m different. I don&#8217;t blame you for looking hard at me, kitty. I&#8217;m so
+lonesome that I&#8217;m glad to have a cat to talk to. She&#8217;s got her mother&#8217;s
+looks&#8212;and the Flagg grit. She wants to do it her own way&#8212;like I&#8217;d want
+to do it my way, without being bothered. And I&#8217;m letting her do it. It
+wouldn&#8217;t be a square deal if I didn&#8217;t let her. And she&#8217;ll do it! It&#8217;s in
+her! She&#8217;s trying to pay back. It&#8217;s the style of the Flaggs. She didn&#8217;t
+come up here to smash me or Latisan. I didn&#8217;t believe what she said&#8212;a
+Flagg knows when another Flagg is lying. She came <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>to help&#8212;and she&#8217;ll
+do it yet! She&#8217;s Lida, kitty, Lida!&#8221; His tone caressed the name. His
+hand caressed the written name.</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned the pages slowly, going forward in the volume&#8212;to the New
+Testament.</p>
+
+<p>And after a time he found words which fitted his new mood and he read
+aloud to his feline auditor.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil
+speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind to one
+another, tenderhearted, forgiving one <span class="nowrap">another&#8212;&#8212;&#8217;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>Jeff, the servitor, hearing the mumble of the old man&#8217;s voice, tiptoed
+to the door and peeped in. He goggled at the tableau and listened to the
+words. He was in the state of mind of that oft-quoted doubter who spat
+on the giraffe&#8217;s hoof and remarked to the bystanders, &#8220;Hell! There ain&#8217;t
+no such animile!&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span><a name="nineteen" id="nineteen"></a>CHAPTER NINETEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">BROPHY was distinctly inhospitable when Lida walked into the tavern.</p>
+
+<p>She curtly stated her errand as she passed him on her way to the stairs,
+and when she returned with her bag he allowed her to leave without
+opening his mouth. She took the money he offered and put it in her
+pocket without counting it.</p>
+
+<p>The men who were about the place were silent, too. The fact that Flagg
+was sending her away in his own hitch stirred their curiosity and had
+considerable to do with keeping their rude tongues off a person who had
+evidently come to an understanding with the master of the big house.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where are ye headed, Dick?&#8221; asked a bystander while the girl was in the
+tavern.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Up and down,&#8221; stated the old man, cryptically.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, if you want to overtake them chums of hers you&#8217;ll have to lay on
+the braid pretty smart! If they kept on going at the rate they started
+off they&#8217;re halfway to the junction by now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When the girl was in her seat Dick sent the bays along at a sharp clip
+down the highway by which Crowley and his companion had departed.</p>
+
+<p>Lida had conferred with Dick on the way down from the big house and had
+decided on a bit of guile to divert the attention of the gossips of
+Adonia from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>her real objective. According to all appearances she was in
+full flight toward the city, or else was chasing up Ward Latisan; the
+cynics, after that affair in the street when she had pleaded with the
+young man, opined that she was brazen enough to do almost anything that
+a girl should not.</p>
+
+<p>Brophy watched her out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If it ain&#8217;t one thing it&#8217;s another with these table girls,&#8221; was his
+sour comment. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what I&#8217;m liable to draw next; the Queen of
+Sheby, maybe!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When a hill shut off the view from Adonia the bays swung into a side
+lane which connected with the tote road leading north along the Noda
+waters.</p>
+
+<p>A girl who wore for her armor Latisan&#8217;s jacket and his cap, and carried
+as credentials the woods baton of the last of the independent timber
+barons of the Noda, was hastening on her mission with the same sort of
+fervent zeal that made Joan of Arc a conqueror.</p>
+
+<p>Family fealty, the eager desire to right in some measure the wrong done
+by her father, anxious determination to repair her own fault&#8212;all these
+were animating impulses in this Joan of the Northland. But now
+especially was she aware that she was seeking by service to absolve
+herself in the estimation of a poor chap whose love for her had made him
+forget his duty.</p>
+
+<p>There was no talk between the girl and her charioteer. She had plenty of
+thought to occupy her, and he drove on with his gaze straight between
+the ears of the nigh horse.</p>
+
+<p>The road was crooked; when she glanced behind, the woods seemed to be
+shutting doors on her, closing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>out the world with which she had been
+familiar; and ahead, as the road turned, she was looking into vistas
+which led to the unknown&#8212;to a duty of tremendous import&#8212;to a task
+which seemed too great for a girl to accomplish. One knowledge comforted
+her&#8212;it was a knowledge which came from her childhood memories&#8212;she
+could trust those rough men of the woods to treat a girl with respect if
+she deserved it; but would she be able to convince them that the girl
+who wrought such mischief to Ward Latisan deserved respect? They might,
+as her grandfather said, ridicule a man who had been fooled by a girl,
+if that man appeared to them and tried to make good his authority; but
+there would be no laugh in the north country behind Latisan&#8217;s back, now
+that he had fled desperately from the wreck of his prospects.</p>
+
+<p>She perceived only silent rebuke, even resentment, in Dick&#8217;s countenance
+when she stole glances at the hard profile above the old man&#8217;s knitted
+scarf. It was plain that he did not relish his job. She wondered whether
+he believed that her errand was useless. When, after a time, she tried
+to draw some opinion out of him he gave her no replies that aided her.</p>
+
+<p>She felt acutely that she needed sympathy&#8212;something for her
+encouragement. The old man&#8217;s taciturnity hinted that he could be trusted
+with a secret so far as outsiders were concerned; as to Flagg, she was
+not sure of Dick&#8217;s reliability in keeping anything away from a master to
+whom he was devoted. But if the old man were kept away from <span class="nowrap">Adonia&#8212;&#8212;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do I understand that you&#8217;re to stay north until I&#8217;m ready to go back?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got to. It&#8217;s orders.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was choking with the desire to tell him who she was. The lie which
+she had told him in the tavern was a rankling memory&#8212;he had been such a
+pitiful figure that day.</p>
+
+<p>Again she looked behind. There were many miles between her and Adonia,
+and the doors of the woods kept closing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I need all your help in this thing. I must have a faithful friend. It
+is the one great effort of my life. You can understand so well! I&#8212;I
+<em>am</em> Lida Kennard!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Rickety Dick threw up his arms. The reins fell from his hands. &#8220;Praise
+the Lord!&#8221; he yelled. The discarded reins slapped the big bays, the
+shout in that silence caused them to leap wildly. The tote road was
+rough and rocky and the equipage was light. Almost instantly the horses
+tore the tongue from the jumper, which was trigged by a bowlder. The
+animals crashed around in a circle through the underbrush, leaped into
+the tote road, and went galloping back toward Adonia, seeking their
+stalls and safety.</p>
+
+<p>Dick rose from where he had fallen and rushed to the girl, who was
+clinging to the seat of the jumper. He took her in his arms, comforting
+her as he would have soothed a child. He wept frankly and babbled
+incoherently. A part of his emotion was concern for her, but more
+especially was it joy because she had discovered herself to him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was in me&#8212;the hope that it was you. But I buried it; I buried it,&#8221;
+he sobbed.</p>
+
+<p>For some moments he was too much absorbed to note the plight in which
+they had been left. Then his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>laments were so violent that the girl was
+obliged to soothe him in her turn.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But when those horses rush into the yard! Think of it! He&#8217;ll cal&#8217;late
+we&#8217;re killed. Him penned there in his chair with worry tearing at him! I
+must get the word to him.&#8221; In his frantic care for the master&#8217;s peace of
+mind he ran away down the road, forgetting that he was abandoning the
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>But in a few moments he came running back to her. &#8220;That&#8217;s the way it
+always is with me! Him first! But after this it&#8217;s you&#8212;and I was leaving
+you here in the lurch. But I don&#8217;t know what to do!&#8221; He looked at her,
+then at the broken jumper; he gazed to the north and he stared to the
+south; in that emergency, his emotions stressed by what she had told
+him, he was as helpless as a child.</p>
+
+<p>Her own concern just then was for her grandfather as well as for
+herself. Those runaway horses appearing in the yard would rouse his
+bitter fear; they would also start a hue and cry which would follow her
+into the north country.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You must go back, at once!&#8221; she urged Dick. &#8220;Follow as fast as you can.
+The horses will quiet down; they&#8217;ll walk. You may overtake them. You
+must try.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you!&#8221; he mourned.</p>
+
+<p>She lifted the cant dog from the floor of the jumper. &#8220;I shall keep on
+toward the drive&#8212;somehow&#8212;some way. This will protect me; I&#8217;m sure of
+it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He puckered his face and shook his head and expressed his fears and his
+doubts.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>&#8220;Then I&#8217;m showing more faith than you in what this stands for,&#8221; she
+said, rebukingly. &#8220;I believe in it. I trust to it. Haven&#8217;t you the same
+kind of loyalty where my grandfather is concerned&#8212;after all your years
+with him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She had appealed to zealous, unquestioning devotion, and it replied to
+her. &#8220;I reckon you&#8217;re right. It wouldn&#8217;t be showing proper respect if I
+didn&#8217;t meet you halfway in the thing.&#8221; He reached out his hand and
+patted the staff. &#8220;I&#8217;m only a poor old bent stick beside that one. I
+even let the horses run away. Yes, they have run away&#8212;and now it&#8217;s all
+the long miles to the drive! How&#8217;ll ye ever get there, Miss Lida?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By starting!&#8221; she returned, crisply, with something of Flagg&#8217;s manner.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There are tote teams going north. Anybody&#8217;ll be glad to give you a
+lift. There are bateaus above here, ferrying supplies up the broad
+water, and you may see a <span class="nowrap">canoeman&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> He was wistfully grabbing at
+hopes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not afraid,&#8221; she assured him bravely.</p>
+
+<p>He helped her with advice while he busied himself by hooking the handle
+of her bag over the staff; she carried it across her shoulder and had
+something cheerful to say about poverty making light luggage.</p>
+
+<p>In that fashion she fared toward the north, after she had forced a
+pledge from the old man that he would keep her secret until her work was
+done; she was guilelessly unaware that Flagg&#8217;s perspicacity had
+penetrated her secret.</p>
+
+<p>Dick plodded toward the south.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>There, in the midst of the forest, dwarfed by the big trees, they
+seemed to be weak reeds for the support of the Flagg fortunes.</p>
+
+<p>Before a bend of the road shut them from sight of each other they turned
+and waved a farewell which renewed the pledge.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span><a name="twenty" id="twenty"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">FOR a time Lida felt unutterably and miserably lonely and helpless. She
+had stepped out of everything that was familiar in the way of human
+contact and environment; she was facing the new, the untried, something
+that was not a woman&#8217;s job, as her grandfather had declared.</p>
+
+<p>But it was a job for that one of the Flaggs who still had the grit and
+the strength to perform it!</p>
+
+<p>With that thought came her reaction. She began to realize that as long
+as Dick had been her companion, her guardian, she had not been conscious
+of the real exaltation of determination which now glowed in her. She
+felt courage born of sacred zeal. She was alone, but no longer did that
+thought trouble her. Because she was alone it was up to her! She walked
+on with a steadier stride. If she appeared at the drive under the convoy
+of old Dick she was only a girl sent to whine a confession of fault and
+to wheedle men to help her repair it. Would it not be well to take those
+men fully into her confidence? She was resolved to tell them that she
+loved Ward Latisan; she was admitting this truth to herself and she was
+in a mood to tell all the truth to honest men who would be able to
+understand. She was going north to inspire faith and courage and
+loyalty. Would not the known granddaughter of Echford Flagg be able to
+exert that com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>pelling moral influence over the crew? Those men were
+primitive enough to understand the urge of honest love of woman for a
+man; and there was the spirit of chivalrous romance in the north
+country. She knew it.</p>
+
+<p>Her heart was bolder as she walked on, but her feet ached and the rough
+road wearied her. She met no human being; she sat for a time on a
+wayside bowlder, hoping that some straggling tote team would come up
+from the south and overtake her.</p>
+
+<p>The road snaked along in the Noda Valley, and from time to time she was
+close to the turbid flood which swept down ice cakes and flotsam. From
+her bowlder she could see a broad and calm stretch&#8212;a deadwater of which
+she did not know the name.</p>
+
+<p>Then, close to the shore where she waited, came a canoe headed upriver.
+Two men were in it, paddling sturdily, taking advantage of eddies and
+backwash. Fresh from the city as she was, she felt a thrill of sudden
+terror; the men were Indians and wore the full regalia of tribal dress.</p>
+
+<p>As a child she had seen and remembered well the Tarratines of the
+region; they had been dressed like other woodsmen. These Indians with
+feathers and beads put a strange fear into her in that solitude. She
+slid from the rock and crouched behind it. She grasped the staff of the
+cant dog more firmly; it was her only weapon of defense. But when her
+fingers felt the depressions of the totem mark she turned from terror to
+hope. Latisan, at their first meeting, had referred to the status of
+Echford Flagg among the Tarratines. Courage was back in her again, along
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>with her new hope. She leaped to her feet and called to the Indians and
+flourished a salute. They hesitated a moment, then drove their craft to
+the shore a pebble toss away from her.</p>
+
+<p>She did not speak to them&#8212;she held the staff so that the emblem was
+shown to them. They disembarked, approached slowly, peered at the totem,
+and saluted with upraised palms.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have the right to carry it,&#8221; she told them. &#8220;It is Echford Flagg&#8217;s.
+He gave it into my hands. He said it is known along the river and will
+help me. I want to go north to his drive. He has sent me. It is on his
+business!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She received no immediate encouragement from their manner; they looked
+at each other and turned their gaze again to her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Frank Orono,&#8221; said one, patting his hand on his beaded breast. &#8220;Him
+brother, Louis Orono.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The drive is up there. If you&#8217;re going only a little way in that
+direction won&#8217;t you take me along in your canoe?&#8221; she pleaded,
+confessing, &#8220;I&#8217;m so tired. There was an accident to the team&#8212;I&#8217;ve had
+to walk.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You see!&#8221; said Frank Orono, stroking his hand over the feathers of his
+headdress. &#8220;Big time for tribe. All dressed up. Him, me, we go to Olamon
+Island. Governor live there&#8212;Chief Susep Nicola. His girl she marry
+to-night. Big time!&#8221; He grinned. That evidence of human feeling in the
+countenance which had been so impassive heartened the girl.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And if I can get as far as Olamon with <span class="nowrap">you&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>They ducked their heads in permission.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Maybe Chief Susep send you on. Chief he much <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>like him!&#8221; Frank Orono
+pointed to the staff. &#8220;Chief cut in totem sign, his own hands. You come.
+Be all right.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They spread a blanket for her in the middle of the canoe and paddled on.</p>
+
+<p>It was then past midafternoon of her crowded day.</p>
+
+<p>When at last they swung around a wooded point and beheld the Indian
+village of Olamon the dusk was deepening. Many lights twinkled and a
+huge bonfire waved flaming tongues.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Big time!&#8221; chuckled Frank Orono. &#8220;Pretty girl&#8212;nice feller she marry.
+Chief be glad to see you&#8212;you tell him!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Those who were gathered at the pull-out place surveyed her with
+curiosity. The bonfire lighted the scene and many were able to see the
+totem mark on the staff of the cant dog. Those saluted her respectfully
+and passed the word to others, who came crowding about.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, when the brothers Orono escorted her into the presence of
+Sachem Nicola, Lida entertained the confidence of one who was among
+friends. The chief&#8212;or rather, the elected governor of the tribe&#8212;dwelt
+in a modest cottage, and with him was the priest who had come for the
+wedding ceremony. It was the priest who displayed the liveliest interest
+in the girl and he promptly began to seek the reason that had brought
+her north with that emblem of authority. He questioned her with
+kindness, but with much vigor.</p>
+
+<p>But Susep Nicola asked no questions. He seemed to accept her presence as
+a quite natural thing. A Tarratine never puts a question to a guest; the
+guest <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>may explain or state his business in his own good time. The
+sachem set a chair for her and relieved her of the staff and her bag. He
+put his finger on the emblem and smiled. There was inquiry in his eyes
+whether she knew and understood. She bowed her head.</p>
+
+<p>As best she could she parried the questions of the inquisitive priest
+without making it appear that she was trying to hide anything. &#8220;It&#8217;s an
+errand, and Mr. Flagg was kind enough to loan the staff as my token in
+these parts. You know he is ill and cannot go about any more. He must
+leave certain things to others.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; admitted the priest, plainly struggling with a hankering to ask
+her bluntly what service a girl could perform for Flagg on the drive,
+&#8220;the ladies in these days are into all the affairs of men as well as on
+the juries, so we must consider it as quite natural that you have been
+sent up here by Mr. Flagg. At any rate, we should be grateful that you
+are here,&#8221; he declared, gallantly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s on account of the accident to my team that I&#8217;m forced to intrude
+at a time like this,&#8221; she apologized to Nicola. He was an old man, gaunt
+and bowed, and his festal trappings seemed rather incongruous
+decorations.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you bring my brother&#8217;s staff, and it makes you welcome for yourself
+and stands for him because he cannot come.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He called, and a woman appeared. He gave directions, and the woman
+offered to conduct Lida to a room in the cottage.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>&#8220;You are honored guest,&#8221; said the governor. &#8220;In an hour the wedding
+takes place in the church, and then the wedding supper!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To which I beg permission to escort you,&#8221; said the priest, bowing low
+as Lida went from the room.</p>
+
+<p>She laid off her woods panoply of cap and jacket and made herself fit
+for the festival to such an extent as her scanty wardrobe would permit.</p>
+
+<p>Before the wedding procession started for the church she was presented
+to the bride, Nicola&#8217;s youngest daughter. The woman who had shown Lida
+to her room had gossiped a bit. The bride was the fruit of the
+governor&#8217;s second marriage and had inherited her French Canadian
+mother&#8217;s beauty. And the groom was a French Canadian, a strapping chap,
+a riverman of repute.</p>
+
+<p>Lida was told that the men of the river, the jacks of the driving crews
+far and near, were making much of the wedding on account of their liking
+for Felix Lapierre. She had looked from her window and had seen bateaus
+come sweeping down, loaded with shouting men, the oars flashing in the
+light of torches set in the bows of the big boats. She felt more
+confident in regard to the morrow; those bateaus would be going back to
+the north and she had determined to make her plea for passage. In her
+anxiety the halt for the night was irksome. But she concealed her
+feelings and took her place in the procession, a post of honor that was
+deferentially assigned to her by the chief.</p>
+
+<p>The flares of moving torches lighted all and the smoke from them wavered
+above the plumes of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>festal costumes and spread the illumination
+among the swaying boughs of the spruces and the pines.</p>
+
+<p>An Indian brass band of pretensions rather more than modest led the way
+toward the church. The rear guard was made of rivermen who marched in
+ragged formation, scuffling, elbowing one another, shouting jokes,
+making merry after their manner. Their boots, spurred with drivers&#8217;
+spikes, crunched into the hard earth and occasionally struck fire from
+an outcropping of ledge. They pulled off those boots at the door of the
+church and went into the place, tiptoeing in their stocking feet.</p>
+
+<p>So Alice and Felix were joined in marriage.</p>
+
+<p>Lida sat beside the girl&#8217;s mother during the ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>The tears that are shed by womankind at weddings form a baptism for
+sentiments which cannot be easily translated into exact understanding.
+It had begun to seem very far away in time and space, that tragedy of
+the morning in Adonia, that wreck of a man&#8217;s love, and the blasting of
+what Lida had admitted to herself was her own fond hope. Now, in this
+scene, hearing the words which gave lovers the sacred right to face the
+world hand in hand, her own grievous case came back to her in poignant
+clearness. She wept frankly; there had been honest tears in the mother&#8217;s
+eyes. The two looked at each other and then the mother&#8217;s hand slid into
+the girl&#8217;s and mutely expressed for the stranger what could not be put
+into words. There were no questions and no replies&#8212;the situation
+required none.</p>
+
+<p>For the more casual guests, the rivermen and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>others, the supper was
+spread out of doors near the water. It was a simple feast which had been
+cooked over coals in the open.</p>
+
+<p>The sachem&#8217;s party ate in a large room; by day it served the women of
+the tribe as a workshop. The walls were gay with the handicraft which
+had been hung up to clear a space for the tables. There were braided or
+woven baskets of all sizes and every hue; there were beaded skins and
+frippery of feathered gewgaws and moccasins and miniature canoes and
+plaques of birch, hand carved. And subordinating all else, even the
+scents and savors of the food, was the perfume of the sweet grass.</p>
+
+<p>Outdoors, in a circle of torches, the band played merry airs.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You should not be sad, mam&#8217;selle,&#8221; reproved Father Leroque, who had
+constituted himself Lida&#8217;s squire at supper. &#8220;This is a very merry
+occasion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I feel all the more as if I were intruding&#8212;bringing my troubles here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The chatter of many voices made a shield for conversation between the
+two. The priest hesitated for some time; then he made sure that nobody
+was listening and leaned closer to her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I beg your pardon, mam&#8217;selle, if I seem presumptuous in touching on a
+matter regarding which you have not given me your confidence. I may be
+allowed to mention a bit of news. It came to me just before we sat down
+to supper. News travels fast in this region, you may know. From mouth to
+mouth it flies. Bateaus have come up the river, and the men of those
+bateaus have listened to timber cruisers and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>have heard from the
+drivers of tote teams who have come scattering through the woods below.
+There is the news of an engagement. I trust I may be allowed to speak of
+the news to you because it is my thought that you are the young lady
+concerned.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was not able to reply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And there is more news,&#8221; he persisted. &#8220;Pardon me if I mention that,
+too. It is my province to console those who are in trouble, as best I
+may. Perhaps there is some way in which I can help you. I think highly
+of young Latisan. I know him because my duties have taken me into the
+Tomah region. There has been trouble between you and him&#8212;a
+misunderstanding. Is there any way in which I can be a mediator&#8212;as his
+friend?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He has gone away,&#8221; she choked. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know where he is. It was my
+fault. If I could have explained, it might have helped, but he would not
+wait to hear me through.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The priest&#8217;s gentleness had conquered her resolution to keep her secret
+till she reached the men of the Flagg drive. He perceived her bitter
+need of sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I respect confidences, even those given me outside the pale of my
+church&#8217;s confessional. Young Latisan is like his grandfather&#8212;tinder for
+a stray spark. If I know your fault&#8212;if I can tell him, when I see him,
+what you would have liked to tell <span class="nowrap">him&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>Hurriedly, in low tones, stammering in her eagerness, she did reveal who
+she was, what she had tried to do, and what she hoped to be able to do.</p>
+
+<p>He was instantly alive to her cause with all the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>sympathy that was in
+him&#8212;an especially sincere sympathy because as a missionary priest he
+was close to the hearts of all the folk of the north country, probing
+their affairs with an innocent but vivid interest and striving always to
+aid with earnest zeal.</p>
+
+<p>Though Lida had parried his questions at first, protecting her secret,
+she was now grateful because he had persisted; his manner and his nature
+removed him from the ranks of mere busybodies. A comforting sense arose
+from having confided in him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In the Tomah I will find young Latisan; I am on my way across the
+mountains, mam&#8217;selle. He must be awake and himself by now; he must have
+gone home. When I tell him the truth he will lift all the trouble from
+your shoulders. But till he comes you must be brave. And who knows? You
+may be able to smooth the path! If you plead your grandfather&#8217;s cause up
+here, I believe even the great Comas company will listen and be kind.
+There are many outside this door who have come down from the drives to
+have a bit of fun at the wedding. There must be Flagg men. I will find
+out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me go with you,&#8221; she urged, anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>He demurred.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But I&#8217;ll not speak to them. If I can see them&#8212;only a few of them&#8212;the
+real men of our drive&#8212;I believe I shall find courage to go on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She prevailed, though he was doubtful and warned her that the babbling
+of the new gossip might be embarrassing.</p>
+
+<p>And so it proved as Father Leroque feared; men perceived only the
+beguilement of Ward Latisan and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>had heard only the sordid side of the
+happenings in Adonia; the girl was glad because she was hid in the gloom
+outside the circle of light that was the nimbus of the bonfire. They
+were laughing as they discussed a matter which had eclipsed the interest
+in the wedding. Her cheeks were hot and she was scarcely restrained by
+the priest&#8217;s monitory palm on her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>Men were feasting and gossiping; they were herded around the fire,
+squatting Turk fashion, steaming pannikins on the ground by their sides,
+heaped plates on their knees.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Fifteen of us,&#8221; stated a man, answering a question. &#8220;And prob&#8217;ly more
+to follow. Ben Kyle has gone up there in a hurry, grudge and all, and is
+hiring for the Comas. If there ain&#8217;t going to be any fight we may as
+well work for the Three C&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Stay here!&#8221; commanded Father Leroque, patting the girl&#8217;s arm. &#8220;Stay
+where they can&#8217;t see you.&#8221; He stepped forward into the firelight. &#8220;Do I
+understand that the Flagg crew is breaking up?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Fifteen of us in this bunch,&#8221; restated the man, rapping his pannikin to
+dislodge the tea leaves and holding it out for more of the beverage.
+&#8220;Wedding brought us down&#8212;the news we hear is going to keep us going.
+Flagg is done.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, if his men desert him. You mustn&#8217;t do it; it isn&#8217;t square.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The priest found it easy to locate the recreants among the other
+rivermen; they shifted their eyes under his rebuking gaze. &#8220;Go back to
+your work. Another will come in young Latisan&#8217;s place.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>&#8220;All respect to you, Father! But we can&#8217;t do it,&#8221; said the spokesman.
+&#8220;We&#8217;re Latisan&#8217;s men. The rest of the gang will laugh us out of the crew
+if we go back.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll have Latisan himself on the job inside of a few days, my men,&#8221;
+declared the priest, stoutly.</p>
+
+<p>He had promised to them another who would take the drive master&#8217;s place;
+now he promised Latisan. The men were merely puzzled; they were not
+convinced.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Will you go back?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We can&#8217;t go back.&#8221; It was said with conviction, and a mumble of voices
+indorsed him. &#8220;Still, all respect to you, Father! But Latisan won&#8217;t fit
+any longer even if he does go back. He has let himself be goofered.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Father Leroque had set up his temporary altar in many a lumber camp; he
+knew woodsmen; therefore, he knew that argument with those men would be
+idle.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have heard,&#8221; he said to Lida when the two walked away deeper into
+the shadows. &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry. But so the matter stands.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But if I go now and talk to them&#8212;confess to <span class="nowrap">them&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They are Latisan&#8217;s own men, and the story is fresh, and their
+resentment is hot. You will not prevail, mam&#8217;selle. And if you fail
+to-night with those men you risk failing with all. You must go on to the
+drive&#8212;talk to the others who are still loyal. I fear much, I must warn
+you, but I will not try to keep you from what seems to be your duty. It
+would be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>too great unhappiness for you if you should go back now,
+feeling that you had not done your best.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The bandsmen had eaten of the wedding feast and were again valorously
+making gay music outside the workshop building from whose windows poured
+light and laughter.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t go back in there&#8212;I can&#8217;t!&#8221; sobbed Lida. &#8220;Right now I want to
+hide away.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With gentle understanding the priest escorted her to the door of the
+sachem&#8217;s cottage. &#8220;I will pray for you, that the morning may bring good
+courage again. I will talk with you then&#8212;in the morning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She stammered broken words of gratitude and escaped to the covert of the
+little room.</p>
+
+<p>Father Leroque went back to the wedding party and called the governor
+out into the night. For a long time the two conferred, walking to and
+fro under the big pines.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span><a name="twenty-one" id="twenty-one"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">SUNRISE was crystal clear, with frosty crispness, for April in the
+northern latitudes flirts long with Winter on his way to everlasting
+snows. Lida saw the sun come quivering over the big trees and sat by her
+window, continuing the doleful ponderings which had made the night black
+and dismal. There was no cheer for her in the morning radiance; as she
+faced what was ahead of her, new fear grew in her; faith in herself was
+waning after the defection of Latisan&#8217;s men. Would Echford Flagg&#8217;s own
+crew stand by a stricken master or hearken to the appeal of Flagg&#8217;s kin?</p>
+
+<p>The rivermen guests had departed; there were no bateaus on the shore;
+faint smoke came wreathing from the black embers of the feast fire.</p>
+
+<p>Early as it was, there was the stir of life in the other rooms of the
+cottage, and she ventured forth timidly into the presence of the
+governor&#8217;s family. The little mirror in her room had revealed to her the
+pallor of her face and the mournful anxiety in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>There was no talk at breakfast; the family copied the manner of the
+governor, who had greeted Lida with a single word, gestured her to her
+chair, and now ate in silence. All his festal trappings had been laid
+aside; he was a grave, wrinkled man in the ordinary attire of a
+woodsman. In her new humility <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>Lida wondered how she would summon
+courage to ask for canoemen to take her north. The impulse to keep on
+toward the drive was no longer so keen and courageous and absorbing, she
+realized. She had dreamed vividly when she stood in the presence of
+Echford Flagg; but she had begun to face practicality, and the
+difficulties frightened her.</p>
+
+<p>Before the breakfast was finished, Father Leroque came in; he had lodged
+in the quarters provided for his visits, a small room in the vestry.</p>
+
+<p>The sisters who taught the boys and girls of the community had brought
+his food. But he sat at the elbow of the governor&#8217;s wife and drank the
+coffee that she poured for him. He was cheery, vivacious, and he smiled
+consolingly on Lida, who was not able to return his morning optimism.
+His arrival broke the fetters of silence, and even Susep Nicola joined
+in the chatter which the priest kept stirring.</p>
+
+<p>Lida kept her gaze on the floor and saw the broad shaft of sunlight
+shift slowly and relentlessly, marking the passage of precious time.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must go,&#8221; she said, suddenly, looking into the countenance of Nicola.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid I ought to have been on my way before.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s for you to say when you go; you are welcome here,&#8221; he returned. &#8220;I
+have waited for you to say.&#8221; It was according to his code of
+hospitality&#8212;the guest must indicate desire. He rose. His wife brought
+to Lida the jacket and the cap. But the chief picked up the Flagg cant
+dog and carried it when he led the way to the door.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>Father Leroque seemed to understand what was in Lida&#8217;s mind just then.
+&#8220;You are worried about how you are to travel, is it not so? You do not
+need to ask, mam&#8217;selle!&#8221; He bowed her to the door.</p>
+
+<p>In front of the sachem&#8217;s house hung a broad disk of tanned moosehide in
+a frame. Nicola pounded on the makeshift gong with a mallet. Men
+assembled quickly in front of him, coming as if they had expected the
+summons.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You know. I have told you,&#8221; said the chief. He stroked his hand over
+the totem mark on the cant dog handle. &#8220;You know how our brother has
+been the good friend of the Tarratines on this river.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>One step in advance of the others of the throng stood Felix Lapierre,
+the bridegroom.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How many?&#8221; asked the chief.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Twenty,&#8221; said Felix. &#8220;And all very much happy to do the good service.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The priest smiled into the amazed eyes of the girl. &#8220;For your
+conveyance? Ah no, mam&#8217;selle. For your good help on the drive. They are
+rivermen&#8212;the best. Felix Lapierre leads them and you shall see for
+yourself what a king of the white water he is. He will be your
+right-hand man on the drive. It is all very fine, eh, mam&#8217;selle?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was staring from face to face, overwhelmed. She could not reply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We talk it over&#8212;him and me&#8212;last night,&#8221; said Nicola, indicating the
+priest by a respectful bow. &#8220;It&#8217;s for my brother, and the blood of my
+brother.&#8221; He bowed to her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>&#8220;And all so very happy,&#8221; repeated Felix. His black eyes sparkled and he
+flung up his hands in the gay spirit of emprise. &#8220;You must not care
+because some have run away. They would not be good in a crew if they
+feel that way now. We feel good. We shall work for you; we are your
+men.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The big matter, this astounding making good of her forces, this rallying
+of volunteers in such chivalrous and unquestioning fashion&#8212;she found
+herself unable to handle the situation in her thoughts or treat it with
+spoken words just then. But the other&#8212;the human <span class="nowrap">thing&#8212;&#8212;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s&#8212;it&#8217;s the honeymoon,&#8221; she stammered. &#8220;It will be taking you away
+from your wife.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s my girl,&#8221; put in Nicola. &#8220;She tells him to go.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Father Leroque perceived Lida&#8217;s distressful inability to pull herself
+together at that moment, and he employed his ready tact, giving her time
+for thought. &#8220;It&#8217;s quite a natural thing, this taking away of the new
+bridegroom for the service of the Flaggs,&#8221; he declared with a chuckle.
+&#8220;There&#8217;s even a song&#8212;I think it was written by Poet O&#8217;Gorman. Do you
+know it, Felix? I can see by your grin that you do. Very well. Let&#8217;s
+have it. As I remember it, it states the case according to the Flagg
+methods.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lapierre pulled off his cap; his eyes were alight with merriment; he
+sang gayly:</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<p class="block">The night that I was married&#8212;the night that I was wed&#8212;<br />
+Up there came old Echford Flagg and rapped on my bed head.<br />
+Said he, &#8220;Arise, young married man, and come along with me,<br />
+Where the waters of the Noda they do roar along so free.&#8221;<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>&#8220;You see!&#8221; suggested the priest, archly, smiling, palms spread. &#8220;When
+Flagg calls, the honeymoon must wait. It promises good adventure, and
+Felix would be sorry if he were not in it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Cap in hand, Lapierre swept his arm in a broad gesture of respectful
+devotion. It was a touch of gallantry which raised the affair above the
+prosaic details of mere business and which made the relations closer
+than those of employer and employed.</p>
+
+<p>In Lida gratitude was succeeding amazement, and the glow of that
+gratitude was warming her courage into life again. When she had stepped
+from Nicola&#8217;s door a few moments before she felt bitterly alone and
+helpless and she had no eye for the glory of the day. Suddenly the
+sunshine seemed transcendently cheery. All the aspects of the case were
+changed. Now she could go on to the drive as one of the Flaggs should
+go&#8212;with loyal men at her back to replace those who had deserted. She
+could hearten a broken crew with men, not merely with a strange girl&#8217;s
+plaintive story and appeal.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re ready, mam&#8217;selle,&#8221; said Felix.</p>
+
+<p>The women of the community were gathered in front of the sachem&#8217;s house.</p>
+
+<p>Lapierre went smiling to his bride and put his arm about her; but when
+he started to draw her toward Lida the latter anticipated the coming by
+running to meet them. She took the little bride in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>The priest, Felix, and the governor swapped looks and nods which
+indorsed an understanding that was wordless between the young women.</p>
+
+<p>When Lida turned from the governor&#8217;s daughter <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>she saw the governor
+himself coming toward her. He held out the cant dog; it lay across his
+palms and he tendered it respectfully.</p>
+
+<p>She winked the mist of tears from her eyes and struggled with a
+hysterical desire to babble many words.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hush!&#8221; warned the priest. &#8220;We all know!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There, in a golden silence, she realized how cheap and base was the
+clinking metal of speech that had been the currency of herself and
+others in the crowded town.</p>
+
+<p>The river, slowed by the deadwater, was mute, though its foam streaks
+showed where it had crashed through the gorges above. A few chickadees
+chirruped bravely. There were no other sounds while the girl took the
+Flagg scepter in her own hands.</p>
+
+<p>She walked with Felix to the shore, where the flotilla of canoes lay
+upturned at the pull-out place. Again the Oronos were assigned to her,
+and she was comforted much because they no longer seemed like strangers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Au revoir!&#8221; called Father Leroque when the canoes were afloat on the
+brown flood. &#8220;I&#8217;m making haste to the Tomah, mam&#8217;selle, to keep my
+promise!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He had already accomplished so much for her! In her new thanksgiving
+spirit she was finding it easy to believe that he could bring about what
+her self-acknowledged love for Latisan so earnestly desired.</p>
+
+<p>In single file, holding close to the shore, the canoes went toward the
+north. There was no talk between those who paddled; against the brown
+shore the canoes were merely moving smudges.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>Rufus Craig, coming down the middle of the deadwater in one of the
+great bateaus of the Comas company, paid no attention to the smudges.
+The bateau rode high and rapidly on the flood that moved down the
+channel. Craig was writing in his notebook and four oarsmen were obeying
+his command to dip deep and pull strong.</p>
+
+<p>Craig had met Ben Kyle by appointment at the foot of the Oxbow portage
+and he had found Kyle to be particularly malevolent and entirely
+willing&#8212;and Kyle had gone north to the Flagg drive in the pay of the
+Three C&#8217;s.</p>
+
+<p>It had been a profitable interview, as Director Craig viewed it.</p>
+
+<p>Now he was chasing along the trail of rumor to Adonia; the rumor was
+encouraging. If Latisan really had been pried out of the section, Craig
+saw an opportunity to run back to New York to make a private settlement
+with Mern and enjoy a little relaxation before the pressing matters of
+the drive in full swing claimed all his attention. Right then, according
+to all appearances, the Comas business up-country was doing very well in
+the hands of the understrapper bosses. Therefore, Director Craig smiled
+over the pages of his notebook.</p>
+
+<p>The brown smudges in single file went on and on. Noon at the foot of the
+portage at Oxbow! Lida sniffed the wood smoke of the cook fire and ate
+her lunch and drank her tea.</p>
+
+<p>Up the narrow trail of the gorge she followed at the rear of her men;
+the canoes, upturned on their shoulders, glistened in the sparkling
+sunshine. She <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>was bringing real aid in a time of stress, as one of the
+Flaggs should! More and more that consciousness heartened her.</p>
+
+<p>Quiet water at the put-in, then rapids where the canoes were poled, the
+irons clinking on the rocks over which the turbid waters rolled; more
+calm stretches where haste was made.</p>
+
+<p>A night in the open at a camping site where a couch of boughs was piled
+for her under a deftly contrived shelter of braided branches of
+hemlocks.</p>
+
+<p>And on in the first flush of the morning toward the drive.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span><a name="twenty-two" id="twenty-two"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">BEN KYLE made &#8220;his bigness&#8221; when he went into Flagg&#8217;s crew on his
+mission for Craig. He was not admitting to himself or anybody else that
+he was traitor. He blustered and bullyragged; he had been their boss and
+he had been fired without cause, he insisted. Even the loyal men did not
+presume to answer back; he had been too recently their master and the
+aura of authority still persisted. He came with a white-hot grudge and
+with rumors which he embroidered to suit his needs. Kyle had been far on
+the edge of affairs, and only the ripples of the Adonia events reached
+him. But his statement that Latisan had run away with a girl seemed to
+be certified by the drive master&#8217;s continued absence. And there were
+those stories of Latisan&#8217;s former weakness in the city; they had been
+sleeping; they were not dead.</p>
+
+<p>Kyle was hiring for the Comas company&#8212;unabashed, blatantly. He strode
+from man to man, banging heavy palm on shoulders. &#8220;Come with the real
+folks. What&#8217;s old Eck Flagg to-day? You might as well be hired by a
+bottle-sucking brat in a baby carriage. Where&#8217;s Latisan? You tell me his
+men went downriver to meet him; they&#8217;ve kept on going. He has hid away,
+dancing his doxy on his knee. Where&#8217;s your pay coming from when Eck
+Flagg goes broke?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>Kyle waded in the shallows where men were rolling logs, shouting to be
+heard above the roar of the waters.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We hired for a fight,&#8221; said the men who hated the Comas. &#8220;But it
+doesn&#8217;t look like one is going to be made.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve always stood behind Eck Flagg,&#8221; said the old stand-bys of the
+crew. &#8220;But we ain&#8217;t getting a square chance for honest work.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was plain that the spirit was being beaten out of them under the
+hammer of Kyle&#8217;s harangue&#8212;whether it was the adventurous spirit which
+craved fight or the honest spirit which had sent them north to the job.</p>
+
+<p>When the night came down, after they had cleaned their pannikins of
+food, steaming hot, from the cook&#8217;s kettles, while they smoked around
+the fire which drove away the evening chill, Kyle paced to and fro among
+the groups, declaiming, detracting, and urging. He knew that he was
+prevailing, though slowly. Woodsmen in shifting their allegiance are not
+swayed by sudden impulse. His voice rang among the trees in the silence
+of the evening.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Latisan is a sneak&#8212;Latisan is a runaway! Eck Flagg is next to a dead
+man!&#8221; Over and over he made those declarations, battering discouragement
+into their slow comprehension in order to win them to the Comas company.
+&#8220;And Latisan has thrown down real men for the sake of a girl! Do you
+want to get the Big Laugh when you show yourselves downriver?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Voyagers who came from the southward, leaving their canoes below the
+falls, moved silently, after the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>fashion of the Tarratines. They halted
+on a shadowed slope within the range of Kyle&#8217;s raucous voice, and Lida
+stepped forward to listen. The red flames lighted a circle among the
+trees, and she beheld the seated groups and saw the swaggering
+malcontent who paced to and fro.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m with the Three C&#8217;s now, first, last, and all the time! Their money
+is waiting for you, men. Come, with the real folks, I tell you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And again, with even more fantastic trimmings, he set forth the story of
+Latisan&#8217;s flight with a girl who had seduced him from his duty in the
+north.</p>
+
+<p>Lida snatched the Flagg cant dog from the hands of Felix; he had been
+the bearer of her scepter. He blinked when he looked at her. The
+far-flung light of the camp fire, reflected in her eyes, had set
+veritable torches there. Her lips were apart and her white teeth were
+clenched and her face was ridged with resolution.</p>
+
+<p>There was no mistaking the intention which righteous anger had stirred
+in her, but when she started down the slope Felix leaped and ventured to
+restrain her with a touch on her arm. &#8220;Is it well to let the Comas know
+that you are here or what you are going to do? Pardon, mam&#8217;selle, but
+think!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The lies! The lies!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, mam&#8217;selle, but you can tell them the truth when he is not there to
+hear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But now he is there, and I cannot go to the men.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In a little while you may go; he will not be there. And if he does not
+know what is going on up here, after his back is turned, maybe we shall
+have day after <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>day to push our logs in ahead of all the others,&#8221;
+explained the riverman. &#8220;They will be days worth much.&#8221; Then with the
+imagery of his race he added, &#8220;Those days will be gold beads on our
+rosary, mam&#8217;selle!&#8221; He smiled into her eyes, from which the fires were
+departing. &#8220;Please wait here with the the others.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He whispered to several of the Indians; when he sauntered down the slope
+the four summoned Tarratines stole to right and left, masking themselves
+in the shadows, flanking the champion who was going alone.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the men of the crew recognized Felix Lapierre when he walked
+into the circle of light. They leaped up, surrounded him, their mouths
+full of hilarious congratulation, of excuses why they had not attended
+the wedding, of awkward jokes and questions. They could not understand
+why he had come north so soon. He shook his head, mildly refusing to
+satisfy their curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>Kyle stood for a time; then he resumed his pacing. He no longer had
+listeners. Like children, the rivermen were wholly absorbed in a new
+toy&#8212;a bridegroom who had so suddenly deserted the handsomest girl
+between Adonia and The Forks.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, let him alone,&#8221; advised Kyle, whetting his new grouch. &#8220;If they
+ain&#8217;t running away <em>with</em> girls in this region, they&#8217;re running away
+<em>from</em> &#8217;em!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Felix swung around and faced the speaker. &#8220;Do you speak of me?&#8221; he
+asked, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Take it that way if you want to.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Your tongue seems to be very busy, I have that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>to say to you. From up
+there on the hill I heard what you have to say about M&#8217;sieu Latisan,
+that he has run away with a girl.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And he has.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You lie!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>That retort snapped the trigger on Kyle&#8217;s inflamed temper. &#8220;You
+damnation squaw man!&#8221; he yelped, and drove a blow at the French
+Canadian; and Felix, following the fighting custom of his clan of the
+Laurentian Valley, ducked low, leaped high, and kicked Kyle under the
+hook of the jaw. It was the <em>coup &agrave; pied</em>. Kyle staggered and went down.
+When he struggled up and weakly attacked again, the antagonist met him
+face to face and smashed a stunning blow between Kyle&#8217;s eyes; he fell
+and remained on his back.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One for me, and one for my wife he has insult&#8217;,&#8221; cried Felix. He spun
+around, searching their faces. &#8220;Do any of you like to back him up?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not on your life,&#8221; said a spokesman. &#8220;He doesn&#8217;t belong in this crew.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m much oblige&#8217;,&#8221; said Felix, politely. He whistled, and the four
+Indians rushed out from the shadows. &#8220;If he is not of the crew, then if
+he goes away it does not matter.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He commanded the Indians, and they lifted Kyle and started off with him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;ll not be hurt,&#8221; Felix assured the men of the crew. &#8220;He&#8217;ll go down
+the river where it&#8217;s better for him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Nobody offered protest. They were glad to be rid of that bellowing,
+insistent voice of the trouble-maker.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>Their attention was wholly engaged with the involuntary departure of
+Kyle, and they did not observe Lapierre when he walked away; they turned
+to ask more questions, to be informed what this abduction signified, but
+Felix was nowhere to be seen. Men called but he did not reply.</p>
+
+<p>Babble of comment and argument! It was a picked fight&#8212;anybody could see
+that. Why should Lapierre come north in the Flagg interests? Lapierre
+had never worked in a Flagg crew. It was begun so suddenly and was ended
+so soon! A minute&#8217;s flash of drama against the background of the night,
+into which they stared with searching eyes while they made clamor like
+quacking ducks that had been startled from sleep by a prowler! Curiosity
+was lashing them. They were wonted to their reckless adventure in the
+white water; it had become dull toil. This affair was something real in
+the way of excitement, with a mystery which tantalized them. Again they
+called into the night, seeking an explanation.</p>
+
+<p>The prologue by which the Comas agent had been removed as tempter and
+tale-bearer had not been staged by Felix for calculated effect; he had
+thought only of getting Kyle out of the way. But never was an audience
+in more keenly receptive mood for a sequel than were those men who
+crowded closely in the patch of camp-fire radiance and asked questions
+of one another.</p>
+
+<p>To them when they were in that mood came one who made the drama more
+poignant. They were hushed, they blinked uncertainly, they found it
+unreal, unbelievable.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>For here was a girl, far north at the head of the drive in the season
+of the roaring waters. She came slowly from the night and stood at the
+edge of the circle of light. She was wearing Latisan&#8217;s jacket and
+cap&#8212;there was no mistaking the colors, the checkings and the stripes; a
+drive master needs to signal his whereabouts to a crew just as a fire
+captain must make himself conspicuous by what he wears.</p>
+
+<p>They glanced at her garb, amazed by it. Then her face claimed all their
+attention, for she said to them, her voice steady, her eyes meeting
+theirs frankly, &#8220;I have overheard the talk a man has just made about a
+girl who coaxed Ward Latisan away from his work here. I am the girl.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as if men had been holding their breath since her appearance;
+in the profound silence the exhalations of that breath could be heard.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But Ward Latisan did not run away with me from his duty. My being here
+answers that lie. And I have even a better answer&#8212;a reason why I would
+be the last one in the world to interfere willingly with his work this
+spring.&#8221; She stepped close to them, nearer the fire, so that they could
+see what she held forth, tightly clutched in both hands. &#8220;This is
+Echford Flagg&#8217;s cant dog&#8212;he told me it would be known by all his men.
+He gave it into my keeping for a sign that he has sent me north. And I
+have a right to carry it. I am Lida Kennard. I am Echford Flagg&#8217;s
+granddaughter.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Behind her came crowding the Tarratines.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Men have deserted from your crew. Here are others to take their
+places,&#8221; she announced with pride.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>She was dealing with men who were bashed by utter stupefaction; she
+noted it and her self-reliance grew steadier. She drove the point of the
+cant dog into the soft duff with a manner after the heart of Flagg
+himself. She spread her freed hands to them in appeal. &#8220;I have come here
+to tell you the truth.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span><a name="twenty-three" id="twenty-three"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">LATISAN had pitched the tune for that drive when he started it.</p>
+
+<p>It was a tune in quick tempo, with the staccato clangor of the kettle
+drums of the dynamite when he burst the icy sheathing of the waters in
+order to dump the first logs in.</p>
+
+<p>When he was on the job the directing wand of his pick pole kept
+everything jumping.</p>
+
+<p>Even when he was away for a few days his men toiled with the spirit that
+he had left with them. They had adopted his cause and shared his
+righteous resentment against the tactics of the Three C&#8217;s.</p>
+
+<p>They were able to work on without his guidance, after a fashion, but for
+the fight that was ahead of them down the river they had depended on his
+captainship. Therefore, Kyle with his scandals and reports and his
+urging had been in a way to break down their morale. When they
+reflected, they realized it. And it had been a wicked thing to face&#8212;the
+prospect that they might quit! With Latisan of the Latisans present with
+them, pursuing an honest vengeance, there were lift and sweep and swing
+which made their toil an adventure rather than plain drudgery.</p>
+
+<p>Then that day when rumor and Kyle and Latisan&#8217;s protracted absence had
+nigh killed courage!</p>
+
+<p>But then, the inspiring night which had brought the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>granddaughter of
+Echford Flagg with her story, her confession, her plea, and her still
+strong faith in the awakening of Ward Latisan when he was able to know
+the truth! She did not gloss her own involuntary fault; she was frank in
+the statement that she loved the man whom she had harmed by her mistake.
+She knew it was the truth; she took them into her confidence. Then there
+was more than mere courage in the men of the drive&#8212;they were sharers in
+the spirit of romance which put the dynamic zeal of fanatics behind
+those logs. The girl&#8217;s cause was linked with Latisan&#8217;s and was a
+compelling force.</p>
+
+<hr class="hr2" />
+
+<p>Like racing horses the Flagg timber rushed along, crowding the river
+from side to side.</p>
+
+<p>The stream drives, breaking the bonds of the ice, had caught the top
+pitch of the floods and were hurled into the boiling rapids.</p>
+
+<p>But there was more than the mere thrust of the roaring waters behind
+those tumbling logs.</p>
+
+<p>The Flagg drive had a soul that year!</p>
+
+<p>It was what the Comas corporation lacked.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the Flagg logs were honest men, pityingly loyal&#8212;still to
+Latisan&#8212;and behind the toilers was a dominating spirit that was a
+combination of courage, wild enthusiasm, loyalty, and devotion in a
+campaign that now was entered upon with tempestuous fervor in the
+presence of Lida Kennard. When that fervor went smashing against the
+Three C&#8217;s crowd the men who were animated only by a corporation&#8217;s wages
+became cowards and stepped aside and gave the champions the right of
+way.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>The slogan of Flagg men was, &#8220;Gangway for the girl!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They had taken up her cause; they had enrolled themselves with a perfect
+abandon of all considerations of self; for them, getting down that
+timber was merely a means to a much-desired end.</p>
+
+<p>They were recklessly determined to help the girl make good! That was the
+urgeful sentiment which their thoughts inscribed on the invisible
+oriflamme of the warfare that was waged for the new Joan along the
+waters of the Noda.</p>
+
+<p>It was not especially because she was the granddaughter of Echford
+Flagg. His wages had never bought more than perfunctory service from
+crews. She was herself&#8212;and she had confessed her debts.</p>
+
+<p>When she told them why she was wearing Latisan&#8217;s cap and jacket, when
+she owned to her error and laid the blame on herself, when she pleaded
+with them to help her in undoing the bitter mischief, she won a devotion
+that questioned nothing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Men, he will come back. He will understand it all when he is himself
+again. And if you and I are able to show him that we have done his work
+well he will hold up his head once more as he has a right to do.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;God bless ye, girl, ye can&#8217;t keep yourself apart from Latisan in this
+thing,&#8221; declared an old man. &#8220;It&#8217;s for the two o&#8217; ye that we do our work
+from now on! And it&#8217;s for all of us, as well! For we&#8217;ll ne&#8217;er draw happy
+breaths till we can stand by and see you meet him on the level&#8212;eye to
+eye&#8212;like one who has squared all accounts between you two! And the old
+grands&#8217;r, as well. What say, boys?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>But cheers could not serve their emotions then. They pulled off their
+caps and scrubbed their rough hands across their jackets and walked to
+her in single file and shook her hand in pregnant silence.</p>
+
+<p>And then the timber went through; the drive was beating all the past
+records.</p>
+
+<p>When they needed water they took it. They blew their own dams and were
+very careless with dynamite when they came upon other dams of whose
+ownership they were not so sure.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You see, miss, rights are well mixed up all through this region,&#8221; said
+old Vittum, who had been spokesman for his fellows on her first meeting
+with them. He gave her a demure wink. &#8220;The main idea is, God is making
+this water run downhill just now, and it doesn&#8217;t seem right for mortal
+man to stop it from running.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They &#8220;manned the river,&#8221; as the drivers say. That meant overlapping
+crews, day and night.</p>
+
+<p>No squad was out of sight of another; a yell above the roar of the flood
+or a cap brandished on the end of a pike pole summoned help to break a
+forming jam or to card logs off ledges or to dislodge &#8220;jillpokes&#8221; which
+had stabbed their ends into the soggy banks of the river. Men ate as
+they ran and they slept as they could. Some of them, snatching time to
+eat, sitting on the shore, went sound asleep after a few mouthfuls and
+slumbered with their faces in their plates till a companion kicked them
+back into wakefulness. They grinned and were up again!</p>
+
+<p>As for Lida Kennard, she was treated with as much tender care as if she
+were a reigning princess <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>on tour. She protested indignantly because
+they would not allow her to rough it along with them. They made soft
+beds of spruce tips at their camping sites and they gave her the post of
+honor in a big bateau.</p>
+
+<p>In the rush of affairs she did not pause to wonder whether she was
+offending any of the proprieties by staying on with the drive; she had
+become the Flagg spirit incarnate and was not troubling herself with
+petty matters.</p>
+
+<p>Old Vittum and Felix were her advisers, and they prized her presence as
+an asset of inestimable value; she allowed them to think for her in that
+crisis.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a tough life, miss, the best we can make it for you,&#8221; admitted
+Vittum. &#8220;But if you can stick and hang till Skulltree is passed it means
+that the boys will keep the glory of doing in &#8217;em!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>From rendering service according to her ability they could not prevent
+her, though the men protested. She helped the cooks. Hurrying here and
+there, following the scattered men of the crews, she tugged great cans
+of hot coffee. When the toilers saw her coming and heard her voice they
+took desperate chances on the white water, jousting with their pike
+poles like knights in a tourney.</p>
+
+<p>She put into the hearts of the crew the passion of derring do!</p>
+
+<p>The drive that spring was not a sordid task&#8212;it was high emprise, it was
+a joyous adventure!</p>
+
+<p>Then the logs which had raced in the rapids came to the upper reaches of
+the slow deadwater of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>flowage of the Skulltree dam; the flowage
+reached far back that year.</p>
+
+<p>At Skulltree was the crux of the situation, as Flagg had insisted,
+ragefully.</p>
+
+<p>From the early days there had been a dam at that point; it was common
+property and conserved the water to be loosed to drive logs over the
+shallow rapids below.</p>
+
+<p>The Three C&#8217;s had spent more money on that dam, claiming that bigger
+drives needed extra water. The dam had been raised. The flowage vastly
+increased the extent of the deadwater, slowing the logs of the
+independents, whose towage methods were crude. The changes which had
+been made needed the sanction of impending legislation, required the
+authority of a charter for which application had been made. In the
+meantime the Three C&#8217;s were holding the water and would be impounding
+logs; these logs were to be diverted through the new, artificial canal.</p>
+
+<p>In asserting their rights the corporation folks were endangering the
+independent drives which were destined for the sawmills of the Noda.</p>
+
+<p>Day by day, as the drive went on, the girl listened to the talk among
+her men until she understood, in some measure, the situation. All the
+reckless haste was made of no account unless their logs were to be
+permitted to pass the Skulltree dam.</p>
+
+<p>Vittum explained to her that the law was still considering the question
+of &#8220;natural flowage.&#8221; The dam had been changed from time to time in past
+years until the matter was in doubt.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But the way the thing stands now there ain&#8217;t much <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>of that nat&#8217;ral
+flowage,&#8221; he told her. &#8220;I claim that we have the right to go through,
+law or no law. Word was served early on Latisan that he must hold up at
+Skulltree this year and wait for the law.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did he say what he proposed to do?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, miss! I&#8217;ll have to be excused from repeating what he said, in the
+way he said it, but the gist of it was that he was going through. He
+said he would use some kind of flowage, and hoped that when the lawyers
+got done talking in court it would be decided that the aforesaid nat&#8217;ral
+flowage was the kind that had been used by him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She pulled off Ward&#8217;s cap and turned it about in her hand, surveying it
+judiciously. &#8220;I can seem to see just how he looked when he said it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He said it loud, miss, because the man he was talking to was a good
+ways off. He was a sheriff. He couldn&#8217;t get very nigh to Latisan. We was
+holding the man off with our pick poles because he was trying to serve a
+paper.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An injunction?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8221;I don&#8217;t know,&#8220; confessed the relator mildly. &#8221;Somehow, none of us
+seemed to be at all curious that day to find out what it was. Sheriff
+nailed it to a tree and then somebody touched a match to it. Latisan
+said he reckoned it must have been an invitation to Felix&#8217;s wedding, but
+it was just as well that nobody ever read it, because the crew was too
+busy to go, anyway!&#8220;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are Comas men guarding Skulltree dam?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They sure are, miss!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>She and the old man were seated on the shore of the deadwater. The
+evening dusk was deepening.</p>
+
+<p>Near them the cook&#8217;s fires were leaping against the sides of the
+blackened pots; in the pungent fragrance of the wood smoke which drifted
+past there were savory odors which were sent forth when the cook lifted
+off a cover to stir the stew. The peacefulness of the scene was
+profound; that peace, contrasted with the prospect of what confronted
+her men if Flagg&#8217;s logs were to go through, stirred acute distress in
+the girl. Coming down through the riot of waters she had not had time to
+think. Their logs were ahead; the laggards of the corporation drive were
+following. She had wondered because even the cowards, as they had shown
+themselves to be, had not put more obstructions in the way. There had
+been abortive interference, but it was evident that the Three C&#8217;s had
+been making the first skirmishes perfunctory affairs, depending on
+dealing the big blow at Skulltree.</p>
+
+<p>In the Flagg crew it was a subject for frequent comment that Rufus Craig
+had not appeared in the north country to take command of his forces in
+those parlous times when the Three C&#8217;s interests were threatened. In
+council Lida and her advisers began to wonder how much information
+regarding the Flagg operations had filtered to the outside or whether
+the defeated Comas bosses were not apprehensively withholding word to
+headquarters that they had been beaten in the race on the upper waters.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Craig would be here before this if he knew what was going on,&#8221; averred
+Vittum. &#8220;They&#8217;re either <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>ashamed or scared to send him word, and they
+think it can all be squared for &#8217;em at Skulltree.&#8221; He sighed and turned
+his eyes from her anxious stare.</p>
+
+<p>Near her were rivermen who were waiting for their suppers. She was aware
+of a very tender feeling toward those men who had been risking their
+lives in the rapids in order to indulge her in a hope which she had made
+known to them. She reflected on what the sarcastic Crowley had said when
+he told her that in that region she was among he-men. &#8220;If you&#8217;re not
+careful, you&#8217;ll start something you can&#8217;t stop,&#8221; he had threatened.
+Could she stop these men from going on to violent battle? Would she be
+honest with her grandfather and Latisan if she did try to prevent them
+from winning their fight? All past efforts would be thrown away if
+Skulltree dam were not won.</p>
+
+<p>Out on the deadwater were several floating platforms; the men called
+them &#8220;headworks.&#8221; On the platforms were capstans. The headworks were
+anchored far in advance of the drifting logs, around which were thrown
+pocket booms; men trod in weary procession, circling the capstans,
+pushing against long ashen bars, and the dripping tow warp hastened the
+drift of the logs.</p>
+
+<p>As the men of the sea have a chantey when they heave at a capstan, so
+these men of the river had their chorus; it floated to her over the
+quiet flood.</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<p class="block">Come, all, and riffle the ledges! Come, all, and bust the jam!<br />
+And for aught o&#8217; the bluff of the Comas gang we don&#8217;t give one good&#8212;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Hoot, toot and a hoorah!</span><br />
+We don&#8217;t give a tinker&#8217;s dam!</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>&#8220;That&#8217;s exactly how they feel, miss,&#8221; said the old man. &#8220;They&#8217;re on
+their way. They can&#8217;t be stopped.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But the declaration depressed rather than cheered her. Those men had
+taken up her cause valiantly and with single-hearted purpose, and she
+was obliged to assume responsibility for what they had done and what
+they would do to force the situation at Skulltree. In the rush of the
+drive, with the logs running free, the river was open to all and
+Latisan&#8217;s task was in the course of fulfillment and the Flagg fortunes
+were having fair opportunity in the competition. But now competition
+must become warfare, so it seemed. She shrank from that responsibility,
+but she could not evade it&#8212;could not command those devoted men to stop
+with the job half finished.</p>
+
+<p>The priest&#8217;s promise to find Latisan had been living with her, consoling
+the hours of her waiting. Her load had become so heavy that her yearning
+for Latisan&#8217;s return had become desperate and anguished.</p>
+
+<p>The slow drag of the logs in the deadwater gave her time for pondering
+and she was afraid of her thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>She was not accusing Latisan of being an inexcusable recreant where duty
+was concerned; she was understanding in better fashion the men and the
+manners of the north country and she realized the full force of the
+reasons for his flight and why the situation had overwhelmed him. Her
+pity and remorse had been feeding her love.</p>
+
+<p>But the priest had promised. Latisan must know. Why did he not come to
+her and lift the dreadful burden in her extremity?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>Old Vittum, sitting on a bleached trunk among the dry kye stranded on
+the shore, plucked slowly the spills of a pine tassel, staring down
+between his knees. &#8220;You&#8217;ve seen how they have worked, miss, for every
+ounce that&#8217;s in &#8217;em. But I don&#8217;t know how they&#8217;ll fight if they don&#8217;t
+have a real captain&#8212;a single head to plan&#8212;the right man to lead off.
+Latisan&#8217;s that! Half of &#8217;em came north because they figured on him. I&#8217;ve
+been hoping. But I&#8217;m sort of giving up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t like to hear you say that,&#8221; she cried. &#8220;As soon as he knows the
+truth he will come to us. Father Leroque promised to carry that truth to
+him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Providing the priest can find him in the Tomah country&#8212;yes, you have
+said that to me and I&#8217;ve been cal&#8217;lating to see Latisan come tearing
+around a bend in the river most any minute ever since you told me. But
+Miah Sprague, the fire warden, went through to-day. I&#8217;ve been hating to
+report to you, miss, for I&#8217;m knowing to it how you feel these days; your
+looks tell me, and I&#8217;m sorry. But Sprague has come from the Tomah and he
+tells me that Ward Latisan hasn&#8217;t been home&#8212;hasn&#8217;t been heard from.
+Nobody knows where he is. That is straight from Garry Latisan, because
+Garry is starting a hue and a cry and asked Miah to comb the north
+country for news.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She did not reply. She was not sure that there was a touch of rebuke in
+the old man&#8217;s mournful tones, but she felt that any sort of reproach
+would be justified. She had never made a calm analysis of the affair
+between herself and Latisan, to determine what onus of the blame rested
+on her and how much was due to the plots and the falsehoods of Crowley.
+She <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>clung to her sense of fault in order to spur herself to make good;
+that same sense, a heritage from a father, had served vicariously in
+rousing her spirit to battle for her grandfather.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hope you&#8217;re going to keep up your grit, miss,&#8221; urged Vittum. &#8220;We&#8217;ll
+do our best for you&#8212;but I ain&#8217;t lotting much on Latisan&#8217;s showing up
+again. It&#8217;s too bad! It&#8217;ll break his heart when he finds out at last
+what he has been left out of and what a chance he has missed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Like many another, she had, at times, dreamed vividly of falling from
+great heights. That was her sensation then, awake, when she heard that
+Ward Latisan was not to be found. Despair left her numb and quivering.
+Till then she had not realized how greatly her hope and confidence in
+his final coming had counted with her. She had not dared to think that
+his anger would persist; it had seemed to be too violent to last.
+However, it was plain that rage had overmastered the love he had
+proclaimed. Lida was very much woman and felt the feminine conviction
+that a lover would be able to find her if his heart were set on the
+quest. There was only a flicker of a thought along that line; it was
+mere irritation that was immediately swept away by her pity for him. She
+was able to comprehend man&#8217;s talk then&#8212;she knew what Vittum meant when
+he spoke of the chance that was missed&#8212;and she understood how Ward
+Latisan would mourn if he heard too late what the struggle that year on
+the Noda waters signified in the case of the girl for whom he had
+professed love.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>She could not talk with the old man; she stumbled across the dry kye,
+threw herself on her couch of boughs, and pressed her palms over her
+ears to keep out the threat in the song of the men who toiled around and
+around the capstan post, drawing the Flagg logs in their slow,
+relentless passage to the scene of the promised conflict at Skulltree.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span><a name="twenty-four" id="twenty-four"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 3.5em;">
+<img src="images/quote.png" width="8" height="7" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="cap1">I&#8217;LL be cursed if I don&#8217;t think I ought to hire a real detective and
+put him onto the inside affairs in this office,&#8221; was Chief Mern&#8217;s ireful
+opinion after he had listened to Crowley and Miss Elsham when they
+reported in from the north country. They were voluble in their own
+behalf, but their talk was slippery, so the chief felt. They were also
+voluble in regard to Lida Kennard, but Mern found himself more than ever
+enmeshed in his guesswork about that mysterious young lady.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley kept shifting off the topic onto his own prowess, patting
+himself on the breast and claiming all the credit for getting Latisan
+off his job.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham, on her part, kept lighting fresh cigarettes and was
+convincing on only one point: &#8220;No more wild men of the woods for me.
+Never again in the tall timber. I&#8217;ll do night and day shifts in the
+caf&eacute;s if you ask me to. And I&#8217;ve got a knickerbocker suit that&#8217;s for
+sale!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mern had several interviews with the two, trying to understand.</p>
+
+<p>When the blustering Crowley was present Miss Elsham allowed him to claim
+all the credit and made no protest.</p>
+
+<p>Alone with Mern, she declared that Buck was a big bluff, but she was not
+especially clear in her reports on his methods.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>&#8220;But what has become of Kennard?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. Lynched, maybe. They were threatening to do it to Buck
+and me before we got away.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>One thing seemed to be true&#8212;Mern had a wire from Brophy in reply to an
+inquiry: Ward Latisan had gone away and was staying away.</p>
+
+<p>And Rufus Craig, arriving in the city, telephoned the same information
+to the chief and promised to call around and settle.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley was informed of that confirmation, and grinned and again patted
+his breast and claimed the credit.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; allowed the chief, &#8220;you&#8217;re in for your slice of the fee.
+But if you&#8217;re lying about Kennard I&#8217;ll make you suffer for deserting
+her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I stand by what I have said. She was double-crossing us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Later, Crowley began to inquire casually from time to time whether Miss
+Kennard had sent in any word. He was not good at concealing his
+thoughts, and he was manifestly worried by the prospect of possible
+developments, but Mern was not able to pin him down to anything
+specific. As a matter of fact, Crowley had not fathomed the mystery of
+Miss Kennard&#8217;s actions in Adonia and was not in a way to do so by any
+processes of his limited intelligence; he admitted as much to himself.</p>
+
+<p>He was clumsy in his efforts to extract from the chief something in
+regard to the report which supposedly had been sent in by Miss Kennard,
+and Mern&#8217;s suspicions were stirred afresh. He gave Crowley no
+information on that point; one excellent <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>reason why he did not do so
+was this: Miss Kennard had not sent in any report. Mern was still
+waiting to hear from her as to certain details; he wanted to talk with
+her. Crowley ventured to state that she had left Adonia, and he
+suggested that she was on the trail of Latisan. The operative, pressed
+for reasons why she was still pursuing Latisan, if the drive master had
+been separated from his job by Crowley, averred that, according to his
+best judgment, the girl had gone crazy. That statement did not satisfy
+Mern, but it enabled Crowley to avoid tripping too often over
+inconsistencies.</p>
+
+<p>Under those circumstances the uneasy feeling persisted in Chief Mern
+that the Latisan case was not finished, in spite of Craig&#8217;s compliments
+and Crowley&#8217;s boasts and Miss Elsham&#8217;s bland agreement as to facts as
+stated, though with avoidance of details.</p>
+
+<p>Mern usually shut down the cover on a case as soon as the point had been
+won; he had found in too many instances that memory nagged; he had
+assured Craig that having to do what a detective chief was called on to
+do in his business had not given him the spirit of a buccaneer.</p>
+
+<p>But in this case the lack of candor in his operatives disturbed him,
+though he did not presume to arraign them; he could not do that
+consistently; in the interests of his peace of mind he had always
+assured his workers that they need not trouble him with details after a
+job had been done.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley, mystified, had said nothing about the amazing love affair. It
+occurred to him that the protestations of Miss Kennard might have been a
+part of her campaign of subtlety, interrupted by his smash<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>ing in; he
+was more than ever convinced that his was not the kind of mind that
+could deal with subtlety.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham never mentioned Latisan&#8217;s apparent infatuation; she had been
+sent north in the r&ocirc;le of a charmer and did not propose to confess to
+Mern that she had failed utterly to interest the woodsman.</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly the reticence of both of them was merciful; to heap this
+crowning burden upon Chief Mern&#8217;s bewilderment in regard to the actions
+of a trusted employee would have disqualified him mentally for other
+cases which were coming along.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley loafed diligently at the Vose-Mern offices when he was not out
+on duty; there was no knowing when he might be able to turn a trick for
+the good of the concern by being on hand, he told himself, and for one
+of his bovine nature all waiting around was easy and all stalls were
+alike.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, one day he was on hand to rush a quick tip to the chief.
+Crowley turned his back on a caller who entered the main office; the
+bulletin bearer hurried into Mern&#8217;s presence.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the big boy from the bush&#8212;Latisan!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ugly?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t wait to see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have told me straight, have you, about his being a bad actor when
+he&#8217;s riled?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the real dope on him, Chief. Don&#8217;t let him in to see you&#8212;that&#8217;s
+my advice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mern took a little time for thought, inspecting his operative narrowly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I ain&#8217;t intending to butt in, you understand,&#8221; apologized Crowley,
+reddening.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>&#8220;I think that&#8217;s good advice, speaking from the standpoint of prudence.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no good in hashing the thing over with him; he&#8217;s off the job
+and I claim the credit <span class="nowrap">and&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But from the standpoint of curiosity,&#8221; broke in Mern, relentlessly,
+&#8220;I&#8217;ll be almighty glad to have a talk with him. I&#8217;ll probably get some
+facts now. Shut up! If you have come back and told me all the truth I
+wouldn&#8217;t be taking a chance with this man. You&#8217;re to blame! Remember
+that another time. Beat it!&#8221; He jabbed his thumb in the direction of a
+door which enabled clients to leave without going back through the main
+office.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A man named Latisan,&#8221; reported the door boy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Tell him to come in.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Crowley turned the knob of the catch lock and dodged out into the
+corridor.</p>
+
+<p>Mern stood up to receive the caller.</p>
+
+<p>He was not inspired by politeness. He was putting himself in an attitude
+of defense and was depending on the brawn of a man who had been a tough
+proposition when he swung his police club on a New York beat. He even
+moved a chair which might get underfoot in a rough-and-tumble. But his
+muscles relaxed when he looked at the man who entered.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan was deprecatory, if his manners were revealing his feelings. He
+was apologetic in his mien before he spoke; he gave Mern the impression
+of a man whose spirit was broken and whose estimate of himself had gone
+far toward condemnation. And Mern read aright! The bitter dregs of days
+and nights of doleful meditation were in Latisan&#8212;the memory of aimless
+venturings into this or that corner <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>where he could hide away, the
+latest memory of the stale little room in a cheap New York hotel
+persisting most vividly in his shamed thoughts because he had penned
+himself there day after day, trying to make up his mind to do this or
+that&#8212;and, especially at the nadir of what he felt was his utter
+degradation, had he dwelt on the plan of ending it all, and from time to
+time had turned on a gas jet and sniffed at the evil fumes, wondering of
+what sort would be death by that means. To think that he would descend
+to that depth of cowardice! Nevertheless, he was not especially
+surprised by this weakness, even while he hated himself for entertaining
+such a base resolve. One after the other, right and left, the blows in
+his business affairs had crashed down on him. He understood those
+attacks, and he was still able to fight on. But the enemy that had
+ambuscaded him behind the guise of the first honest love of his
+experience had killed faith and pride and every tender emotion that
+enables a man to fight the ordinary battles of life.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, he ventured into the presence of Mern with down-hunched
+shoulders under the sagging folds of a ready-made coat, bought from the
+pile in an up-country village.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, what can I do for you, sir?&#8221; demanded Mern, relieved of
+apprehension, seeing his advantage and more coldly curt than usual in
+his dealings with men whom he could bully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had this address,&#8221; faltered Latisan; he pulled from his pocket a
+sheet of paper which had been crumpled into a mass and then folded back
+into its original creases. &#8220;I was thinking&#8212;I&#8217;ve been sort of
+planning&#8212;I thought I&#8217;d come around <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>and ask <span class="nowrap">you&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> It was one of the
+things, this errand, for which he had been trying to summon resolution
+while he sat in the stuffy room, glancing up at the gas jet.</p>
+
+<p>Mern jerked away the paper, noting that its letterhead was his own. It
+was his epistle to one &#8220;Miss Patsy Jones, Adonia,&#8221; demanding from her
+information as to just what she was doing as an operative for the
+Vose-Mern agency.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about Miss Jones. I thought I&#8217;d step <span class="nowrap">in&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; demanded Mern when Latisan paused.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s her real name, is it? I know how <span class="nowrap">detectives&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s her real name,&#8221; stated Mern, of a mind to protect her until he was
+convinced that she did not deserve protection by him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She works for you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She does.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Could I see her for a few minutes&#8212;for a few <span class="nowrap">words&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think so,&#8221; hedged the chief. &#8220;Just why do you want to see Miss
+Jones?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been thinking matters over. I did a terrible thing when I was sort
+of out of my mind. She had something to say to me and I didn&#8217;t wait to
+hear it. Perhaps I have made a mistake. Now I&#8217;d like to talk with her
+and find out about something.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just what?&#8221; probed Mern.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t say right now. It&#8217;s between us two, Miss Jones and myself&#8212;at
+least I thought it was. I&#8217;m going to have a talk with her before I tell
+anything to anybody else.&#8221; He declared that stubbornly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How do I know what your scheme is? You&#8217;re <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>probably holding a grudge
+against one of my operatives. I can&#8217;t turn her over to you to be
+harmed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan straightened. &#8220;I shall not harm her by a word or a touch.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose you hold a grudge against this agency, don&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Comas company&#8212;Craig, rather&#8212;hired you to do a thing, and it has
+been done. Craig is the one with a grudge; it&#8217;s against me. I trigged
+him. I reckon he has a right to get even, as he looks at it, if his
+money can buy what you have to sell.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t like to do some of the things that are put up to us, Latisan.
+But I may as well be out and open with you. Craig paid us a lot of money
+when we broke the strike for him. We have to consider business. That&#8217;s
+why we went ahead and got you, as we did. If you had been able to turn
+around and get us, I would not have held any hard feelings. It&#8217;s all in
+the game.&#8221; There was no especial sympathy in Mern&#8217;s tone; he was
+treating a victim with a patronizing air.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid I&#8217;m not up to tricks enough to play that game,&#8221; retorted
+Latisan. &#8220;We&#8217;ll have to let it stand as it is. I&#8217;m sort of trying to
+clear up my mind about the whole matter, so as to put it behind me. I
+don&#8217;t want to feel that there&#8217;s any mistake about Miss Jones. That&#8217;s why
+I&#8217;d like to see her once more.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was showing nervous anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>It came to Mern that here was offered an opportunity to go even farther
+with Latisan than the contract had demanded. Now that the man had been
+pulled off the drive, a little shrewd maneuvering would hold him in New
+York, away from the Flagg <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>interests, until the Comas folks could have
+their way. No doubt Craig would consider that the extra service was an
+acceptable bonus, over and above what the agency had done.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you.&#8221; Mern was affable. &#8220;Miss Jones is away on another case.
+She is likely to report &#8217;most any time. The best way for you is to drop
+in each day, say around three o&#8217;clock in the afternoon. I think she will
+be glad to explain anything you&#8217;re now puzzled about. You still think,
+do you, you&#8217;d better not tell me?&#8221; The chief&#8217;s curiosity, his desire to
+dig into the doings of his operatives, urged him to solicit Latisan
+again. &#8220;My <span class="nowrap">advice&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want it. I don&#8217;t take any stock in a man who does the kind of
+work you&#8217;re up to,&#8221; declared Latisan, bluntly. &#8220;I don&#8217;t take much stock
+in anybody, any more. I may be a fool for wanting to see that young lady
+again&#8212;but I&#8217;ll call in to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;About three!&#8221; Mern reminded him, having an object in setting that hour.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan nodded and went away.</p>
+
+<p>The chief called the Comas corporation offices and got Director Craig on
+the telephone. When Mern announced his identity, Craig evidently
+supposed that it was a matter of a dun and broke in, chuckling: &#8220;I&#8217;ll
+bring the check in to-morrow. I&#8217;d have done so, anyway, for I plan to
+start north right away. What&#8217;s the matter, Mern? Grabbing for the coin
+because you are afraid the job isn&#8217;t going to stay put?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That isn&#8217;t the idea at all. I simply want to show you something which
+will prove that the money has been well earned. I&#8217;ll show you Latisan.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>&#8220;I don&#8217;t care to meet that gentleman right now. Oh no!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll plant you where you won&#8217;t be seen. You can view Exhibit A. I think
+I&#8217;ll be able to promise that Latisan is going to stay here in New York.
+That ought to make you feel safer when you go back north into the
+jungle. No tiger behind a tree!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Say, I&#8217;ll hand you that check like daddy giving a stick of candy to the
+baby!&#8221; said Craig with hearty emphasis. &#8220;I&#8217;ll own up that I have been
+killing time here in the city, waiting to get a line on Latisan&#8212;where
+he is. I have found that he&#8217;s a lunatic when he&#8217;s ugly&#8212;and there&#8217;s no
+telling how far a grudge will drive a man in the big woods. So he&#8217;s here
+in town?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, and I&#8217;m rigging hopples to keep him here, I tell you. Come in at
+two forty-five. See the tame tiger!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then Mern called in Crowley, who was very ill at ease, but was
+obstinately and manifestly at bay. &#8220;Let&#8217;s see. Didn&#8217;t I understand you
+to say, Buck, that Miss Kennard had gone chasing Latisan?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the way I figured it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re wrong. He&#8217;s chasing her. That&#8217;s why he came in here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The chief had snarled, &#8220;You&#8217;re wrong,&#8221; in a peculiarly offensive tone.
+Mr. Crowley, after his proclaimed success in the Latisan case, had come
+up a number of notches in self-esteem and was inclined to dispute an
+allegation that he was wrong in that matter or in anything else. He was
+provoked into disclosures by sudden resentment. &#8220;She stood out there in
+the public street and said she was in love <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>with him and would marry him
+after the drive was down, and she grabbed up his cap and coat when he
+ran away, and if it ain&#8217;t natural to suppose that she was going to chase
+him up and hand &#8217;em over, then what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Crowley, what kind of a yarn is this?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s true.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why didn&#8217;t you tell me before?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It didn&#8217;t have anything to do with the case, as I was working it. It
+was a side issue!&#8221; Crowley raised his voice, insisting on his own
+prowess. &#8220;The idea was to get him off the job&#8212;and I did it. I
+<span class="nowrap">claim&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You infernal, damnation lunkhead, get out of my office till I calm
+down,&#8221; raged the chief.</p>
+
+<p>He yelped at Crowley when the operative was at the door: &#8220;Go hunt up
+Elsham and bring her here. It looks to me as if Kennard was foxier than
+the dame I sent, and has turned the trick in her own way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I ain&#8217;t afraid of questions,&#8221; declared the operative. &#8220;They&#8217;ll only
+bring out that I&#8217;m right when I claim the credit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He hastened to shut the door behind him. Mern acted as if he were
+looking for a missile.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But where is she? Why in the blue blazes doesn&#8217;t she report in?&#8221;
+muttered the chief, worriment wrinkling his forehead. On the face of
+things, it seemed that, valuable as Miss Kennard had been as
+confidential secretary, she was still more valuable as a skillful
+operative&#8212;and Chief Mern was earnestly desirous of having her back on
+the job.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span><a name="twenty-five" id="twenty-five"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">CHIEF MERN&#8217;S interview with his two operatives the next forenoon did not
+yield the solid facts he was after. They disputed each other. Miss
+Elsham insisted that she had had Latisan on the run and claimed that his
+apparent involvement with Miss Kennard was merely a silly and fleeting
+flirtation with one whom he supposed was a table girl in a tavern.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You gave me his character, all written out,&#8221; insisted Miss Elsham.
+&#8220;He&#8217;s that kind. He didn&#8217;t dare to presume with me as he would with a
+girl in a dining room; but I was getting along all right till Crowley
+butted in.&#8221; She turned spitefully on that monopolizer and meddler. &#8220;And
+now don&#8217;t stand there and say again that you claim the credit. I&#8217;ll slap
+your face!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Miss Elsham lied so strenuously that she was convincing.</p>
+
+<p>Crowley, trying hard to tell the truth for once, stammered and stumbled
+over the amazing details of the lovemaking between Latisan and Miss
+Kennard. The chief found the really veracious recital beyond belief.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She wouldn&#8217;t offer to marry him, standing there in public,&#8221; stormed
+Mern. &#8220;I know Kennard. She isn&#8217;t that sort. I&#8217;ll go to the bottom of
+this thing, even if it means a trip for me to that God-forsaken tank
+town. I&#8217;d give a thousand dollars to see Lida <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>Kennard walk in through
+that door. I was never so worried about anything in all my life,&#8221; he
+lamented. &#8220;Crowley, you deserted the most valuable person I have ever
+had in my office&#8212;and God knows what has happened to her.&#8221; He sent them
+away.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What does it get anybody to tell the truth?&#8221; grumbled Crowley.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing, when it sounds so ridiculous as the truth in this case,&#8221;
+averred Miss Elsham. &#8220;Everybody seems to go crazy up in the tall
+timbers. Give me the tall buildings for mine after this.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In high good humor Rufus Craig appeared to Mern that afternoon a little
+before three o&#8217;clock. He sat down, pulled out the slide leaf of Mern&#8217;s
+desk, and produced a check book. &#8220;No need my seeing Exhibit A before
+settling. Tell me the expense account. I&#8217;ll include everything in one
+check.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With pen poised, waiting until the figures were brought in, the Comas
+man expressed his satisfaction. &#8220;There were three on the job, so I was
+told in Adonia when I came through. That&#8217;s all right, Mern. I expected
+you to use your own judgment. I didn&#8217;t have much time in Adonia&#8212;grabbed
+what information I could while waiting for the train to start&#8212;but it&#8217;s
+a sure bet that Latisan is off for good. From what I heard it was your
+Miss Jones who really put it over&#8212;gave Latisan what they call up there
+the Big Laugh. Now who the blazes is this Miss Jones?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An operative of ours,&#8221; the chief replied, with repression of enthusiasm
+decidedly in contrast with Craig&#8217;s indorsement of her. Mern did not dare
+to be other than vague, leaving Lida Kennard&#8217;s identity <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>concealed until
+he could understand something about the inside affairs in his agency.
+The reflection that he was still in the dark&#8212;could not talk out to a
+client as a detective should&#8212;was stirring his sour indignation more and
+more.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to meet her,&#8221; urged the director. &#8220;She must be a wonder. A
+great actress, I should judge, from what I was told in Adonia.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s having her vacation just now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Mern! I&#8217;m going to stick a couple of hundred more onto this
+check. Send it along to her and tell her to have an extra week or a new
+dress at my expense. I&#8217;ve made a side-line clean-up on the Tomah this
+season and money is easy with me.&#8221; That was as explicit as Craig cared
+to be in regard to the deal with the Walpole heir. Still poising his
+pen, the director turned expectant gaze on the door when the knob was
+turned; a flurried, fat girl whose manner showed that she was new to the
+place had received Mern&#8217;s orders about the figures; now she came
+bringing them.</p>
+
+<p>Craig frowned while he wrote the check after the girl had retired.</p>
+
+<p>He was a bit pettish when he snapped his check book shut. &#8220;Say, Mern, I
+always like to see that Kennard girl when I come into your office. I
+like her looks. I like the way she puts out her hand to a man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry she isn&#8217;t here. But she&#8217;s&#8212;she&#8217;s out&#8212;sick.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good gad! I hope it&#8217;s nothing serious.&#8221; Craig showed real concern.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh no! Just a&#8212;a rather severe cold.&#8221; The chief <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>was having hard work
+to conceal his mental state&#8212;being obliged to lie that way, like a fool,
+in order to hide the mystery in his own office!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Give me her street number. I&#8217;ll send up a bunch of flowers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She is out with some friends in the country to get clean air. I don&#8217;t
+know the address.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mern perceived that more questions were coming. Craig was frankly
+revealing his interest in Miss Kennard.</p>
+
+<p>The chief pulled out his watch; he had a good excuse for changing an
+embarrassing subject. &#8220;Latisan is about due. Of course, you don&#8217;t want
+to be seen. I&#8217;ll post you in one of the side consulting rooms.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It seems rather silly, this spying,&#8221; remonstrated Craig. &#8220;I&#8217;m taking
+your word about Latisan. I&#8217;m getting ready to start north, and have a
+lot of matters to look after.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Humor my notion,&#8221; urged the chief. &#8220;He has been tamed down and I want
+you to see him. You&#8217;ll understand why I believe I can keep him hanging
+around here till you have nailed things to the cross up-country.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig showed no alacrity, but he allowed Mern to lead him to a small
+room that was separated from the main office by a ground-glass
+partition; there was a peephole at one corner of a panel. The director
+promised to wait there until the interview with Latisan was over. The
+chief said he would make it short.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan walked in exactly on the stroke of three; after he came up in
+the elevator he had waited in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>corridor, humbly obedient to Mern&#8217;s
+directions as to the hour.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing doing in that matter to-day, Latisan,&#8221; stated the chief,
+affecting to be busily engaged with papers on his desk. &#8220;Try me
+to-morrow, same time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, sir,&#8221; agreed the young man, somberly. In prospect, another
+twenty-four hours filled with lagging minutes! He had grown to know the
+hideous torture of such hours in the case of a man who before-time had
+found the days too short for his needs.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By the way,&#8221; said Mern, still hanging grimly to the desire to find out
+more about what the matter was with the office&#8217;s internal affairs, &#8220;did
+anybody tell you that Miss Jones had returned to New York?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wired to Brophy a few days ago. He said she had come back here,
+according to what he knew of her movements.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You fell in love with her, didn&#8217;t you?&#8221; The chief&#8217;s tone was crisp with
+the vigor of third-degree abruptness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; admitted Latisan, showing no resentment; he had promulgated that
+fact widely enough in the north.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just why did she urge you so strongly to go back to the drive?&#8221; The
+young man&#8217;s meekness had drawn the overeager chief along to an
+incautious question.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You ought to know better than I, sir. I take it that she was obeying
+your orders about how to work the trick on me, though it isn&#8217;t clear in
+my mind as yet; but I&#8217;m not a detective.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did she promise to marry you as soon as the Flagg drive was down?&#8221;
+Still Mern was boldly taking advantage of the young man&#8217;s docility.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>&#8220;That&#8217;s true. I must admit it because it was said in public.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mern scratched his ear. The thing was clearing somewhat in Crowley&#8217;s
+direction; the blunderer had not lied on one point at least&#8212;the point
+that Mern found most blindly puzzling. What in the mischief had happened
+to the nature of Lida Kennard, as Mern knew that nature, so he thought!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You remember Operative Crowley, do you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Naturally.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are you holding an especial grudge against him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know why I should, sir. It&#8217;s a dirty business he&#8217;s in, but he
+gave me that letter which I turned over to you yesterday, and for some
+reason he exposed the trick that was being put upon me by the girl. If I
+can get at the bottom of the thing, for my own peace of mind, I&#8217;ll be
+glad.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Chief Mern sympathized with that sentiment!</p>
+
+<p>Then he took a little time for reflection. Perhaps a meeting between
+Latisan and Crowley might strike a few sparks to illuminate a situation
+that was very much in the dark.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If Crowley is around the office I&#8217;m going to ask him to step in here.
+The talk will be all friendly, I take it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have nothing against Crowley, as matters stand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan did not greet Crowley when the operative replied to the summons
+and walked into the private office; on the other hand, Latisan showed no
+animosity. He merely surveyed Crowley with an expression of mingled pity
+and wonderment, as if he were sorry for an able-bodied man who earned a
+living by the means which the operative employed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>Crowley, at first, was not as serene as the man whom he had injured.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Latisan tells me that he holds no grudge,&#8221; stated Mern, encouragingly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad of that, Latisan. We have to play the game in this business.
+And I&#8217;m not laying it up against you, how you made a monkey of me in
+that dining room and nigh twisted my head off. Both of us know now who
+it was that rubbed our ears and sicked us at each other.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The victim of the operations nodded, no especial emotion visible in his
+countenance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Right here between us three I&#8217;ll come out all frank and free,&#8221;
+continued Crowley. &#8220;I&#8217;m making a claim to the chief in this thing,
+Latisan, and I believe you&#8217;ll back me up. She jumped in on me and
+Elsham&#8212;one day later from the agency than we were&#8212;and she wouldn&#8217;t
+talk to me, and I&#8217;ll admit I didn&#8217;t have her play sized from the start.
+But she wasn&#8217;t the one that turned the trick.&#8221; Mr. Crowley was venturing
+rather far with the victim, but he was encouraged by Latisan&#8217;s continued
+mildness and by a firm determination to set himself right with Mern, who
+had been doubting his efficiency.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As I have been looking at it, she was the one who did it,&#8221; insisted the
+young man.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now see here! Wake up!&#8221; Crowley was blustering as he grew bolder. &#8220;You
+were letting the girl wind you around her finger. What woke you up? What
+made you sore on the whole proposition up there? It was my tip to you!
+You can&#8217;t deny it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it might have been your tip,&#8221; admitted Lat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>isan, knotting his
+brows, staring at the floor, confused in his memories and puzzling over
+the mystery. &#8220;I had promised to bring down the logs because she asked me
+to keep on and do it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There you have it!&#8221; indorsed Crowley, swinging his arm and flattening
+his thick palm in front of the chief. &#8220;I claim the credit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Crowley had become defiantly intrepid, facing that manner of man who was
+so manifestly cowed and muddled. The operative was back in his
+encouraging environment of the city; he remembered the thrust of those
+prongs of fingers on his head when he was obliged to dissemble and was
+shamed in the north country. He was holding his grudge. And he was
+assiduously backing up the claims he had made to his chief. &#8220;The girl
+you&#8217;re talking about had nothing to do with pulling you off the job. She
+was double-crossing our agency.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Think so?&#8221; queried Latisan.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know it. But I don&#8217;t know what fool notion got into her up there. I
+have told Mr. Mern all about it. I&#8217;m the boy who woke you up!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you agree, Latisan?&#8221; asked Mern, brusquely.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not thinking clearly, sir. But if this man is right, I ought to
+apologize to her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She is no longer employed by us, but we&#8217;ll try to locate her.&#8221; Mern was
+willing to come out in front of Crowley with that information; the
+situation did seem to have cleared up! &#8220;Hang around town. Come in
+again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan dragged himself up from his chair.</p>
+
+<p>Then Crowley of the single-track mind&#8212;bull-headed blunderer&#8212;went on to
+his undoing. &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry it <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>has come about that you&#8217;ve got to fire her,
+Chief. I know what a lot she was worth to you here, as long as she kept
+to her own job.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll let it rest,&#8221; said Mern, warningly. He remembered that he had not
+posted Crowley on the fact that the sobriquet &#8220;Miss Patsy Jones&#8221; still
+hid the identity of the girl where Latisan was concerned.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right! That suits me, Chief, so long as I get the credit. I&#8217;ll shut
+up, saying only that I&#8217;m sorry for Miss Lida Kennard.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had been moving slowly toward the door, aware that the
+conversation between the two pertained to their own affairs and that he
+was excluded.</p>
+
+<p>He halted and swung around when he heard the name of Lida Kennard. The
+torpor of idleness and woeful ponderings had numbed his wits. The name
+of Lida seemed to have been dragged into the affair by Crowley. Ward did
+not understand how she could be involved in the matter. He put that
+thought into a question which he stammered.</p>
+
+<p>Mern, knowing nothing about his secretary&#8217;s lineage, resenting her
+secrecy and methods which he had not been able to penetrate, was not in
+a mood to shield her any longer. &#8220;It&#8217;s the same girl, Latisan. She
+called herself Jones up your way. Her right name is Lida Kennard.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan blinked like one who had emerged from darkness into blazing
+light. He swayed slowly, breasting that deluge of the truth which
+suddenly swept through him.</p>
+
+<p>He walked to the window, turning his back on them, and gazed squarely
+into the quivering sun that was westering between lofty buildings. His
+eyes <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>were enduring the unveiled sun with more fortitude than his soul
+endured the truth which had just been unveiled.</p>
+
+<p>This&#8212;this was the heart of the mystery!</p>
+
+<p>He was not meditating while he stood there; he was beholding!</p>
+
+<p>He saw in the white light the spirit of her sacrifice&#8212;a sacrifice which
+embraced even her submission to him; in his desolate denial of any
+worthy attributes in himself he was not admitting that she loved him. He
+realized what she had sought to achieve in the north country, why she
+could not declare herself. And he had allowed a trick to make a fool of
+him, make him a traitor to her, send him off, sneaking in byways, idling
+in dark corners, in the time of her most desperate need!</p>
+
+<p>Right then there was in him the awful conviction that he could not go
+and face her, wherever she was, so utterly a renegade had he shown
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>He was taking all the blame on himself. He had run away from a laugh&#8212;a
+fool obsessed by a silly notion of the north country&#8212;in this new light
+it seemed silly. He had not waited like a man to hear the truth from
+her! He had betrayed all the cause; he could not go back to the drive.</p>
+
+<p>He had listened to a lying sneak from a detective agency and had
+rebuffed, insulted, abused horribly Lida Kennard! Lida Kennard! The name
+seemed to be hammering at his eardrums. The granddaughter of Echford
+Flagg! A lone girl trying to save a cause! In her anguished desperation
+she had been willing to give herself in the way of sacrifice even to
+such a recreant as Ward Latisan must have appeared in his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>boyish and
+selfish resentment! Oh, the sun was cool in comparison with the fires
+which raged in him.</p>
+
+<p>The fatuous Crowley moved toward the window. &#8220;Well, what say, old boy?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When the young man turned slowly the operative stuck out his hand. &#8220;I&#8217;m
+agreeing with you&#8212;no grudges! Let&#8217;s shake!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, you did it,&#8221; said Latisan. He did not raise his voice. He was
+talking as much to himself as to Crowley. &#8220;A tip to me, you called it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We have to do those things to get quick results,&#8221; Crowley agreed,
+patronizingly. &#8220;Give us your hand, boy!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Crowley got what he asked for. He was not prepared for the amazing
+suddenness of the open-handed blow that fell on the side of his head and
+sent him staggering into a corner.</p>
+
+<p>Mern grabbed up the telephone. Latisan leaped and tore the instrument
+from the chief&#8217;s grasp, ripped it loose from its fastenings, and hurled
+it through the ground-glass door.</p>
+
+<p>Mern was a big man; he had been invincible as a police officer. But when
+he leaped and struck at Latisan, the latter countered with his
+toil-hardened fist and knocked Mern down. Crowley had also served with
+the police. But he was no match for the berserker rage which had
+transformed the man from the woods. Latisan whirled again to Crowley,
+beat him to his knees, set his foot against the antagonist&#8217;s breast and
+drove him violently backward, and he fell across Mern.</p>
+
+<p>But Latisan was not through. Men who had viewed John Latisan in the old
+days when he came <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>roaring down to town, had they been present in the
+Vose-Mern offices that day, would have recognized in the grandson the
+Latisan temperament operating in its old form and would not have been
+surprised. The avenger picked up Mern&#8217;s desk chair. He swung it about
+him, smashing everything in the room which could be smashed. He flung
+away the fragments of the chair and rushed into the outer office.</p>
+
+<p>The fat girl was calling for central, for police.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hand it over!&#8221; he commanded. &#8220;And you&#8217;d all better step outside,&#8221; he
+suggested, after he had torn loose the wires. &#8220;I&#8217;m using the office
+right now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He picked up the chair from which she fled. It was heavy and he used it
+to smash other furniture. Then he began to beat out the glass which shut
+off the other private rooms which adjoined the main office. In that
+process he brought the terrified Craig into view. He dropped the chair,
+reached in, and dragged Craig over the sill of the compartment. &#8220;This
+has been coming to you on the Noda waters! I&#8217;m glad you&#8217;re here now to
+get it!&#8221; He held the Three C&#8217;s director helpless in utter dismay, at the
+full length of a left arm, and pummeled him senseless with a right fist.
+Then he dragged him to the door of the chief&#8217;s office and flung him
+across the two men who were stirring.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a fifty-fifty wreck&#8212;this office and me&#8212;pretty nigh total!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He walked out. Youth, strength, and an incentive which did not animate
+the others, had enabled him to prevail.</p>
+
+<p>Mern and Crowley struggled weakly from under the man who was pinning
+them down.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>&#8220;I&#8217;ll get word to the cops,&#8221; stuttered Crowley, holding his hand to his
+battered and bleeding lips.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wait till Craig comes to!&#8221; protested Mern. &#8220;He may want us to hush the
+thing. He has been hollering for soft pedal all the time. He seems bad!
+Get a doctor!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The physician who came confirmed Mern&#8217;s opinion as to the condition of
+the field director; Craig himself was querulously emphatic on the point
+when he had been brought to consciousness. But he insisted on postponing
+consideration of the proper action to take in Latisan&#8217;s case until he
+had time to forget his aches and compose his thoughts.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span><a name="twenty-six" id="twenty-six"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">EARLY the next morning glaziers, carpenters, and telephone repair men
+monopolized the Vose-Mern offices to the exclusion of regular business.
+The chief had told his office force to stay away for the day.</p>
+
+<p>He had found one chair that was whole, and he sat and watched the &#8220;after
+the storm&#8221; effect gradually disappear.</p>
+
+<p>Mern&#8217;s thoughts were as much in disorder as the interior he was
+surveying.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of feeling lively enmity in the case of Latisan, he was
+admitting to himself that he rather admired the young wildcat from the
+woods. At any rate, Latisan had accepted at face value Mern&#8217;s repeated
+dictum that if the other fellow could get Mern while Mern was set on
+getting the fellow, there would be no grudges. Latisan&#8217;s come-back, the
+chief reflected, was crude work, but it was characteristically after the
+style of the men of the open; and the wreck of an office was less
+disastrous than the wreck of a man&#8217;s prospects and his very soul. Mern
+was not a bit of a sentimentalist, but he could see the situation
+vaguely from Latisan&#8217;s standpoint. And he realized that there was still
+something behind it all which he had not come at.</p>
+
+<p>He was roused from his ponderings by the crunch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>ing of feet on broken
+glass, and looked up and beheld Latisan. Halted just inside the door of
+the main office was a policeman in uniform. And the officer, well known
+by Mern, caught the chief&#8217;s eye and winked.</p>
+
+<p>Mern jumped to his feet; he was much astonished and glanced to see
+whether Latisan&#8217;s fists were doubled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good morning, sir!&#8221; said the caller, politely. &#8220;I have come around
+early to let you know that I&#8217;m not the kind of a man who does a thing
+and runs away from the responsibility of it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With prolonged scrutiny&#8212;stares which crossed like fencing blades&#8212;the
+two principals mutely questioned each other. Latisan displayed the most
+composure. He had not the same reason as had Mern to be surprised; it
+was immediately made plain that Latisan had devoted some thought to
+preparations for the interview. He stepped closer. Even though his smile
+seemed to be meant as an assurance of amity, Mern flinched; he
+remembered that the woodsman had begun the battle the day before after a
+remark in a most placid tone.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan tipped his head to indicate the waiting policeman. &#8220;I brought
+him along. I asked him to come up from the street. He doesn&#8217;t know what
+for.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nor I, either!&#8221; blurted Mern.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought you might want me arrested on sight, and I remember what I
+did to your telephones, and I figured I&#8217;d save you the trouble of
+sending out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was no mistaking the drive master&#8217;s new <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>mood. He was polite; he
+was contrite. The picturesque touch furnished by supplying a policeman
+suggested the Vose-Mern &#8220;anticipatory system&#8221; and appealed to the
+chief&#8217;s grim sense of humor. Also, Mern was moved by that consciousness
+which warms real men, when it&#8217;s a mutual acknowledgment, &#8220;He&#8217;s a good
+sport.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mern waved his hand to the policeman, putting into that gesture a
+meaning which the officer understood; the officer started for the outer
+door.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just a second!&#8221; called Latisan. He pulled out a roll of money and gave
+the policeman a bill. &#8220;You can use that to pay your fare down in the
+elevator.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan held the roll in sight until he and Mern were alone. &#8220;While the
+cash is out, I may as well inquire what the bill is.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For this.&#8221; The woodsman swung the hand which held the money, making a
+wide sweep to take in all the wreck.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No bill, Latisan! You can&#8217;t pay a cent. I think we&#8217;ll call it natural
+wear and tear in the course of business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The chief was sitting in the chair which had escaped damage. He insisted
+on the caller taking that chair; Mern sat on a carpenter&#8217;s sawhorse.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps I had you going yesterday, Chief Mern, but to-day it&#8217;s you who
+have got me going!&#8221; admitted Latisan, frankly mystified by this
+forbearance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m only backing up the talk I have always made about giving the other
+fellow his innings if he wants to take &#8217;em and has the grit to put it
+over. Look <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>here, Latisan, two men are never really well acquainted till
+they&#8217;ve had a good run-in with their fists. You and I have been standing
+each other off on facts. Let&#8217;s get down to cases. How did it happen that
+you fell for Lida Kennard so suddenly?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ward flushed. It was a sacred subject, but he resolved to be frank with
+Mern, searching for the truth. &#8220;It was not sudden. I met her here in the
+city by accident months ago&#8212;and I must have fallen in love with her
+then. I&#8217;ve been admitting that I did, though I did not know her real
+name till yesterday. And I did not know she was a detective, set on my
+trail. And even <span class="nowrap">now&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t believe it, eh? Let me say it to you, Latisan&#8212;and get me
+right! You&#8217;re a square chap and I can afford to be square, now that the
+job is done and paid for. The girl never was an operative. She was my
+confidential secretary, and the best one I ever had. Working hard here
+to pay up the debts she had incurred on account of her mother. As clean
+as a whistle, Latisan! She never told me she was going north. That
+letter you brought is one I wrote after Crowley reported that she was
+there&#8212;and I wanted to know why she was there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can tell you why. She is Echford Flagg&#8217;s granddaughter.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mern leaped up and kicked the carpenter&#8217;s bench away from him. Latisan
+rose, too, as if prepared to resent any detracting speech.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t trouble yourself,&#8221; snapped Mern. &#8220;I&#8217;m not saying a word against
+her for what she was doing up there. I trained her myself in what she
+called the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>ethics of this business, and she had been practicing what I
+have preached. It&#8217;s all right, Latisan.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The thing cleared itself up pretty quickly for me yesterday when I
+found out her name. But now that I know who she is I&#8217;m in hell. I ran
+away! I have left that <span class="nowrap">drive&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Aw, to blazes with your drive!&#8221; yelped Mern, with scorn. &#8220;Only logs!
+But what I want to know is this, does the girl love you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She told me so, but how can she have any affection for such a man as I
+have shown myself to be? I think she was sacrificing herself because she
+believed I was the one who could bring down the Flagg drive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mern surveyed him cynically. &#8220;Say, Latisan, I hope you&#8217;re not the kind
+who would bite a gold coin stolen from a dead man&#8217;s eye. You woods
+fellows have too much time for joint debates with your own selves. Go
+find that girl and square yourself. I want her to have what she wants,
+if she is in love with you. That&#8217;s the kind of a friend I am to her. I
+can&#8217;t tell you where she is. I haven&#8217;t heard from her since she walked
+out of this office. But let me say something to you! My kind of work has
+wised me up to what folks are likely to do! I&#8217;ll bet a thousand dollars
+the girl hasn&#8217;t run very far away from the north country, even if you
+did think it was too hot to hold you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan shook his head slowly. Confidence was still chilled in him; the
+memory of what had happened was a forbidding barrier; in her case, at
+the thought of thrusting himself back into her presence, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>he was as
+timid to an extreme as he had been fearless in his dealings with men in
+the Vose-Mern offices.</p>
+
+<p>While he was wrestling with his thoughts, delivery men were wrestling
+with furniture, bringing it in through the door from the corridor,
+blocking the passage.</p>
+
+<p>Mern snapped his attention from Latisan, then he pushed the latter out
+of the range of vision from the corridor door.</p>
+
+<p>Craig was out in the corridor, cursing the furniture and the men who
+were obstructing the doorway. Craig was in a hurry and in a state of
+mind; his language revealed his feelings.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It won&#8217;t do&#8212;it won&#8217;t do!&#8221; insisted Mern when Latisan protested at
+being shoved behind the partition. &#8220;He mustn&#8217;t see you. Hear him rave!
+I&#8217;m not staging another fight to-day. Stay in there! Crouch down! Keep
+out of sight.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When Craig won his way past the blocking furniture he stormed to Mern,
+stamping across the glass-strewn floor, shaking his fists and jabbering.</p>
+
+<p>He was in a horrible state of rage. His face was so apoplectically
+purple that the bruises on his patched-up countenance were subdued
+somewhat by lack of contrast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look at me! Called down to the home office just now, looking like this.
+Lying like blazes about an automobile accident! That&#8217;s what your
+invitation to view the tame tiger has done for me. But that isn&#8217;t what
+I&#8217;m here for, you damnation, four-flushing double-crosser.&#8221; He continued
+to berate the chief.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Say, you hold on there!&#8221; barked Mern, managing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>a few oaths of his own
+after struggling out of the amazement stirred by this ferocious attack.
+&#8220;If you&#8217;re here to do business or to complain about the business that
+has been done, you&#8217;ll have to be decent, or I&#8217;ll run you out.&#8221; Mern
+jutted his jaw and took two steps in Craig&#8217;s direction&#8212;and Craig had
+suffered violence too recently to persist in inviting more.</p>
+
+<p>But he was still as acrimonious as he dared to be. Behind his rage there
+was the bitterness of a man who had been tricked out of money&#8212;betrayed
+shamefully&#8212;but Craig was so precipitate, breathless, violent, so
+provokingly vague with his tumbling words and his broken sentences, that
+Mern ceased to be angry in return and was merely bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>The Comas field director shook under Mern&#8217;s nose a sheet of paper. He
+kept referring to the writing on the paper and vouchsafed information
+that the writing was made up of notes of a long-distance conversation
+between the woods and the New York offices of the Comas company.</p>
+
+<p>After a time Mern suggested with acerbity that Craig was incoherent.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t doubt it. I feel that way,&#8221; yelped Craig. &#8220;But this message has
+come over three or four hundred miles of wire&#8212;relayed, at that, and I
+think the man who started the word from a fire-outpost station wasn&#8217;t
+entirely right in his head. There&#8217;s no other way of accounting for the
+statement that Ward Latisan&#8217;s cap and Eck Flagg&#8217;s cant dog are bossing
+the Flagg drive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t get wrought up by crazy guff!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>&#8220;But here are some statements that I <em>am</em> wrought up over,&#8221; declared
+the director, brandishing the paper. &#8220;I&#8217;ve got to believe &#8217;em. They
+sound straight. Three of our new hold dams in streams that feed the Noda
+have been blown. The water has been used to sweep the Flagg logs in
+ahead of ours. The lip of the Tougas Lake has been blown, too, and if we
+lose that water it&#8217;s apt to leave us high and dry; our Tougas operation
+is a long way in from the main river. They&#8217;ve shot blue blazes out of
+Carron Gorge and have taken the water along with &#8217;em. Merry hell is to
+pay all up and down that river, Mern.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The agency chief did not relish Craig&#8217;s bellicose manner, nor the glare
+in his one eye that showed, nor the imputation of vindictive rebuke in
+his rasping tones.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Craig, I never saw a log in a river. I know nothing about your drives.
+Why are you pitching into me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why? Why? Because this message says that the girl you sent north&#8212;the
+girl who was paid by our money&#8212;this report says that she has gone up
+there and has put the very devil into Flagg&#8217;s men; is making &#8217;em do
+things that the worst pirates on the river never dared to do before.
+What kind of a she wildcat did you hand me, anyway? Mern, a thousand
+tons of liquid fire poured into the valley of the Noda couldn&#8217;t hurt us
+like that girl is hurting us. Who is she? What is she? Get your word to
+her! Call her off!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>That was no time for equivocation. Craig&#8217;s frenzy demanded candor and
+threatened reprisal if the truth <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>were not forthcoming. Mern told part
+of the truth.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She has called her own self off, Craig, so far as this agency is
+concerned. I have no further control over her actions.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Chief Mern was not conscious of any especial surprise after Craig had
+reported that section of his news which could be understood. The
+granddaughter of Flagg could not be expected to do other than she was
+doing. In his honest regard for the helper who had served him so long
+and efficiently, the chief was wondering whether he ought to reveal her
+identity to the Comas man, trying to estimate the danger of such a
+revelation. Craig was not stating that his news hinted who she was.</p>
+
+<p>As to the details of the drive, he was more explicit. He raged on while
+Mern pondered. &#8220;The Flagg drive is a week ahead of time. It must be near
+Skulltree dam. I ought to have been up there and I don&#8217;t understand why
+the infernal fools have been so slow in getting word to me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Mern, I never ought to do another stroke of business with
+you, but I&#8217;m in too much of a hurry to go anywhere else.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The business instincts of the head of the agency were stirred; the Comas
+money had been good picking in the past. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think I should be held
+responsible for an operative who has severed connections. Craig, you
+have probably made your own mistakes in depending on helpers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you make any mistake this time, Mern! I want a dozen or fifteen
+men&#8212;gunmen. Can you furnish &#8217;em?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sure thing! Within an hour.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have promised results to my folks this season. I&#8217;ve got to deliver.
+My job depends on it, after all the talk I&#8217;ve made at headquarters.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Will your headquarters back up my operatives?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll do that! I&#8217;m playing this game on my own hook. There&#8217;ll be no
+fight. The bluff will be enough, if I have the men. And if I have
+to&#8212;well, there&#8217;s a fight between lumberjacks every season on that
+river, and there&#8217;s a big wall of woods between Skulltree dam and New
+York, Mern! I&#8217;ll take my chances up behind that wall. Get the men for
+me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When are you leaving?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One o&#8217;clock this afternoon&#8212;Grand Central.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll deliver the men to you there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig stamped away across the glass-littered floor and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; averred the chief when Latisan came out from behind the
+partition, &#8220;it looks as if somebody had been attending to your job for
+you, son! Also looks as if there might be considerable more doing right
+away!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So that&#8217;s more of your devilish business, is it, sending gunmen to
+fight honest workers?&#8221; demanded the drive master, with venom.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Business is still business with me in spite of the looks of this
+office,&#8221; returned Mern, unruffled. &#8220;Latisan, you can&#8217;t beef about not
+getting a square deal&#8212;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>and I&#8217;ve put you in the way of getting a tip. It
+looks to <span class="nowrap">me&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just the same as it looks to me!&#8221; cried the young man. &#8220;We&#8217;re fully
+agreed as to all the looks! Good day!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He stood very straight and shot Mern through with a stare from hard gray
+eyes. There was no longer any of the faltering uncertainty that he had
+displayed. Grim determination radiated from him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good day to you, also!&#8221; Mern called after Latisan when he strode toward
+the door, then adding suggestively. &#8220;If any mail happens to come here
+for you, I&#8217;m to forward it along to that Skulltree dam, so I take it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The irony did not provoke any retort from the drive master. He went away
+with a rush, but his demeanor showed that he was not running away from
+anything or anybody. He was hastening toward something.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span><a name="twenty-seven" id="twenty-seven"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">LATISAN was on that one o&#8217;clock train when it left Grand Central
+station.</p>
+
+<p>From the gallery of the concourse he had seen Craig march to the gate
+and give a packet into the hands of one of a group of men waiting there.
+Then Craig had gone on quickly with the air of a cautious performer who
+did not care to be identified with the persons for whom he had provided
+transportation.</p>
+
+<p>The drive master rode in a coach and felt safe from detection; he
+guessed that Craig would hide his battered face in the privacy of a
+drawing room. Latisan had trailed the operatives and saw them enter the
+smoking car.</p>
+
+<p>In the late afternoon, at a stage in the journey, he crossed a city on
+the heels of the party and again was an unobtrusive passenger in a
+coach, avoiding the sleeping cars. He slept a bit, as best he could, but
+mostly he pondered, fiercely awake, bitterly resolute. He fought away
+his memory of the betrayal of a trust; he indulged in no fond hopes in
+regard to one whom he now knew as Lida Kennard. He was concentrating on
+his determination to go back to the drive, not as master, but as a
+volunteer who would carry his cant dog with the rest of them, as humble
+as the plainest toiler. He did not try at that time to plan a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>course of
+action to be followed after he was back on the Flagg drive. He was
+going, that was all!</p>
+
+<p>It was a hideous threat, the menace that Craig was conveying into the
+north country in the persons of those gunmen from the city! There had
+been plenty of fights over rights on the river, but they had always been
+clean fights, where muscles and fists counted for the victory.</p>
+
+<p>Craig had claimed that the bluff of the guns would be sufficient.
+Latisan was not agreeing, and on that account he was finding the outlook
+a dark one.</p>
+
+<p>The train on which he was riding was an express headed for Canada, and
+was due to pass the junction with the Adonia narrow-gauge at about two
+o&#8217;clock in the morning. There was no scheduled stop at the junction; the
+afternoon train connected and served the passengers from downcountry.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan had bought a ticket to the nearest regular stopping place of the
+express. He began to wonder whether Craig, with the influence of the
+Comas to aid him and his fifteen fellow passengers in an argument, had
+been able to secure special favors.</p>
+
+<p>To the conductor, plucking out the hat check before the regular stop the
+hither side of the junction, he said, &#8220;By any chance, does this train
+ever stop at the Adonia narrow-gauge station?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It happens that it stops to-night by special orders.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan paid a cash fare and rode on.</p>
+
+<p>The coach in which he sat was the last car on the train; the smoker and
+sleeping cars were ahead.</p>
+
+<p>When the train made its unscheduled stop, Latisan stepped down and was
+immediately hidden in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>darkness. He saw Craig and his crew on the
+station platform; the headlight of a narrow-gauge locomotive threw a
+radiance which revealed them. Therefore, it was plain, Craig had wired
+for a special on the Adonia line.</p>
+
+<p>Only one car was attached to the narrow-gauge engine; Latisan went as
+close as he dared. There was no room for concealment on that miniature
+train. It puffed away promptly, its big neighbor on the standard-gauge
+roared off into the night, and Latisan was left alone in the blackness
+before the dawn. And he felt peculiarly and helplessly alone! In spite
+of his best efforts to keep up his courage, the single-handed crusader
+was depressed by Craig&#8217;s command of resources; there was a sort of
+insolent swagger in the Comas man&#8217;s ability to have what he wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan knew fairly well the lay of the land at the junction, but he was
+obliged to light matches, one after the other, in order to find the lane
+which led to the stables of the mill company whose men had been drafted
+by him on one occasion to load his dynamite. The night was stiflingly
+black, there were no stars and not a light glimmered anywhere in the
+settlement.</p>
+
+<p>He stumbled over the rough ground that had been rutted by the wheels of
+the jigger wagons. The muffled thud of the hoofs of dozing horses guided
+him in his search for the stables, and he found the door of the
+hostlers&#8217; quarters and pounded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll have to go see the super; I don&#8217;t dare to let a hoss out of here
+without orders,&#8221; said the man who listened to his request.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>&#8220;Tell me where his house is, and lend me a lantern.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The hostler yawned and mumbled and complained because he had been
+disturbed, but he fumbled for the lantern, lighted it, and gave it to
+Latisan, along with directions how to find the super&#8217;s home.</p>
+
+<p>That minor magnate was hard to wake, but he appeared at an open upper
+window after a time and listened.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We can&#8217;t spare a horse in mud time, with the hauling as heavy as it is.
+Who are you, anyway?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m Ward Latisan.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hold that lantern up side of your face and let me see!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The young man obeyed meekly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Excuse me for doubting your word of mouth,&#8221; said the super, after he
+had assured himself, &#8220;but we hardly expected to see you back in this
+region.&#8221; It was drawled with dry sarcasm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t the time to argue on that, sir. I have business north of
+here. I&#8217;ll hire a horse or I&#8217;ll buy a horse.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you heard what I said, that I can&#8217;t spare one. By the way, Latisan,
+you may as well understand that I won&#8217;t do business with you, anyway.
+You got me in wrong with my folks and with the Three C&#8217;s, too, when you
+bribed my men to load that dynamite.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t see why the Comas <span class="nowrap">company&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can. My folks can. If we get saw logs this year we&#8217;ve got to buy &#8217;em
+through Rufus Craig. When you ran away and let Ech Flagg get <span class="nowrap">dished&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>&#8220;His drive is coming through,&#8221; insisted Latisan, desperately, breaking
+in on speech in his turn.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where are you from, right now?&#8221; inquired the super.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;New York.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And a devil of a lot you must have found out about the prospect of logs
+from the independents, Flagg or anybody else. Don&#8217;t come up here and try
+to tell me my business; I&#8217;ve been here all the time. Good night!&#8221; He
+banged down the window.</p>
+
+<p>And once more Ward was alone in the night, distracted and desolate. This
+testing of the estimation in which he was held in the north country
+after the debacle in Adonia made his despondency as black as the
+darkness which surrounded him.</p>
+
+<p>He wanted to call to the super and ask if at least he could buy the
+lantern. He decided it would be better to borrow it.</p>
+
+<p>He set away afoot by the road which led to Adonia. Farms were scattered
+along the highway and he stopped at the first house and banged on the
+door and entreated. At two houses he was turned away relentlessly. The
+third farmer was a wrinkled old chap who came down to the door, thumbing
+his suspenders over his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ward Latisan, be ye?&#8221; He peered at the countenance lighted by the
+lantern. &#8220;Yes, I can see enough of old John in ye to prove what ye
+claim. I worked for old John when I was young and spry. And one time he
+speared his pick pole into the back of my coat and saved me from being
+carried down in the white water. And that&#8217;s why ye can have a hoss to go
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>where ye want to go, and ye can bring him back when you&#8217;re done with
+him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, not by any merit of his own, Ward secured a mount and
+journeyed dismally toward the north. The farm horse was fat and stolid
+and plodded with slow pace; for saddle there was a folded blanket. With
+only the lantern to light the way, he did not dare to hurry the beast.
+It was not until wan, depressing light filtered from the east through
+the mists that he ventured to make a detour which would take him outside
+of Adonia. He realized that Craig would have arranged for tote teams to
+be waiting at Adonia, as he had had a special waiting at the junction,
+and was by that time far on his way toward Skulltree dam.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan beat the flanks of the old horse with the extinguished lantern
+and made what speed he could along the blazed trail that would take him
+to the tote road of the Noda basin.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span><a name="twenty-eight" id="twenty-eight"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">THE flare of the Flagg camp fires painted the mists luridly; the vapor
+rolled sluggishly through the tree tops and faded into the blackness of
+the night.</p>
+
+<p>Lida was seated apart from the men of the crew, knowing that they
+mercifully wished to spare her from hearing the plans for the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>The logs were down the deadwater to a point where the supremacy at
+Skulltree dam must be settled.</p>
+
+<p>She could hear the mumble of the voices of those who were in conference
+around the fires.</p>
+
+<p>Across a patch of radiance she beheld the swaggering promenade of one of
+the young cookees; he brandished a hatchet truculently. Old Vittum
+reached out and swept the weapon from the youngster&#8217;s grasp.</p>
+
+<p>Lida heard Vittum&#8217;s rebuke, for it was voiced sharply. &#8220;None o&#8217; that! We
+don&#8217;t fight that way. And I&#8217;m believing that there are still enough
+honest rivermen in the Comas crowd to make it a square fight, like we&#8217;ve
+always had on the Noda when a fight had to be!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Unreconciled, all her woman&#8217;s nature protesting, she had come to a
+settled realization that the fight must happen; Vittum was putting it in
+words. Now that the struggle was imminent&#8212;on the eve of it&#8212;she wanted
+to go down on her knees and beg them <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>to give up the project; but she
+did not dare to weaken their determination or wound their pride. She
+crouched on her cot of spruce boughs in anguished misery.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nobody has got to the point of using hatchets and guns on this river,&#8221;
+corroborated a man on the other side of the fire from Vittum.</p>
+
+<p>Other men pitched their voices higher then, giving up the cautious
+monotone of the preceding conference.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is any man afeard?&#8221; asked Vittum.</p>
+
+<p>They assured him with confidence and gay courage that no man was afraid.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t hear any of you Injuns pipe up,&#8221; said Vittum. &#8220;You ain&#8217;t very
+strong on talk, anyway. But I&#8217;d kind of like to know how you feel in
+this matter. We all understood&#8212;all of us regulars&#8212;that we was coming
+up here to fight when it got to that point. You have grabbed in later
+and perhaps didn&#8217;t understand it. We ain&#8217;t asking you to do anything you
+don&#8217;t want to do.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The Indians were silent. Even Felix Lapierre said nothing when Vittum
+questioned him with a glance. The French Canadian turned to Frank Orono,
+squatting within arm&#8217;s reach, and patted him on the shoulder. It became
+plain that there was an understanding which did not require words.</p>
+
+<p>Orono rose slowly; he grinned. From the breast of his leather jacket he
+brought forth a cow&#8217;s horn and shook it over his head, and its contents
+rattled sharply. The other Indians leaped up. They were grinning, too.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>Orono began a slow march around the camp fire, lifting his knees high,
+stepping slowly, beating the rattling horn into the palm of his hand.
+Behind him in single file, imitating his step, marched the other
+Indians. The smiles faded out of their countenances; their jaws were
+set, and deep in their throats they growled a weird singsong.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My Gawd!&#8221; yelped Vittum. &#8220;It&#8217;s the old Tarratine war dance and it just
+fits my notions right now, and I&#8217;m in on it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He scrambled to his feet and fell into line at the rear of the Indians.
+Every man in the Flagg crew followed suit. They imitated the Indian
+singsong as best they were able, their voices constantly giving forth
+greater volume until they were yelling their defiance to the Three C&#8217;s
+company and all its works.</p>
+
+<p>The men far out on the deadwater, pushing against the bars of the
+capstan, heard the tumult on the shore and shouted the chorus of their
+challenging chantey.</p>
+
+<p>Between Lida and the men who were circling the fire there was a veil of
+mist, and in the halation her champions loomed with heroic stature. She
+did not want them to suppose that she was indifferent; courage of her
+own leaped in her. The campaign which she had waged with them had given
+her an experience which had fortified the spirit of the Flaggs. She
+stepped forth from her little tent and walked down and stood in the edge
+of the light cast by the camp fire. They cheered her, and she put aside
+her qualms and her fears as best she was able.</p>
+
+<p>When she was back in her tent she did not shield her ears from the
+challenging chantey, as she had done <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>before, and she heard with
+fortitude the vociferous pledges of faith in the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>The dawn came so sullenly and so slowly that the day seemed merely a
+faded copy of the night.</p>
+
+<p>A heavy fog draped the mountains and was packed in stifling masses in
+the river valley.</p>
+
+<p>Crews in shifts marched tirelessly around the capstans of the headworks.
+Their voices out in the white opaqueness sounded strangely under the
+sounding-board of the fog.</p>
+
+<p>It was a brooding, ominous, baleful sort of a day, when shapes were
+distorted in the mists and all sounds were magnified in queer fashion
+and the echoes played pranks with distances and locations and
+directions.</p>
+
+<p>Out of the murky blank came one who had gone a-scouting. He touched his
+cap to the girl and reported to her and to all who were in hearing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Three C&#8217;s chief pirate has got along. Craig is down at the dam. I
+was able to crawl up mighty close in the fog. I heard him. He&#8217;s ugly!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I reckoned he would be a mite peevish as soon as the news of the social
+happenings along the river for the past few days got to him,&#8221; said
+Vittum. &#8220;It&#8217;s no surprise to me&#8212;been expecting him!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s got a special edge on his temper&#8212;has been all bunged up by an
+auto accident, so I heard him giving out to the men he was talking to.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what&#8217;s he saying of particular interest to us?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Says he&#8217;s going to stick right at Skulltree and kill us off singly and
+in bunches, just as we happen to come along.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;News is news, and it&#8217;s good or bad according to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>the way you look at
+it,&#8221; declared the old man. &#8220;Does that fresh news scare anybody?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was a vigorous chorus of denial; when one man averred that the
+statement only made the fight more worth while he was indorsed with
+great heartiness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right!&#8221; agreed Vittum. &#8220;We&#8217;ll consider that point settled.&#8221; He drew
+a long breath; he inquired with anxious solicitude; &#8220;Did you overhear
+him saying anything about Latisan? He might have heard something, coming
+in fresh from outside.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The scout gave the girl a glance of apology; he was a tactless
+individual in shading facts. &#8220;Of course, all that Three C&#8217;s bunch is
+liars, and Craig worst of all. But I did hear him say that Latisan is
+loafing in New York and is prob&#8217;ly in jail by this time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The girl rose and walked away, and the fog shut her from their sight
+immediately. She heard the old man cursing the incautious scout. &#8220;Why
+the blazes didn&#8217;t you smooth it? You&#8217;ve gone to work and hurt her
+feelings. She made her mistake, and she admits it. We all make our
+mistakes,&#8221; said the rebuker. &#8220;But she&#8217;s true blue! I ain&#8217;t laying up
+anything against Latisan because he doesn&#8217;t show up. It&#8217;s because the
+girl is here that we are making men of ourselves right now. She&#8217;s
+deserving of all we can give her. By gad! say I, she&#8217;s going to make
+good with our help.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was a considerable distance down the river path, but she heard that
+speech and the shout of the men indorsing the declaration.</p>
+
+<p>Lida hastened as rapidly as she was able along the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>path that led to
+Skulltree; she had reconnoitered on the previous day&#8212;going as near the
+dam as she dared, trying to make the lay of the land suggest some method
+by which battle might be avoided.</p>
+
+<p>While she ran down the path that morning she was arriving at some
+definite conclusions. The news about Director Craig had put desperate
+courage into her. The upper and the nether millstones of men and events
+in the north country had begun their grim revolutions; she resolved to
+cast herself between those stones in an effort to save faithful men who
+were innocent of fault.</p>
+
+<p>When the dull rumble of the sluiceway waters informed her that she was
+near the camp of the enemy she went more cautiously, and when she heard
+the voices of men she called, announcing that she desired to speak with
+Director Craig.</p>
+
+<p>Somebody replied, after a pause which indicated that considerable
+amazement had been roused by a woman&#8217;s voice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come along, whoever you are! Mr. Craig is on the dam.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A man who kept jerking his head around to stare frankly at her led her
+along the string piece of the great structure.</p>
+
+<p>Their meeting&#8212;she and the Comas director&#8212;was like a rencontre in the
+void of space; on the water side of the dam the mists matched the hue of
+the glassy surface and the blending masked the water; on the other side,
+the fog filled the deep gorge where the torrent of the sluiceway
+thundered.</p>
+
+<p>She was obliged to go close to him in order to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>emerge from the vapor
+into his range of vision and to make her voice heard above the roar of
+the water. His one visible eye surveyed her with blank astonishment;
+near as she was to him, he did not recognize her at first in her rough
+garb of the woods.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Craig, I <em>was</em>&#8221;&#8212;she stressed the verb significantly&#8212;&#8220;an employee
+in the Vose-Mern agency in New York. I met you in their office.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He clasped his hands behind him as if he feared to have them free in
+front of him; her proximity seemed to invite those hands, but his
+countenance revealed that he was not in a mood then to give caresses.
+&#8220;Was, eh? May I ask what you are right now?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m doing my best to help in getting the Flagg drive down the
+river&#8212;without trouble!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Trouble!&#8221; He was echoing her again; it was as if, in his waxing ire, he
+did not dare to launch into a topic of his own. &#8220;What do you call it,
+what has been happening upriver?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I presume you mean that dams have been blown to get water for our
+logs.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Our dams!&#8221; he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m a stranger up here. I don&#8217;t know whose dams they were. I have heard
+all kinds of stories about the rights in the dams, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t say to you what I think&#8212;and what I want to say! You&#8217;re a girl,
+confound it! I&#8217;ll only make a fool of myself, talking to you about our
+rights and our property. But I can say to you, about your own work, that
+you have been paid by our money to do a certain thing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>She opened her eyes on him in offended inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I take it that you&#8217;re the same one who called herself Miss Patsy Jones
+when you operated at Adonia.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I did use that name&#8212;for personal reasons.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He did not moderate his wrath. &#8220;Here I find that Patsy Jones is Miss
+Kennard of the Vose-Mern agency. We have paid good money to the agency.
+When I settled for the last job I added two hundred dollars as a present
+to you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have not received the gift, sir. It does not belong to me. I&#8217;m here
+on my own account. I came north at my own expense without notifying
+Chief Mern that I was done with the agency; and strictly personal
+reasons, also, influenced me on that point.&#8221; She was trying hard to keep
+her poise, not loosing her emotions, preserving her dignity with a man
+of affairs and phrasing her replies with rather stilted diction. &#8220;I have
+my good reasons for doing all I can in my poor power to help the Flagg
+drive go through.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The fact that her name was Kennard meant nothing to Rufus Craig, a New
+Yorker who had never bothered himself with the ancient tales of the Noda
+country. He did not understand what interest she could have in opposing
+the Comas company; he could see only the ordinary and sordid side of the
+affair. He looked her up and down and curled his lip.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have been a traitor!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not to the right, sir, when I found out what the right was.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I think you&#8217;ll have a chance to say something about that in court, in
+your defense! You have put the devil into those men and I&#8217;m giving you
+warning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>&#8220;I shall tell the truth in court, Mr. Craig. You may or you may not
+find that promise a warning of my own to you and your corporation
+methods.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He blinked and looked away from her. &#8220;I&#8217;m busy! What are you doing here
+on this dam? What do you want of me? Is it more detective work?&#8221; he
+sneered. &#8220;Are you getting ready to double-cross the new gang you&#8217;re
+hitched up with. For what reason you went over to &#8217;em God only knows!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He does know!&#8221; she returned, earnestly. She stepped closer to him. &#8220;I
+came down here to plead that you&#8217;ll let the Flagg logs go through this
+dam.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I will not.&#8221; His anger had driven him to the extreme of obstinacy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Craig, that stand means a wicked fight between men who are not paid
+to fight.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve had a lot of influence in making men blow our dams. Use that
+influence in keeping &#8217;em away from this one, and there&#8217;ll be no fight.&#8221;
+He turned away, but she hastened forward and put herself in front of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I cannot do it, sir! That will be asking our men to give up all they
+have been struggling for. I don&#8217;t know what the law is&#8212;or what the law
+will say. Please listen to me! Keep the men from fighting&#8212;this season!
+Then allow the law to put matters right up here. The Flagg logs have
+gone down the river every year before this one. The good Lord has
+furnished the water for all. Mr. Craig, out of the depths of my heart I
+entreat you.&#8221; She had tried hard to keep womanly weakness away. She
+wanted to conduct the affair on the plane of business good sense; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>but
+anxiety was overwhelming her; she broke down and sobbed frankly.</p>
+
+<p>What appeared to be recourse to woman&#8217;s usual weapons served to make him
+more furious. &#8220;The matter is before the courts. There&#8217;s a principle
+involved. This dam stays as it is. That&#8217;s final!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m pleading for a helpless old man who cannot come here to talk for
+his own rights.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, my girl, you&#8217;re merely a smart trickster from the city&#8212;a
+turncoat who can&#8217;t give one good excuse for being a traitor to your
+employers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can give an excuse!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had enough of this,&#8221; he retorted, brutally, pricked by the
+reflection that his corporation would disown him and his methods if he
+failed to make good. &#8220;Can&#8217;t you see that you&#8217;re driving me insane with
+your girl&#8217;s folly? You&#8217;re lucky because I haven&#8217;t brought officers up
+here and ordered your arrest for conspiracy. You belong in jail along
+with that fool of a Latisan.&#8221; His rage broke down all reserve. &#8220;Do you
+see what he did to me in New York?&#8221; He pointed to his bandaged face.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ll admit that he did have some sort of an excuse. You have none.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have this,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Mr. Craig! I am Echford Flagg&#8217;s
+granddaughter.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The shell of his skepticism was too thick!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you think I am a complete fool? Flagg has no kin whatever!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How long have you been acquainted in these parts?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Three years,&#8221; he admitted; but he scowled his sentiment of utter
+disbelief in her claim.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>&#8220;I am what I say I am,&#8221; she insisted. &#8220;Does that make any difference in
+your stand here to-day?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not a bit!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They surveyed each other for some time, the mists swirling slowly about
+their heads.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If I shed any more tears and do any more pleading, sir, you&#8217;ll have
+good reasons for believing that I have no blood of the Flaggs in me! Do
+you still think I&#8217;m not what I say I am?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He sliced the fog contemptuously with the edge of his palm. &#8220;You can&#8217;t
+talk that stuff to me!&#8221; She understood the futility of appeal; he turned
+from her and she looked for a moment on the bulging scruff of his
+obstinate neck.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, Mr. Craig! If talk can&#8217;t convince you, I&#8217;ll try another
+way!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She ran along the string piece and the curtain of the fog closed in
+behind her.</p>
+
+<p>During her absence from the deadwater there had been a rallying of
+forces.</p>
+
+<p>All the men were called in from the headworks and the booms. In that
+following conference over the methods of the impending battle the
+riverjacks were able to express themselves with more sanguinary
+vehemence than would have been allowed in the presence of the girl.</p>
+
+<p>They felt that the fog was a particularly fortunate circumstance, and
+with grim haste they set about taking advantage of the mask that would
+hide their advance. In single file they began their march down the river
+shore. There were men who bore cant dogs; others were armed with pike
+poles. But there was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>no intent to cut and thrust. It was to be a man&#8217;s
+fight with the flat of those weapons, with the tools of the job, honest
+thwacks given and taken. If one of them had ventured to pack an edged
+weapon or a gun he would have been shamed among his fellows.</p>
+
+<p>Halfway to the dam they met the girl, hurrying back. She understood. She
+did not ask questions. But when they halted she explained her own
+movements.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I took it on myself to go to Director Craig,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I was hoping I
+might be able to make him look at the thing in the right way. I did not
+apologize for you or for what has been done. If I could prevent this
+trouble I would make any sacrifice of myself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We know that,&#8221; stated Vittum, and he was indorsed by whole-souled
+murmurs.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But he would not listen to me. And all I can say to you men is this:
+God bless you and help you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They thanked her and then they stood aside from the path, offering her a
+way for retreat to the rear.</p>
+
+<p>But she turned and walked on toward the dam. She shook her head when
+they protested. &#8220;No, I claim it as my right to go with you.&#8221; She was
+even brave enough to relieve the tenseness of the situation by a flash
+of humor. &#8220;I don&#8217;t believe one of those Comas cowards will get near
+enough to hurt any one of you. Haven&#8217;t we found them out already? But if
+anybody in this crew does get hurt, you&#8217;ll find me in full charge of the
+field hospital!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was no more talk after that; they trod softly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>on the duff under
+the trees; they dodged the ledges where their spike-soled boots might
+have rasped.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did you note where the main bunch is, miss?&#8221; whispered the old man at
+her side.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I saw only one man except Craig. The director was out on the dam, near
+the gates.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where the cap&#8217;n is, there the gang must be. We&#8217;ll use that tip.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The men deployed as soon as they were in the open space near the end of
+the dam.</p>
+
+<p>Even though they had had the protection of the fog up to that point,
+they knew their attack could not be made wholly a surprise; they were
+depending on their resoluteness and on being able to beat their way to a
+control of the gates.</p>
+
+<p>Two men appeared to them in the fog.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now just a moment before you start something for which you&#8217;ll be
+sorry,&#8221; said one of the men. &#8220;I&#8217;m from the shire town and I&#8217;m attorney
+for the Comas corporation.&#8221; He pointed to a man at his side, who pulled
+aside his coat lapel and exhibited a badge. &#8220;This is a deputy sheriff.
+The courts are protecting this property by an injunction.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got only your word for that,&#8221; stated the old man.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have been warned in law. That&#8217;s all I&#8217;m here for. Now unless you
+keep off this property you must take the consequences.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer and the officer marched away and were effaced by the fog.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s too bad it ain&#8217;t a clear day,&#8221; remarked the spokesman to the crew.
+&#8220;We&#8217;d prob&#8217;ly be able to see <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>the injunction that&#8217;s guarding this dam.
+But I ain&#8217;t going to let a lawyer tell me about anything I can&#8217;t see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But there&#8217;s a thing I can see,&#8221; called one of the men who had gone
+skirmishing in the direction which the attorney and sheriff had taken.
+&#8220;Here&#8217;s a Comas crowd strung along the wings o&#8217; the dam. I can see what
+they&#8217;re lugging! Come on, men! It&#8217;s a cant-dog, pick-pole fight.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The attackers went into the fray with a yell.</p>
+
+<p>The defenders of the dam were on higher ground; some of them thrust with
+the ugly weapons, others swung the strong staves and fenced. There was
+the smash of wood against wood, the clatter of iron. Men fell and rolled
+and came up! They who were bleeding did not seem to mind.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re backing up,&#8221; yelled one of the Flagg crew. &#8220;Damn &#8217;em, they&#8217;re
+getting ready to run, as usual!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There did seem to be some sort of concerted action of retreat on the
+part of the defenders.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look out for tricks,&#8221; counseled Vittum, getting over the guard of an
+antagonist and felling him.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later the line of the defense melted; the Comas men dodged
+somewhere into the fog. The assailants had won to the higher level of
+the dam&#8217;s wing.</p>
+
+<p>And then that level melted, too!</p>
+
+<p>It was a well-contrived trap&#8212;boards covered with earth&#8212;a surface
+supported by props which had been pulled away by ropes. More than half
+the Flagg men tumbled into deep and muddy water and threshed helplessly
+in a struggling mass until the others laid <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>down their weapons and
+pulled the drowning men out.</p>
+
+<p>The attacking army retired for repairs and grouped on the solid shore.
+Except for the roar of the sluiceway and the gasping of the men who were
+getting breath there was something like calm after the uproar of the
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>Out of the fog sounded the voice of Director Craig.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We have given you your chance to show how you respect the law. What you
+have done after a legal warning is chalked up against you. Now that you
+have proclaimed yourselves as outlaws I have something of my own to
+proclaim to you. I am up <span class="nowrap">here&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>A stentorian voice slashed in sharply, and Craig&#8217;s speech was cut off.</p>
+
+<p>The voice came from one who was veiled in the fog, but they all knew it
+for Ward Latisan&#8217;s. &#8220;Yes, Craig, you&#8217;re here&#8212;here about five hours
+ahead of me because you had the cash to hire a special train. However, I
+know the short cuts for a man on horseback. I&#8217;m here, too!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His men got a dim view of him in the mists; he loomed like a statue of
+heroic size on the horse. Then he flung himself off and came running
+down the shore.</p>
+
+<p>He went straight to Lida and faced her manfully; but his eyes were
+humbly beseeching and his features worked with contrite apology. &#8220;I know
+now who you are, Miss Kennard. I don&#8217;t mean to presume, in the case of
+either you or your men. But will you allow me to speak to them?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; she assented, trying to hold her poise, helped by his manner.</p>
+
+<p>He turned quickly from her eyes as if her gaze tortured him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have been a coward, men. I ran away from my job. I&#8217;m ashamed of
+myself. I can&#8217;t square myself, but let me do my bit to-day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what you can do&#8212;with that gang o&#8217; sneaks&#8212;after real men
+have had to quit,&#8221; growled Vittum, unimpressed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Maybe I&#8217;m sneak enough these days to know how to deal with &#8217;em,&#8221;
+confessed Latisan, bitterly. &#8220;I stayed back there just now while the
+fight was on, but I knew a man fight wouldn&#8217;t get us anything from
+them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The men of the crew made no demonstration; they were awkwardly silent.
+The arrival of the deserter who confessed that he had been a coward did
+not encourage them at a time when they had failed ridiculously in their
+first sortie. He had ceased to be a captain who could inspire. He was
+one man more in a half-whipped crew, that was all.</p>
+
+<p>They who had been dumped over the dam dragged slimy mud from their faces
+and surveyed him with sullen rebuke, remembering sharply that he had run
+away from the girl whose cause they had taken up.</p>
+
+<p>The others, their faces marked with welts from blows, gazed and sniffed
+disparagingly.</p>
+
+<p>But when he spoke out to the girl and her crew they listened with
+increasing respect because a quick shift to manly resolution impressed
+them.</p>
+
+<p>His tone was tensely low and the noise of the tum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>bling water shielded
+his voice from eavesdroppers on the dam. &#8220;I stood back there in the fog
+and I heard what was said about an injunction. It&#8217;s bad business,
+running against the courts, men. That injunction hangs over the crew of
+Echford Flagg. I am not one of that crew. What I may do is on my own
+account, and I&#8217;ll stand the blame of it. All I ask is that you step
+aside and let me alone.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That ain&#8217;t the way we want to play this game,&#8221; declared Vittum.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It isn&#8217;t a square game, men, and that&#8217;s why you mustn&#8217;t play it. It
+isn&#8217;t a riverman fight to-day. I came north from New York on the train
+with Craig. He brought a gang of gunmen with him. They&#8217;re hidden there
+in the fog. He means to go the limit, hoping to get by with it because
+you made the first attack. It&#8217;s up to me from now on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What in the name of the horn-headed Sancho do you think you can do all
+alone against guns?&#8221; demanded Vittum, scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Think?&#8221; repeated Latisan. &#8220;I&#8217;ve had plenty of time for thinking on my
+way up here. Let me alone, I say!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lida went to him and put her hand on his arm, and he trembled; it seemed
+almost like a caress. But by no tenderness in his eyes or his expression
+was he indicating that he considered himself back on his former footing
+with her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Miss Kennard, don&#8217;t keep me from trying to square myself with the Flagg
+crew, if I can. I&#8217;m not hoping that anything can square me with you;
+it&#8217;s past hope.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>He moved away, but she clung to him. &#8220;I must know what you intend to
+do. I&#8217;ll not accept a reckless sacrifice&#8212;no, I&#8217;ll not.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One evening in Adonia you gave me a lecture on duty and self-respect,
+Miss Kennard. I wish I&#8217;d taken your advice then. But that advice has
+never left my thoughts. I&#8217;m taking it now. I entreat you, don&#8217;t let me
+shame myself again. This is before men,&#8221; he warned her, in low tones.
+&#8220;Give me my fighting chance to make good with them&#8212;I beg you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He set back his shoulders, turned from her, and shouted Craig&#8217;s name
+till the Comas director replied.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Craig, yon in the fog! Do you hear?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hear you, Latisan!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do our logs go through Skulltree by your decent word to us?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll never give that word, my man!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then take your warning! The fight is on&#8212;and this time I&#8217;m in it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad to be informed. I have an announcement of my own to make.
+Listen!&#8221; He gave a command. Instantly, startlingly, in the fog-shrouded
+spaces of the valley rang out a salvo of gun fire. Many rifles spat. The
+sound rolled in long echoes along the gorge and was banged back by the
+mountain sides.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Latisan, those bullets went into the air. If you and your men come onto
+this <span class="nowrap">dam&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s only one kind of a fight up here among honest men&#8212;and you
+won&#8217;t stand for it, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got your number! You&#8217;re declared outlaws. These men will shoot to
+kill.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>In the chorus from the Flagg crew there were howls and groans.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And argument won&#8217;t bring to you any sense of reason and decency, will
+it?&#8221; demanded the drive master.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We shall shoot to kill!&#8221; insisted the magnate of the Comas corporation.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right! If those are your damnable principles, I&#8217;ll go according to
+&#8217;em.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The girl caught his hands when he started away. &#8220;You must not! No matter
+what you are&#8212;no matter what you know I am, now. He&#8217;ll understand when
+we tell him&#8212;down there! There&#8217;s more to life than logs!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have my plans,&#8221; he assured her, quietly. &#8220;You must realize how much
+this thing means to me now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The unnatural silence in the ranks of the Flagg crew, after Latisan&#8217;s
+declaration had been voiced, provoked Craig to venture an apprehensive
+inquiry. &#8220;You don&#8217;t intend to come ramming against these guns, do you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hold your guns off us! I&#8217;m going away. And these men are going with
+me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s good judgment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But I&#8217;m coming back! I won&#8217;t sneak up on you. That isn&#8217;t my style of
+fighting. You&#8217;ll hear me on the way. I&#8217;ll be coming down almighty hard
+on my heels. Remember that, Craig!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lida was at his side when he marched away up the shore toward the Flagg
+camp at the deadwater, and his men trailed him, mumbling their comments
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>on the situation and wondering by what sort of miracle he would be able
+to prevail over armed gangsters who were paid to kill.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to ask you all to excuse me for playing a lone hand from now
+on, boys,&#8221; said the drive master, standing in front of them when they
+were gathered at the camping place. &#8220;If they weren&#8217;t working a dirty
+trick with their guns, I&#8217;d have you along with me just as I intended in
+the past. But you have had your fun while I&#8217;ve been making a fool of
+myself! Give me my chance now!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He bowed to Lida and walked up the shore alone. No one stayed him. The
+girl locked together her trembling fingers, straining her eyes till he
+disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>He knew the resources and methods of the drive. Soon he came upon a
+bateau pulled high on the river bank. There were boxes in the bateau,
+covered by a tarpaulin whose stripings of red signaled danger. He found
+a sack in the craft. He pried open one of the boxes and out of the
+sawdust in which they were packed he drew brown cylinders and tucked
+them carefully into the sack. The cylinders were sticks of dynamite. The
+sack was capacious and he stuffed it full. The bag sagged heavily with
+the weight of the load when he swung it over his shoulder and started up
+the bank, away from the river.</p>
+
+<p>When Latisan walked away from Lida the mist again had lent its illusion,
+and he seemed to become of heroic size before the gray screen hid him
+from her sight.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>Vittum tried pathetically to relieve the stress of the silence.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The last peek at him made him look big enough to do &#8217;most anything he
+sets out to do.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes! But how can he fight them all single-handed?&#8221; She was pale and
+trembling.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If I&#8217;m any judge, by the direction he took just now he has gone up and
+tapped our stock of canned thunder, miss. And if I ain&#8217;t mistook about
+his notions, he is going to sound just about as big as he looked when we
+got that last peek!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The rivermen did not lounge on the ground, as they usually did when they
+were resting. They stood, tensely waiting for what Latisan&#8217;s manner of
+resolution had promised.</p>
+
+<p>Lida asked no more questions; she was unable to control her tones. She
+had been given a hint of Ward&#8217;s intentions by what the old man had said
+about the &#8220;canned thunder.&#8221; She did not dare to be informed as to the
+probable details of those intentions; to know fully the nature of the
+risk he was running would have made the agony of her apprehensiveness
+unendurable.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to them, waiting there, that what Latisan had undertaken was
+never going to happen. They were not checking off the time in minutes;
+for them time was standing still. The far grumble of waters in the gorge
+merely accentuated the hush&#8212;did not break upon the profound silence.
+When a chickadee lilted near at hand the men started nervously and the
+girl uttered a low cry; even a bird&#8217;s note had power to trip their
+nervous tension.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>The sound for which they were waiting came to them at last.</p>
+
+<p>It was a sound with a thud in it!</p>
+
+<p>Listeners who possessed an imagination would have found a suggestion of
+the crash of the hammer of Thor upon the mountain top.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He looked big enough for that when he left us!&#8221; muttered the old man.
+He had never heard of the pagan divinity whom men called Thor. His mind
+was on the river gladiator who had declared that he would come down
+heavy on his heels when he started.</p>
+
+<p>The brooding opacity which wrapped the scene made the location of the
+sound uncertain; but it was up somewhere among the hills. The echoes
+battered to and fro between the cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>Before those echoes died the sound was repeated.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s coming slow, but he&#8217;s come sure!&#8221; Vittum voiced their thoughts.
+&#8220;Them&#8217;s the footsteps of Latisan!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>On they came! And as they thrust their force upon the upper ledges there
+was a little jump of the earth under the feet of those who stood and
+waited.</p>
+
+<p>There was something indescribably grim and bodeful in those isochronal
+batterings of the solid ground. The echoes distracted the thoughts&#8212;made
+the ominous center of the sounds a matter of doubt. That uncertainty
+intensified the threat of what was approaching the dam of Skulltree.</p>
+
+<p>There were other sounds, after a few moments. Rifles were cracking
+persistently; but it was manifestly random firing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>The old man stepped to Lida and grasped her hand and held it. &#8220;Don&#8217;t be
+&#8217;feared for him, miss. They&#8217;re only guessing! He&#8217;ll be knowing the
+ledges&#8212;every lift of &#8217;em that&#8217;s betwixt him and them. They&#8217;ll never get
+him with their popguns. But he&#8217;ll get <em>them</em>!&#8221; he declared, with venom.
+&#8220;I wonder what Craig is thinking now, with his old bug eyes poking into
+that fog and doing him as much good as if he was stabbing a mill pond
+with his finger!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The rifle fire died away, after a desultory patter of shots.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re running!&#8221; said one of the crew. &#8220;They must be on the run!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You bet they&#8217;re running,&#8221; agreed the old man. &#8220;The Three C&#8217;s hasn&#8217;t got
+money enough to hire men, to stand up in front of what&#8217;s tromping down
+toward Skulltree! Heavier and heavier on his heels!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Measuredly slow, inexorably persistent, progressed the footsteps of the
+giant blasts.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan&#8217;s men needed no eye-proof in order to understand the method.</p>
+
+<p>The drive master was hurling the dynamite sticks far in advance of
+himself and to right and to left, making his own location a puzzling
+matter. The men had seen him bomb incipient jams in that fashion,
+lighting short fuses and heaving the explosive to a safe distance.</p>
+
+<p>The blasts were nearer and still nearer, and more frequent; the ground
+quaked under their feet; in the intervening silences they heard the
+whine and the rustle of upthrown litter in the air, the patterings and
+plops of debris raining into the spaces of the deadwater.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>Behind the attack was the menace of the bodefully unseen&#8212;the
+lawlessness of the fantastically unprecedented.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t blame the fellers with the guns, if they have quit,&#8221; commented
+Vittum. &#8220;They might as well try to lick the lightning in a
+thundercloud.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span><a name="twenty-nine" id="twenty-nine"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">MERN&#8217;S mercenaries were not cowards. They had served valiantly as guards
+of strike breakers, had fought in many forays, had winged their
+attackers, and had been winged in return. At mill gates they had
+resisted mobs and had endured missiles; they had ridden on trucks,
+protecting goods and drivers, through lanes of howling, hostile
+humanity; they had thrown the cordon of their bodies around dock
+workers.</p>
+
+<p>But the gunmen&#8217;s exploits in intrepidity had been, of and in the cities.</p>
+
+<p>The environment at Skulltree was the Great Open.</p>
+
+<p>They were not backed by solidity or barricaded behind walls. There was
+not the reassurance of good, honest earth under their feet; they were
+precariously perched in space, so it seemed&#8212;standing on the stringers
+of the dam, peering into a void of shrouding mists and thunderous
+waters, the wilderness all about them!</p>
+
+<p>In their battles in past times they had been able to see the foe; now
+they were called on to fight a noise&#8212;the bodeful detonations of blasts,
+to right, to left&#8212;here and there.</p>
+
+<p>There was a foe; he was on his way. They did not know what sort of ruin
+he purposed to wreak as the climax of his performance. Craig himself did
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>not know, so he affirmed in reply to anxious queries, and the boss&#8217;s
+uncertainty and increasing consternation added to the peculiar
+psychological menace of the thing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Give us orders, Mr. Craig!&#8221; pleaded the captain of the guards. &#8220;Show us
+something to fight against. How many of &#8217;em are there? Where are they?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s that damnable Latisan, working single-handed. I&#8217;m sure of it. Go
+get him!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you don&#8217;t get him, he&#8217;s going to blow up this dam,&#8221; stated the
+frightened lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>A far-flung bomb of dynamite landed in the water and shot a geyser
+spraying against the fog pall.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m taking that guess for gospel,&#8221; affirmed the chief gunman, wiping
+spray from his face. &#8220;Mr. Craig, you can&#8217;t expect us to hang on here,
+facing a thing like what&#8217;s coming!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Shoot him!&#8221; gasped the Comas director, but he was revolving on unsteady
+feet and the aimlessness of his gaze revealed that he had no definite
+idea of procedure; his incertitude wrecked all the courage of his
+supporters.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It can&#8217;t be done, sir. Not in this fog! We&#8217;d better get <span class="nowrap">ashore&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And let him wreck this dam?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If he&#8217;s going to wreck it, we&#8217;d better be off it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In his fear Craig became insulting, and that attitude ended his control
+of the situation. &#8220;You&#8217;re hired with money, you cowards! Now earn it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This is where your money can&#8217;t buy something for you, Mr. Craig,&#8221; the
+captain of the gunmen declared, and then he led the retreat of his squad
+across <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>Skulltree dam and into the woods on the far shore from the
+portentous, invisible peril.</p>
+
+<p>And with dire extremity clearing for the moment his clouded vision,
+enabling him to look squarely at the matter of service and loyalty as he
+was able to command it, Craig knew that when his money failed him in the
+north country he had no other resource. He had blinked that fact in the
+past, having found that in ordinary affairs his dollars were dominant;
+but this extraordinary event was knocking out from under him all the
+props of confidence; he felt bitterly alone all of a sudden.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll have to vamoose off this dam,&#8221; declared the deputy sheriff.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got your duty as an officer of the law,&#8221; shouted Craig,
+desperately feeling that in the case of this man, at least, he was
+making an appeal to something that was not covered by a money
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And I&#8217;ve got my common sense, too!&#8221; retorted the sheriff. He started
+away.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So have I,&#8221; agreed the attorney, a lawyer who had obeyed a telegram and
+had joined the Craig expedition at the shire town of the county the
+night before.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s an injunction!&#8221; stormed the field director.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And there&#8217;s a lunatic with a sack of dynamite.&#8221; The lawyer crooked his
+arm across his face; a missile from the white void had splashed near by
+and water sprayed him. &#8220;You have told me that Latisan is no longer in
+Flagg&#8217;s service. I&#8217;m not depending now on law, Mr. Craig, I&#8217;m depending
+on my legs.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He fled on the trail of the officer. But he left a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>pregnant thought in
+Craig&#8217;s mind: Latisan was not an employee of Echford Flagg. As a matter
+of fact, Craig owned to himself&#8212;his clarity of vision persisting in
+that time of overwhelming disaster, in the wreck of the hopes built on
+the power of his money&#8212;that the thing had now become almost wholly a
+personal, guerrilla warfare between himself and Latisan; and when the
+truth came out, if the matter were forced to that issue, Craig would
+lack the backing of authority fully as much as Latisan lacked it then,
+in his assault on property. The bluff of the guns had not worked! Craig
+was realizing that in hiring such men, as he had on the spur of the
+moment, his rage instead of his business good judgment had prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>There were the repeated warnings of his superiors! The law would be
+obliged to investigate if Skulltree dam were wrecked, and would probe to
+the bottom of the moving reasons! Scandal, rank scandal! Craig could
+behold President Horatio Marlow as he sat that day with upraised,
+monitory forefinger, urging the touchy matter of credits and reputation.
+Craig could hear Dawes, the attorney: &#8220;That talk puts the thing up to
+you square-edged!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Down from the mist-shrouded cliff was advancing a vengeful man who
+walked with the footsteps of thunder.</p>
+
+<p>As Craig had looked ahead, basing his judgment on his experience with
+men and matters, it had seemed an easy matter to guard Skulltree with
+money and law. But in this astounding sortie of Latisan&#8217;s, Comas money
+was of no use and Craig was developing an acute fear of the law which,
+invoked, would <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>take matters into court. Over and over, his alarmed
+convictions pounded on his caution.</p>
+
+<p>He crouched under a rain of dirt and pebbles&#8212;then he ran away.</p>
+
+<p>When he reached the far shore he jumped into a bateau that was pulled up
+there. With all the power of his lungs he yelled for rowers. He was
+obliged to confess loudly and unreservedly that he was giving up the
+fight&#8212;was seeking a way of stopping Latisan&#8212;before any of his men
+would come from the shelter of woods and fog and serve him.</p>
+
+<p>He cursed them with the vigor of a master of galley slaves when the
+bateau was frothing along the deadwater. Then he bellowed into the fog,
+seeking a replying hail which would locate for him the Flagg crew. There
+was no repentance in him; his was a panic of compromise&#8212;a headlong rush
+to save himself from consequences. There was just as much uncertainty
+about what Latisan would do as there was about the dynamiter&#8217;s exact
+location in that fog.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, Craig announced himself with raucous staccato of: &#8220;I quit! I
+quit! Get that man! Tell him I quit!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Men hailed from the shore and their voices guided the rowers. Craig
+leaped from the bow of the bateau and waded for the last few yards.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Go stop him! Bring him here!&#8221; He tossed his arms.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Huh!&#8221; scoffed old Vittum. &#8220;That&#8217;s a job for somebody who can tell which
+way the next stroke of lightning is heading.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll give five hundred dollars to the man who&#8217;ll <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span>get to him and stop
+him before he smashes that dam!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig added to the other visions which had been torturing him the
+possible catastrophe of the Comas logs roaring through past the mouth of
+a useless canal; he could look ahead still farther and see the grins of
+the sawmill men down the Noda, setting their own prices.</p>
+
+<p>Once more Craig was finding that his money was getting him nothing that
+day, and his sense of helplessness was revealed by his sagging jowls and
+dolorous eyes; and he had always depended on what money could buy!</p>
+
+<p>There was no alacrity for service shown by any man of Flagg&#8217;s crew.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not afraid,&#8221; said Felix Lapierre, breaking on Craig&#8217;s furious
+taunts. &#8220;We have promise&#8217; to keep off and let him make good for
+himself&#8212;the lone hand&#8212;that&#8217;s it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s it!&#8221; agreed Vittum.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He has made good,&#8221; bleated the Comas man. &#8220;If he goes any farther it
+will only be bad.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The dialogue was taking place disjointedly in the silences between the
+blasts. But Craig made himself heard above the next explosion. &#8220;He&#8217;s
+ripping hell out of that dam now. Get to him. A thousand dollars for the
+man who stops him!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No man in this crew needs any of your money!&#8221; Lida was defiantly in
+front of the Comas director. &#8220;But if you&#8217;re ready to listen to reason
+after <span class="nowrap">this&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>She broke off and turned from him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>Before they realized that she had volunteered, she was away in the fog.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment they heard her voice, raised in a thrilling call, appealing
+to the avenger.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;ll fetch him back&#8212;even if he was two miles deep in hell,&#8221; Craig
+was informed by one of the men. &#8220;It&#8217;s a lucky thing for the Three C&#8217;s
+that she&#8217;s on the job to-day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The Comas director stood holding to a tree. He shivered every time an
+explosion clanged its echoes from cliff to cliff.</p>
+
+<p>And when, after a waiting that was agony, the dreadful bombardment
+ceased, Craig staggered to the bateau and sat down on its prow.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t blame you for looking that way,&#8221; said Vittum. &#8220;If Latisan had
+been driven to get that dam to-day you would have lost your drive for
+the canal; and, before God and your directors, you would have been
+responsible!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When Latisan came out of the fog he had put away, somewhere, the sack
+which had held destruction.</p>
+
+<p>When he had gone away from them, entering upon the perils of his
+undertaking, he was calm and resolute. Now that he was back, a champion
+who had prevailed single-handed, he was pale, trembling, and broken;
+they did not understand, at first.</p>
+
+<p>Lida came with him, trying to soothe him, pleading and protesting; he
+constantly muttered broken speech and seemed to be trying to control a
+mood that was half frenzy. He left her and stumbled across the open
+space to Craig.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>&#8220;Everything else you have done&#8212;it&#8217;s nothing as bad as this last. You
+sent her where you didn&#8217;t dare to go yourself. Good God! you Comas
+sneak, I ought to kill you where you sit! For all you cared you were
+making me a murderer of an innocent girl!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You had to be stopped. She went before I knew what she was going to
+do.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And if she hadn&#8217;t gone on her own account you would have tried to hire
+her to do it! It&#8217;s always a case of what you can buy with your
+money&#8212;that&#8217;s your style, Craig. Now you&#8217;re up against something you
+can&#8217;t buy. I&#8217;m still working alone&#8212;understand that? If you want to
+report me as an outlaw, go ahead! I&#8217;m giving you squarer warning than
+you gave me on the Tomah when you smashed the Latisans. If I smash that
+dam down there I&#8217;ll be smashing you! I&#8217;ll do it if you put as much as a
+toothpick in the way of the independent drives. I&#8217;ll blow the bottom out
+of your canal, in the bargain. And if you think you or your gang can
+locate me over there&#8221;&#8212;he pointed in the direction of the hills of the
+watershed between the rivers basins&#8212;&#8220;try it! I know every hole in those
+hills. I&#8217;ll keep bombing your drives till you can&#8217;t keep a man on the
+job. That&#8217;s the kind of an outlaw I am from now on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s between us now, Latisan. I&#8217;ll own up to it. It has come to that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it&#8217;s between renegades. I&#8217;m admitting that I&#8217;m one,&#8221; retorted
+Ward.</p>
+
+<p>Craig stood up. If there was any of the spirit of Three C&#8217;s bluster left
+in him he was concealing it successfully.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>&#8220;Latisan, all these men have heard me say that I quit. I lost my head
+and was pushing the thing too far, considering it from a business
+standpoint. Can I be any more honest than that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It sounds all right, but I take stock in you only to the extent that
+you&#8217;ll stay in line if I stay on the job. I shall stay, as I have warned
+you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Suppose we talk turkey about the common rights at Skulltree!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll have to talk with Miss Kennard about her grandfather&#8217;s
+interests. I&#8217;m simply a chance comer here!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Latisan walked away and leaned against a tree.</p>
+
+<p>Craig approached Lida. &#8220;We have already had some talk about the matter,
+I believe. I retreat from the position I have taken. Evidently we must
+make mutual allowances. What have you thought out about the details of a
+plan to let your logs through?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The girl did not reply; she had no plans; she did not understand such
+matters.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll have to decide on the head of water you&#8217;ll need, and I take it
+you&#8217;ll allow us enough for the canal so that we can save our drive.&#8221;
+Craig was trying hard to offer compromise, but he was not able to
+repress all his sarcastic venom. &#8220;There&#8217;s the matter of sorting and the
+other details. I&#8217;ll have to ask for your views, Miss Kennard, because
+any misunderstanding may be dangerous, so I have been informed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She looked helplessly from Craig to Latisan. The latter&#8217;s aloofness,
+which he had displayed ever since he first appeared to her that day, his
+present peculiar <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>relationship to the affair, his insistence that he
+must serve alone, made her problem more complex. Her vivid yearning was
+to give all into Latisan&#8217;s keeping, but she did not dare to propose it.</p>
+
+<p>She looked at Vittum and Felix, seeking advice. The French Canadian
+smiled and shrugged his shoulders, evading responsibility. He did not
+understand such matters, either.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose I might be able to dig up some sort o&#8217; general ideas, give me
+time enough,&#8221; said Vittum, when her eyes questioned him anxiously. &#8220;But
+I&#8217;m sort of hazy right now.&#8221; He winked at her and ducked his head to
+indicate Latisan.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid!&#8221; she phrased the lament with a doleful motion of her lips
+rather than with spoken words.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It can&#8217;t be said but what he&#8217;ll be impartial&#8212;the best one to ask,&#8221;
+mumbled Vittum, stepping close to her. &#8220;He ain&#8217;t hired by either side,
+as I understand it!&#8221; He was ironic, but there was a suggestion which she
+grasped desperately. She went to Latisan. Their conversation was in an
+undertone and the bystanders did not hear the words.</p>
+
+<p>When she returned to Craig, Lida, confident in her new poise, reassured,
+informed in a fashion which fortified her self-reliance, met the Comas
+man with a demeanor which did credit to the granddaughter of Echford
+Flagg.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have not tried to involve Mr. Latisan in any way. I have asked his
+advice as an expert.&#8221; She looked straight into the shifting eyes of the
+Comas director. &#8220;Last fall he was at Tech, and took a special course in
+hydraulic engineering. You know <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>that, of course, Mr. Craig!&#8221; She paused
+till he bowed to admit the truth with which she insisted on displacing
+the lie which had followed Latisan in the north country. &#8220;And Mr.
+Latisan has had a great deal of practical experience on his own drives.
+It seems absolutely necessary to have a sorting gap here, with men of
+both crews handling the logs. When our timber is through the
+sluiceway&#8212;the daily run of logs&#8212;we are to be given a head of water
+which will take us through the gorge. As to the logs upriver&#8212;the
+rear&#8212;we are willing to join drives with you, Mr. Craig, so that we may
+use all the water together.&#8221; She set back her shoulders. &#8220;That plan will
+serve us this season. For another season the independents will have laws
+of their own from the legislature. I&#8217;m quite sure that the independents
+have waked up and know now what some special legislative acts can do for
+their interests.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I beg your pardon for breaking in, Miss Kennard,&#8221; said Latisan, from
+his distance. &#8220;But this seems to be the time for me to say to Mr. Craig,
+in the presence of witnesses, that the same plan goes for the Tomah
+region. The independents over there can&#8217;t be licked, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nor the Latisans,&#8221; shouted somebody in the Flagg crew.</p>
+
+<p>That friendly corroboration of the young man&#8217;s inmost determination
+served as a challenge. The drive master walked toward Craig and shook
+his fist. &#8220;No, nor the Latisans! We have a sawmill, and we&#8217;re not
+worrying about the logs to feed it. But you understand, Mr. Craig, that
+the independents <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>must have gangway on the river for their cut. And we
+know how to get gangway!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He went back to his tree and resumed his whittling.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To me the future looks very promising,&#8221; said Lida. &#8220;We&#8217;re all a little
+disturbed now, Mr. Craig, but we&#8217;re coming to a perfect understanding.
+Don&#8217;t you think so?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig did not reply at once, and she added, with ingenuous affectation
+of desiring to bring forward reasons for his agreement, &#8220;If the Comas
+company does join drives with us you will have the help of a perfectly
+wonderful crew, Mr. Craig. I&#8217;m told that we&#8217;re a week or ten days ahead
+of the usual time&#8212;and the men have never seemed to be considering mere
+wages!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The Three C&#8217;s director rolled his eyes, avoiding her candidly provoking
+regard. He shifted his gaze to Latisan, who had turned his back on the
+group and was still whittling placidly, propped against a tree by his
+shoulder. &#8220;Wonderful teamwork,&#8221; growled the Comas man. &#8220;But sticking out
+for anything else will be a fool stunt. Miss Kennard, there&#8217;s a lawyer
+over there in the woods, somewhere! The thing to do now seems to be to
+hunt him up so that he can help us to pass papers of agreement.&#8221; He
+swung his hand to indicate the bateau. &#8220;Will you go with me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated. Then she smiled amiably on Craig. &#8220;I think I&#8217;d rather
+walk along the path, sir. I&#8217;ll meet you and the lawyer at this end of
+the dam.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Craig trudged down to the boat and was swept away into the fog.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan did not turn; he kept on whittling.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>&#8221;Mr. Latisan!&#8220; she invited. &#8221;May I have your company to the dam? I&#8217;m
+sorry to trouble you, but I may be obliged to refer to you for further
+advice.&#8220;</p>
+
+<p>&#8221;I feel called on to remark,&#8220; said old Vittum, always an irrepressible
+commentator when comment seemed to be necessary, speaking after Latisan
+and Lida had walked away into the mist&#8212;&#8221;I&#8217;ll say to all that she knows
+her business.&#8220;</p>
+
+<p>&#8221;But it was Latisan who advised her,&#8220; objected a literalist.</p>
+
+<p>&#8221;Hell! I ain&#8217;t speaking of this drive,&#8220; snapped the old man. &#8221;I&#8217;m
+complimenting her on a job where she doesn&#8217;t need anybody&#8217;s advice!&#8220;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span><a name="thirty" id="thirty"></a>CHAPTER THIRTY</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">THE sun at meridian that day burned away the mists, for it was May and
+the high sun was able to prevail.</p>
+
+<p>The sluiceway of Skulltree dam was open and in the caldron of the gorge
+a yeasty flood boiled and the sunlight painted rainbows in the drifting
+spume. Rolling cumbrously, end over end, at the foot of the sluice,
+lifting glistening, dripping flanks, sinking and darting through the
+white smother of the waters, the logs of the Flagg drive had begun their
+flight to the holdbooms of Adonia.</p>
+
+<p>Lida and the taciturn squire whom she had drafted had climbed to the
+cliffs above the gorge in order to behold the first fruits of the
+compact which had been concluded with Craig and the Comas. Latisan went
+with her to the cliff because she had asked him to show her the way. His
+manner with her was not exactly shyness; she had been studying him,
+trying anxiously to penetrate his thoughts. He was reserved, but
+awkwardly so; it was more like embarrassment; it was a mingling of
+deference and despair in the face of a barrier.</p>
+
+<p>It was warm up there where the sun beat against the granite, and she
+pulled off the jacket which had been one of her credentials in the north
+country. &#8220;I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>took the liberty of wearing it&#8212;and the cap. I&#8217;ll not need
+them any more.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She took the cap from her head. The breeze which had followed the calm
+of the mist fluttered a loose lock of her hair across her forehead and
+the sun lighted a glint within the tress. He gazed and blinked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I heard you had them&#8212;I heard it in Mern&#8217;s office in New York,&#8221; he
+said, with poor tact.</p>
+
+<p>She offered them and he took the garments, clutching the cap and holding
+the jacket across his arm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t blame you for looking at me as you do,&#8221; she went on, demurely
+and deprecatingly feminine at that moment. She smoothed her blouse with
+both hands and glanced down at her stained and ragged skirt. &#8220;It&#8217;s my
+only warm dress and I&#8217;ve lived and slept in it&#8212;and I haven&#8217;t minded a
+bit when the coffee slopped. I was trying to do my best.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He rocked his head voicelessly, helplessly&#8212;striving to fit speech to
+the thoughts that surged in him.</p>
+
+<p>Then she made a request which perturbed him still more: &#8220;You came up
+here on horseback, I think you said. May I borrow the horse?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you mean that you&#8217;re going away?&#8221; he gulped.</p>
+
+<p>She spread her hands and again glanced down at her attire. She was
+hiding deeper motives behind the thin screen of concern for her
+wardrobe, trying to make a jest of the situation, and not succeeding.
+&#8220;You must own up that I need to go shopping.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He turned from her to the chasm where the logs were tumbling along.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And there&#8217;s nothing to keep me here any longer, Mr. Latisan, now that
+you have come back!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>He faced her again, swinging with a haste that ground his heels sharply
+on the ledge. But she put up her hand when he opened his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you think it will do us any good to bring up what has happened? I
+don&#8217;t. I implore you not to mention it. You have come back to your
+work&#8212;it&#8217;s waiting for you. After what you have done to-day you&#8217;ll never
+need to lower your eyes before any man on this river. In my heart, when
+I gave you your cap and jacket, I was asking you to take back your work.
+I ask you with all the earnestness that&#8217;s in me! Won&#8217;t you do it?&#8221; There
+was a hint of a sob in her tones, but her eyes were full of the
+confidence of one who felt that she was not asking vainly.</p>
+
+<p>He did not hesitate. But words were still beyond the reach of his
+tongue. He dragged off the billycock hat which he had bought in town and
+scaled it far out into the turbid flood. He pulled off the wrinkled coat
+of the ready-made suit and tossed it down the side of the cliff. With
+the cap on his head and buckling the belt of the jacket he stood before
+her. &#8220;The men gave me my chance to-day; you&#8217;re giving me a bigger one.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then I&#8217;m only wasting your time&#8212;up here!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It had not been in Latisan&#8217;s mind that he would make any reference to
+the past; she had implored him to keep silent and he was determined to
+obey. He was rigidly resolved to offer no plea for the future; this was
+the granddaughter&#8212;presumably the heiress of Echford Flagg, to be taken
+into her own after this service she had rendered. A Latisan of the
+broken Latisans had no right to lift his eyes to her!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>If there had been a twinkle of hope for his comfort in her attitude of
+reliance on him after he had arrived at Skulltree, there was none at
+that moment, for she had become distinctly dignified and distant. He
+swung back to that bitter conclusion which he had made a part of his
+convictions when he had pondered on the matter in his little room in New
+York&#8212;her frantically pledged affection had been only a part of her
+campaign of sacrifice. He was not blaming her for the pretense&#8212;he was
+not calling it deceit. She had fought for her own with such weapons as
+she could command in a time of stress.</p>
+
+<p>He followed her meekly when she hurried down from the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>On the path which led back to the Flagg camp a breathless cookee met
+them. &#8220;A team is here from Adonia, miss. It&#8217;s the big bays&#8212;Mr. Flagg&#8217;s
+horses.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Instinctively she turned to Ward, making him her prop as she had done
+previously on that day.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been expecting it,&#8221; he told her. &#8220;It&#8217;s just what your grandfather
+would do after he got word that Craig had gone through Adonia with his
+roughnecks. Mr. Flagg wouldn&#8217;t leave you here to face what was
+threatened.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t tell my grandfather who I was. Dick promised to keep the
+secret,&#8221; she faltered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Remember! Words have wings up in this region! I explained to you once,
+Miss Kennard, and you know what happened when I let loose that flock of
+them at Adonia&#8212;like a fool. I don&#8217;t dare to think about it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>He paced away from her; then he returned, calm again. &#8220;Mr. Flagg must
+have heard&#8212;he would keep in touch with what has been going on up
+here&#8212;and after he knew, it would be his style to let you go ahead and
+win out. He would understand what it is you&#8217;re trying to do. His sending
+that team, now that he is afraid of danger, proves that he knows.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When she ran on ahead Latisan did not try to keep up with her; he was
+once again the drive boss of Flagg&#8217;s crew, a hired man; he had no excuse
+for meddling in the family affairs of his employers, he reflected, and
+in his new humility he was avoiding anything which might savor of
+inquisitive surveillance.</p>
+
+<p>The man who had put the horses to the jumper in Adonia, the man whom she
+knew as Jeff, was the deputy whom Flagg had sent. He had come in
+haste&#8212;that was plain to her; he was mopping the flanks of the sweating
+bays.</p>
+
+<p>The deference with which he touched his cap informed her fully as to the
+amount of knowledge possessed by the Flagg household. He unbuttoned, one
+after the other, his overcoat, his inner coat, his waistcoat, and from
+the deepest recess in his garments produced a sealed letter; his
+precautions in regard to it attested the value he put on a communication
+from the master to the master&#8217;s granddaughter.</p>
+
+<p>The envelope was blank.</p>
+
+<p>The men of the shift that had been relieved stood about her in a circle.
+The arrival of the bays was an event which matched the other sensational
+happenings of the crowded day, and she was conscious that, without
+meaning to be disrespectful, the men were han<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>kering to be taken wholly
+into her confidence&#8212;were expecting that much favor from her.</p>
+
+<p>Granddaughter of Echford Flagg she might be&#8212;but more than all she was
+one of the crew, that season, a companion who had inspired them, toiled
+with them, and triumphed with them. If any more good news had come they,
+as friends, were entitled to know it, their expressions told her. They
+were distinctly conveying to her their notion that she should stand
+there and read the letter aloud.</p>
+
+<p>The hand which clutched the missive was trembling, and she was filled
+with dread in spite of the consoling thought that she had achieved so
+much. She was afraid to open the letter and she escaped out of the
+circle of inquiring faces and hid herself in her tent; even the crude
+flourish of importance displayed by the manner of Jeff in delivering the
+communication to her had its effect in making her fears more profound.
+The whims of old age&#8212;Flagg had dwelt on the subject! She remembered
+that when she was in the big house with Latisan, her grandfather had
+beat on the page of the Bible and had anathematized the ties of family
+in his arraignment of faults. He had been kind, after his fashion, when
+she was incognito, but now that he <span class="nowrap">knew&#8212;&#8212;</span></p>
+
+<p>She ripped the envelope from the letter and opened the sheet; it was a
+broad sheet and had been folded many times to make it fit the envelope.</p>
+
+<p>It was more like rude print than handwriting. At first she thought that
+her grandfather had been able to master a makeshift chirography with his
+left hand. But boldly at the top of the sheet, as a preface of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>apology,
+was this statement: &#8220;Dicktated to Dick and excuse looks and mesteaks.
+Hese a poor tool at writtin.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Crouching on her bed of boughs, the sheet on her knees, her hands
+clutched into her wind-rumpled hair above her temples, she read the
+letter which her grandfather had contrived with the help of his drafted
+amanuensis.</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<p>To my Grand-daughter. He have to use short words and few. Dick
+is slow and can&#8217;t spel.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Lida&#8217;s thoughts were running parallel with her reading, and she
+remembered that, in those letters of hideous arraignment which she had
+found in her mother&#8217;s effects, Echford Flagg&#8217;s own spelling was
+fantastically original. But under the layers of ugly malediction she had
+found pathos: he said that he&#8217;d had no schooling of his own, and on that
+account had been led to turn his business over to the better but
+dishonest ability of Alfred Kennard.</p>
+
+<p>Reading on, she could picture the scene&#8212;the two old men toiling with
+pathetic earnestness over the task of preparing that letter; here and
+there, the words only partially deleted by lines run across them, were
+evidences that in his flustration under the master&#8217;s vitriolic
+complaints, old Dick had confused comment with dictated matter&#8212;and had
+included comment in his unthinking haste to get everything down. Three
+times a &#8220;Dam your pelt&#8221; had been written and crossed out.</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<p>He tell you I knew you when I gave you my old cant dog.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>Lida gasped when she read the blunt declaration. She might have guessed
+that Echford Flagg would have repulsed a stranger; he had disguised his
+true sentiments under the excuse of an old man&#8217;s whim!</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<p>I let you go. It was making a squair deal between you and me.
+Nicola sent me a man to tell me how you had gorn north with his
+men and so I took Dick back after I had fired him.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was at this point that a particularly prominent &#8220;Dam your pelt&#8221; was
+interjected.</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<p>The old fool would have blabbed to me what you told him to keep
+quiet about. He aint fit to be trusted with any secrits. But he
+was scard to tell me you was Lida. I told him. But the Comas
+helyun has gorn past here with men and guns. Let him have the
+logs. I want you, my granddaughter. Come home.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Tears flooded her eyes. &#8220;Come home!&#8221; Old Dick had printed those words in
+bold letters.</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<p>This is in haist but he has been 2 hours writtin it and so
+I send Jeff to bring you. Dont wait. Kepe away from danjur.
+Come home.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>And old Dick, the toiling scribe, had smuggled in at the bottom of the
+sheet a postscript, a vicarious confession which Echford Flagg did not
+know how to make, &#8220;Hese cryin and monein for you. Come home!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was as if those two summoning words were spoken in her ear,
+plaintively and quaveringly.</p>
+
+<p>She ran from the tent, carrying her little bag and the cant dog scepter
+of the Flaggs.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>&#8220;Can you start back at once?&#8221; she called to Jeff.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Aye! It&#8217;s orders.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She saw Latisan at the shore, directing the movements of the men; he was
+once more the drive master, his cant dog in his hand, terse in his
+commands, obeyed in his authority.</p>
+
+<p>He pulled off his cap and walked to meet her when she hastened toward
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going back to Adonia.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My guess was right, you see!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are you coming soon to report?&#8212;Shall I tell my <span class="nowrap">grandfather&#8212;&#8212;&#8221;</span> She
+halted in her query as if she were regretting the eagerness in her tone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll leave it to you to tell him all that has happened up here. But you
+may say to him, if you will, that I&#8217;m staying with the drive from now
+on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her charioteer swung the big bays and headed them toward the mouth of
+the tote road, halting them near her.</p>
+
+<p>Her emotions were struggling from the fetters with which she tried to
+bind them. Those men standing around! She wished they would go away
+about their business, but they surveyed her with the satisfied air of
+persons who felt that they belonged in all matters that were on foot.</p>
+
+<p>Latisan was repressed, grave, keeping his place, as he had assigned a
+status to himself. She was glad when old Vittum broke upon the silence
+that had become embarrassing. &#8220;It won&#8217;t be like what it has been, after
+you&#8217;re gone, Miss Lida Kennard. But I feel that I&#8217;m speaking for the men
+when I say that you&#8217;re entitled to a lay-off, and if you&#8217;ll be out on
+the hill <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>where you can wave your hand to us when we ride the leader
+logs into the hold-boom, we&#8217;ll all be much obligated to you! I was
+thinking of calling for three cheers, but I remember how this idea
+seemed to hit better.&#8221; He led the procession of men past her; they
+scrubbed their toil-roughened palms across their breasts and gave her
+silent pledges when they grasped her hand. &#8220;It&#8217;s sort of a family
+party,&#8221; said Vittum.</p>
+
+<p>There was inspiration for her in that suggestion. This was no time for
+convention, for placid weighing of this consideration against that, for
+strait-laced repression. The environment encouraged her. Her exulting
+joy drove her on.</p>
+
+<p>Once before, forced by the intensity of her need, she had made small
+account of convenances. But she acknowledged that a half truth had
+nearly compassed destruction of her hopes and the ruin of a man; a liar
+had taken advantage of an equivocal position. But now the whole truth
+about her was clear. Her identity was known&#8212;her motives were beyond all
+question. And there were no vindictive liars among those loyal followers
+who had come storming down the river for the sake of her cause.</p>
+
+<p>If she did what she had in her mind to do, what was it except the
+confirmation of a pledge and the carrying out of a promise?</p>
+
+<p>But when she looked appealingly up at Latisan he was steadfastly staring
+past her. Her impulses were already galloping, but the instant prick of
+pique was the final urge which made the impulses fairly run away.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>She reached out and took Ward&#8217;s hand and pressed it between her palms.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If it&#8217;s because I&#8217;m Lida Kennard instead of the table girl at Brophy&#8217;s
+tavern, you&#8217;re foolish,&#8221; she whispered, standing on tiptoe. &#8220;I gave you
+my promise. But perhaps you think it isn&#8217;t binding because there was no
+seal, such as I put on that lawyer&#8217;s paper down at the dam.
+Well&#8212;then&#8212;here&#8217;s the seal.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She flung her arms about his neck and kissed his cheek.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now let the winged word take flight through the region!&#8221; she told
+herself. No man could misunderstand the declaration of that kiss!</p>
+
+<p>When Latisan came to his senses sufficiently to move his muscles, she
+avoided his groping arms and ran to the wagon. For a moment the big bays
+crouched, expecting the whistling sweep of the whip, bending their necks
+to watch the passenger climbing to her seat.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wait!&#8221; begged Latisan. He stumbled toward the wagon, staring at her,
+tripped by the earth ridges to which he paid no heed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes!&#8221; she promised. And then in tones that were low and thrilling and
+significant with honest pledge she said, &#8220;I&#8217;ll wait for you&#8212;at home&#8212;at
+home!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jeff obeyed her quick command and swung the whistling whip, and Latisan
+stood gazing after her.</p>
+
+<p>The men respected his stunned absorption in his thoughts. They went
+scattering to their work. Felix walked with Vittum.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ba gor!&#8221; The French Canadian vented the ejacu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>lation after taking a
+deep breath. &#8220;When she say it to him&#8212;as she say it&#8212;it make goose flesh
+wiggle all over maself!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As I have said!&#8221; Vittum was trudging along, his eyes on a big plug of
+tobacco from which he was paring a slice. &#8220;As I have said!&#8221; He slid the
+slice into his mouth from the blade of the knife. &#8220;She knows her
+business!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 22667-h.txt or 22667-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/6/6/22667">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/6/6/22667</a></p>
+<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.</p>
+
+<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>.
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a>
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a>
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a>
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/22667-h/images/logo.png b/22667-h/images/logo.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..444f885
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-h/images/logo.png
diff --git a/22667-h/images/quote.png b/22667-h/images/quote.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f0a7ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-h/images/quote.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/f001.png b/22667-page-images/f001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5825a17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/f001.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/f002.png b/22667-page-images/f002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bd3049
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/f002.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/f003.png b/22667-page-images/f003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c8aaff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/f003.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/f004.png b/22667-page-images/f004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9a439c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/f004.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/f005.png b/22667-page-images/f005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a07c12d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/f005.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p001.png b/22667-page-images/p001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..446ad6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p001.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p002.png b/22667-page-images/p002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80fb3a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p002.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p003.png b/22667-page-images/p003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f2d7da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p003.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p004.png b/22667-page-images/p004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8646928
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p004.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p005.png b/22667-page-images/p005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..032f99d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p005.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p006.png b/22667-page-images/p006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33b5376
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p006.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p007.png b/22667-page-images/p007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d32983
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p007.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p008.png b/22667-page-images/p008.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb340fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p008.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p009.png b/22667-page-images/p009.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c86b59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p009.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p010.png b/22667-page-images/p010.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d87a600
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p010.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p011.png b/22667-page-images/p011.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db41026
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p011.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p012.png b/22667-page-images/p012.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2df2cc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p012.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p013.png b/22667-page-images/p013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d188763
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p013.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p014.png b/22667-page-images/p014.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..840e650
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p014.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p015.png b/22667-page-images/p015.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e335111
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p015.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p016.png b/22667-page-images/p016.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3432d23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p016.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p017.png b/22667-page-images/p017.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..496c632
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p017.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p018.png b/22667-page-images/p018.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..214f2a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p018.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p019.png b/22667-page-images/p019.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7ed37a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p019.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p020.png b/22667-page-images/p020.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5bd14a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p020.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p021.png b/22667-page-images/p021.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16bbe96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p021.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p022.png b/22667-page-images/p022.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da2e03f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p022.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p023.png b/22667-page-images/p023.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d48664f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p023.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p024.png b/22667-page-images/p024.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b07c57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p024.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p025.png b/22667-page-images/p025.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a78286
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p025.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p026.png b/22667-page-images/p026.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e806c7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p026.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p027.png b/22667-page-images/p027.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dcfae05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p027.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p028.png b/22667-page-images/p028.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f394e2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p028.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p029.png b/22667-page-images/p029.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df574aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p029.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p030.png b/22667-page-images/p030.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f5dcdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p030.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p031.png b/22667-page-images/p031.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0895e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p031.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p032.png b/22667-page-images/p032.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c3e12f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p032.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p033.png b/22667-page-images/p033.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..150ff47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p033.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p034.png b/22667-page-images/p034.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..32a7d4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p034.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p035.png b/22667-page-images/p035.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..995a7f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p035.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p036.png b/22667-page-images/p036.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ccb3d5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p036.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p037.png b/22667-page-images/p037.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9023362
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p037.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p038.png b/22667-page-images/p038.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af142a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p038.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p039.png b/22667-page-images/p039.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a81af9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p039.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p040.png b/22667-page-images/p040.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e0a3fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p040.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p041.png b/22667-page-images/p041.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c33b9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p041.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p042.png b/22667-page-images/p042.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5641e49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p042.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p043.png b/22667-page-images/p043.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e91495b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p043.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p044.png b/22667-page-images/p044.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2adc11c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p044.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p045.png b/22667-page-images/p045.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eed57cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p045.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p046.png b/22667-page-images/p046.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a39f44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p046.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p047.png b/22667-page-images/p047.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8be840d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p047.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p048.png b/22667-page-images/p048.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37d5ada
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p048.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p049.png b/22667-page-images/p049.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0257f15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p049.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p050.png b/22667-page-images/p050.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a95f48f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p050.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p051.png b/22667-page-images/p051.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01215f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p051.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p052.png b/22667-page-images/p052.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a685a58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p052.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p053.png b/22667-page-images/p053.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f7ba48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p053.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p054.png b/22667-page-images/p054.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f8ef37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p054.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p055.png b/22667-page-images/p055.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e7e133
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p055.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p056.png b/22667-page-images/p056.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5855e1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p056.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p057.png b/22667-page-images/p057.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9aa857b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p057.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p058.png b/22667-page-images/p058.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84c2c17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p058.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p059.png b/22667-page-images/p059.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..edd4b9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p059.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p060.png b/22667-page-images/p060.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4153859
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p060.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p061.png b/22667-page-images/p061.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44da1d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p061.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p062.png b/22667-page-images/p062.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f3383c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p062.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p063.png b/22667-page-images/p063.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5fa4d12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p063.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p064.png b/22667-page-images/p064.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c38bd29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p064.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p065.png b/22667-page-images/p065.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9de6d0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p065.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p066.png b/22667-page-images/p066.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3302a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p066.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p067.png b/22667-page-images/p067.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6dae6d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p067.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p068.png b/22667-page-images/p068.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92815ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p068.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p069.png b/22667-page-images/p069.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6afbc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p069.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p070.png b/22667-page-images/p070.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16b5f93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p070.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p071.png b/22667-page-images/p071.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e944a6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p071.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p072.png b/22667-page-images/p072.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f7a432
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p072.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p073.png b/22667-page-images/p073.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eceff9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p073.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p074.png b/22667-page-images/p074.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b17e058
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p074.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p075.png b/22667-page-images/p075.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ddb2b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p075.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p076.png b/22667-page-images/p076.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..729ce2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p076.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p077.png b/22667-page-images/p077.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..70960b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p077.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p078.png b/22667-page-images/p078.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f30da9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p078.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p079.png b/22667-page-images/p079.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80817dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p079.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p080.png b/22667-page-images/p080.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a218405
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p080.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p081.png b/22667-page-images/p081.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87fafab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p081.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p082.png b/22667-page-images/p082.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b3e946
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p082.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p083.png b/22667-page-images/p083.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d32427
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p083.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p084.png b/22667-page-images/p084.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..506875d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p084.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p085.png b/22667-page-images/p085.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85a849c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p085.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p086.png b/22667-page-images/p086.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3775417
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p086.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p087.png b/22667-page-images/p087.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f192354
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p087.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p088.png b/22667-page-images/p088.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01f4221
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p088.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p089.png b/22667-page-images/p089.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..680e24b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p089.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p090.png b/22667-page-images/p090.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f90627e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p090.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p091.png b/22667-page-images/p091.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f07cee6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p091.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p092.png b/22667-page-images/p092.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4cc8706
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p092.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p093.png b/22667-page-images/p093.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2079c25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p093.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p094.png b/22667-page-images/p094.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bcba9bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p094.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p095.png b/22667-page-images/p095.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..955e435
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p095.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p096.png b/22667-page-images/p096.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7cd6aaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p096.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p097.png b/22667-page-images/p097.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0df630c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p097.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p098.png b/22667-page-images/p098.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b3a6ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p098.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p099.png b/22667-page-images/p099.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..edb3001
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p099.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p100.png b/22667-page-images/p100.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c94b157
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p100.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p101.png b/22667-page-images/p101.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7f3288
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p101.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p102.png b/22667-page-images/p102.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1137c97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p102.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p103.png b/22667-page-images/p103.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7b0af7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p103.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p104.png b/22667-page-images/p104.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bc4b00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p104.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p105.png b/22667-page-images/p105.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9cde1e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p105.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p106.png b/22667-page-images/p106.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2710b8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p106.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p107.png b/22667-page-images/p107.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..688e5b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p107.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p108.png b/22667-page-images/p108.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2680319
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p108.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p109.png b/22667-page-images/p109.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9364e14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p109.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p110.png b/22667-page-images/p110.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f3f4717
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p110.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p111.png b/22667-page-images/p111.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91c6407
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p111.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p112.png b/22667-page-images/p112.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3810277
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p112.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p113.png b/22667-page-images/p113.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26de20c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p113.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p114.png b/22667-page-images/p114.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e00e00a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p114.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p115.png b/22667-page-images/p115.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22bb39c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p115.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p116.png b/22667-page-images/p116.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c76eb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p116.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p117.png b/22667-page-images/p117.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d39aac9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p117.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p118.png b/22667-page-images/p118.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f06558e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p118.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p119.png b/22667-page-images/p119.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7267e39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p119.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p120.png b/22667-page-images/p120.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a588b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p120.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p121.png b/22667-page-images/p121.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7057935
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p121.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p122.png b/22667-page-images/p122.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7658cfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p122.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p123.png b/22667-page-images/p123.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ccc201
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p123.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p124.png b/22667-page-images/p124.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ba7a89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p124.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p125.png b/22667-page-images/p125.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d6d036
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p125.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p126.png b/22667-page-images/p126.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5b7866
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p126.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p127.png b/22667-page-images/p127.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6dcce7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p127.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p128.png b/22667-page-images/p128.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2350056
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p128.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p129.png b/22667-page-images/p129.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16a40fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p129.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p130.png b/22667-page-images/p130.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b80f492
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p130.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p131.png b/22667-page-images/p131.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6553ce5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p131.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p132.png b/22667-page-images/p132.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76b60f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p132.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p133.png b/22667-page-images/p133.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33cc590
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p133.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p134.png b/22667-page-images/p134.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f87eeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p134.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p135.png b/22667-page-images/p135.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85cb7b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p135.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p136.png b/22667-page-images/p136.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc0e114
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p136.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p137.png b/22667-page-images/p137.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cba0e4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p137.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p138.png b/22667-page-images/p138.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..935542c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p138.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p139.png b/22667-page-images/p139.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a42f19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p139.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p140.png b/22667-page-images/p140.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf372e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p140.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p141.png b/22667-page-images/p141.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94f7ec4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p141.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p142.png b/22667-page-images/p142.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..21b9a9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p142.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p143.png b/22667-page-images/p143.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf6a7e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p143.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p144.png b/22667-page-images/p144.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5bd733
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p144.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p145.png b/22667-page-images/p145.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73a6b0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p145.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p146.png b/22667-page-images/p146.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba7eda9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p146.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p147.png b/22667-page-images/p147.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..582c1e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p147.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p148.png b/22667-page-images/p148.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fde3cae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p148.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p149.png b/22667-page-images/p149.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7222db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p149.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p150.png b/22667-page-images/p150.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a744802
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p150.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p151.png b/22667-page-images/p151.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5651b4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p151.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p152.png b/22667-page-images/p152.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c80cf40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p152.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p153.png b/22667-page-images/p153.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0a6915
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p153.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p154.png b/22667-page-images/p154.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2d653a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p154.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p155.png b/22667-page-images/p155.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42336cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p155.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p156.png b/22667-page-images/p156.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8cc2785
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p156.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p157.png b/22667-page-images/p157.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3df38a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p157.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p158.png b/22667-page-images/p158.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a2e98f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p158.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p159.png b/22667-page-images/p159.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d95d56c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p159.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p160.png b/22667-page-images/p160.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1422e23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p160.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p161.png b/22667-page-images/p161.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e24b76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p161.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p162.png b/22667-page-images/p162.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14bf49c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p162.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p163.png b/22667-page-images/p163.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43c64a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p163.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p164.png b/22667-page-images/p164.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7645e48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p164.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p165.png b/22667-page-images/p165.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..176288d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p165.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p166.png b/22667-page-images/p166.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de3f2e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p166.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p167.png b/22667-page-images/p167.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf8aeb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p167.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p168.png b/22667-page-images/p168.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d778c1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p168.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p169.png b/22667-page-images/p169.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f211532
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p169.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p170.png b/22667-page-images/p170.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b950ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p170.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p171.png b/22667-page-images/p171.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bcdd9be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p171.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p172.png b/22667-page-images/p172.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f32663
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p172.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p173.png b/22667-page-images/p173.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f13535c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p173.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p174.png b/22667-page-images/p174.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0387cde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p174.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p175.png b/22667-page-images/p175.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2609c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p175.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p176.png b/22667-page-images/p176.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4295dbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p176.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p177.png b/22667-page-images/p177.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ad134e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p177.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p178.png b/22667-page-images/p178.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff4ed15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p178.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p179.png b/22667-page-images/p179.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf97a95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p179.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p180.png b/22667-page-images/p180.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b01c836
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p180.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p181.png b/22667-page-images/p181.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6941386
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p181.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p182.png b/22667-page-images/p182.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b1695d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p182.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p183.png b/22667-page-images/p183.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..443a024
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p183.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p184.png b/22667-page-images/p184.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c97f787
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p184.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p185.png b/22667-page-images/p185.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64b143b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p185.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p186.png b/22667-page-images/p186.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd5cfbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p186.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p187.png b/22667-page-images/p187.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ea8960
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p187.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p188.png b/22667-page-images/p188.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72062c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p188.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p189.png b/22667-page-images/p189.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed6343b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p189.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p190.png b/22667-page-images/p190.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8191db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p190.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p191.png b/22667-page-images/p191.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2bc113
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p191.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p192.png b/22667-page-images/p192.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f215db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p192.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p193.png b/22667-page-images/p193.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a5778b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p193.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p194.png b/22667-page-images/p194.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8e94eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p194.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p195.png b/22667-page-images/p195.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6823280
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p195.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p196.png b/22667-page-images/p196.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f71d8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p196.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p197.png b/22667-page-images/p197.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c242a59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p197.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p198.png b/22667-page-images/p198.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a702aec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p198.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p199.png b/22667-page-images/p199.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dfc06d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p199.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p200.png b/22667-page-images/p200.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e629c9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p200.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p201.png b/22667-page-images/p201.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abeccef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p201.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p202.png b/22667-page-images/p202.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b2601d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p202.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p203.png b/22667-page-images/p203.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3a1718
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p203.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p204.png b/22667-page-images/p204.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ae1469
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p204.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p205.png b/22667-page-images/p205.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a2233e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p205.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p206.png b/22667-page-images/p206.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..493fed7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p206.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p207.png b/22667-page-images/p207.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea87a21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p207.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p208.png b/22667-page-images/p208.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61f4c90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p208.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p209.png b/22667-page-images/p209.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6198c21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p209.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p210.png b/22667-page-images/p210.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95ad8dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p210.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p211.png b/22667-page-images/p211.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f80d6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p211.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p212.png b/22667-page-images/p212.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8525fa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p212.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p213.png b/22667-page-images/p213.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fed0fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p213.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p214.png b/22667-page-images/p214.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db4c77a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p214.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p215.png b/22667-page-images/p215.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..670ecff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p215.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p216.png b/22667-page-images/p216.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3ce4d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p216.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p217.png b/22667-page-images/p217.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02186f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p217.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p218.png b/22667-page-images/p218.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa93ecd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p218.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p219.png b/22667-page-images/p219.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2eeaf4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p219.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p220.png b/22667-page-images/p220.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7e2998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p220.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p221.png b/22667-page-images/p221.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc32b7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p221.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p222.png b/22667-page-images/p222.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1fc4e9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p222.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p223.png b/22667-page-images/p223.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b7ba7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p223.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p224.png b/22667-page-images/p224.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90070c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p224.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p225.png b/22667-page-images/p225.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85ef89b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p225.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p226.png b/22667-page-images/p226.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..32b4b56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p226.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p227.png b/22667-page-images/p227.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a4caeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p227.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p228.png b/22667-page-images/p228.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1048480
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p228.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p229.png b/22667-page-images/p229.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba36dc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p229.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p230.png b/22667-page-images/p230.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..727bc60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p230.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p231.png b/22667-page-images/p231.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6491574
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p231.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p232.png b/22667-page-images/p232.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab2ac30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p232.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p233.png b/22667-page-images/p233.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00ac25a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p233.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p234.png b/22667-page-images/p234.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bc99af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p234.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p235.png b/22667-page-images/p235.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a7636d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p235.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p236.png b/22667-page-images/p236.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e975021
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p236.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p237.png b/22667-page-images/p237.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12d3b69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p237.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p238.png b/22667-page-images/p238.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20eff4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p238.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p239.png b/22667-page-images/p239.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e1df71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p239.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p240.png b/22667-page-images/p240.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74090a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p240.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p241.png b/22667-page-images/p241.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f08f4c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p241.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p242.png b/22667-page-images/p242.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..23691f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p242.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p243.png b/22667-page-images/p243.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbdbcca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p243.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p244.png b/22667-page-images/p244.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d0f6f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p244.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p245.png b/22667-page-images/p245.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6cb8e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p245.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p246.png b/22667-page-images/p246.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a62aab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p246.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p247.png b/22667-page-images/p247.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..649d0ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p247.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p248.png b/22667-page-images/p248.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42025b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p248.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p249.png b/22667-page-images/p249.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbc3802
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p249.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p250.png b/22667-page-images/p250.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5128ba5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p250.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p251.png b/22667-page-images/p251.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..711d13a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p251.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p252.png b/22667-page-images/p252.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2f610f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p252.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p253.png b/22667-page-images/p253.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9446065
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p253.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p254.png b/22667-page-images/p254.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a5aeb61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p254.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p255.png b/22667-page-images/p255.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1cd38a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p255.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p256.png b/22667-page-images/p256.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..546ee5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p256.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p257.png b/22667-page-images/p257.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb0fb36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p257.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p258.png b/22667-page-images/p258.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71bde8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p258.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p259.png b/22667-page-images/p259.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2972400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p259.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p260.png b/22667-page-images/p260.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8cd6759
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p260.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p261.png b/22667-page-images/p261.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0e3c22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p261.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p262.png b/22667-page-images/p262.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9af7601
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p262.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p263.png b/22667-page-images/p263.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9c270fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p263.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p264.png b/22667-page-images/p264.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bcbeb3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p264.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p265.png b/22667-page-images/p265.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df7023c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p265.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p266.png b/22667-page-images/p266.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b6f242
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p266.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p267.png b/22667-page-images/p267.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b418743
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p267.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p268.png b/22667-page-images/p268.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0505a7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p268.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p269.png b/22667-page-images/p269.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b440112
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p269.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p270.png b/22667-page-images/p270.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b17722d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p270.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p271.png b/22667-page-images/p271.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c4c149
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p271.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p272.png b/22667-page-images/p272.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..82694ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p272.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p273.png b/22667-page-images/p273.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42dfacd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p273.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p274.png b/22667-page-images/p274.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ca83c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p274.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p275.png b/22667-page-images/p275.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da96bdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p275.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p276.png b/22667-page-images/p276.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4672e39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p276.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p277.png b/22667-page-images/p277.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..25d5832
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p277.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p278.png b/22667-page-images/p278.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2aead4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p278.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p279.png b/22667-page-images/p279.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8951a0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p279.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p280.png b/22667-page-images/p280.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d7e4a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p280.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p281.png b/22667-page-images/p281.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96c2aad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p281.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p282.png b/22667-page-images/p282.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..619c9af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p282.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p283.png b/22667-page-images/p283.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1482a44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p283.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p284.png b/22667-page-images/p284.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cacbd11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p284.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p285.png b/22667-page-images/p285.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea4def6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p285.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p286.png b/22667-page-images/p286.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf72a7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p286.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p287.png b/22667-page-images/p287.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba615e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p287.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p288.png b/22667-page-images/p288.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93cd19a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p288.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p289.png b/22667-page-images/p289.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..448e5fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p289.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p290.png b/22667-page-images/p290.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14012c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p290.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p291.png b/22667-page-images/p291.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fee073
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p291.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p292.png b/22667-page-images/p292.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59910ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p292.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p293.png b/22667-page-images/p293.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae877f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p293.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p294.png b/22667-page-images/p294.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc9050e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p294.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p295.png b/22667-page-images/p295.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa9ee0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p295.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p296.png b/22667-page-images/p296.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1cf974
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p296.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p297.png b/22667-page-images/p297.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b67d18e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p297.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p298.png b/22667-page-images/p298.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7cbec86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p298.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p299.png b/22667-page-images/p299.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..047d6d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p299.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p300.png b/22667-page-images/p300.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90da4c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p300.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p301.png b/22667-page-images/p301.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f774338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p301.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p302.png b/22667-page-images/p302.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c14bff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p302.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p303.png b/22667-page-images/p303.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3282ded
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p303.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p304.png b/22667-page-images/p304.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26521b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p304.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p305.png b/22667-page-images/p305.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc21f8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p305.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p306.png b/22667-page-images/p306.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..406e3c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p306.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p307.png b/22667-page-images/p307.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36f2a81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p307.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p308.png b/22667-page-images/p308.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd80532
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p308.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p309.png b/22667-page-images/p309.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bae3584
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p309.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p310.png b/22667-page-images/p310.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd90300
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p310.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p311.png b/22667-page-images/p311.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76ed38d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p311.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p312.png b/22667-page-images/p312.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b74b83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p312.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p313.png b/22667-page-images/p313.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..07a0a1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p313.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p314.png b/22667-page-images/p314.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..865d400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p314.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p315.png b/22667-page-images/p315.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cac613c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p315.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p316.png b/22667-page-images/p316.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2a6745
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p316.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p317.png b/22667-page-images/p317.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9375656
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p317.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p318.png b/22667-page-images/p318.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02dc383
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p318.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p319.png b/22667-page-images/p319.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7383ede
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p319.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p320.png b/22667-page-images/p320.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c7098f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p320.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p321.png b/22667-page-images/p321.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83de2ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p321.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p322.png b/22667-page-images/p322.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..833b833
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p322.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p323.png b/22667-page-images/p323.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63476db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p323.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p324.png b/22667-page-images/p324.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e76ead4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p324.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p325.png b/22667-page-images/p325.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..971ee49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p325.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p326.png b/22667-page-images/p326.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df4c9eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p326.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p327.png b/22667-page-images/p327.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e601b80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p327.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p328.png b/22667-page-images/p328.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc389da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p328.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p329.png b/22667-page-images/p329.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34a3e6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p329.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p330.png b/22667-page-images/p330.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83bf207
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p330.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p331.png b/22667-page-images/p331.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..435865d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p331.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p332.png b/22667-page-images/p332.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..597f74f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p332.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p333.png b/22667-page-images/p333.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2e2590
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p333.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p334.png b/22667-page-images/p334.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b56a30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p334.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p335.png b/22667-page-images/p335.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..149af37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p335.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p336.png b/22667-page-images/p336.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b6edbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p336.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p337.png b/22667-page-images/p337.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9493bc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p337.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p338.png b/22667-page-images/p338.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a52346c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p338.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p339.png b/22667-page-images/p339.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad15f59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p339.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p340.png b/22667-page-images/p340.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee02494
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p340.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p341.png b/22667-page-images/p341.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ae1343
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p341.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p342.png b/22667-page-images/p342.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24b7e0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p342.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p343.png b/22667-page-images/p343.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..629daab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p343.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p344.png b/22667-page-images/p344.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c2247d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p344.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p345.png b/22667-page-images/p345.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..869a88d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p345.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p346.png b/22667-page-images/p346.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1169407
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p346.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p347.png b/22667-page-images/p347.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..08b7ec8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p347.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p348.png b/22667-page-images/p348.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1701fda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p348.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p349.png b/22667-page-images/p349.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..21ffbc6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p349.png
diff --git a/22667-page-images/p350.png b/22667-page-images/p350.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5492b97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667-page-images/p350.png
diff --git a/22667.txt b/22667.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c5d7de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10791 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Joan of Arc of the North Woods, by Holman Day
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Joan of Arc of the North Woods
+
+
+Author: Holman Day
+
+
+
+Release Date: September 18, 2007  [eBook #22667]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Jacqueline Jeremy, and
+the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BOOKS BY HOLMAN DAY
+
+  JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS
+  WHEN EGYPT WENT BROKE
+  ALL-WOOL MORRISON
+  THE RIDER OF THE KING LOG
+  THE SKIPPER AND THE SKIPPED
+  THE RED LANE
+  THE RAMRODDERS
+  THE LANDLOPER
+  WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS
+  SQUIRE PHIN
+  BLOW THE MAN DOWN
+
+  Harper & Brothers Publishers
+  New York and London
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS
+
+by
+
+HOLMAN DAY
+
+Author of
+"The Rider of the King Log," "When
+Egypt Went Broke," Etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Harper & Brothers, Publishers
+New York and London
+
+Joan of Arc of the North Woods
+
+Copyright, 1922
+By Harper & Brothers
+Printed in the U.S.A.
+
+First Edition
+     H-W
+
+
+
+
+_Joan of Arc of the North Woods_
+
+CHAPTER ONE
+
+
+The timber situation in the Tomah country was surcharged.
+
+When Ward Latisan came upon Rufus Craig, one afternoon in autumn, steel
+struck flint and trouble's fuse was lighted.
+
+Their meeting was on the Holeb tote road just below Hagas Falls.
+
+Young Ward was the grandson of old John, a pioneer who was in his day a
+saw-log baron of the times of pumpkin pine; by heredity Ward was the
+foremost champion in the cause of the modern independent operators.
+
+In his own way, Craig, the field director of the Comas Consolidated
+Paper Company, was the chief gladiator for an invading corporation which
+demanded monopoly of the Tomah timber by absorption of the independents.
+
+Latisan tramped down the tote road from the shoulder of Holeb Mountain,
+where he had been cruising alone for a week on the Walpole tract,
+blazing timber for the choppers, marking out twitch roads and
+haul-downs, locating yards; his short-handled ax was in his belt, his
+lank haversack flapped on his back; he carried his calipers in one hand;
+with the other hand he fed himself raisins from his trousers pocket,
+munching as he went along. He had eaten the last of his scanty supply of
+biscuits and bacon; but, like other timber cruisers--all of them must
+travel light--he had his raisins to fall back on, doling them one by
+one, masticating them thoroughly and finding the nourishment adequate.
+
+He had been on the go every day from sunup till dark; nights he cinched
+his belted jacket closely and slept as best he could, his back against a
+tree; he had cruised into every nook and corner of the tract, spending
+strength prodigally, but when he strode down the tote road his vitality
+enabled him to hit it off at a brisk gait; his belt was a few holes
+tighter, yet his fasting made him keenly awake; he was more alert to the
+joy of being alive in the glory of the crisp day; his cap was in his
+pocket, his tousled brown hair was rampant; and he welcomed the flood of
+sunshine on his bronzed face.
+
+Craig was making his way along the tote road in a buckboard, with a
+driver. The road bristled with rocks and was pitted with hollows; the
+fat horses dragged their feet at a slow walk. Craig was a big man, a bit
+paunchy, and he grunted while he was bounced. He wore his city hard hat
+as if he wished by his headgear to distinguish himself from the herd of
+woodsmen whom he bossed.
+
+Latisan overtook the toiling buckboard, and his stride was taking him
+past when Craig hailed.
+
+"Ride?"
+
+"No--thank you!" The negative was sharp. Privation and toil had put an
+edge on the young man's temper, and the temper was not amiable where
+Craig was concerned.
+
+"I've got some business to talk with you, Latisan."
+
+"If that's so I can listen while I walk alongside."
+
+But Craig ordered the driver to halt. Then the Comas director swung
+around and faced Latisan. "I'm putting it up to you again--will you and
+your father sell to the Comas?"
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"What is it going to be--a fight to a finish?"
+
+"If you keep your hands off us saw-log fellows, Mr. Craig, there'll be
+no fight. We were here first, you know!"
+
+"That's got nothing to do with the present situation, Latisan. We've
+built a million-dollar paper mill on the Toban, and it's up to me to
+feed it with pulp stuff. We can't lug our plant off in a shawl strap if
+supply fails."
+
+"Nor can the folks who have built villages around the sawmills lug away
+their houses if the mills are closed."
+
+"Paper dominates in this valley nowadays, instead of lumber. Latisan,
+you're old-fashioned!"
+
+The young man, feeling his temper flame, lighted his pipe, avoiding too
+quick retort.
+
+"You stand to lose money in the lumber market, with conditions as they
+are," proceeded Craig, loftily counseling another man about his own
+business. The Comas director, intent on consolidation, had persistently
+failed to understand the loyalty, half romantic, which was actuating the
+old-line employers to protect faithful householders. "Let the workers
+move down the river to our model town."
+
+"And live in those beehives of yours, paying big rent, competing with
+the riffraff help you hire from employment agencies? We can't see it
+that way, Mr. Craig!"
+
+"Look here! I've got some news for you. I've just pulled five of the
+independents in with us--Gibson, Sprague, Tolman, Brinton, and Bodwell.
+The Comas now controls the timber market on the Toban. How about logs
+for your mills?"
+
+Craig believed he was hitting Latisan five solid jolts to the jaw when
+he named the recreant operators.
+
+However, the young man had heard rumors of what the bludgeoning methods
+of the Comas had accomplished; he surveyed Craig resolutely through the
+pipe smoke.
+
+He had come down from the Walpole tract that day in a spirit of new
+confidence which put away all weariness from him. He was armed with a
+powerful weapon. In his exultation, fired by youth's natural hankering
+to vaunt success in an undertaking where his elders had failed, he was
+willing to flourish the weapon.
+
+Craig waggled a thick forefinger. "What are you going to saw, Latisan?"
+
+"Two million feet from the Walpole tract--where no ax has chipped a tree
+for twenty-five years."
+
+It was a return jolt and it made the Comas man blink. "But nobody can
+buy the right to cut there."
+
+"I have bought the right, Mr. Craig. An air-tight stumpage
+contract--passed on by the best lawyer in this county--a clear title."
+
+"Latisan, the Comas has never been able to round up those heirs--and
+what we can't do with all our resources can't be done by you."
+
+"The Latisans know this region better than the Comas folks know it, sir.
+Five cousins by hard hunting--two gravestones by good luck! All heirs
+located! Why don't you congratulate me?"
+
+Just then the Comas director was thinking instead of talking.
+
+In his operations he was a cocksure individual, Mr. Craig was! In his
+hands, by his suggestion, his New York superiors had placed all the
+details of business in the field of the north country. He had promised
+consolidation with full belief in his ability to perform; one explicit
+promise had been that this season would mark the end of the opposition
+by the independents; the Comas would secure complete control of the
+Toban timber and fix prices. But here were the ringleader Latisans in a
+way to smash the corner which Craig had manipulated by bulldozing and
+bribery! In the past Craig had not bothered headquarters with any minute
+explanations of how he accomplished results. This crusher which
+threatened all his plans and promises would make a monkey of him in New
+York, he reflected.
+
+"I want to say a last word to you, Mr. Craig," continued Latisan,
+stiffly. "Probably we are now in for that fight on which you've been
+insisting. I don't want to fight, but I'm ready for a fair stand-up.
+Just a moment, please!" Craig had barked a few oaths preliminary to an
+outpouring of his feelings. "I'm warning you to let up on those
+guerrilla tactics of yours. I propose to find out whether your big men
+in New York are backing you. I'm telling you now to your face, so you
+can't accuse me later of carrying tales behind your back, of my
+intention to go to New York and report conditions to the president of
+the Comas."
+
+"Don't you dare!"
+
+"I do dare. I'm going. I expect you to run in ahead of me, but no
+matter. And speaking of tales behind a man's back----"
+
+Craig was having difficulty in finding speech for retort; Latisan was
+rushing the affair. Again Craig blustered, "Don't you dare!"
+
+"Yes, I do dare. When I went away last summer I had good reasons for
+keeping my plans to myself. I got back to the Toban and found slander
+accusing me of sporting in the city, deviling around with liquor and
+women. That's a damnable lie!"
+
+Latisan delivered the accusation hotly; there was unmistakable challenge
+in his demeanor. "You yourself have handed around some of that slander,
+Mr. Craig. I get it straight from men whose word is good!"
+
+"I only said what others were saying."
+
+"I don't know, of course, who started those stories, but I do know that
+they have been used against me. They have helped you, it seems! I wanted
+to keep my plans under cover--but I've got to protect myself with the
+truth, even if the truth gives you a tip. I went away to take a special
+course in hydraulic engineering, so as to know more about protecting the
+common rights in the flowage of this river." He swung his hand to
+indicate the thundering falls of Hagas. "You have used your tongue to
+hurt my standing with some of the independents--they distrust my
+reliability and good faith--you have pulled in a few of them. The others
+will stand by me. Frankly, Mr. Craig, I don't like your style! It'll be
+a good thing for both of us if we have no more talk after this." He
+walked rapidly down the tote road, not turning his head when Craig
+called furiously after him.
+
+"Pretty uppish, ain't he?" ventured the driver, touching the horses with
+the whip.
+
+Craig, bouncing alone on the middle seat of the buckboard, grunted.
+
+"Excuse me, Mr. Craig, but that's some news--what he said about getting
+aholt of the old Walpole tract."
+
+The Comas boss did not comment.
+
+The driver said nothing more for some time; he was a slouchy woodsman of
+numb wits; he chewed tobacco constantly with the slow jaw motion of a
+ruminating steer, and he looked straight ahead between the ears of the
+nigh horse, going through mental processes of a certain sort. "Now 't I
+think of it, I wish I'd grabbed in with a question to young Latisan. But
+he doesn't give anybody much of a chance to grab in when he's talking.
+Still, I'd have liked to ask him something." He maundered on in that
+strain for several minutes.
+
+"Ask him what?" snapped Craig, tired of the monologue.
+
+"Whuther he's talked with my old aunt Dorcas about the heir who went
+off into the West somewheres. Grandson of the old sir who was the first
+Walpole of the Toban--real heir, if he's still alive! My aunt Dorcas had
+letters about him, or from him, or something like that, only a few years
+ago."
+
+"Look here!" stormed Craig. "Why haven't you said something about such
+letters or such an heir?"
+
+"Nobody has ever asked me. And he's prob'ly dead, anyway. Them lawyers
+know everything. And he's a roving character, as I remember what my aunt
+said. No use o' telling anybody about him--it would cost too much to
+find him."
+
+"Cost too much!" snarled the Comas director. "Oh, you----" But he choked
+back what he wanted to say about the man's intellect. Craig pulled out
+notebook and pencil and began to fire questions.
+
+Latisan was headed for home, the old family mansion in the village of
+Toban Deadwater where Ward and his widowed father kept bachelor's hall,
+with a veteran woods cook to tend and do for them. The male cook was
+Ward's idea. The young man had lived much in the woods, and the ways of
+women about the house annoyed him; a bit of clutter was more
+comfortable.
+
+It was a long tramp to the Deadwater, but he knew the blazed-trail short
+cuts and took advantage of the light of the full moon for the last stage
+of the journey. He was eager to report progress and prospects to his
+father.
+
+Ward was not anticipating much in the way of practical counsel from
+Garry Latisan.
+
+Old John had been a Tartar, a blustering baron of the timberlands.
+
+Garry, his son, had taken to books and study. He was slow and mild,
+deprecatory and forgiving. Ward Latisan had those saving qualities in a
+measure, but he was conscious in himself of the avatar of old John's
+righteous belligerency when occasion prompted.
+
+Ward, as he was trudging home, was trying to keep anger from clouding
+his judgment. When he felt old John stirring in him, young Latisan
+sought the mild counsel of Garry, and then went ahead on a line of
+action of his own; he was steering a safe course, he felt, by keeping
+about halfway between John's violence in performance and Garry's
+toleration.
+
+Ward was the executive of the Latisan business and liked the job; his
+youth and vigor found zest in the adventures of the open. Old John's
+timber man's spirit had been handed along to the grandson. Ward finished
+his education at a seminary--and called it enough. His father urged him
+to go to college, but he went into the woods and was glad to be there,
+at the head of affairs.
+
+The operations on the old tracts, thinned by many cuttings, had been
+keeping him closely on the job, because there were problems to be solved
+if profits were to be handled.
+
+His stroke in getting hold of the Walpole tract promised profits without
+problems; there were just so many trees to cut down--and the river was
+handy!
+
+In spite of his weariness, Ward sat till midnight on the porch with his
+father, going over their plans. The young man surveyed the Latisan mill
+and the houses of the village while he talked; the moon lighted all and
+the mill loomed importantly, reflected in the still water of the pond.
+If Craig prevailed, the mill and the homes must be left to rot, empty,
+idle, and worthless. As Ward viewed it, the honor of the Latisans was at
+stake; the spirit of old John blazed in the grandson; but he declared
+his intention to fight man fashion, if the fight were forced on him. He
+would go to the Comas headquarters in New York, he said, not to ask for
+odds or beg for favors, but to explain the situation and to demand that
+Craig be required to confine himself to the tactics of square business
+rivalry.
+
+"And my course in engineering was a good investment; I can talk turkey
+to them about our dams and the flowage rights. I don't believe they're
+backing up Craig's piracy!"
+
+Garry Latisan agreed fully with his son and expressed the wistful wish,
+as he did regularly in their conferences, that he could be of more real
+help.
+
+"Your sympathy and your praise are help enough, father," Ward declared,
+with enthusiasm. "We're sure of our cut; all I'm asking from the Comas
+is gangway for our logs. There must be square men at the head of that
+big corporation!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO
+
+
+In New York young Latisan plunged straight at his business.
+
+The home office of the Comas Consolidated Company was in a towering
+structure in the metropolis's financial district. On the translucent
+glass of many doors there was a big C with two smaller C's nested. In
+the north country everybody called the corporation The Three C's.
+
+After a fashion, the sight of the portentous monogram made Ward feel
+more at home. Up where he lived the letters were familiar. Those nested
+C's stood for wide-flung ownership along the rivers of the north. The
+monogram was daubed in blue paint on the ends of countless logs; it
+marked the boxes and barrels and sacks of mountains of supplies along
+the tote roads; it designated as the property of the Comas Company all
+sorts of possessions from log camps down to the cant dog in the hands of
+the humblest Polack toiler. Those nested C's were dominant, assertive,
+and the folks of the north were awed by the everlasting reduplication
+along the rivers and in the forests.
+
+Ward, indignantly seeking justice, resolved not to be awed in the castle
+of the giant. He presented himself at a gate and asked to see the
+president. The president could not be seen except by appointment,
+Latisan learned.
+
+What was the caller's business? Latisan attempted to explain, but he
+was halted by the declaration that all details in the timber country
+were left to Rufus Craig, field manager!
+
+When Ward insisted that his previous talks with Craig had only made
+matters worse for all concerned, and when he pleaded for an opportunity
+to talk with somebody--anybody--at headquarters, he finally won his way
+to the presence of a sallow man who filmed his hard eyes and listened
+with an air of silent protest. He also referred Latisan back to Craig.
+"We don't interfere with his management of details in the north."
+
+Evidently Mr. Craig had been attending to his defenses in the home
+office.
+
+Ward's temper was touched by the listener's slighting apathy. "I've come
+here to protest against unfair methods. Our men are tampered with--told
+that the Latisans are on their last legs. We are losing from our crews
+right along. We have been able to hire more men to take the places of
+those who have been taken away from us. But right now we are up against
+persistent reports that we shall not be able to get down our cut in the
+spring. Sawmill owners are demanding bonds from us to assure delivery;
+otherwise they will cancel their orders."
+
+"Do you know any good reason why you can't deliver?" probed the Comas
+man, showing a bit of interest.
+
+"Your Mr. Craig seems to know. I blame him for these stories."
+
+"I'm afraid you're laboring under a delusion, Mr. Latisan. Why don't
+you sell out to our company? Most of the other independents have found
+it to their advantage--seen it in the right light."
+
+"Mr. Craig's tactics have driven some small concerns to see it that way,
+sir. But my grandfather was operating in the north and supplying the
+sawmills with timber before the paper mills began to grab off every tree
+big enough to prop a spruce bud. Villages have been built up around the
+sawmills. If the paper folks get hold of everything those villages will
+die; all the logs will be run down to the paper mills."
+
+"Naturally," said the sallow man. "Paper is king these days."
+
+Then he received a handful of documents from a clerk who entered, again
+referred Ward to Mr. Craig, advised him to treat with the latter in the
+field, where the business belonged, and hunched a dismissing shoulder
+toward the caller.
+
+Ward had not been asked to sit down; he swung on his heel, but he
+stopped and turned. "As to selling out, even if we can bring ourselves
+to that! Mr. Craig has beaten independents to their knees and has made
+them accept his price. It's not much else than ruin when a man sells to
+him."
+
+"Persecutional mania is a dangerous hallucination," stated the sallow
+man. "Mr. Craig has accomplished certain definite results in the north
+country. We have used the word Consolidated in our corporation name with
+full knowledge of what we are after. We assure stable conditions in the
+timber industry. You must move with the trend of the times."
+
+Latisan had been revolving in his mind certain statements which he
+proposed to make to the big men of the Comas. He had assorted and
+classified those statements before he entered the castle of the great
+corporation. With youth's optimism he had anticipated a certain measure
+of sympathy--had in some degree pictured at least one kindly man in the
+Comas outfit who would listen to a young chap's troubles.
+
+Walking to the door, standing with his hand on the knob, he knew he must
+go back to the woods with the dolorous prospect of being obliged to
+fight to hold together the remnants of the Latisan business. He set his
+teeth and opened the door. He would have gone without further words, but
+the sallow man snapped a half threat which brought Ward around on his
+heels.
+
+"Mr. Latisan, I hope you will carry away with you the conviction that
+fighting the Comas company will not get you anything."
+
+Ward choked for a moment. Old John was stirring in him. A fettered yelp
+was bulging in his throat, and the skin of the back of his head tingled
+as if the hair were rising. But he spoke quietly when he allowed his
+voice to squeeze past the repressed impulse. "There's a real fight ready
+to break in the north country, sir."
+
+"Do you propose to be captain?"
+
+"I have no such ambition. But your Mr. Craig is forcing the issue. No
+company is big enough to buck the law in our state."
+
+"Look here, my good fellow!" The sallow man came around in his chair.
+Ward immediately was more fully informed as to the personage's status.
+"I am one of the attorneys of this corporation. I have been attending
+to the special acts your legislature has passed in our behalf. We are
+fully protected by law."
+
+"The question is how much you'll be protected after facts are brought
+out by a fight," replied Ward, stoutly. "I know the men who have been
+sent down to the legislature from our parts and how they were elected.
+But even such men get cold feet after the public gets wise."
+
+"That'll be enough!" snapped the attorney. He turned to his desk again.
+
+"Yes, it looks like it," agreed young Latisan; he did not bang the door
+after him; he closed it softly.
+
+The attorney was obliged to look around to assure himself that his
+caller was not in the room. Then he pushed a button and commanded a
+clerk to ask if Mr. Craig was still in the president's office. Informed
+that Mr. Craig was there, the attorney went thither.
+
+"I have just been bothered by that young chap, Latisan, from the Tomah
+region," reported Dawes, the attorney. "He threatens a fight which will
+rip the cover off affairs in the north country. How about what's
+underneath, provided the cover is ripped off, Craig?"
+
+"Everything sweet as a nut! Any other kind of talk is bluff and
+blackmail. So that's young Latisan's latest move, eh?" he ejaculated,
+squinting appraisingly at Dawes and turning full gaze of candor's fine
+assumption on Horatio Marlow, the president.
+
+"Just who is this young Latisan?" inquired Marlow.
+
+"Oh, only the son of one of the independents who are sticking out on a
+hold-up against us. Did he name his price, Dawes?"
+
+"He didn't try to sell anything," acknowledged the attorney. "Craig, let
+me ask you, are you moving along the lines of the law we have behind us
+in those special acts I steered through?"
+
+"Sure thing!" asserted the field director, boldly.
+
+"We've got to ask for more from the next legislature," stated the
+lawyer.
+
+The president came in with a warning. "Credit is touchy these days, Mr.
+Craig. We're going into the market for big money for further
+development. It's easy for reports to be made very hurtful."
+
+"I'm achieving results up there," insisted Craig, doggedly.
+
+"We're very much pleased with conditions," agreed the president. "We're
+able to show capital a constantly widening control of properties and
+natural advantages. But remember Achilles's heel, Mr. Craig."
+
+"I haven't been able to fight 'em with feathers all the time," confessed
+the field director. "There wasn't much law operating up there when I
+grabbed in. I have done the best I could, and if I have been obliged to
+use a club once in a while I have made the fight turn something for the
+corporation." He exhibited the pride of the man who had accomplished.
+
+The attorney warned Craig again. "We can't afford to have any uproar
+started till we get our legislation properly cinched. Tomah seems to be
+attended to. But we need some pretty drastic special acts before we can
+go over the watershed and control the Noda waters and pull old Flagg
+into line. He's the last, isn't he?--the king-pin, according to what I
+hear."
+
+"I'll attend to his case all right," declared Craig, with confidence.
+"I'll tackle the Noda basin next. Flagg must be licked before he'll
+sell. He's that sort. A half lunatic on this independent thing. I reckon
+you'll leave it to me, won't you?"
+
+"We'll leave all the details of operation in the field to you, Craig,"
+promised the president. "But you must play safe."
+
+"I'll take full responsibility," affirmed Craig, whose pride had been
+touched.
+
+"Then we shall continue to value you as our right bower in the north,"
+said Marlow. "The man on the ground understands the details. We don't
+try to follow them here in the home office."
+
+Craig walked out with Dawes.
+
+"That talk has put the thing up to you square-edged, Craig."
+
+Craig had been heartened and fortified by the president's compliments.
+"Leave it to me!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE
+
+
+Latisan had eaten his breakfast in the grill of a big hotel with a vague
+idea that such an environment would tune him up to meet the magnates of
+the Comas company.
+
+In his present and humbler state of mind, hungry again, he went into a
+cafeteria.
+
+Waiting at the counter for his meat stew and tea--familiar woods
+provender which appealed to his homesickness--he became aware of a young
+woman at his elbow; she was having difficulty in managing her tray and
+her belongings. There was an autumn drizzle outside and Ward had stalked
+along unprotected, with a woodman's stoicism in regard to wetness. The
+young woman had her umbrella, a small bag, and a parcel, and she was
+clinging to all of them, impressed by the "Not Responsible" signs which
+sprinkled the walls of the place. When her tray tipped at an alarming
+slant, as she elbowed her way from the crowded counter, Ward caught at
+its edge and saved a spill.
+
+The girl smiled gratefully.
+
+"If you don't mind," he apologized; his own tray was ready. He took that
+in his free hand. He gently pulled her tray from her unsteady grasp.
+"I'll carry it to a table."
+
+The table section was as crowded as the counter space. He did not offer
+to sit opposite her at the one vacant table he found; he lingered,
+however, casting about himself for another seat.
+
+"May I not exchange my hospitality for your courtesy?" inquired the
+girl. She nodded toward the unoccupied chair and he sat down and thanked
+her.
+
+She was an extremely self-possessed young woman, who surveyed him
+frankly with level gaze from her gray eyes.
+
+"You performed very nicely, getting through that crush as you did
+without spilling anything," she commended.
+
+"I've had plenty of practice."
+
+She opened her eyes on him by way of a question. "Not as a waiter," he
+proceeded. "But with those trays in my hand it was like being on the
+drive, ramming my way through the gang that was charging the cook tent."
+
+"The drive!" she repeated. He was surprised by the sudden interest he
+roused in her. "Are you from the north country?" Her color heightened
+with her interest. She leaned forward.
+
+Latisan, in his infrequent experiences, had never been at ease in the
+presence of pretty girls, even when their notice of him was merely
+cursory. In the region where he had toiled there were few females, and
+those were spouses and helpers of woods cooks, mostly.
+
+Here was a maid of the big city showing an interest disquietingly
+acute--her glowing eyes and parted lips revealed her emotions. At the
+moment he was not able to separate himself, as a personality, from the
+subject which he had brought up. Just what there was about him or the
+subject to arouse her so strangely he did not pause to inquire of
+himself, for his thoughts were not coherent just then; he, too, was
+stirred by her nearer propinquity as she leaned forward, questioning him
+eagerly.
+
+He replied, telling what he was but not who he was; he felt a twinge of
+disappointment because she did not venture to probe into his identity.
+Her questions were concerned with the north country as a region. At
+first her quizzing was of a general nature. Then she narrowed the field
+of inquiry.
+
+"You say the Tomah waters are parallel with the Noda basin! Do you know
+many folks over in the Noda region?"
+
+"Very few. I have kept pretty closely on my own side of the watershed."
+
+"Isn't there a village in the Noda called Adonia?"
+
+"Oh yes! It's the jumping-off place--the end of a narrow-gauge
+railroad."
+
+"You have been in Adonia?"
+
+"A few times."
+
+"I had--there were friends of mine--they were friends of a man in
+Adonia. His name was--let's see!" He wondered whether the faint wrinkle
+of a frown under the bronze-flecked hair on her forehead was as much the
+expression of puzzled memory as she was trying to make it seem; there
+did appear something not wholly ingenuous in her looks just then. "Oh,
+his name is Flagg."
+
+"Echford Flagg?"
+
+"Yes, that's it. My friends were very friendly with him, and I'd like
+to be able to tell them----" She hesitated.
+
+"You have given me some news," he declared, bluntly; in his mood of the
+day he was finding no good qualities in mankind. "I never heard of Eck
+Flagg having any friends. Well, I'll take that back! I believe he's ace
+high among the Tarratine Indians up our way; they have made him an
+honorary chief. But it's no particular compliment to a white man's
+disposition to be able to qualify as an Indian, as I look at it."
+
+This time he was not in doubt about the expression on her face; a sudden
+grimace like grief wreathed the red lips and there was more than a
+suspicion of tears in her eyes. He stared at her, frankly amazed.
+
+"If I have stepped on toes I am sorry. I never did know how to talk to
+young ladies without making a mess sooner or later."
+
+She returned no reply, and he went on with his food to cover his
+embarrassment.
+
+"Do you know Mr. Flagg?" she asked, after the silence had been
+prolonged.
+
+"Not very well. But I know about him."
+
+"What especially?"
+
+"That he's a hard man. He never forgets or forgives an injury. Perhaps
+that's why he qualified so well as an Indian."
+
+She straightened in her chair and narrowed those gray eyes. "Couldn't
+there have been another reason why he was chosen for such an honor?"
+
+"I beg your pardon for passing along to you the slurs of the north
+country, miss----" he paused but she did not help him with her name.
+"It's mostly slurs up there," he went on, with bitterness, "and I get
+into the habit, myself. The Indians did have a good reason for giving
+Flagg that honor. He is the only one in the north who has respected the
+Indians' riparian rights, given by treaty and then stolen back. He pays
+them for hold-boom privileges when his logs are on their shores. They
+are free to come and go on his lands for birch bark and basket
+stuff--he's the only one who respects the old treaties. That's well
+known about Flagg in the north country. It's a good streak in any man,
+no matter what folks say about his general disposition."
+
+"I'm glad to hear you say that much!"
+
+She pushed back her chair slightly and began to take stock of her
+possessions. A sort of a panic came upon him. There were a lot of things
+he wanted to say, and he could not seem to lay a tongue to one of them.
+He stammered something about the wet day and wondered whether it would
+be considered impudence if he offered to escort her, holding over her
+the umbrella or carrying her parcel. He had crude ideas about the matter
+of squiring dames. He wanted to ask her not to hurry away. "Do you live
+here in New York--handy by?"
+
+The cafeteria was just off lower Broadway, and she smiled. He realized
+the idiocy of the question.
+
+"I work near here! You are going home to the north soon?" The polite
+query was in a tone which checked all his new impulses in regard to her.
+
+"I'm headed north right now. If there's any information I can send
+you----"
+
+She shook her head slowly, but even the negative was marked by an
+indecisive quality, as if she were repressing some importunate desire.
+
+"I wish you a pleasant journey, sir." All her belongings were in her
+hands.
+
+"It's queer--it's almost more than queer how we happened to meet--both
+interested in the north country," he stuttered, wanting to detain her.
+
+He was hoping she would make something of the matter.
+
+But she merely acknowledged the truth of his statement, adding, "There
+would be more such coincidences in life if folks took the trouble to
+interest themselves a bit in one another and compare notes."
+
+She started to walk away; then she whirled and came back to the table
+and leaned over it. Her soul of longing was in her eyes--they were
+filled with tears. "You're going back there," she whispered. "God bless
+the north country! Give a friendly pat to one of the big trees for me
+and say you found a girl in New York who is homesick."
+
+She turned from him before he could summon words.
+
+He wanted to call after her--to find out more about her. He saw her
+gathering up her change at the cashier's wicket. The spectacle reminded
+him of his own check. Even love at first sight, if such could be the
+strange new emotion struggling within him, could not enable him to leap
+the barrier of the cashier's cold stare and rush away without paying
+scot. He hunted for his punched check. He pawed all over the marble top
+of the table, rattling the dishes.
+
+A check--it was surely all of that!
+
+The search for it checked him till the girl was gone, mingled with the
+street crowds. He found the little devil of a delayer in the paper
+napkin which he had nervously wadded and dropped on the floor. He shoved
+money to the cashier and did not wait for his change. He rushed out on
+the street and stretched up his six stalwart feet and craned his neck
+and hunted for the little green toque with the white quill.
+
+It was a vain quest.
+
+He did not know just what the matter was with him all of a sudden. He
+had never had any personal experience with that which he had vaguely
+understood was love; he had merely viewed it from a standpoint of a
+disinterested observer, in the case of other men. He hated to admit, as
+he stood there in the drizzle, his defeat by a cafeteria check.
+
+He remained in New York for another night, his emotions aggravatingly
+complex. He tried to convince his soul that he had a business reason for
+staying. He lied to himself and said he would make another desperate
+sortie on the castle of the Comas company. But he did not go there the
+next day. Near noon he set himself to watch the entrance of the
+cafeteria. When he saw a table vacant near the door he went in, secured
+food, and posted himself where he could view all comers.
+
+The girl did not come.
+
+At two o'clock, after eating three meals, he did not dare to brave the
+evident suspicions of that baleful cashier any longer. Undoubtedly the
+girl had been a casual customer like himself. He gave it up and started
+for the north.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR
+
+
+When Ward Latisan was home again and had laced his high boots and
+buttoned his belted jacket, he was wondering, in the midst of his other
+troubles, why he allowed the matter of a chance-met girl to play so big
+a part in his thoughts. The exasperating climax of his adventure with
+the girl, his failure to ask her name frankly, his folly of bashful
+backwardness in putting questions when she was at arm's length from him,
+his mournful certainty that he would never see her again--all conspired
+curiously to make her an obsession rather than a mere memory.
+
+He had never bothered with mental analysis; his effort to untangle his
+ideas in this case merely added to his puzzlement; it was like one of
+those patent trick things which he had picked up in idle moments,
+allowing the puzzle to bedevil attention and time, intriguing his
+interest, to his disgust. He had felt particularly lonely and helpless
+when he came away from Comas headquarters; instinctively he was seeking
+friendly companionship--opening his heart; he had caught something, just
+as a man with open pores catches cold. He found the notion grimly
+humorous! But Latisan was not ready to own up that what he had
+contracted was a case of love, though young men had related to him their
+experiences along such lines.
+
+He went into the woods and put himself at the head of the crews. He had
+the ability to inspire zeal and loyalty.
+
+In the snowy avenues of the Walpole tract sounded the rick-tack of busy
+axes, the yawk of saws, and the crash of falling timber. The twitch
+roads, narrow trails which converged to centers like the strands of a
+cobweb, led to the yards where the logs were piled for the sleds; and
+from the yards, after the snows were deep and had been iced by watering
+tanks on sleds, huge loads were eased down the slopes to the landings
+close to the frozen Tomah.
+
+Ward Latisan was not merely a sauntering boss, inspecting operations. He
+went out in the gray mornings with an ax in his hand. He understood the
+value of personal and active leadership. He was one with his men. They
+put forth extra effort because he was with them.
+
+Therefore, when the April rains began to soften the March snow crusts
+and the spring flood sounded its first murmur under the blackening ice
+of Tomah, the Latisan logs were ready to be rolled into the river.
+
+And then something happened!
+
+That contract with the Walpole second cousins--pronounced an air-tight
+contract by the lawyer--was pricked, popped, and became nothing.
+
+An heir appeared and proved his rights. He was the only grandson of old
+Isaac. The cousins did not count in the face of the grandson's claims.
+
+In the past, in the Tomah region, there had been fictitious heirs who
+had worked blackmail on operators who took a chance with putative heirs
+and tax titles. But the Latisans were faced with proofs that this heir
+was real and right.
+
+Why had he waited until the cut was landed?
+
+The Latisans pressed him with desperate questions, trying to find a way
+out of their trouble.
+
+He was a sullen and noncommunicative person and intimated that he had
+suited his own convenience in coming on from the West.
+
+The Latisans, when the heir appeared, were crippled for ready cash,
+after settling with the cousin heirs for stumpage and paying the
+winter's costs of operating. Those cousins were needy folks and had
+spent the money paid to them; there was no hope of recovering any
+considerable portion of the amounts.
+
+The true heir attached the logs as they lay, and a court injunction
+prevented the Latisans from moving a stick. The heir showed a somewhat
+singular disinclination to have any dealings with the Latisans. He
+refused their offer to share profits with him; he persistently returned
+an exasperating reply: he did not care to do business with men who had
+tried to steal his property. He said he had already traded with
+responsible parties. Comas surveyors came and scaled the logs and nested
+C's were painted on the ends of the timber.
+
+The Latisans had "gone bump"; the word went up and down the Tomah.
+
+"Well, go ahead and say it!" suggested Rufus Craig when he had set
+himself in the path of Ward Latisan, who was coming away from a last,
+and profitless, interview with the obstinate heir.
+
+"I have nothing to say, sir."
+
+Craig calculatingly chose the moment for this meeting, desiring to
+carry on with the policy which he had adopted. By his system the Comas
+had maneuvered after the python method--it crushed, it smeared, it
+swallowed.
+
+The Latisans had been crushed--Craig quieted his conscience with the
+arguments of business necessity; he had a big salary to safeguard; he
+had promised boldly to deliver the goods in the north country. Though
+his conscience was dormant, his fears were awake. He was not relishing
+Latisan's manner. The repression worried him. The grandson had plenty of
+old John in his nature, and Craig knew it!
+
+Craig tried to smear!
+
+"Latisan, I'll give you a position with the Comas, and a good one."
+
+"And the conditions are?"
+
+"That you'll turn over your operating equipment to us at a fair price
+and sign a ten-year contract."
+
+"I knew you'd name those conditions. I refuse."
+
+"You're making a fool of yourself--and what for?"
+
+"For a principle! I've explained it to you."
+
+"And I've explained how our consolidated plan butts against your
+old-fashioned principle. Do you think for one minute you can stop the
+Comas development?"
+
+"I'm still with the independents. We'll see what can be done."
+
+"You're licked in the Toban."
+
+"There's still good fighting ground over in the Noda Valley--and some
+fighters are left there."
+
+Craig squinted irefully at the presumptuous rebel.
+
+Latisan hid much behind a smile. "You see, Mr. Craig, I'm just as frank
+as I was when I said I was going to New York. You may find me in the
+Noda when you get there with your consolidation plans."
+
+"Another case of David and Goliath, eh?"
+
+"Perhaps! I'll hunt around and see what I can find in the way of a sling
+and pebble."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE
+
+
+A summons sent forth by Echford Flagg, the last of the giants among the
+independent operators on the Noda waters, had made that day in early
+April a sort of gala affair in the village of Adonia.
+
+Men by the hundred were crowded into the one street, which stretched
+along the river bank in front of the tavern and the stores. The
+narrow-gauge train from downcountry had brought many. Others had come
+from the woods in sledges; there was still plenty of snow in the woods;
+but in the village the runner irons squalled over the bare spots. Men
+came trudging from the mouths of trails and tote roads, their duffel in
+meal bags slung from their shoulders.
+
+An observer, looking on, listening, would have discovered that a
+suppressed spirit of jest kept flashing across the earnestness of the
+occasion--grins lighting up sharp retort--just as the radiant sunshine
+of the day shuttled through the intermittent snow squalls which dusted
+the shoulders of the thronging men.
+
+There was a dominant monotone above all the talk and the cackle of
+laughter; ears were dinned everlastingly by the thunder of the cataract
+near the village. The Noda waters break their winter fetters first of
+all at Adonia, where the river leaps from the cliffs into the whirlpool.
+The roar of the falls is a trumpet call for the starting of the drive,
+though the upper waters may be ice-bound; but when the falls shout
+their call the rivermen must be started north toward the landings where
+logs are piled on the rotting ice.
+
+On that day Echford Flagg proposed to pick his crew.
+
+To be sure, he had picked a crew every year in early April, but the
+hiring had been done in a more or less matter-of-fact manner.
+
+This year the summons had a suggestion of portent. It went by word o'
+mouth from man to man all through the north country. It hinted at an
+opportunity for adventure outside of wading in shallows, carding ledges
+of jillpoked logs, and the bone-breaking toil of rolling timber and
+riffling jams.
+
+"Eck Flagg wants roosters this year," had gone the word. Spurred
+roosters! Fighting gamecocks! One spur for a log and one for any hellion
+who should get in the way of an honest drive!
+
+The talk among the men who shouldered one another in the street and
+swapped grins and gab revealed that not all of them were ready to
+volunteer as spurred roosters, ready for hazard. It was evident that
+there were as many mere spectators as there were actual candidates for
+jobs. Above all, ardent curiosity prevailed; in that region where events
+marshaled themselves slowly and sparsely men did not balk at riding or
+hoofing it a dozen miles or more in order to get first-hand information
+in regard to anything novel or worth while.
+
+Finally, Echford Flagg stalked down the hill from his big, square
+house--its weather-beaten grayness matching the ledges on which it was
+propped. His beard and hair were the color of the ledges, too, and the
+seams in his hard face were like ledgerifts. His belted jacket was stone
+gray and it was buttoned over the torso of a man who was six feet
+tall--yes, a bit over that height. He was straight and vigorous in spite
+of the age revealed in his features. He carried a cant dog over his
+shoulder; the swinging iron tongue of it clanked as he strode along.
+
+The handle of the tool was curiously striped with colors. There was no
+other cant dog like it all up and down the Noda waters. Carved into the
+wood was an emblem--it was the totem mark of the Tarratines--the sign
+manual by Sachem Nicola of Flagg's honorary membership in the tribe.
+
+He was no popular hero in that section--it was easy to gather that much
+from the expressions of the men who looked at him when he marched
+through the crowd. There was no acclaim, only a grunt or a sniff. Too
+many of them had worked for him in days past and had felt the weight of
+his broad palm and the slash of his sharp tongue. Ward Latisan had
+truthfully expressed the Noda's opinion of Flagg in the talk with the
+girl in the cafeteria.
+
+The unroofed porch of the tavern served Flagg for a rostrum that day. He
+mounted the porch, faced the throng, and drove down the steel-shod point
+of his cant dog into the splintering wood, swinging the staff out to
+arm's length.
+
+"I'm hiring a driving crew to-day," he shouted. "As for men----"
+
+"Here's one," broke in a volunteer, thrusting himself forward with
+scant respect for the orator's exordium.
+
+Flagg bent forward and peered down into the face uplifted hopefully.
+
+"I said men," he roared. "You're Larsen. You went to sleep on the Lotan
+ledges----"
+
+"I had been there alone for forty-eight hours, carding 'em, and the
+logs----"
+
+"You went to sleep on the Lotan ledges, I say, and let a jam get
+tangled, and it took twenty of my men two days to pull the snarl loose."
+
+The man was close to the edge of the porch. Flagg set his boot suddenly
+against Larsen's breast and drove him away so viciously that the victim
+fell on his back among the legs of the crowd, ten feet from the porch.
+
+"I never forget and I never forgive--and that's the word that's out
+about me, and I'm proud of the reputation," declared Flagg. "I don't
+propose to smirch it at this late day. And now I look into your faces
+and realize that what I have just said and done adds to the bunch that
+has come here to-day to listen and look on instead of hiring out. I'm
+glad I'm sorting out the sheep from the goats at the outset. It happens
+that I want goats--goats with horns and sharp hoofs and----"
+
+"The word was you wanted roosters," cried somebody from the outskirts of
+the crowd.
+
+There was laughter, seeking even that small excuse for vent; the
+hilarity was as expressive as a _viva voce_ vote, and its volume
+suggested that there were more against Flagg than there were for him.
+
+He did not lower his crest. "You all know what is happening this
+season. You know why I have sent out for men. The Three C's crowd has
+started stealing from my crews. I want men who have a grudge against the
+Three C's. I want men who will fight the Three C's. Rufe Craig proposes
+to steal the Noda as he has stolen the Tomah. He has been making his
+brags of what he'll do to me. He won't do it, even if I have to make a
+special trip to hell and hire a crew of devils. Now let me test out this
+crowd." He was searching faces with a keen gaze. "All proper men to the
+front ranks! Let me look at you!"
+
+A slow movement began in the throng; men were pushing forward.
+
+"Lively on the foot!" yelled Flagg. "I'm standing here judging you by
+the way you break this jam of the jillpokes. Walk over the cowards, you
+real men! Come on, you bully chaps! Come running! Hi yoop! Underfoot
+with 'em!"
+
+He swung his cant dog and kept on adjuring.
+
+The real adventurers, the excitement seekers, the scrappers, drove into
+the press of those who were in the way. The field became a scene of
+riot. The bullies were called on to qualify under the eyes of the
+master. There were fisticuffs aplenty because husky men who might not
+care to enlist with old Eck Flagg were sufficiently muscular and ugly to
+strike back at attackers who stamped on their feet and drove fists into
+their backs.
+
+Flagg, on the porch, followed all phases of the scattered conflict,
+estimated men by the manner in which they went at what he had set them
+to do, and he surveyed them with favor when they crowded close to the
+edge of his rostrum, dwelling with particular interest on the faces
+which especially revealed that they had been up against the real thing
+in the way of a fight. Behind and around the gladiators who had won to
+the porch pressed the cordon of malcontents who cursed and threatened.
+
+"Much obliged for favor of prompt reply to mine of day and date," said
+Flagg, with his grim humor. He drove his cant-dog point into the floor
+of the porch and left the tool waggling slowly to and fro. He leaped
+down among the men. He did not waste time with words. He went among
+them, gripping their arms to estimate the biceps, holding them off at
+arm's length to judge their height and weight. He also looked at their
+teeth, rolling up their lips, horse-trader fashion. The drive provender
+did not consist of tender tidbits; a river jack must be able to chew
+tough meat, and the man in the wilderness with a toothache would have
+poor grit for work in bone-chilling water after a sleepless night.
+
+Flagg carried a piece of chalk in his right hand. When he accepted a man
+he autographed the initials "E F" on the back of the fellow's shirt or
+jacket, in characteristic handwriting. "Show your back as you go north,"
+he proclaimed for the benefit of the strangers to his custom. "My
+initials are good for stage team, tote team, lodging, and meals--the
+bills are sent to Flagg. The sooner you start the sooner you'll get to
+headwaters."
+
+A big chap followed at Flagg's back as the despot moved among the men.
+He was Ben Kyle, Flagg's drive boss, the first mate of the Flagg ship of
+state. He was writing down the names of the men as they were hired.
+Occasionally the master called on the mate to give in an opinion when a
+candidate ran close to the line between acceptance or rejection.
+
+Flagg began to show good humor beyond his usual wont. He was finding men
+who suited him. Many of them growled anathema against the Three C's.
+They had worked for that corporation. They had been obliged to herd with
+roughscuff from the city employment agencies, unskilled men who were all
+the time coming and going and were mostly underfoot when they were on
+the job. One humorist averred that the Three C's had three complete sets
+of crews--one working, one coming in, and one going out.
+
+Kyle began to loosen up and copy some of Flagg's good humor.
+
+He encouraged the wag who had described the three shifts to say more
+about the Comas crews; he had some witticisms of his own to offer.
+
+And so it came to pass that when he tackled one hulking and bashful sort
+of a chap who stuttered, Kyle was in most excellent mood to have a
+little fun with a butt. Even Echford Flagg ceased operations to listen,
+for the humor seemed to be sharp-edged enough to suit his satiric taste.
+
+"You say you're an ox teamster!" bawled the boss. "Well, well! That's
+good. Reckon we'll put some oxen onto the drive this spring so as to
+give you a job. How much do you know about teaming oxen?"
+
+After a great deal of mirth-provoking difficulty with b and g, the man
+meekly explained that he did know the butt end of a gad from the brad
+end.
+
+"Who in the crowd has got an ox or two in his pocket?" queried Kyle. "We
+can't hire an ox teamster for the drive"--he dwelt on oxen for the drive
+with much humorous effect--"without being sure that he can drive oxen.
+It would be blasted aggravating to have our drive hung up and the oxen
+all willing enough to pull it along, and then find out that the teamster
+was no good."
+
+Martin Brophy, tavernkeeper, was on the porch, enjoying the events that
+were staged in front of his place that day.
+
+"Hey, Martin, isn't there a gad in the cultch under your office desk?"
+
+"Most everything has been left there, from an umbrella to a clap o'
+thunder," admitted Brophy. "I'll look and see."
+
+"Better not go to fooling too much, Ben," warned the master. "I've seen
+fooling spoil good business a lot of times."
+
+It was rebuke in the hearing of many men who were showing keen zest in
+what might be going to happen; it was treating a right-hand man like a
+child. Kyle resented it and his tone was sharp when he replied that he
+knew what he was doing. He turned away from the glaring eyes of the
+master and took in his hand the goad which Brophy brought.
+
+There was a sudden tautness in the situation between Flagg and Kyle, and
+the crowd noted it. The master was not used to having his suggestions
+flouted.
+
+The boss thrust the goad into the hand of the bashful fellow. "There's a
+hitchpost right side of you, my man. Make believe it's a yoke of oxen.
+What are your motions and your style of language in getting a start. Go
+to it!"
+
+The teamster swished the goad in beckoning fashion after he had rapped
+it against the post in imitation of knocking on an ox's nose to summon
+attention. His efforts to vault lingually over the first "double-u"
+excited much mirth. Even the corners of Flagg's mouth twitched.
+
+"Wo, wo hysh! Gee up, Bright! Wo haw, Star!" Such was the opening
+command.
+
+"They don't hear you," declared Kyle. "Whoop 'er up!"
+
+The teamster did make a desperate effort to drive his imaginary yoke of
+oxen. He danced and yelled and brandished the goad as a crazy director
+might slash with his baton. He used up all his drive words and
+invective.
+
+Kyle could not let the joke stop there after the man had thrown down the
+goad, wiped his forehead, and declared that it wasn't fair, trying to
+make him start a hitching post.
+
+"Pick up your gad," commanded the boss. He dropped on his hands and
+knees. "Now you show us what you can do. I'm a yoke of oxen."
+
+"You ain't."
+
+"I tell you I am. Get busy. Start your team."
+
+"That's about enough of that!" warned Flagg, sourly. "Kyle, get up onto
+your feet where you belong."
+
+But the spirit of jest made the boss reckless and willfully disobedient.
+He insisted doggedly on his role as a balky ox and scowled at the
+teamster. "If you want a job you'll have to show _me_!"
+
+The teamster adjured Mr. Kyle in very polite language, and did not bring
+the swishing goad within two feet of the scornful nose; the candidate
+wanted a job and was not in a mood to antagonize a prospective boss.
+
+"You're a hell of a teamster!" yapped Kyle. "What's your system? Do you
+get action by feeding an ox lollypops, kissing him on the nose and
+saying, 'Please,' and 'Beg your pardon'?"
+
+The big chap began to show some spirit of his own under the lash of the
+laughter that was encouraging Kyle.
+
+"I ain't getting a square deal, mister. That post wa'n't an ox; you
+ain't an ox."
+
+"I am, I tell you! Start me."
+
+"You vow and declare that you're an ox, do you, before all in hearing?"
+
+"That's what!" Mr. Kyle was receiving the plaudits and encouragement of
+all his friends who enjoyed a joke, and was certain in his mind that he
+had that bashful stutterer sized up as a quitter. Flagg folded his arms
+and narrowed his eyes--his was the air of one who was allowing fate to
+deal with a fool who tempted it.
+
+The candidate did not hurry matters. He spat meditatively into first one
+fist and then into the other. He grasped the goad in both hands. He
+looked calculatingly at Mr. Kyle, who was on his hands and knees, and
+was cocking an arch and provocative look upward, approving the grins of
+the men near him.
+
+When the teamster did snap into action his manner indicated that he knew
+how to handle balky oxen. First he cracked Mr. Kyle smartly over the
+bridge of the nose. "Wo haw up!" was a command which Kyle tried to obey
+in a flame of ire, but a swifter and more violent blow across the nose
+sent him back on his heels, his eyes shut in his agony.
+
+"Gee up into the yoke, you crumpled-horn hyampus!" The teamster welted
+the goad across Kyle's haunches and further encouraged the putative ox
+by a thrust of a full inch of the brad.
+
+When the boss came onto his feet with a berserker howl of fury and
+started to attack, the ox expert yelled, "Dat rat ye, don't ye try to
+hook your horns into me!" Then he flailed the stick once more across
+Kyle's nose with a force that knocked the boss flat on his back.
+
+Echford Flagg stepped forward and stood between the two men when Kyle
+struggled to his feet and started toward the teamster with the mania of
+blood lust in his red eyes. The master put forth a hand and thrust back
+the raging mate. Flagg said something, but for a time he could not be
+heard above the tempest of howling laughter.
+
+It was riotous abandonment to mirth. Men hung helplessly to other men or
+flapped their hands and staggered about, choking with their merriment.
+The savageness of the punishment administered to the boastful Kyle
+might have shocked persons with squeamish dispositions; it was wildly
+humorous in the estimation of those men o' the forest. They were used to
+having their jokes served raw.
+
+The roar that fairly put into the background the riot of the falling
+waters of the Noda was what all the region recognized as the ruination
+of a man's authority in the north country; it was the Big Laugh.
+
+Flagg, when he could make himself heard by his boss, holding Kyle in his
+mighty grip, made mention of the Big Laugh, too. "Kyle, you've got it at
+last by your damn folly. You're licked forever in these parts. I warned
+you. You went ahead against my word to you. You're no good to me after
+this." He yanked the list of names from Kyle's jacket pocket.
+
+"Let me loose! I'm going to kill that----"
+
+"You're going to walk out--and away! You're done. You're fired. You
+can't boss men after this. A boss, are you?" he demanded, with bitter
+irony. "All up and down this river, if you tried to boss men, they'd
+give you the grin and call you 'Co Boss'. They'd moo after you. Look at
+'em now. Listen to 'em. Get out of my sight. I don't forgive any man who
+goes against my word to him and then gets into trouble." He thrust Kyle
+away with a force that sent the man staggering. He turned to the bashful
+chap, who had resumed his former demeanor of deprecation. "You're hired.
+You've showed that you can drive oxen and I reckon you can drive logs."
+
+The teamster was too thoroughly bulwarked by admirers to allow the
+rampant Kyle an opportunity to get at him. And there was Flagg to reckon
+with if violence should be attempted. The deposed first mate slunk
+away.
+
+"That, my men," proclaimed the master, "is what the Big Laugh can do to
+a boss. No man can be a boss for me after he gets that laugh. I reckon
+I've hired my crew," he went on, looking them over critically. "Stand by
+to follow me north in the morning."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX
+
+
+When the autocrat of the Noda strode away, a stalwart young man
+instantly obeyed Flagg's command--seizing the occasion to follow then
+and there. He had been standing on the outskirts of the throng,
+surveying the happenings with great interest. The men who were in his
+immediate vicinity, lumberjacks who were strangers in the Noda region,
+were plainly of his appanage and had obeyed his advice to keep out of
+the melee that had been provoked by Flagg's methods of selection.
+
+When the big fellow hurried in pursuit of Flagg a bystander put a
+question to one of the strangers.
+
+"You ought to know who he is," returned the questioned. "That's Ward
+Latisan."
+
+And just then, apart from the crowd, having overtaken the autocrat, the
+young man was informing Flagg to that same effect.
+
+Flagg halted, swung around, and rammed his cant dog into the ground.
+"You've changed from a sapling into fair-sized timber since I saw you
+last. You look like old John, and that's compliment enough, I reckon.
+How do you happen to be over in the Noda country?"
+
+"I don't happen! I heard of the word you sent out. I came here on
+purpose, sir."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To hire with you."
+
+Flagg looked Latisan up and down and showed no enthusiasm. "Yes, I heard
+that you and your father had let the Three C's slam you flat. And what
+makes you think I want that kind of a quitter in my crew?"
+
+Ward met the disparaging stare with a return display of undaunted
+challenge. "Because I belong in the crew of a man who is proposing to
+fight the Three C's."
+
+Flagg grunted.
+
+Latisan kept on. "You have been hiring men because they have been
+parading a lot of little grouches against the Comas folks. You need a
+man who has a real reason for going up against that outfit. And I'm the
+man."
+
+"What you think about yourself and what I may think about you are two
+different things," retorted Flagg, with insolence. "Looks to me like you
+had got the Big Laugh over in your section. You have probably noticed
+what I just did in a case of that sort."
+
+"I took it all in, sir."
+
+"Well, what then?"
+
+"They are not laughing with us or against us over in the Tomah, Mr.
+Flagg. They all know what happened, and that we fought the Comas fair
+and square as long as we could keep on our feet. It was a trick that
+licked us. Craig held out the Walpole heir on us."
+
+"I know about it; I manage to get most of the news." Flagg started to go
+on his way, but Ward put his clutch on the autocrat's arm.
+
+"Pardon me, Mr. Flagg, but you're going to hear what I have to ask of
+you."
+
+Mere apologetic suit would not have served with Flagg. He found this
+bold young man patterning after the Flagg methods in dealings with men.
+The boldness of the grip on his arm gained more effectively than
+pleading.
+
+"Ask it. I'm in a hurry."
+
+"You have fired Kyle. I want his place."
+
+"Well, I'll be----"
+
+"You needn't be, sir. I'm a Latisan and I have bossed our drives. I have
+brought along a bunch of my own men who have bucked white water with me
+and are with me now in standing up for the principle of the
+independents. Allow me to say that luck is with you. Here's your chance
+to get hold of a man who can put heart and soul into this fight you're
+going to make."
+
+"And now go on and tell me how much you admire me," suggested Flagg,
+sarcastically.
+
+"I can't do that, sir. I'm going to tell you frankly I don't relish what
+I have heard about you. It's for no love of you that I'm asking for a
+chance to go up against the Comas people. It's because you're hard--hard
+enough to suit me--hard enough to let me go to it and show the Three C's
+they can't get away with what they're trying to do up here through Rufus
+Craig."
+
+"All right. You're hired. You've got Ben Kyle's job," stated Flagg.
+
+Latisan was not astonished by this precipitate come-about. He was
+prepared for Flagg's tactics by what he had set himself to learn about
+the autocrat's nature--quick to adjudge, tenacious in his grudges,
+inflexible in his opinion, bitterly ruthless when he had set himself in
+the way his prejudices selected.
+
+"You have seen what happened to Kyle. Can you govern yourself
+accordingly?" Flagg in his turn had set his grip on Ward's arm.
+
+"Yes, sir!"
+
+"I'll kick you out just as sudden as I kicked him if anything happens to
+make men give you the grin. Can you start north with me in the morning?"
+
+"Now or in the morning; it makes no difference to me, sir."
+
+Flagg shifted his hand from Ward's arm to the young man's shoulder and
+propelled him back a few paces toward the crowd in front of the tavern.
+"Listen, one and all! Here's my drive boss. He's old John Latisan's
+grandson. If that isn't introduction enough, ask questions about old
+John from those who remember him; this chap is like his grandfather."
+
+Latisan went into the tavern after Flagg had marched away to the big
+house on the ledges. The crowd made way for the new drive boss; those in
+his path stared at him with interest; mumble of comment followed as the
+men closed in behind him. When he sat down in a corner of the tavern
+office and lighted his pipe his subalterns showed him deference by
+leaving him to himself. That isolation gave Landlord Brophy his
+opportunity to indulge his bent in gossip unheard by interlopers.
+
+Brophy plucked a cigar from a box in the little case on the desk and sat
+down beside Ward. "I sympathize with you," he said by way of backhanded
+congratulation.
+
+"Thank you."
+
+"I was born in this tavern; my father built it and run it before me,"
+said Brophy, tucking his cigar through the shrubbery of his gray
+mustache. "And so I've had the chance to know Ech Flagg a good many
+years. He's a turk."
+
+"I have heard so."
+
+"He has always had a razor edge to his temper. Maybe you know what put
+the wire edge onto it?" It was query with the cock of an eyebrow
+accompanying.
+
+"What I know about Mr. Flagg is only a general reputation of being a
+hard man. I can say that much to you because I told him the same thing.
+And that's as far as I care to gossip about an employer," stated Ward,
+stiffly.
+
+"That's a safe stand," said Brophy, unperturbed. "Keep to it and they
+can't be running to him with stories about what you have said. But he
+don't pay me wages and I can say what I feel like saying. A new boss
+ought to know a few things about the man who hires him. It's my
+disposition to set a good chap on the right road with a tip. Whatever
+you may say to Flagg in the way of chat, don't you ever try to bring up
+the subject of his family affairs."
+
+"I'm not at all likely to," snapped Latisan, with asperity.
+
+"Oh, such a subject is easy out when folks get to going confidential,"
+pursued the persistent Brophy. The suggestion that he would ever be on
+confidential terms with Flagg provoked an ill-tempered rebuke from Ward,
+but Brophy paid no attention.
+
+"If you lose your job with him, as you probably will, Latisan, let it
+be in the straight way of business, as he conducts it, instead of being
+by some fool slip of your tongue about family matters." He puffed at his
+cigar complacently and still was giving no heed to Ward's manifest
+repugnance at being made the repository of gossip.
+
+"Eck's wife died when the daughter Sylvia was small, and he sent the
+girl off to school somewheres when she was big enough to be sent. And
+she fell in with a dude kind of a fellow and came back home married to
+him. She was so much in love that she dared to do a thing like that with
+Eck Flagg--and that's being in love a whole lot, I'll say. Well, none of
+us knew what was said back and forth in the family circle, but we
+figured that the new husband's cheeks didn't tingle with any kisses that
+Eck gave him. At any rate, Eck set Kennard to work--that was the name,
+Alfred Kennard. Eck was never much good at ciphering. Office had been in
+his hip pocket, where he carried his timebook and his scale sheet.
+Kennard had an education and it came about that Eck let Alf do the
+ciphering; then he let him keep the books; then he let him handle
+contracts and the money; then he gave him power of attorney so that Alf
+wouldn't be hampered whilst Eck was away in the woods. Just handed
+everything over for the first and the only time in his life, figuring
+that it was all in the family. I guess that Alf went to figuring the
+same way, seeing that he was good at figures; felt that what was Eck's
+was his, or would be later--and Alf proceeded to cash in. Stole right
+and left, that was the amount of it. Prob'ly reckoned he'd rather have
+a sore conscience than have his feelings all ripped to pieces when he
+asked Eck for money.
+
+"We all knew when Eck found out that he had been properly trimmed by the
+only man he had ever trusted.
+
+"It happened in the dooryard of the big house up there, when Eck came
+home, wised up, and tackled Alf. Eck felt that the inside of the house
+might get mussed up by his language, so he stood in the yard and
+hollered for Alf to come out. We all went up and stood around; it seemed
+to be a free show, all welcome. We got the full facts in the case from
+Eck.
+
+"Sylvia came out on the heels of Alf, and she had with her the little
+Lida, Eck's granddaughter. And after Eck had had his say to Alf and had
+thrown him over the fence, he gave Sylvia her choice--stay with her
+father or go away with Alf. Well, she had loved Alf well enough to come
+home and face Eck with him; she loved Alf enough to turn her back on Eck
+and face the world with her husband. Natural, of course! Eck tried to
+grab the little girl away--to save his own from the thieves, so he said.
+Sylvia fought him off and hung to the girl. It was a tough sight,
+Latisan! And he stood there and shook his fists and cast 'em all off for
+ever and aye. That's his nature--no allowance made if anybody does him
+dirt.
+
+"I'll admit that Eck did make an allowance later, after Alf died and the
+news of it got back here to Adonia. Lida was grown up to around sixteen
+by that time. I got this from Rickety Dick. Know him?"
+
+Latisan, relighting his pipe, shook his head with an indifferent wag.
+
+"Well, you soon will. He cooks and waits and tends on Eck. Looks up to
+Eck. Loves Eck--and that's going some! Dick told me about the allowance
+Eck made for once in his life after I had touched Dick up by telling him
+that Eck Flagg never made an allowance to anybody. Eck allowed to Dick
+that Lida was too young to choose the right way that day in the yard.
+When she had grown up Eck sent old Dick to hunt for her in the city, to
+tell her she could come back to him, now that she was old enough to make
+her choice. Said Sylvia couldn't come back. Now that was a devil of a
+position to put a girl in. What? Hey?"
+
+Latisan nodded, displaying faint interest.
+
+"And Sylvia right then was in bed with her never-get-over, so Dick told
+me. Of course Lida wouldn't come back. And she was working her fingers
+to the bone to take care of her mother. Old Dick cried like a baby when
+he was telling me. He cries pretty easy, anyway. He never dared to give
+to Eck the word that Lida sent back. She's got the spirit of the Flaggs,
+so I judge from what Dick told me. She wouldn't even take the eggs and
+the truck Dick lugged down, though Dick had bought 'em with his own
+money; she thought the stuff came from her grandfather. Dick had to hide
+'em under the table when he came away. And so Eck has crossed Lida off
+for ever and aye. Now that's some story, ain't it?"
+
+"I haven't enjoyed it," said Ward, brusquely.
+
+"Prob'ly not. I wasn't telling it thinking you'd give three cheers when
+I finished. But I've been warning you not to make a foolish break by
+stubbing your toe over the family topic. I've heard what has happened to
+the Latisans over Tomah way. You're our real sort, and I'm blasted sorry
+for you. I reckon you need a job and I'm trying to help you hold it. I
+like your looks, young Latisan. I hate the Comas crowd. Craig has never
+set down to my table but what he has growled about the grub. The cheap
+rowdies he hires for his operations on these waters come through here
+with bootleg booze and try to wreck my house. I'd like to be friends
+with you, young Latisan, and if you feel that way about it, put it
+there!"
+
+Brophy held out a fat hand and Latisan grasped it cordially.
+
+"In my position I hear all the news," stated the landlord. "I'll sift
+the wheat out of the chaff and hand you what's for your own good. And
+now you'll have to excuse me whilst I go and pound steak and dish up
+dinner and wait on the table. That's the trouble with running a tavern
+up here in the woods. I can't keep help of the girl kind. They either
+get homesick or get married."
+
+There was an ominous crash in the dining room.
+
+Brophy swore roundly and extricated his rotund haunches from the arms of
+his chair. "There goes Dirty-Shirt Sam! I have to double him as hostler
+and waiter. He'd smash the feed pails in the stable if they wasn't
+galvanized iron."
+
+He pounded with heavy gait across the office and flung open the
+dining-room door, disclosing a lop-sided youth who was listlessly
+kicking broken dishes into a pile.
+
+"You're fourteen dollars behind your wages, already, with dishes you've
+dropped and smashed," shouted Brophy. "I'd give a thousand dollars for
+the right kind of a girl to stay here and wait on tables if she wouldn't
+get married or homesick. I'll make it a standing offer." He cuffed the
+youth in a circle around the heap of broken crockery and went on his way
+to the kitchen.
+
+Latisan smoked and reflected on the nature of Echford Flagg as Brophy
+had exposed it from the family standpoint.
+
+Then he looked at the sullen youth who was sweeping up the fragments of
+the dishes. The whimsical notion occurred to Ward that he might post
+Brophy on the advantages of a cafeteria plan of operating his hostelry.
+But he had by these thoughts summoned the memory of one certain
+cafeteria, and of a handsome girl who sat across from him and who had so
+suddenly been swallowed up in the vortex of the city throngs--gone
+forever--only a memory that troubled him so much and so often that he
+was glad when his own Tomah men appeared to him, asking for commands and
+taking his mind off a constantly nagging regret.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN
+
+
+The set-off of the Flagg expedition in the gray of early dawn had an
+element of picaresque adventure about it.
+
+Latisan was making an estimate of his crew while he mixed with the men,
+checking them up, as they assembled again in front of the tavern of
+Adonia. Old Cap'n Blackbeard would have cheerfully certified to the
+eminent fitness of many of them for conscienceless deeds of derring-do.
+The nature of Flagg's wide-flung summons and his provocative method of
+selection must needs bring into one band most of the toughest nuts of
+the region, Latisan reflected, and he had brought no milk-and-water
+chaps from the Tomah. He had come prepared for what was to face him. He
+had led his willing men in more or less desperate adventures in his own
+region; his clan had been busy passing the word among the strangers that
+old John Latisan's grandson was a chief who had the real and the right
+stuff in him. It was plain that all the men of the crew were receiving
+the information with enthusiasm. Some of them ventured to pat him on the
+shoulder and volunteered profane promises to go with him to the limit.
+They did not voice any loyalty to Flagg. Flagg was not a man to inspire
+anything except perfunctory willingness to earn wages. The men saw real
+adventure ahead if they followed at the back of a heroic youth who was
+avenging the wrongs dealt to his family fortunes.
+
+There were choruses of old river chanteys while the men waited for the
+sleds. A devil-may-care spirit had taken possession of the crew. Latisan
+began to feel like the brigand chief of bravos.
+
+He was jubilantly informed by one enthusiast that they were all in
+luck--that Larry O'Gorman, the woods poet, had picked that crew as his
+own for that season on the river.
+
+The songs of Larry O'Gorman are sung from the Mirimichi to the Megantic.
+He is analyst as well as bard. He makes it a point--and he still lives
+and sings--to attach himself only to forces which can inspire his lyre.
+
+It was conveyed to the new boss that already was Larry busy on a new
+song. Ward, his attention directed, beheld the lyricist seated on the
+edge of the tavern porch, absorbed in composition, writing slowly on the
+planed side of a bit of board, licking the end of a stubby pencil,
+rolling his eyes as he sought inspiration.
+
+A bit later Larry rehearsed his choristers and Latisan heard the song.
+
+    Come, all ye bold and bully boys--come lis-sun unto me!
+    'Tis all abowit young Latis-an, a riverman so free.
+    White water, wet water, he never minds its roar,
+    'Cause he'll take and he'll kick a bubble up and ride all safe to
+                shore.
+    Come, all, and riffle the ledges! Come, all, and bust the jam!
+    And for all o' the bluff o' the Comas crowd we don't give one good--
+        Hoot, toot, and a hoorah!
+    We don't give a tinker's dam.
+
+Every man in the crowd was able to come in on the simple chorus.
+
+They were singing when Echford Flagg appeared to them. He was riding on
+a jumper, with runners under it, and he was galloping his strapping bay
+horses down from the big house on the ledges. On the bare ground the
+runners shrieked, and he snapped his whip over the heads of the horses.
+
+"What is this, a singing school or a driving crew?" he demanded,
+raucously.
+
+"The sleds have just come, sir," explained Latisan, who had been
+marshaling the conveyances.
+
+"Listen, all ye!" shouted Flagg. "Nothing but dunnage bags go on those
+sleds till the runners hit the woods tote road and there's good slipping
+on the snow. The man who doesn't hoof it till then hears from me."
+
+He ordered Latisan to get onto the jumper seat beside him, slashed his
+horses with the whip, and led the way toward the north.
+
+There was no word between the two for many a mile.
+
+Near noon they arrived at a wayside baiting place, a log house in a
+clearing. They ate there and the horses were fed. There was plenty of
+snow in the woods and the first rains of April had iced the surface so
+that the slipping had been good.
+
+As if the chewing of food had unlocked Flagg's close-set jaws, he talked
+a bit to Latisan after the meal and while the horses were put to the
+jumper.
+
+"I'm going to swing off here and ride down to Skulltree dam. I'm hearing
+reports of something going on there."
+
+They heard something very definite in the way of reports before they
+reached Skulltree. The sound of explosions came booming through the
+trees. It was dynamite. Its down-thrusting thud on the frozen ground was
+unmistakable.
+
+"I knew that all those boxes of canned thunder that have been going
+through Adonia, with the Three C's on the lid, weren't intended to blow
+up log jams," vouchsafed Flagg, after a few oaths to spice his opinion
+of the Comas company.
+
+Latisan knew something about the lay of the land at Skulltree, himself.
+When he was a young chap the Latisans had operated in a small way as a
+side-line on the Noda waters. There was a rift in the watershed near
+Skulltree. There was a canon leading down to the Tomah end, and the
+waters of the gorge were fed by a chain of ponds whose master source was
+near the Noda. The Latisans had hauled over to the pond from the Noda
+Valley.
+
+When Flagg pulled his horses to a halt on the edge of a cliff which
+commanded a view of the Skulltree and its purlieus, he sat in silence
+for five minutes until he had taken in every detail of what was going on
+there.
+
+Every little while there was an explosion across the river among the
+trees, and clotted frozen earth and rocks shot up into the air. When the
+horses leaped in fright Flagg slashed them and swore. It was plain that
+his ire was mounting as he made sure of what was taking place.
+
+They were blasting a rude canal from the Noda across the low horseback
+which divided the Noda waters from Tomah ponds. It meant the diversion
+of flowage. It was contemptuous disregard of the Noda rights in favor of
+the million-dollar paper mill of the Three C's on the Tomah lower
+waters. Rufus Craig had said something to young Latisan about the
+inexpediency of picking up a million-dollar paper mill and lugging it
+off in a shawl strap. It would be easier to blow a hole through the
+earth and feed in the logs from the Noda.
+
+"By the red-hot hinges of Tophet!" bawled Flagg, having made sure that
+the enormity he was viewing was not a dream. He cut his whip under the
+bellies of his horses, one stroke to right and the other to left, and
+the animals went over the cliff and down the sharp slope, skating and
+floundering through the snow. The descent at that place would have been
+impossible for horses except for the snow which trigged feet and runners
+in some degree; it was damp and heavy; but the frantic threshing of the
+plunging beasts kicked up a smother of snow none the less. It was like a
+thunderbolt in a nimbus--the rush of Flagg down the mountain.
+
+Rufus Craig was in the shack at the end of Skulltree dam--his makeshift
+office. Somebody called to him, and from his door he beheld the last
+stages of Flagg's harebrained exploit, a veritable touch-and-go with
+death.
+
+"There ain't much doubt about who it is that's coming for a social
+call," said the understrapper who had summoned the field director. "And
+the question is whether he's bound for hell or Skulltree."
+
+Craig did not comment; he had the air of one who had been expecting a
+visitor of this sort and was not especially astonished by the mode of
+getting there suddenly, considering the spur for action.
+
+Tempestuous was the rush of the horses across the narrow flats between
+the cliff and the end of the dam. So violently did Flagg jerk them to a
+standstill in front of the shack, one horse fell and dragged down the
+other in a tangle of harness. Flagg left them to struggle to their feet
+as best they were able. He leaped off the jumper and thrust with the
+handle of his whip in the direction of the dynamite operations.
+
+The old man's features were contorted into an arabesque--a pattern of
+maniacal rage. His face was purple and its hue was deepened because it
+was set off against the snow which crusted his garments after his
+descent through the drifts. Knotted veins stood out on his forehead.
+There was no coherence in the noises he was making in his effort to
+speak words. He kept jabbing with his whip handle.
+
+Evidently Craig's first thought was that the menace of the whip was for
+him; he half put up a curved arm to ward off blows. In spite of his
+attention to Flagg he surveyed Latisan with considerable astonishment.
+
+Ward had not recovered his poise. A passenger is usually more perturbed
+than a driver in desperate situations. That crazy dash down the cliff
+had frightened him into speechless and numb passivity. He still clung to
+the jumper seat with his stiffened fingers.
+
+"Before you do anything you'll be sorry for, Mr. Flagg, let me assure
+you that we have the law behind us in what we're doing," suggested
+Craig, with nervous haste. "The legislature extended our charter for
+development purposes and a special act protects us."
+
+Flagg strode away a dozen paces and then came back with better command
+over his faculties of speech. "Damn your legislature! What right has it
+got to tamper with a landbreak that God Almighty has put between
+waters?"
+
+"The act was passed, Mr. Flagg. There was an advertised hearing. If you
+were interested you should have been there."
+
+"What does a legislature know about conditions up here?" demanded Flagg,
+with fury. "They loaf around in swing chairs and hearken to the first
+one who gets to 'em. They pass laws with a joker here and a trick there,
+and they don't know what the law is really about. You're stealing my
+water. By the gods! there's no law that allows a thief to operate. And
+if you've got a law that helps you steal I'll take my chance on keeping
+my own in spite of your pet and private law."
+
+"Go ahead, Flagg," said Craig, impudently, no longer apprehensive about
+the whip. "I'm not your guardian to save you from trouble. There's water
+enough for all of us."
+
+"You have swept the slopes so clean for your cursed pulp-wood slivers
+that you have dried up the brooks, and there isn't enough water any
+more, and you know it. Your damnation canal will suck the life out of
+the Noda."
+
+"You listen to me, Flagg!" adjured Craig, getting back all his
+confidence as the executive of a powerful corporation. "Another special
+act allows us to raise this dam and conserve the water so that there'll
+be plenty after we use our share for the canal. You're safe and----"
+
+"Safe!" raged the old man, and again the veins knotted on his forehead
+and he panted for breath. Latisan wanted to urge him to be careful.
+Flagg was exhibiting the dread symptoms of apoplexy. "Safe! I'll be
+locked into this dam by you, with sluiceway refused to me--that's what
+it will come to--you offering me a cut price for the logs I can't get
+down to the Adonia sawmills. If you can't kill one way, as you killed
+off the Latisans, you'll kill in another way. You're a devilish thief,
+Craig. I wonder if the men who hire you know what you are. Special acts,
+hey? That legislature has given a robber a loaded gun without knowing
+it. By the bald-headed jeesicks! I've got a drive coming down this
+river! And for fifty years, every spring, it has gone through. It's
+going through this year, too, and if you're underfoot here you'll be
+walked on. And that's just as good as your trumped-up law; it's
+better--it's justice."
+
+Flagg acted like a man who did not dare to remain longer in the presence
+of such an enemy; his big hands were doubling into hard fists; he was
+shaking in all his muscles. He leaped back onto the seat of his jumper,
+swung his team and sent his horses leaping up a whiplash road which
+traversed the cliff--a road he had disdained in his wild impatience to
+meet his foe.
+
+When they reached the level of the wooded country Flagg had something to
+say about his abrupt departure from Craig, as if the master feared that
+his employe might suspect that there was an element of flight in the
+going-away. "There's a law against killing a man, and I've got to
+respect that law even if I do spit on special acts that those gum-shoers
+have put through. I didn't go down to their legislature and fight
+special acts, Latisan. I found these waters running downhill as God
+Almighty had set 'em to running. I have used 'em for my logs. And if any
+man tries now to steal my water at Skulltree, or block me with a raised
+dam, there's going to be one devil of a fight at Skulltree and I'll be
+there in the middle of it. What I wanted to do to Craig to-day can well
+wait till then when the doing can count for full value."
+
+Ward had been casting solicitous side glances at the empurpled face and
+the swollen veins. He did not dare to counsel Flagg as to his motions or
+his emotions. But he felt sure that an old man could not indulge in such
+transports without danger. He knew something about the effects of an
+embolism. His violent grandfather had been a victim of a fit of flaming
+anger in his old age.
+
+"I'll be in the middle of it, a club in each hand," promised Flagg. And
+his molten ponderings kept alight the fires in his face.
+
+They halted for the night at one of the Flagg store depots and were
+lodged in the office camp, reserved sacred to the master and his boss.
+
+Latisan slept in the bunk above the master.
+
+Flagg had been silent all the evening, poring over the accounts that the
+storekeeper had turned over.
+
+He sighed frequently; he seemed to be weary. After a time he kicked off
+his larrigans and rolled into his bunk, ready dressed as he had stood.
+He seemed to lack the volition to remove his clothing.
+
+He was snoring calmly when Latisan went to sleep.
+
+Sometime in the night the young man awoke. The sounds which he heard
+below him were not the snores of a man who was sleeping peacefully.
+There was something ominous about the spasmodic and stertorous
+breathing.
+
+Latisan slipped to the floor and lighted a lamp. He found the wide eyes
+of Flagg staring from the gloom of the bunk.
+
+"What is it, Mr. Flagg? What is the matter?" he asked, with solicitude.
+
+Flagg slowly reached with his left hand, picked up his right hand, and
+when he released it the hand fell as helplessly as so much dead flesh.
+"That's it," he said, without apparent emotion. "It's a shock." He
+employed the colloquial name for a stroke of paralysis. "My mother was
+that way. I've been afraid of it--have expected it, as you might say.
+Mother lived ten years after her shock. I hope to God I won't. For it
+has taken me just when I'm ready to put up my best fight--and it's my
+good right hand, Latisan, my right hand!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT
+
+
+That was Flagg's reiterated lament on the journey back to Adonia. "It's
+my right hand, Latisan!"
+
+Ward had insisted on being the charioteer for the stricken master,
+promising to rush back to headwaters and take charge of the crew. He
+tried to console the old man by urging that getting in touch as soon as
+possible with capable doctors might restore his strength. "It may be
+only a clot in the brain, sir. Such cases have been helped."
+
+"It's my right hand. It's like my mother's. She never could lift it
+again."
+
+They had started before dawn; a gibbous moon shed enough light on the
+tote road to serve Latisan. Flagg was couched on a sled, his blanket
+propped up by hay. His scepter, the curiously marked cant dog, lay
+beside him. He had made sure of that before he allowed the team to
+start.
+
+"I propose to be your right hand in so far as I'm able, Mr. Flagg,"
+declared Latisan, at last, pricked by the repeatedly iterated plaint.
+"You can depend on me just as far as I can stretch my ability."
+
+"But you told me you didn't like me for myself. You said you were
+joining drives with me because I was proposing to fight. Now I can't
+fight. No man will do my fighting for me unless he likes me for myself."
+
+"I'll do it for you, sir," insisted Ward, determinedly. "It's right in
+line with my plans. I'll take your orders. I'll come to you regularly at
+Adonia. You shall know every move. I'll be merely your right hand to do
+what you want done."
+
+"I'm a hard man with my help, Latisan. You have agreed with me on that
+point. I shall be ugly when I'm chained up. I shall say something to
+you, and then you'll quit."
+
+Latisan had been looking the situation squarely in the eye on his own
+account. He was confronted by something wholly outside all his
+calculations. He had enlisted merely as a lieutenant and had never
+considered that he would be called on to assume authority as chief in
+the field. He had been led to serve with Flagg because the old man was
+the personification of permanency in the north country--seemed to be
+something that could not be shaken by the assaults of the Comas--a man
+who impressed all as being above the hazards of death and accident.
+Somehow, after all the years and because he had been there as a fixture
+through so many changes, Echford Flagg was viewed as something
+perennial--as sure as sunrise, as solid and everlasting as the peak of
+Jerusalem Knob, which overshadowed the big house on the ledges at
+Adonia; he was a reality to tie to in a fight against a common foe.
+
+But right then he was a whimpering old man who plucked and fumbled at a
+dead right hand.
+
+He was as helpless as a little man whom Latisan had plucked from a
+brutal clutch of an assailant in front of a bulletin board. Craig was
+still able enough. Craig was man size. Craig would be even more vicious
+when the news of Flagg's condition reached him; he would perceive his
+opportunity.
+
+"It's sort of the code up where I come from. There's no objection to a
+clean fight. But if you don't pick your bigness you must expect that
+your bigness will offer himself mighty sudden." Latisan was not
+recollecting what he had said to the chaps of Tech; he was putting
+before his mind one of his fundamental principles as he listened to the
+laments of the stricken giant and urged the horses down the tote road.
+Craig would keep on fighting; but Flagg was no longer of Craig's
+bigness. There was only one thing for Latisan to do--so that was why he
+put so much of determination and warmth into his pledges to a man whom
+he did not like from a personal standpoint. Flagg could not understand
+why this stranger should be loyal; the old man's wits were numbed along
+with his body.
+
+"I'll be ripping at you with my tongue, because it's been my style--and
+I'll be worse when I'm penned up." Flagg could not seem to hope for any
+reform in himself. He was accepting his nature as something forged
+permanently in the fires of his experience, not to be remolded.
+
+"I'm not thin-skinned, sir. If you can't keep from abusing me about
+business details, go ahead and abuse. It will ease your feelings and the
+abuse will not hurt me, because I don't propose to do anything knowingly
+to justify abuse. Twitting on real facts is what hurts. You hired me
+because you knew I had good reasons for fighting the Comas on account of
+the principle involved in the stand of the independents; you know that
+I still have the reasons, no matter how much your tongue may run away
+with you about foolish details."
+
+He was looking forward to an opportunity to place himself even more
+definitely on record in the hearing of Flagg. After the sun was up
+Latisan expected to be able to grasp that opportunity at almost any turn
+of the tote road. He knew he would meet the upcoming crew. Flagg's
+horses on the trip north had made twice the speed of the plodding woods
+teams, and the crew had been ordered to spend the night at any camp
+where darkness overtook them.
+
+Latisan heard, long before he came in sight of them, the shrill yells
+with which sled load interchanged repartee with sled load; everlastingly
+there was the monotone of the singers. It was plain that the same spirit
+of gay adventure was inspiring the men.
+
+The tote road was a one-track thoroughfare; Latisan picked a cleared
+knoll at one side for his turnout switch and swung his horses up there
+in order to give the heavy sleds passage.
+
+"How the hell can they come singing? Stop 'em," moaned Flagg.
+
+There were half a dozen sleds in close procession, and Ward's upflung
+hand halted them when the leading sled came abreast.
+
+By his own efforts Flagg propped himself into a sitting posture, braced
+by his left arm.
+
+Men leaped off the sleds and crowded forward in a phalanx, cupping with
+their ranks the sledge where their master was couched. Voices were
+hushed and eyes were wide.
+
+"I've been hit a wallop, boys," quavered the old man. "Overnight it has
+hit me. Shock. It ain't surprising at my age. Mother had the same."
+
+For that moment Flagg had put aside the shell of his nature; he found
+instant sympathy in the gaze which rough men of the forest bestowed on a
+stricken one of their ilk. He was responding to that sympathy. There
+were tears in his eyes.
+
+"Men, I'm hurrying Mr. Flagg home where he can be looked after by the
+doctors. I'm sure he'll soon be all right again," Latisan assured them,
+lying for the good of the cause. "In the meantime I'm saying to him for
+myself that I'm standing by for every ounce that's in me. What do you
+say to him?"
+
+"The same!" they yelled, in a ragged chorus.
+
+"Fact is," went on Ward, as spokesman for all, "to make up for your not
+being with us, Mr. Flagg, we've got to put in twice as many licks
+because you're not on the job, and you can depend on us. What, boys?"
+
+They bellowed promises and shrieked a pledge.
+
+"Get along to headwaters and start to rolling the jackstraws onto the
+ice," shouted Latisan. "Have the dynamite warmed when I get back there.
+If we have to do it, well beat the April rains to the job."
+
+They went on their way, cheering.
+
+"You've heard us. It ought to help some," stated Ward, urging his team
+along toward Adonia.
+
+"The songs of the angels never will sound any better, and the angels
+will never look any better than those men did just now," declared the
+old man, still in his softened mood.
+
+Latisan turned about and grinned at the master.
+
+"I know what you mean," averred Flagg. "Of course I know. I was after
+pirates and I've got the toughest gang in the north country. Feed 'em
+raw meat, Latisan!"
+
+Over the snow, which was slushy under the April sun of midday, and
+finally into Adonia over the rutted grit that the evening chill had
+frozen, the baron of the Noda was driven to the door of his mansion on
+the ledges.
+
+Latisan had picked up men at the tavern as helpers.
+
+A hail brought out a little old man whose white, close beard and fluffy
+hair gave his face the appearance of a likeness set into a frame of
+cotton batting. It was Rickety Dick; Brophy had told Latisan about him.
+He flung his hands above his head; it was his involuntary action when
+deep emotion stirred him; and his customary ejaculation was, "Praise the
+Lord!" It was possible that he would have shouted those words even then
+without regard to their irrelevance; but he was not able to utter a
+sound when Brophy and Latisan and the other men came bearing Flagg into
+the house.
+
+The master stoutly refused to be laid in his bed. There was his big
+armchair in the middle of the sitting room; he commanded that he be
+placed there. "I can't fight lying down. If I can't stand up, I can sit
+up."
+
+"Praise the Lord!" cried old Dick, finding an opportunity to interject
+his thanksgiving phrase.
+
+"I'll come to you often, Mr. Flagg," promised Ward, taking leave. "I'll
+not neglect matters up the river, of course. But I want you to feel that
+I'm merely your right hand, moving according to your orders."
+
+He went away with a thrill of sympathy inspiring his new resolution in
+behalf of the master's interests. The spectacle that he closed the door
+on had pathos in it. The tyrant of the Noda was shut away from the woods
+where he had ruled--away from the rush of white water under the prow of
+his great bateau; he could hear only the tantalizing summons of the
+cataract whose thunder boomed above the village of Adonia.
+
+Latisan had promised to send for the best doctors in the city--he had a
+messenger already on the way. But he knew well enough that Echford
+Flagg, if he lived, was doomed to sit in that big chair and wield his
+scepter vicariously. And Latisan knew, too, what sort of the torments of
+perdition Flagg would endure on that account.
+
+In the office of Brophy's tavern Rufus Craig, apparently a casual
+wayfarer, was sitting when Latisan entered after leaving the big house
+on the ledges.
+
+Craig either felt or assumed contrite concern. "Excuse me, Latisan, but
+is it true that Mr. Flagg has suffered a stroke of paralysis?"
+
+"It is true, sir."
+
+"I'm sorry. I'm not on pleasant terms with him, or with you, for that
+matter. But I hate to see a good fighter struck down."
+
+Latisan went to the desk and wrote his name on a leaf of the dog-eared
+register. He proposed to stay the night at Brophy's and start north in
+the morning.
+
+"Go up and take Number Ten," said Brophy, who had been called as a
+helper and who had walked down from the mansion with Latisan.
+
+When Craig plodded heavily along the upper corridor, on his way to bed a
+little later, the door of Number Ten was open for ventilation; Latisan
+was smoking his pipe and reading a newspaper which he had picked up in
+the tavern office. His stare, directed at Craig over the top of the
+newspaper, was inhospitable when the Comas man stopped and leaned
+against the door jamb.
+
+"Latisan, I'm presuming on that frankness of yours; you have bragged
+about it in the past."
+
+"That was before my experience with you in the Walpole matter, sir. But
+go ahead! What do you want?"
+
+"You're over here in the Noda region, according to your threat. You may
+be willing to inform me as to your status in the Flagg proposition, now
+the old man is on his back."
+
+"Mr. Flagg has put me in full charge of his drive."
+
+"Has he delegated to you any authority to compromise?"
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"There ought to be an opportunity to compromise, now that he's down and
+out."
+
+"I just left Mr. Flagg sitting in his chair, and he says he intends to
+keep sitting there. Therefore, he isn't down."
+
+"Is his mind clear for business?"
+
+"I should say so--yes!"
+
+Craig tipped his hat and scratched the side of his head. "Then I'm
+afraid there isn't much use in my going to him to talk compromise," he
+confessed.
+
+"That's your affair, Mr. Craig."
+
+"And your affair--where he's concerned----"
+
+"Is to bring down his drive."
+
+"He has threatened a big fight at Skulltree. You heard him."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And if he gives his orders to blow hell out of the bottom of the river,
+I suppose you'll obey, eh?"
+
+"He has ordered me to bring his logs into the hold-boom here at Adonia.
+I have promised to do so. I see no need of going into details of how I'm
+to do it." Latisan raised the shield of his newspaper in front of his
+face.
+
+But Craig persisted. He had promised the Noda to his superiors; he had
+not been sure how he could maneuver to deliver, but his past success had
+impelled him to go on with his cocksure pledges of performance; he was
+spurred by a hint of a raise in salary, a gift of Comas common stock; he
+had depended on the situation at Skulltree as his principal weapon, if
+bravado backed the special legislative act. But that act had been
+juggled, just as Echford Flagg had asserted. The thing was ticklish, and
+Craig knew it. Anger and apprehensiveness were working twin leverage on
+the Comas executive.
+
+"Latisan, by coming over here into the Noda and grabbing in where you
+have no timber interests of your own, you have shown your animus. You
+have made it a personal matter between you and me."
+
+"There's a lot of truth in what you say," admitted Ward, lowering his
+shield. "Let's exchange accusations! You held that Walpole heir up your
+sleeve till we had our cut on the landings. If you had worked such a
+trick on my grandfather he wouldn't be sitting on this chair, as I'm
+doing. He'd be kicking you around this tavern. I'll save my strength for
+the Flagg drive."
+
+"I've got some frankness of my own, Latisan. I'm at a point where my
+future with the Comas is in the balance, and I'm going to fight for that
+future. I'm not asking you to lie down. But you have it in your
+power--the circumstances being as they are--to swing the Flagg interests
+in with ours to mutual advantage. Why isn't that better than a fight?"
+
+"It would be better!"
+
+Craig brightened.
+
+But Latisan added: "For your interests! You're afraid of a fight--at
+Skulltree!"
+
+"Yes, I am," blurted Craig, trying candor. "Let's arrange a hitch-up!"
+
+"Now the trouble with that plan is this," returned Latisan, quietly,
+slowly. "It can't be done, not with a man like you've shown yourself to
+be. Hold in your temper, Mr. Craig! You're coming round now to ask
+square men to deal with you. You can't appeal on the ground of
+friendship--you haven't tried to make any friends up here. You have
+played too many tricks. We're all doubtful in regard to your good faith,
+no matter what the proposition may be. We can't deal with you. It's all
+your own doing. You are paying the penalty."
+
+"Much obliged for the sermon!"
+
+"I could say a lot more, but it wouldn't amount to anything in your
+case."
+
+"Then it has settled into a personal fight between you and me, has it?"
+
+"Bluntly speaking, yes!"
+
+"You have accused me of playing tricks!" Craig's rage burst bounds. "You
+young hick, you have never seen real tricks yet! You don't think I'm
+coming after you with fists or a cant dog, do you?"
+
+"I wish you were younger and would try it!"
+
+"I'm from the city. In the city we use our brains. Latisan, I have tried
+to show you in the past that the Comas means business. If you'll go back
+to the Toban, where you belong, I'll do something for you on that
+Walpole matter, now that I've taught you a lesson."
+
+"The Latisans are not out after charity, Mr. Craig."
+
+"You're out after punishment--a damnation good smashing, personally, and
+you're going to get it!"
+
+Latisan leaped from his chair and slammed the door suddenly and
+violently; expecting an attack. Craig leaped back and saved his fingers
+from a jamming.
+
+From behind his curtain in the morning he saw Latisan drive the Flagg
+team into the tavern yard.
+
+"I'll be coming down often, Brophy, to see Mr. Flagg. I'll depend on you
+to save out a room for me."
+
+"Number Ten is yours if it suits."
+
+Craig grunted with the satisfaction of one who had received interesting
+information; knowledge that Latisan would be regularly in Adonia helped
+some plans which the director had been revolving.
+
+Latisan lashed his horses away toward the north.
+
+Craig took the forenoon train down over the narrow-gauge, headed for New
+York. He was seeking that aid of which he had boasted--city brains. In
+handling certain affairs of his in the past he had found the Vose-Mern
+Detective Agency both crafty and active--and the roundabout method of
+craft, he decided, was the proper way to get at Latisan, without
+involving the Comas folks in any scandal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE
+
+
+Not cattishly, but with patronizing pity, Miss Leigh, bookkeeper,
+remarked to Miss Javotte, filing clerk, that if Miss Kennard did not
+change that green toque with the white quill to something else pretty
+soon, she could be identified by her hat better than by her
+fingerprints.
+
+Miss Leigh had been showing one of her new spring hats to Miss Javotte;
+she was able to express a _sotto voce_ opinion about Miss Kennard's
+toque because Miss Kennard, stenographer, was rattling her typewriter
+full tilt. Miss Javotte agreed, spreading her fingers fan shape and
+inspecting certain rings with calm satisfaction. "And not even a
+rock--only that same old-fashioned cameo thing--speaking of fingers."
+
+"I was speaking of fingerprints," said Miss Leigh, tartly, frowning at
+the display of rings, perfectly well aware that they were not bought on
+the installment plan out of a filing clerk's wages.
+
+It was quite natural for Miss Leigh to speak of fingerprints. She was an
+employe in the Vose-Mern offices. "Vose-Mern Bureau of Investigation"
+was the designation on the street corridor directory board of a building
+in the purlieus of New York City Hall. On the same board other parties
+frankly advertised themselves as detectives. The Vose-Mern agency called
+its men and women by the name of operatives. The scope of its
+activities was unlimited. It broke strikes, put secret agents into
+manufacturing concerns to stimulate efficiency, or calculatingly and in
+cold blood put other agents in to wreck a concern in the interests of a
+rival. It was a matter of fees. Mern could defend the ethics of such
+procedure with interesting arguments; he had been an inspector of police
+and held ironic views of human nature; he had invented an anticipatory
+system, so he called it, by which he "hothoused" criminal proclivities
+in a person in order to show the person's latent possibilities up to an
+employer before damage had been wrought to the employer's business or
+funds. That is to say--and this for the proper understanding of Mr.
+Mern's code in his operations as he moved in the special matters of
+which this tale treats--his agency deliberately set women of the type
+well hit off by the name "vamps"; "sicked" those women onto bank clerks
+and others who could get a hand into a till, and if the women were able
+to cajole the victim to the point of stealing or of grabbing in order to
+make a get-away to foreign parts with the temptress, the trick was
+considered legitimate work of the "anticipatory" sort. The operative
+would order the treasure _cached_, would appoint the day and hour for
+the get-away--and a plain-clothes man would be waiting at the _cache_!
+The Vose-Mern system thus nabbed the culprit, who had revealed his lack
+of moral fiber by reason of the hothouse forcing of the situation; Mern
+insisted that if the germ were there it should be forced. By his plan
+the loot was pulled back and returned to the owner.
+
+Mern had broken the big paper-mill strike for the Comas Consolidated;
+he calmly assured his clients that he could furnish a thousand men as
+well as one. When he did a thing it was expensive--for he had bands of
+picked men always on call, and the men must be paid during their loafing
+intervals, waiting for other strikes.
+
+Craig had been close to Mern during the strike. Mern stated that the
+ethics of the law allowed a lawyer to defend and extricate, if he could,
+a criminal whom he knew was hideously guilty; the lawyer's smartness was
+applauded if he won by law against justice. Mern excused on the same
+lines his willingness to accept any sort of a commission. It was a
+heartless attitude--Mern admitted that it was and said that he didn't
+pose as a demon. He seemed to get a lot of comfort out of declaring that
+if the fellow he was chasing had the grit and smartness to turn around
+and do Mern up, Mern would heartily give the fellow three cheers. Thus
+did Mern put his remarkable business on the plane of a man-to-man fight
+by his argument, not admitting that there was any baseness in his plots
+and his persecution.
+
+Miss Lida Kennard, as confidential stenographer, was deep into the
+methods of Mern. It was Mern's unvarying custom to have Miss Kennard in
+to listen to and take down all that a client had to state. She was
+extremely shocked in the first stages of her association with the
+Vose-Mern agency by the nature of the commissions undertaken. But it was
+the best position she had secured, after climbing the ladder through the
+offices of more or less impecunious attorneys. She needed the good pay
+because her mother was an invalid; she continued to need the pay after
+her mother died. There were bills to be settled. She had grown used to
+setting the installments on those bills ahead of new hats, and the cameo
+ring which had been her mother's keepsake was for the sake of memory,
+not adornment.
+
+By dint of usage, the Vose-Mern business had come to seem to her like a
+real business. Certainly some big men came and solicited Mern's aid and
+appeared to think that his methods were proper. In course of time,
+listening to Mern's ethics, she came to accept matters at their
+practical value and ceased to analyze them for the sake of seeking for
+nice balances of right and wrong. She was in and of the Vose-Mern
+organization! She sat in on conferences, wrote down placidly plots for
+doing up men who had not had the foresight to hire Mern--Vose had been
+merely an old detective, and he was dead--and she sometimes entertained
+a vague ambition to be an operative herself. She liked pretty hats and
+handsome rings--though she was scornfully averse to the Leigh-Javotte
+system as she was acquainted with it by the chance remarks the
+associates dropped. As to operatives--Miss Kennard had heard--well, she
+had heard Miss Elsham, for instance, a crack operative, reveal what the
+rewards of the regular work were; and, the way Miss Elsham looked at it,
+a girl did not have to lower her self-respect.
+
+In the midst of these thoughts, getting a side glance at the new hat
+which Miss Leigh was showing to Miss Javotte, Miss Kennard was called to
+conference; the buzzer summoned her.
+
+Mern introduced her to the client of the day; the chief made that his
+custom; it always seemed to put the client more at his ease because an
+introduction made her an important member of the party--and Mern
+stressed the "confidential secretary" thing.
+
+The client was Director Craig of the Comas company.
+
+He rose with a haste which betrayed a natural susceptibility to the
+charms of pretty women. He cooed at her rather than spoke, altering his
+natural tone, smoothing out all the harshness; it was that clumsy
+gallantry by which coarse men strive to pay court to charm.
+
+The girl warranted the approving gaze which Mr. Craig gave to her. He
+looked from her frank eyes to her copper-bronze hair, which seemed to
+have a glint of sunshine in its waves. He liked the uplift of that round
+chin--he remembered that it had seemed to indicate spirit--and he liked
+spunk in a girl. He had enjoyed the conferences of the days of the
+strike-breaking when he could survey her profile as she busied herself
+with her writing, admiring the beauty curve of her lips.
+
+Now he was thrilled by her manner of recognition; he had not expected
+that much.
+
+"I remember you, Mr. Craig," she assured the big man, her fingers as
+firm in the grip as were his. "You were in here so much on the strike
+matter two years ago."
+
+"That's a long time for a New York young lady to remember a man from the
+north woods."
+
+"To save myself from seeming like a flatterer, I must say it's because
+of the woods feature that I remember you so well. The forest interests
+me. I'm afraid I'm inclined to be very foolish about the woods. Why, in
+a cafeteria--last fall--there was----"
+
+But she checked herself and flushed. She turned to Mern. "I beg your
+pardon. I'm ready." She sat down and opened her notebook.
+
+"But what about it?" quizzed Craig.
+
+"A mere chance meeting with a man from the north country. I really don't
+understand why I mentioned it. My interest in the woods--the thought of
+the woods--tripped my tongue." She nodded to the stolid Mern as if to
+remind him of the business in hand, and Mern ducked his square head at
+Craig.
+
+It was the habit of Mern to go thoroughly over a case with a client
+before calling in Miss Kennard. At the second going-over in her presence
+the topic was better shaken down, was in a more solidified form for her
+notebook. The Comas director had already told his story once to the
+chief.
+
+Craig leaned back in his chair and gazed up at the ceiling, again
+collecting his data in his mind. He had dictated before to Miss Kennard
+and knew how Mern wanted his names and his facts. "Subject, the spring
+drives on the Noda water. Object, hanging up or blocking the independent
+drive of Echford Flagg and----"
+
+Miss Kennard's pencil slipped somehow. It fell from her fingers, bounced
+from the floor on its rubber tip, and ticked off the sharpened lead
+when it hit the floor again.
+
+Lida darted for it, picked it up, and ran out of the room. "I'm going
+for another," she explained.
+
+She was gone for some time. Craig glanced out of the window into the
+slaty sky, from which rain was falling. It was a day unseasonably warm
+and humid for early spring. "I hope it's raining in the Noda. But it's
+just as liable to be snow. Latisan can't do much yet awhile." He looked
+at his watch as if starting the Noda drives was a matter of minutes. He
+was showing some impatience when Miss Kennard returned. She went to the
+window, and sat in a chair there, her face turned from them. "If you
+don't mind," she apologized. "It's on account of the light. I can hear
+perfectly from here."
+
+She heard then that the Comas wanted to put Echford Flagg down and out
+as an operator, now that paralysis had stricken him. She had Craig's
+assurance delivered to Mern that, without a certain Ward Latisan old
+Flagg would not be able to bring his drive down. The Comas director
+declared that an ordinary boss could never get along with the devils who
+made up the crew. He declared further that Latisan was of a sort to suit
+desperadoes and had put into the crew some kind of fire which made the
+men dangerous to vested interests on the river. He devoted himself to
+Latisan with subdued profanity, despite the presence of the young woman.
+He averred that Latisan himself had no love for Flagg--nobody up-country
+gave a tinker's hoot for Flagg, anyway. He insisted, desperate in spite
+of certain modifying private convictions, that Latisan could be pried
+off the job if some kind of a tricky influence could be brought to bear
+or if his interest in the fight, as just a fight, could be dulled or
+shifted to something else or side-tracked by a ruse. He pictured Flagg
+as a man for whom nobody would stand up in his present state, now that
+he was sick and out of the game.
+
+"I hate to kick a cripple, even in my business," demurred Mern. "I have
+flashes of decency," he continued, dryly. "You seem to be particularly
+set on getting to the lumberjack, Latisan. Can't you do him up, and then
+let Flagg have half a show for this season--probably his last?"
+
+"Now you're talking of violence to Latisan, aren't you?"
+
+"Let the plug-ugly have what he seems to be looking for," advised Mern.
+"That is, if I get it straight from you what his nature is."
+
+"He's all of that--what I have said," reaffirmed Craig, venomously. "But
+look here, Mern, you can't go up into that region, where everything is
+wide open to all men, and kill a man or abduct him. I'm obliged to
+gum-shoe. I have to keep my own executive details away from the home
+office, even. We're waiting on the courts for law and on the legislature
+for more favors." Craig was sweating copiously, and he wiped his
+forehead with the back of his hand. "It's touchy business. If I can pull
+old Flagg into camp, it's my biggest stroke outside of nailing the
+Latisans in the Tomah. A monopoly will give us settled prices and
+control of the flowage. But I insist on doing the job through Latisan.
+I'm after him! Now do some thinking for me. No violence,
+however--nothing which can be traced to the Three C's."
+
+In the silence Miss Kennard asked, "How do you spell Latisan, Mr.
+Craig?"
+
+He told her. "First name Ward. He's the grandson of old John of the
+Tomah."
+
+"I'm trying to get the facts straight for Mr. Mern. Do I understand you
+to say that the Latisans have failed in their business?"
+
+"They're down and out. I gave the young fool a good tip to save the
+remnants, but he wouldn't take it. The only thing I'll give him after
+this is poison--if it can't be traced to me or my company."
+
+Mern had swung about in his chair, his vacant stare on the murky sky,
+doing the thinking to which he had been exhorted by his client. "Suppose
+I slip a picked crowd of my operatives into his crew?"
+
+"He's too wise to take on strangers. And while he's on the job with the
+crew the men are so full of that hell-whoop spirit that they can't be
+tampered with. Mern, he's got to be cut out of the herd."
+
+"What's his particular failing?"
+
+Craig, if his sour rage against Latisan had been less intense, might
+have been less ready to believe that Latisan had taken several months
+off as a prodigal son. But Craig wanted to believe that the young man
+had been doing what scandal said he had done. That belief strengthened
+Craig's hopes. He affected to believe in the reports. He told Mern that
+Latisan had been leading a sporting life in the city until the family
+money gave out.
+
+"How about bumping him on his soft spot?"
+
+Craig asked questions with his eyes, blinking away the perspiration.
+
+"With a girl," Mern explained. "With one who looks as if she had been
+picked right out of the rosy middle of the big bouquet he was attracted
+by in the city. With the background of the woods, a single bloomer will
+surely hold his attention."
+
+Craig showed interest; he had been obliged to pass up violence, bribery,
+bluster. This new plan promised subtlety and subterfuge that would let
+out the Three C's. "Got her?"
+
+"Call Miss Elsham on the phone, Miss Kennard! You may do it from the
+other room. Ask her to hurry down."
+
+The girl, her face hidden from them, paused at the door. "Are there more
+notes? Shall I come back?" She was having difficulty with her voice, but
+the men were now talking eagerly about the new plan, and her
+discomposure was not remarked.
+
+"I think not," said Mern. "Write out what you have. Make especially full
+characterizations of Flagg and Latisan as you have gathered facts about
+them from our talk." He had found Miss Kennard to be especially apt in
+that work. Not only did she deduce character from descriptions, but she
+worked in many valuable suggestions as to how men of a certain nature
+should be handled. She seemed to understand the vagaries of men's
+dispositions very well indeed.
+
+"What's the matter with Ken?" muttered Miss Javotte, nudging the
+bookkeeper.
+
+Lida had flung her arms across the frame of her typewriter and had
+hidden her face in her hands.
+
+"Headache," returned Miss Leigh, sapiently. "That toque has struck into
+the brain. No girl ought to take chances that way."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN
+
+
+However, by the time Miss Marguerite Elsham--having given full attention
+to her person and attire--arrived at the office, Miss Kennard had
+completed her manuscript and the sheets were lying at Mern's elbow on
+his desk.
+
+In order to bridge a part of the gap of waiting Mern had given his
+client some information about Miss Elsham and her ability.
+
+"Very competent on the coax, Mr. Craig. Last job was a paying teller. He
+had twenty thousand in his jeans when he stepped out of the taxi that
+had taken him and Elsham to the steamer dock. Tickets for Rio! Crowley,
+our pinch artist, nabbed him and bawled out Elsham, who was weeping in
+the cab. Crowley and Elsham work well together. You understand that if
+she goes to the woods Crowley must go along on the side. They won't
+appear as knowing each other. But Crowley may be called on to shove his
+mitt between Elsham and trouble."
+
+"I don't care how many are on pay--if you achieve results," said Craig.
+
+The field director, introduced to Miss Elsham when she entered breezily,
+termed her in his thoughts as being at least a 1925 model. He wondered
+just what words he would find in the way of advice about toning down her
+style for north country operations.
+
+She took her seat sideways on the edge of Mern's desk, thus testifying
+to her sure standing in the establishment, her tightly drawn skirt
+displaying an attractive contour. For a fleeting moment--hating Latisan
+so venomously--Craig rather envied Latisan his prospects as a victim.
+
+Miss Elsham produced a silver cigarette case, lighted up, and exhaled
+twin streams of smoke from a shapely nose. "Shoot!" she counseled.
+
+Mern, after his slow fashion, fumbled with the sheets of Miss Kennard's
+manuscript.
+
+Miss Elsham thriftily utilized the moments allowed her by Mern's
+hesitation. She always tried to impress a client favorably. "I don't
+presume to pick and choose when it comes to cases," she informed Craig.
+"I'm an All-for-the-good-cause Anne! But I hope--I'm allowed to hope, I
+suppose--I do hope that my next one is going to remember some of the
+lessons he learned at mother's knee. The last one had forgotten
+everything. I was dragged through cafes till at the present time a
+red-shaded table lamp and a menu card make me want to bite holes in any
+man with a napkin over his arm. I've danced to jazz and listened to
+cabaret----"
+
+Mern was trying to say something, but she rattled on: "And that flask on
+his hip--he must have done all his breathing while he was asleep; he
+never allowed time enough between drinks while he was awake."
+
+"The next one is different," stated Mern.
+
+"Much obliged! But of course it's cafes again and----"
+
+Mern sliced off her complaints, chopping his flat hand to and fro in
+the air. "Nothing to it, sis! It's a tall-timber job, this time."
+
+"In the woods--the real woods," supplemented Craig.
+
+"Great!" indorsed Miss Elsham, accustomed to meeting all phases of
+action with agility. "I've just seen a movie with that kind of a girl in
+it. Leggings and knicks. I can see myself. Great!"
+
+Director Craig surveyed her and nodded approvingly.
+
+"We'll decide on what part you'll play before we measure you for a rig,"
+objected the chief, with his official caution. "Listen to the size-up of
+your man." He began to read from Miss Kennard's manuscript. "'Ward
+Latisan. Young woodsman. Has lived and worked among rough men and has no
+particular amount of moral stamina, a fact shown by his desertion of his
+father in time of need in order to indulge in orgies in the city.'"
+
+"Oh, it's to go and set my hook and fish him out of the woods, and then
+he and I lean on our elbows across from each other--the cafes some
+more," said Miss Elsham, pouting.
+
+Mern suspended, for a moment, his reading and addressed Craig. "Miss
+Kennard, of course, is sizing up according to what you have said of
+Latisan. You're sure about his weakness for dames, are you? We don't
+want to give Miss Elsham any wrong tips."
+
+Craig hung tenaciously to his estimate of Latisan, in no mood to uproot
+the opinion which gossip had implanted and hatred had watered. And at
+the end of his arraignment he attempted an awkward compliment. "And
+even if he could have stood out against the Queen of Sheba up till now,
+I'll say he'll----" Craig gazed with humid indorsement of Miss Elsham's
+attractions and waved his hand in the way of a mute completion of the
+sentence.
+
+Miss Elsham smiled broadly and patted together her manicured thumbnails.
+"Loud applause!" she cried. "Pardon me if I don't blush, sir. I have
+used up my stock. The last case was oozing with flattery--after the
+flask had got in its work."
+
+Mern went on with his reading, portraying the character of Latisan as
+Miss Kennard had gathered and assimilated data. She had even gone to the
+extent of giving Latisan a black mustache and evil eyes.
+
+"Hold on," objected Craig. "Nothing was said about his looks. She's
+picking that up because I was strong on how he had acted. He doesn't
+look as savage as he is; he fools a lot of folks that way," stated
+Craig, in surly tones.
+
+"Well, how will I know when I meet up with him in the woods?"
+
+"You go to the Adonia tavern and make your headquarters, and you won't
+miss him. How does the thing look to you as a proposition?" demanded
+Craig, solicitously. "You ought to know pretty well what you can do with
+men, by this time."
+
+Miss Elsham tossed away her cigarette butt and referred mutely to Mern
+by a wave of her hand.
+
+"She always gets 'em--gets the better of the best of 'em. Rest easy,"
+said the chief.
+
+"And it must be worked easy," warned Craig, catching at the word.
+"That's why you're in it, Miss Elsham, instead of its being a man's
+fight up there. We can't afford to let Latisan slam that drive down
+through our logs, as he threatens to do. If he does it--if we turn on
+Flagg and sue for damages, as we can do, of course--court action will
+only bring out a lot of stuff that better be kept covered. I want the
+agency to understand fully, Mern!"
+
+"We're on."
+
+"I'm achieving results without showing all the details to the home
+office. And I'm not a pirate. You spoke of kicking a cripple, Mern.
+We'll take over Flagg's logs as soon as he gets reasonable. His fight is
+only an old notion about the independents sticking on. Sawmills are in
+our way these days. Flagg is done, anyway. He ought to be saved from
+himself. I'm after Latisan. He's ready to fight and to ruin Flagg,"
+declared Mr. Craig, with a fine assumption of righteous desire to aid a
+fallen foe, "just to carry out his grudge against me--using Flagg's
+property as his tool. It'll be too bad. So get busy, Miss Elsham--and
+keep him busy--off the drive."
+
+"Read on, Chief," she implored Mern. "I'm seeing as quick as this just
+how I'll do it."
+
+The conference continued.
+
+When Miss Elsham departed she stopped in the main office on her way out.
+"Good-by, girls! I'm off for the big sticks. I'll bring each of you a
+tree."
+
+She went to a mirror, taking out her vanity case. Beside the mirror were
+hooks for hats and outer garments. "Perfect dream!" she commented,
+examining a hat. "Whose?"
+
+"Mine," said Miss Leigh.
+
+Miss Elsham took the hat in admiring hands, dislodging a green toque,
+which fell upon the floor. She did not notice the mishap to the toque
+and left it where it had fallen. She touched up her countenance and went
+away.
+
+"Your hat is on the floor," Miss Leigh informed Miss Kennard. The girl
+did not reply; she was looking down upon the keys of her typewriter, and
+her demeanor suggested that her heart was on the floor, too.
+
+When Lida sat by the open window of her room that evening her depression
+had become doleful to the point of despair.
+
+The night was unseasonably warm with enervating humidity; in that
+atmosphere the dormant germs of the girl's general disgust with the
+metropolis and all its affairs were incubated. Breathing the heavy air
+which sulked at the window, she pondered on the hale refreshment of the
+northern forests. But it seemed to her that there was no honesty in the
+woods any more. That day, fate searching her out at last, she had been
+dragged in as a party in a plot against her stricken grandfather. She
+indulged her repugnance to her employment; it had become hateful beyond
+all endurance. Her association with the cynical business of the agency
+and her knowledge of the ethics of Mern had been undermining the
+foundations of her own innate sense of what was inherently right, she
+reflected, taking account of stock.
+
+Dispassionately considered, it was not right for her to use her acquired
+knowledge of the plot against Echford Flagg in order to circumvent the
+plans of an employer who trusted her. But after a while she resolutely
+broke away from the petty business of weighing the right and the wrong
+against each other; she was bold enough to term it petty business in her
+thoughts and realized fully, when she did so, that her Vose-Mern
+occupation had damaged her natural rectitude more than she had
+apprehended.
+
+But there was something more subtle, on that miasmatic metropolitan
+night, something farther back than the new determination to break away
+from Mern and all his works of mischief. It was not merely a call of
+family loyalty, a resolve to stand by the grandfather who had disowned
+his kin. She was not sure how much she did care for the hard old man of
+the woods. But right then, without her complete realization of what the
+subtle feeling was, the avatar of the spirit of the Open Places was
+rising in her. She longed avidly for the sight and the sound of many
+soughing trees. She was urged to go to her own in some far place where
+her feet could touch the honest earth instead of being insulated by the
+pavements which were stropped glossy by the hurry of the multitude.
+
+That urge really was just as insistent as consideration of the personal
+elements involved, though she did not admit it, not being able to
+analyze her emotions very keenly right then. Family affection needs
+propinquity and service to develop it. Her sentiments in regard to
+Echford Flagg were vague. This Latisan, whoever he was, was plainly a
+rough character with doubtful morals who was loyal to a grudge instead
+of to her grandfather. She knew what the Elsham girl had been able to
+with other men, in the blase city; it stood to reason that in the woods,
+having no rivals to divert the attentions of a victim, Elsham would be
+still more effective.
+
+At last, having kept her thoughts away from an especial topic because of
+the shame that still dwelt with her, Lida faced what she knew was the
+real and greater reason for her growing determination to step between
+Echford Flagg and his enemies. Alfred Kennard had stolen money from
+Echford Flagg. Sylvia Kennard had grieved her heart out over the thing.
+There were the bitter letters which Lida had found among her mother's
+papers after Sylvia died. The mother had torn the name from the bottoms
+of those letters; it was as if she had endeavored to shield Echford
+Flagg from the signed proof of utter heartlessness.
+
+The debt to Echford Flagg had not been canceled. Could the daughter of
+Alfred Kennard repay in some degree for the sake of the father? That
+sense of duty surmounted all qualms involved in the betrayal of an
+employer, if it could be called betrayal, considering the ethics that
+had been adopted and preached by Mern.
+
+It was midnight when she reached her firm decision. She would go to the
+north country. She would do her best, single-handed, as opportunity
+might present itself. She would fight without allowing her grandfather
+to know her identity. Perhaps she might tell him when it was all over,
+if she won. The debt was owed by the father; it might help if it was
+known that the daughter had paid. Then she would go away; it was not in
+her mind to gain any favor for herself. If she merely ran to him,
+tattling an exposure of the plot, Echford Flagg, if her well-grounded
+estimate of his character were correct, might repudiate her as a mere
+tale-bearer; she remembered enough to know that he was a square fighter.
+She felt that she had some of the Flagg spirit of that sort in her. She
+had been fighting her battle with the world without asking odds of
+anybody or seeking favors from her only kin.
+
+She would go north and do her best, for her own, according to the code
+she had laid down.
+
+She was conscious then, having made up her mind, of the subtle longing
+that was back of the fierce impatience to repay her father's debt: the
+woods of the north and the hale spirit of the Open Places were calling
+her home again.
+
+She would not admit to herself that she was engaged in a quixotic
+enterprise, and in order to keep herself from making that admission she
+resolutely turned her thoughts away from plans. To ponder on plans would
+surely sap her courage. She could not foresee what would confront her in
+the north country and she was glad because her ideas on that point were
+hazy. It was not in her mind to hide herself from the other operatives
+of the Vose-Mern agency when she was at the scene; her experience had
+acquainted her with the efficacy of guile in working with human nature,
+and she was well aware that her bold presence where the operatives were
+making their campaign would prove such a mixture of honesty and guile
+that Miss Elsham and Crowley, and even Mern, himself, when he learned,
+would be obliged to expend a portion of their energy on guessing.
+
+She did not know how or whether one girl could prevail against the
+organization threatening her grandfather and Latisan, but she was fully
+determined to find out.
+
+She served the agency dutifully for one more day. She learned that the
+two operatives had started for the north.
+
+A day later she departed from New York on their trail. She did not
+inform Chief Mern that she was leaving.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN
+
+
+Adonia, terminus of the narrow-gauge, has one train arrival per day, in
+the late afternoon. That arrival always attracts the populace of the
+village. The train brings freight and mail and passengers.
+
+Ward Latisan had come down from the headwaters of the Noda and was at
+the station, waiting for the train. He had ordered more dynamite for the
+drive and proposed to take especial charge of the consignment. The drive
+was starting off slowly. There was ice in the gorges; the first logs
+through would have the freshet head of water. Latisan had heard more
+threats and he had definitely detected the trigs which the river bosses
+of the Three C's were laying--and he had ordered more dynamite!
+
+The arriving train dragged slowly into the station and Latisan kept pace
+with the freight car which was attached next behind the locomotive.
+
+The conductor swung off the steps of the coach before the train halted.
+He hailed Latisan, calling the name loudly. He beckoned with vigor and
+the drive master swung around and walked back to meet the trainman.
+
+"I did my best, Latisan, to have your shipment loaded from the freight
+car on the main line, but they wouldn't let me."
+
+"Who wouldn't?"
+
+"Our super. He was acting under orders from higher up. There was a
+special officer on hand to see that the orders were obeyed. Law says
+that explosives shall not be conveyed on a mixed train."
+
+"I know all about that law," retorted Latisan. "But it has been eased up
+on in these parts because you pull a passenger coach on every train."
+
+"But law is law; it has been jammed down on us!"
+
+"You mean that Craig has put the twist ring into your snout," shouted
+the drive master. "And he's leading your railroad by the nose like he's
+leading a good many others in the Noda country."
+
+"I'm only a hired man----"
+
+"And the Three C's will have everybody in this section hired if the
+money holds out, and that's the hell of it!"
+
+"Look here, Latisan, you're on railroad property, and that's no kind of
+talk to have over in front of passengers."
+
+The train was at a standstill; the new arrivals were on the platform.
+
+Latisan, well advertised by the name the conductor had bawled, glanced
+around and perceived that he was the center of observation. Especially
+was he concerned with the direct stare of a young woman; she continued
+to regard him steadfastly and he allowed his attention to be engaged
+with her for a moment.
+
+Latisan had his own mental tags for womankind; this was "a lady." He had
+set himself back to the plane of the woods and his rough associates. He
+felt a woodsman's naive embarrassment in the presence of a lady. Her
+survey of him was rebuke for his language, he was sure. There could be
+no other reason why "a lady" should look at a man who was fresh down
+from the drive, unshaven and roughly garbed. She was from town, he could
+see that. Those sparkling eyes seemed like something that was aimed at
+him; he was in a helpless, hands-up sort of mood!
+
+He pulled off his cap. He had the courageous frankness of sincere
+manhood, at any rate. "I'm sorry! I was expecting dynamite. It didn't
+come. I blew up just the same."
+
+The lady smiled.
+
+Then she turned and started away.
+
+A stout man had been standing close behind her. Nobody among the
+loungers at the railroad station entertained any doubt whatever as to
+just what this stranger was. His clothes, his sample case, his ogling
+eyes, his hat cockily perched on one side of his head proclaimed him "a
+fresh drummer," according to Adonia estimates.
+
+He leaped forward and caught step with the girl. "Pardon! But I'm going
+your way! Allow me!" He set his hand on her traveling case.
+
+She halted and frowned. "I thank you. I can carry it myself!"
+
+"But I heard you asking the conductor the way to the hotel. I'm going
+right there!"
+
+"So am I, sir! But not in your company."
+
+"Oh, come on and be sociable! We're the only two of our kind up among
+these bushwhackers."
+
+Miss Elsham's fellow operative was stressing his play; he grabbed away
+her bag. "We may as well get a quick rise out of him," muttered
+Crowley. It was a plan they had devised in case their man should help
+their luck by being at the railroad station.
+
+"I'll call an officer!" she threatened.
+
+"You don't need to," Latisan informed her. He had followed the couple.
+"Besides, there isn't any. The only place they need officers is in a
+city where a rab like this is let run loose." He leaped to the stout
+chap and yanked away the girl's bag. "I'll carry it if you're going to
+the tavern."
+
+She accepted his proffer with another smile--a smile into which she put
+a touch of understanding comradeship. They walked along together.
+
+There was no conversation. The spring flood of the Noda tumbled past the
+village in a series of falls, and the earth was jarred, and there was an
+everlasting grumble in the air. The loungers stared with great interest
+when the drive master and the girl went picking their way along the
+muddy road.
+
+The volunteer squire delivered the traveling bag into the hand of Martin
+Brophy, who was on the porch of the tavern, his eye cocked to see what
+guests the train had delivered into his net. Mr. Brophy handled the bag
+gingerly and was greatly flustered when the self-possessed young lady
+demanded a room with a bath.
+
+Latisan did not wait to listen to Brophy's apologies in behalf of his
+tavern's facilities. He touched his cap to the discomposing stranger and
+marched up to the big house on the ledges; he was not approaching with
+alacrity what was ahead of him.
+
+He had arrived in Adonia from headwaters the previous evening, and had
+spent as much of that evening as his endurance would allow, listening to
+Echford Flagg, sitting in his big chair and cursing the fetters of fate
+and paralysis. Unable to use his limbs, he exercised his tongue all the
+more.
+
+That forenoon and again in the afternoon Latisan had gone to the big
+house and had submitted himself to unreasonable complaints when he
+reported on what was going forward at headwaters. He had ventured to
+expostulate when the master told him how the thing ought to be done.
+
+"No two drive bosses operate the same, sir. And the whole situation is
+different this season."
+
+"It was your offer to be my right hand, young Latisan--and I'm drive
+boss still! You move as I order and command."
+
+Ward was wondering how long the Latisan temperament could be restrained.
+In the matter of Craig at the tavern the scion of old John had been
+afforded disquieting evidence that the temperament was not to be trusted
+too far.
+
+He entered the mansion without knocking; it was the custom.
+
+Flagg was reading aloud from a big Bible for which Rickety Dick had
+rigged props on the arm of the chair. Dick was sitting on a low stool,
+the sole auditor of the master's declamation. The old servitor was
+peeling onions from a dish between his knees; therefore, his tears of
+the moment were of questionable nature.
+
+The caller stood for a time outside the open door of the room, averse to
+tempting the hazard of Flagg's temper by an interruption of what seemed
+to be absorbing all the attention of the old man.
+
+"'My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He
+hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath
+set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me
+about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.'"
+
+Flagg halted and looked up from the page. "Lamentations--lamentations,
+Dick! The best of 'em have whined when the smash came. It's human nature
+to let out a holler. Jeremiah did it. I'm in good company; it ain't
+crying baby; it's putting up a real man holler. It's----"
+
+Latisan stepped through the doorway.
+
+Flagg instantly grabbed at a wooden spill that made a marker in the
+volume and nipped back the pages. He shook aloft his clinched left hand.
+He raised his voice and boomed. "'And if any mischief follow, then thou
+shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
+foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for
+stripe.'"
+
+Flagg beat his knotted fist on the open page. "Do you hear that,
+Latisan? That's for you. I hunted it up. I haven't had time till now to
+read the Bible like I should. Plenty of good stuff in it--but in the Old
+Testament, mind you! Too much turn-your-cheek stuff in the New
+Testament. 'Eye for an eye.' Do you know who said that?"
+
+"No, sir. I'm sorry to admit it, but----"
+
+"God Almighty said it. Said it to Moses on the mount. First
+straight-arm orders from God to man. It ought to be good enough for you
+and me, hadn't it? Take it for rule o' conduct, and if Rufe Craig says
+anything to you on the drive refer him here--to headquarters!" Again he
+beat his fist on the page.
+
+"I don't know what part of the Bible Craig ought to study, sir, but some
+of it ought to be good for him. I'm just from the train. They wouldn't
+load our dynamite at the junction. Craig is behind that!"
+
+"Wouldn't haul our dynamite?" raged Flagg. "And he has been shipping his
+canned thunder through here for Skulltree by the carload! Latisan,
+you're falling down on the job. When I, myself, was attending to it, my
+dynamite was loaded for Adonia all right enough!"
+
+The drive master did not reply to that amazing shifting of blame to him.
+
+"Did you say what ought to be said to that conductor?"
+
+"When I started to say something he bawled me out for using that kind of
+language on railroad property."
+
+Flagg lifted the useless right hand with his left, let it fall again,
+and groaned. "How many times, and where, did you hit him? And then what
+did you say?"
+
+"I did not hit him, sir. I said nothing more. And there was a lady
+present."
+
+Flagg choked and struggled with words before he could speak. "Do you
+mean to tell me you're allowing any ladee"--he put exquisite inflection
+of sarcasm on the word--"to stand betwixt you and your duty, when that
+duty is plain? Latisan, they tell me that you're a sapgag where women
+are concerned. I'm told that you have been down to the city and----"
+
+"Mr. Flagg, we'll stick to the subject of the dynamite!" broke in the
+young man, sharply.
+
+"Women are the same thing and belong in the talk."
+
+"Then we'll stick to the dynamite that comes in boxes." Latisan was just
+as peremptory as the master and was hurrying his business; he felt the
+dog of the Latisan temperament slipping neck from the leash. "You may
+have been able to make 'em haul dynamite for you, in spite of the law. I
+can't make 'em, it seems. I'm here merely to report, and to say that
+I'll have the dynamite up from the junction just the same." He started
+for the door.
+
+"By tote team--three times the cost! My Gawd! why ain't I out and
+around?" lamented the Adonia Jeremiah.
+
+Latisan wanted to say that he would pay the extra cost of transportation
+out of his own pocket, if that would save argument, but he did not dare
+to trust himself. He hurried out of the big house and slammed the door.
+
+On his way down the hill he was obliged to marshal a small host of
+reasons for hanging on to his job; the desire to quit then and there was
+looming large, potent, imperative.
+
+He was still scowling when he tramped into the office of the tavern
+where many loafers were assembled. Through the haze of tobacco smoke he
+saw Martin Brophy beckoning, and went to the desk. Brophy ran his
+smutted finger along under a name; "Mrs. Dana Haines Everett, New York
+City."
+
+"She has been asking for you. Matter o' business, she says. I've had to
+give her the front parlor for her room. Say, she's the kind that gets
+what she goes after, I reckon. Is eating her supper served in there
+private. Never was done in my tavern before."
+
+"Business--with me?" demanded Latisan. "Brophy, what's her own business
+in these parts?"
+
+"Can't seem to find out," admitted the landlord, and the young man
+bestowed on Brophy an expansive grin which was a comment on the latter's
+well-known penchant for gimleting in search of information. "Will say,
+however, that she's a widder--grass if I ain't much mistook--believes
+that a woman is equal to a man and should have all a man's privileges
+about going around by her lonesome if she so feels."
+
+"Well, you seem to have extracted a fair amount of information,
+considering that she's hardly got her feet planted."
+
+"Oh," confessed Brophy, "it came out because I made her mad when I
+hinted that it was kind of queer for a woman to be traveling around
+alone up here. Well, now that they're voting, you can look for 'most
+anything. What shall I tell her from you when I take in her pie?"
+
+"I'll wait on the lady after I eat my supper."
+
+When the drive master was ushered into the parlor-presence by the
+landlord, the lady was sitting in front of an open Franklin stove,
+smoking a cigarette. She had made a change in attire since her arrival,
+the new garb suggesting that she proposed to suit herself to the nature
+of the region to which she had come. She was in knickerbocker costume,
+had tipped back her chair, one foot on the hearth and the other foot
+propped on her knee, and she asked Latisan to sit down, pointing to a
+chair beside her. She offered a cigarette with a real masculine
+offhandedness. The caller faltered something about a pipe. She insisted
+that he smoke his pipe. "It rather puts strangers at their ease, don't
+you think, a little tobacco haze in the room?"
+
+Latisan, packing the bowl of his briar, agreed.
+
+"I take it that you're well acquainted with this region?"
+
+"Fairly so, though I know the Tomah country better."
+
+"You're a guide, I understand."
+
+"I don't understand where you got that information, madam," replied the
+drive master, a bit pricked.
+
+"I don't remember that anybody did tell me that in so many words.
+Somehow it was my impression. But no matter. Please listen a moment."
+She smiled on him, checking his attempt at a statement regarding
+himself; she had conned her little speech and used her best vocabulary
+to impress this woodsman. "No doubt you have something very important in
+the way of occupation. A man of your bearing is bound to. You needn't
+thank me for a compliment--I'm very frank. That's the way to get on and
+accomplish things quickly. So I'm frank enough to say it's my habit to
+meet men on the plane of man to man. Please do not regard me as a
+woman--that sort of stuff is old-fashioned in these days. I vote and pay
+taxes. Yet if I were merely a woman you gave evidence on the station
+platform to-day that you know how to protect one from insults. I was
+attracted by that trait in you--and afterwards minded your own business
+quite after my heart. I need outdoor life. I'm up here early for the
+first fishing. I want to tour the woods. I may invest in timberlands.
+Putting out of your mind all this foolish sex matter--as I have
+explained my man-to-man theory--will you go with me? I'll have a cook,
+of course. Pardon my sudden reference to pay--I'll pay you twice what
+you're getting now--providing you're working for wages."
+
+"I am working for wages. And I can't leave the work."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I'm the master of the Flagg drive on these waters."
+
+"And you prefer to boss rough men and endure hardship rather than to
+come with me?"
+
+The bitterness of the last interview with Flagg was still with Latisan.
+"If it was a matter of preference--but that isn't the way of it!" He
+returned her gaze and flushed. In spite of his resolve to go on with the
+battle that was ahead, he was tempted, and acknowledged to himself the
+fact; but Flagg was trying him cruelly.
+
+"You have been the drive master here for a long time--that's why you
+cannot be spared?" She tossed away her cigarette and gave him earnest
+attention.
+
+"I'm just beginning my work with Flagg."
+
+"Then of course you're not vital. Let the man who used to be master----"
+
+"That was Flagg, himself. He's laid up with paralysis."
+
+"Oh!" she drawled, provokingly. "A matter of conscientiousness--loyal
+devotion--champion of the weak--or a young man's opportunity to be lord
+of all for the future!"
+
+"He's an old devil to work for, and the job promises no future," blurted
+Latisan, his manner leaving no doubt as to his feelings.
+
+"Then come with me," she invited. "If I get to own timberlands, who
+knows?"
+
+He shook his head. "There are reasons why I can't quit--not this
+season."
+
+"I hoped I'd seem to you like a good and sufficient reason," she
+returned, insinuatingly; in her anxiety to make a quick job of it, in
+her cynical estimate of men as she had been finding them out in the
+city, she was venturing to employ her usual methods as a temptress,
+naturally falling into the habit of past procedure.
+
+She found it difficult to interpret the sudden look he gave her, but her
+perspicacity warned her that she was on the wrong tack with this man of
+the north country.
+
+"I'm afraid you're finding me a peculiar person, Mr. Latisan," she
+hastened to say. "I am. I'm quick to judge and quick to decide. Your
+gallantry at the railroad station influenced me in your behalf. I like
+your manners. And I know now what's in your mind! You think it will be
+very easy for me to find somebody else as a guide--and you're quite sure
+that you can't give up your responsibility for a woman's whim."
+
+The drive master owned to himself that she had called the turn.
+
+"I'll continue with my frankness, Mr. Latisan. It's rather more than a
+guide I'm looking for on that man-to-man plane I have mentioned. You can
+readily understand. I need good advice about land. Therefore, mine is
+not exactly a whim, any more than your present determination to go on
+with your job is a whim. This matter has come to us very suddenly.
+Suppose we think it over. We'll have another talk. At any rate, you can
+advise me in regard to other men."
+
+She rose and extended her hand. "We can be very good friends, I trust."
+
+He took her hand in a warm clasp. "I'll do what I can--be sure of that."
+
+"I feel very much alone all of a sudden. I'm depending on you. You're
+not going back to the drive right away, are you?" she asked, anxiously.
+
+"I'll be held here for a day or so." The matter of the dynamite was on
+his mind.
+
+"Good!" she said, and patted his arm when he turned to leave the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE
+
+
+Latisan took the forenoon train down from Adonia to the junction the
+next day. He was keeping his own counsel about his intent.
+
+He had done some busy thinking during the evening after he left the new
+star boarder in her parlor. In spite of his efforts to confine his
+attention, in his thoughts, to business, he could not keep his mind
+wholly off her attractive personality and her peculiar proposition. He
+was obliged to whip up his wrath in order to get solidly down to the
+Flagg affairs.
+
+By the time he went to sleep he knew that he was determinedly ugly.
+There was the slur of Flagg about his slack efficiency in meeting the
+schemes of Craig. There was the ireful consciousness that the
+narrow-gauge folks were giving him a raw deal on that dynamite matter.
+They had hauled plenty of explosive for the Comas--for Craig. To admit
+at the outset of his career on the Noda that he could not get what the
+Three C's folks were getting--to advertise his impotency by making a
+twenty-mile tote trip over slushy and rutted roads--was a mighty poor
+send-off as a boss, he told himself. He knew what sort of tattle would
+pursue him.
+
+The stout young man--that "drummer"--was at the station. Latisan was
+uncomfortably conscious that this person had been displaying more or
+less interest in him. In the dining room at breakfast, in the office
+among the loafers, and now at the railroad station the stranger kept his
+eyes on Latisan.
+
+The drive master was just as ugly as he had been when he went to sleep.
+He was keeping his temper on a wire edge for the purposes of the job of
+that day, as he had planned the affair. He did not go up to the
+impertinent drummer and cuff his ears, but the stranger did not know how
+narrowly he escaped that visitation of resentment.
+
+The fellow remained on the platform when the train pulled out; it
+occurred to Latisan that the fresh individual maybe wished to make sure
+of a clear field in order to pursue his crude tactics with the lady of
+the parlor.
+
+After the arrival at the junction Latisan had matters which gave him no
+time to ponder on the possible plight of the lady.
+
+As he had ascertained by cautious inquiry, the crew of the narrow-gauge
+train left it on its spur track unattended while they ate at a boarding
+house. There were workmen in the yard of a lumber mill near the station,
+loafing after they had eaten their lunches from their pails. The Flagg
+dynamite was in a side-tracked freight car of the standard gauge.
+Latisan promptly learned that the lumber-yard chaps were ready and
+willing to earn a bit of change during their nooning. He grabbed in with
+them; the boxes of dynamite were soon transferred to the freight car of
+the narrow-gauge and stacked in one end of the car. Latisan paid off his
+crew and posted himself on top of the dynamite. In one hand he held a
+coupling pin; prominently displayed in the other hand was a fuse.
+
+"I'm in here--the dynamite is here," he informed the conductor when that
+official appeared at the door of the car, red-faced after hearing the
+news of the transfer. "I'm only demanding the same deal you have given
+the Three C's. You know you're wrong. Damn the law! I'm riding to Adonia
+with this freight. What's that? Go ahead and bring on your train crew."
+He brandished coupling pin and fuse. "If you push me too far you'll have
+a week's job picking up the splinters of this train."
+
+Bravado was not doing all the work for Latisan in that emergency. The
+conductor's conscience was not entirely easy; he had made an exception
+in the case of the Three C's--and Craig, attending to the matter before
+he went to New York, had borne down hard on the need of soft-pedal
+tactics. The conductor was not prepared to risk things with canned
+thunder in boxes and an explosive young man whose possession just then
+was nine points and a considerable fraction.
+
+Latisan was left to himself.
+
+At last the train from downcountry rumbled in, halted briefly, and went
+on its way. From his place in the end of the freight car Latisan could
+command only a narrow slice of outdoors through the open side door.
+Persons paraded past on their way to the coach of the narrow-gauge. He
+could see their backs only. There had been a thrill for him in the job
+he had just performed; he promptly got a new and more lively thrill even
+though he ridiculed his sensations a moment later. Among the heads of
+the arrivals he got a glimpse of an object for which he had stretched
+his neck and strained his eyes--the anxious soul of him in his eyes--on
+the street in New York City. He saw a green toque with a white quill.
+
+As though a girl--such a girl as he judged her to be--would still be
+wearing the same hat, all those months later! But that hat and the very
+cock of the angle of the quill formed, in a way, the one especially
+vivid memory of his life. However, he had a vague, bachelor notion that
+women's hats resembled their whims--often changed and never twice alike,
+and he based no hopes on what he had seen.
+
+Whoever she was, she was on the train. But there were stations between
+the junction and Adonia--not villages, but the mouths of roads which led
+far into remote regions where a green toque could not be traced readily.
+He acutely desired to inform himself regarding the face under that hat.
+But he had made possession the full ten points of his law, sitting on
+that load of dynamite. What if he should allow that train crew an
+opening and give Echford Flagg complete confirmation of the report that
+his drive master was a sapgag with women?
+
+After the intenseness of the thrill died out of him he smiled at the
+idea that a chance meeting in New York could be followed up in this
+fashion in the north country. At any rate, he had something with which
+to busy his thoughts during the slow drag of the train up to Adonia, and
+he was able to forget in some measure that he was sitting on dynamite
+and would face even more menacing explosives of another kind when the
+drive was on its way.
+
+He posted himself in the side door of the car when the train rolled
+along beside the platform at Adonia. He had ordered men of the Flagg
+outfit to be at the station with sleds, waiting for the train; they were
+on hand, and he shouted to them, commanding them to load the boxes and
+start north.
+
+There was a man displaying a badge on the platform--a deputy sheriff who
+had his eye out for bootleggers headed toward the driving crews; the
+conductor ran to the officer and reported that Latisan had broken the
+law relating to the transportation of explosives; the trainman proposed
+to shift the responsibility, anticipating that the sheriff might give
+official attention to the cargo.
+
+Just then Latisan spied the green toque; the face was concealed because
+the head was bowed to enable the toque's wearer to pick her way down the
+steps of the coach.
+
+The drive master leaped from the door of the car and his men scrambled
+past him to enter.
+
+"About that dynamite----"
+
+Latisan elbowed aside the questioning sheriff, and looked straight past
+the officer. "If you go after me on that point you'll have to go after
+Craig and the Three C's, too--and I'll put the thing up to the county
+attorney myself. Right now I'm busy."
+
+The men were lugging out the boxes. "If anybody gets in your way, boys,
+drop a box on his toes," he shouted, starting up the platform.
+
+"Leave it to us, Mr. Latisan," bawled one of the crew.
+
+The drive master had his eyes on the girl who was walking ahead of him.
+He could hardly believe that the voicing of his name attracted her
+attention. She did not know his name! But she stopped and whirled about
+and stared at him.
+
+It was surely the girl of the cafeteria!
+
+She plainly shared Latisan's amazement, but there was in her demeanor
+something more than the frank astonishment which was actuating him.
+
+He pulled off his cap and hurried to her and put out his hand. "I saw
+you--I mean I saw your hat. I thought it might be you--but I looked for
+you in New York--for that hat----" He knew he was making a fool of
+himself by his excitement and incoherence. "I have been thinking about
+you----" He was able to check himself, for her eyes were showing
+surprise of another sort. Her manner suggested to Latisan that she, at
+any rate, had not been thinking especially about him during the months.
+She had recovered her composure.
+
+"It is not surprising about the hat, Mr.--I believe I heard somebody
+call your name--Mr. Latisan?" There was an inflection of polite query,
+and he bowed. "My sarcastic friends are very explicit about this hat
+serving as my identifier."
+
+"I didn't mean it that way. I don't know anything about girls' hats. But
+to see you away up here----"
+
+She forced a flicker of a smile.
+
+"It seems quite natural to find you here in the woods, though I believe
+you did tell me that your home is over Tomah way."
+
+He was not able to understand the strange expression on her countenance.
+And she, on her part, was not able to look at him with complete
+composure; she remembered the character given to this man by Craig, and
+she had ventured to give him something else in her report--the swagger
+of a _roue_ and a black mustache!
+
+There was an awkward moment and he put his cap back on his head. He
+looked about as if wondering if she expected friends. He had treasured
+every word of hers in the cafeteria. She had spoken of the woods as if
+her home had been there at one time.
+
+"I'm not expecting anybody to meet me--here--to-day," she informed him,
+understanding his side glances. She was showing incertitude,
+uneasiness--as if she were slipping back into a former mood after the
+prick of her surprise. "There's a hotel here, I suppose."
+
+He took her traveling case from her hand, muttering a proffer to assist
+her. They walked away together. For the second time the loafers at
+Adonia saw Latisan escorting a strange woman along the street, and this
+one, also, was patently from the city, in spite of her modest attire.
+
+"Seems to be doing quite a wholesale business, importing dynamite and
+wimmen," observed a cynic.
+
+"According to the stories in Tomah, he has put in quite a lot of time
+looking over the market in regard to that last-named," agreed another
+detractor.
+
+"And when Eck Flagg gets the news I'd rather take my chances with the
+dynamite than with the wimmen," stated the cynic.
+
+"I guess I talked to you like an idiot at first," said Latisan, when he
+and his companion were apart from the persons on the station platform.
+"I'm getting control of my surprise. I remember you told me you were
+homesick for the woods. That's why you're up here, I suppose."
+
+"It's one reason, Mr. Latisan."
+
+"I'm sorry it isn't a better time of year. I'd like to--to--If you
+aren't going to be tied up too much with friends, I could show you
+around a little. But right now I'm tied up, myself. I'm drive master for
+Echford Flagg--you remember about speaking of him."
+
+"Yes; but I shall not trouble Mr. Flagg," she hastened to say. "He will
+not be interested in me simply on account of my friends. You are very
+busy on the drive, are you?" she questioned, earnestly.
+
+"Oh yes. I've got to start for headwaters in the morning." There was
+doleful regret in his tones.
+
+He was rather surprised to find so much pleased animation in her face;
+truly, this girl from the city acted as if she were delighted by the
+news of his going away; she even seemed to be confessing it. "I'm glad!"
+she cried. Then she smoothed matters after a glance at his grieved and
+puzzled face. "I'm glad to hear a man say that he's devoted to his work.
+So many these days don't seem to take any interest in what they're
+doing--they only talk wages. Yours must be a wonderful work--on the
+river--the excitement and all!"
+
+"Yes," he admitted, without enthusiasm.
+
+The street was muddy and they went slowly; he hung back as if he wanted
+to drag out the moments of their new companionship.
+
+He cast about for a topic; he did not feel like expatiating on the
+prospects ahead of him in his work. "If you're going to make much of a
+stop here----"
+
+She did not take advantage of his pause; he hoped she would indicate the
+proposed length of her stay, and he was worrying himself into a panic
+for fear she would not be in Adonia on his next visit to report to
+Flagg.
+
+"I wish we had a better hotel here, so that you'd stay all contented for
+a time--and--and enjoy the country hereabouts."
+
+"Isn't the hotel a fit place for a woman who is unaccompanied?"
+
+"Oh, that isn't it! It's the slack way Brophy runs it. The help
+question! Martin does the best he knows how, but he finds it hard to
+keep table girls here in the woods. Has to keep falling back on his
+nephew, and the nephew isn't interested in the waiter job. Wants to
+follow his regular line."
+
+"And what's that?" she asked, holding to a safe topic.
+
+"Running Dave's stable. Nephew says the horses can't talk back."
+
+She stopped and faced him. "Do you think the landlord would hire me as a
+waitress?" She had come to Adonia in haste, leaving her plans to hazard.
+Now she was obeying sudden inspiration.
+
+If she had slapped him across the face she could not have provoked more
+astonishment and dismay than his countenance showed.
+
+"I have done much waiting at tables." She grimly reflected on the cafes
+where she had sought the most for her money. "I'm not ashamed to confess
+it."
+
+He stammered before he was able to control his voice. "It isn't that.
+You ought to be proud to work. I mean I'm glad--no, what I mean is I
+don't understand why--why----"
+
+"Why I have come away up here for such a job?"
+
+"I haven't the grit to ask any questions of you!" he confessed,
+plaintively, his memory poignant on that point.
+
+The stout "drummer" had been trailing them from the station. When they
+halted he passed them slowly, staring wide-eyed at the girl, asking her
+amazed questions with his gaze. She flung the Vose-Mern operative a look
+of real fury; she had come north in a fighting mood.
+
+"I have left the city to escape just such men as that--men who aren't
+willing to let a girl have a square chance. I lost my last position
+because I slapped a cheap insulter's face in a hotel dining hall." She
+looked over Latisan's head when she twisted the truth. "I came north, to
+the woods, just as far as that railroad would take me. I hate a city!"
+Then she looked straight at him, and there was a ring of sincerity in
+her tone. "I'm glad to be where those are!" She pointed to the trees
+which thatched the slopes of the hills.
+
+"You're speaking of friends of mine!"
+
+They had stopped, facing each other. Crowley, lashed by looks from the
+girl and Latisan, had hurried on toward the tavern.
+
+Lida knew that the drive master was having hard work to digest the
+information she had given him.
+
+"They are standing up straight and are honest old chaps," he went on. He
+was looking into her eyes and his calm voice had a musing tone. "I like
+to call them my friends."
+
+He was trying hard to down the queer notions that were popping up. He
+would not admit that he was suspecting this girl of deceit. But she was
+so manifestly not what she claimed that she was! Still, there were
+reverses that might----
+
+"I am alone in a strange land--nobody to back my word about myself. I
+must call on a reliable witness. You know the witness." She put up her
+hand and touched her hat. Then came laughter--first from her and then
+from Latisan--to relieve the situation. "You saw me wearing it more than
+six months ago. What better proof of my humble position in life do you
+want?"
+
+"I don't dare to tell you what you ought to be, Miss----"
+
+"Patsy Jones," she returned, glibly; his quest for her name could not be
+disregarded.
+
+"But what you are right now is good enough because it's honest work."
+
+"Do you think I can get the job?"
+
+"I am a witness of Martin Brophy's standing offer to give one thousand
+dollars for a table girl who won't get homesick or get married."
+
+"Take me in and collect the reward, Mr. Latisan. I'm a safe
+proposition, both ways."
+
+"I hope not!" he blurted--and then marched on with the red flooding
+beneath his tan.
+
+And though he strove to put all his belief in her word about herself, he
+was conscious of a persistent doubt, and was angered by it.
+
+"If you please, I'll do the talking to Mr. Brophy--is that his
+name?--when we reach the hotel," said the girl. "You really do not know
+me." There was a flash of honesty, she felt, in that statement, and she
+wanted to be as honest as she could--not wholly a compound of lies in
+her new role. "It might seem queer, my presenting myself under your
+indorsement, as if we had been acquainted somewhere else. Gossip up here
+is easily started, isn't it?"
+
+"It is."
+
+He surrendered her bag to her at the porch, as if his services had been
+merely the cursory politeness of one who was traveling her way. It was
+in Latisan's mind to go along to the big house on the ledges and inform
+Flagg what had been done that day, and glory in the boast that there was
+a new man in the region who could make a way for himself in spite of
+Flagg's opinions as to the prowess of an old man.
+
+Latisan was feeling strangely exhilarated. She had come there to stay!
+Martin Brophy was in the desperate state of need to chain a girl like
+that one to a table leg in his desire to keep her. And she had announced
+her own feelings in the matter! She was in the Noda--the girl who had
+stepped out of his life never to enter it again, so he had feared in
+his lonely ponderings. He was in the mood of a real man at last! He was
+resolved to take no more of Echford Flagg's contumely. He was heartsick
+at the thought of starting north and leaving her in the tavern, to be
+the object of attentions such as that cheap drummer man bestowed when he
+passed them on the street.
+
+The plea of the lady of the tavern parlor had made merely a ripple in
+his resolves. He had not thought of her or her proposition during that
+busy day.
+
+Now he was wondering whether the fight for Flagg--the struggle against
+Craig, even for vengeance, was worth while.
+
+Lida was having no difficulty in locating the landlord. He stood just
+beyond the dining-room door and was proclaiming that he was the boss and
+was shaking his fist under the nose of a surly youth who had allowed
+several dishes to slide off a tray and smash on the floor.
+
+"Do you want to hire a waitress from the city?" she demanded.
+
+"You bet a tin dipper I do," snapped back Brophy.
+
+"I'm ready to begin work at once. If you'll show me my room----"
+
+"You go up one flight, by them stairs there, and you pick out the best
+room you can find--the one that suits you! That's how much I'm willing
+to cater to a city waitress. And you needn't worry about wages."
+
+"I shall not worry, sir." She hurried up the stairs.
+
+The hostler-waiter slammed down the tray with an ejaculation of
+thankfulness. Brophy picked up the tray and banged it over the youth's
+head. "You ain't done with the hash-wrassling till she has got her feet
+placed. Sweep up that litter, stand by to do the heavy lugging, and take
+your orders from her and cater to her--cater!"
+
+Latisan, lingering on the porch, had hearkened and observed. He caught a
+glimpse of himself in the dingy glass of the door. He scrubbed his hand
+doubtfully over his beard. Then he turned and hurried away.
+
+The single barber shop of Adonia was only a few yards from the door of
+the tavern. There was one chair in the corner of a pool room.
+
+Latisan overtook a man in the doorway and yanked him back and entered
+ahead.
+
+"I'm next!" shouted the supplanted individual.
+
+"Yes, after me!" declared Latisan, grimly. He threw himself into the
+chair. "Shave and trim! Quick!"
+
+The barber propped his hands on his hips. "What's the newfangled idea of
+shedding whiskers before the drive is down?"
+
+"Shave!" roared Latisan. "And if you're more than five minutes on the
+job I'll carve my initials in you with your razor."
+
+So constantly did he apostrophize the barber to hurry, wagging a
+restless jaw, that blood oozed from several nicks when the beard had
+been removed.
+
+"I've got a pride in my profession, just the same as you have in your
+job," stormed the barber when Latisan refused to wait for treatment for
+the cuts. "And I don't propose to have you racing out onto the
+streets----"
+
+But the drive master was away, obsessed by visions of that fresh
+drummer presuming further in his tactics with the new waitress. The
+barber, stung to defense of his art, grabbed a towel and a piece of alum
+and pursued Latisan along the highway and into the tavern office,
+cornered the raging drive master, and insisted on removing the evidences
+which publicly discredited good workmanship. The affair was in the
+nature of a small riot.
+
+The guests who were at table in the dining room stared through the
+doorway with interest. The new waitress, already on her job, gave the
+affair her amused attention. Especially absorbed was the sullen youth
+who halted in the middle of the room, holding a loaded tray above his
+head. In his abstraction he allowed the tray to tip, and the dishes
+rained down over Crowley, who was seated directly under the edge of the
+tray.
+
+Latisan strode in and took his seat at the small table with the city
+stranger while Brophy was mopping the guest off; the city chap had
+received his food on his head and in his lap.
+
+The waitress came and stood demurely at one side, meeting the flaming
+gaze of the Vose-Mern man with a look that eloquently expressed her
+emotions. "Shall I repeat the order?"
+
+"Don't be fresh!" snarled Crowley.
+
+Latisan rapped his knuckles on the table warningly. "Be careful how you
+talk to this lady!"
+
+"What have you got to say about it?" The stout chap started to rise.
+
+But Latisan was up first. He leaned over and set his big hand, fingers
+outspread like stiff prongs, upon the man's head, and twisted the caput
+to and fro; then he drove the operative down with a thump in his chair.
+"This is what I've got to say! Remember that she is a lady, and treat
+her accordingly, or I'll twist off your head and take it downstreet and
+sell it to the bowling-alley man."
+
+It was plain that the girl was finding a piquant relish in the affair.
+
+From the moment when she came down the stairs and took the white apron
+which Brophy handed to her she had ceased to be the city-wearied girl.
+It was homely adventure, to be sure, but the very plainness of it, in
+the free-and-easy environment of the north woods, appealed to her sense
+of novelty. There was especial zest for her in this bullyragging of
+Crowley by the man who was to be victim of the machinations by the
+Vose-Mern agency. Her eyes revealed her thoughts. The city man opened
+his mouth. He promptly shut it and turned sideways in his chair, his
+back to Latisan. Detective Crowley was enmeshed in a mystery which he
+could not solve just then. What was the confidential secretary doing up
+there?
+
+The girl smiled down on her champion--an expansive, charming, warming
+smile. "I thank you! What will you have?"
+
+She surveyed his face with concern; his countenance was working with
+emotion. In her new interest, she noted more particularly than in the
+New York cafeteria, that he apparently was, in spite of what Craig had
+said, a big, wholesome, naive chap who confessed to her by his eyes,
+then and there, that he was honestly and respectfully surrendering his
+heart to her, short though the acquaintance had been, and she was
+thrilled by that knowledge. She was not responding to this new appeal,
+she was sure, but she was gratified because the man was showing her by
+his eyes that he was her slave, not merely a presumptuous conquest of
+the moment, after the precipitate manner of more sophisticated males.
+
+She repeated her question.
+
+It was evident enough what Latisan wanted at that moment, but he had not
+the courage to voice his wishes in regard to her; he had not enough
+self-possession left to state his actual desires as to food, even. There
+was one staple dish of the drive; he was heartily sick of that food, but
+he could not think of anything else right then.
+
+"Bub--bub--beans!" he stuttered.
+
+She hurried away.
+
+When she returned with her tray she did not interrupt any conversation
+between the two men at the little table; the Vose-Mern man still had his
+back turned on Latisan; the drive master sat bolt upright in a prim
+attitude which suggested a sort of juvenile desire to mind his manners.
+
+The girl's eyes were still alight with the spirit of jest. She placed
+steak and potatoes and other edibles in front of Latisan. She gave the
+gentleman from the agency a big bowl of beans.
+
+"I didn't order those!"
+
+"I'm sorry, sir. I must have got my orders mixed."
+
+"You have! You've given that"--he stopped short of applying any epithet
+to Latisan--"you've given him my order!"
+
+"Won't you try our beans--just once? The cook tells me they were baked
+in the ground, woodman style."
+
+"Then give 'em to the woodsmen--it's the kind of fodder that's fit for
+'em."
+
+Latisan leaned across the table and tugged Crowley's sleeve. "Look me in
+the eye, my friend!" The man who was exhorted found the narrowed, hard
+eyes very effective in a monitory way. "I don't care what you eat, as a
+general thing. But you have just slurred woodsmen and have stuck up your
+nose at the main grub stand-by of the drive. You're going to eat those
+beans this lady has very kindly brought. If you don't eat 'em, starting
+in mighty sudden, I'll pick up that bowl and tip it over and crown you
+with it, beans and all. Because I'm speaking low isn't any sign I don't
+mean what I say!"
+
+The beans were steaming under the stout man's nose. He decided that the
+heat would be better in his stomach than on the top of his head; he had
+just had one meal served that way. He devoured the beans and marched out
+of the dining room, his way taking him past the sideboard where the new
+waitress was skillfully arranging glasses after methods entirely
+different from those of the sullen youth.
+
+"Don't jazz the game any more--not with _me_," growled Crowley, fury in
+his manner. "And I want to see you in private."
+
+She stiffened, facing him. She knew that Latisan's earnest eyes were on
+her. She assumed the demeanor of a girl who was resentfully able to take
+care of herself, playing a part for the benefit of the drive master.
+"Attend strictly to your end of the program, Crowley!"
+
+"What do you mean--my end?"
+
+"Protecting me from insults by these rough woodsmen. I suppose you are
+doing the same for Miss Elsham." Her irony was biting. He scowled and
+put his face close to hers.
+
+"If you're up here on the job--it's not a lark. It's a case of he-men in
+these parts. If you're not careful you'll start something you can't
+stop."
+
+"Keep away from me. They're watching us. You're bungling your part
+wretchedly. Can't you understand that I'm on the case, too?"
+
+She had planned her action, forestalling possibilities as well as she
+was able. She was determined to be bold, trusting to events as they
+developed.
+
+"You will kindly remember that I'm on this case along with you, and you
+can't make me jump through hoops!" Crowley, fresh from the city, narrow
+in his urban conceit, was seeing red because of a petty humiliation he
+had suffered in public.
+
+Another man was seeing red for a different reason. Latisan strode across
+the room, nabbed Crowley by the ear, and led him into the tavern office,
+where the aching ear was twisted until the city man subsided into a
+chair.
+
+The girl appraised at its full value the rancor that was developing in
+the Vose-Mern operative; his glaring eyes were accusing her.
+
+But the adoring eyes of Latisan promised really more complicated
+trouble for her.
+
+It was borne in on her that there were dangerous possibilities in the
+frank atmosphere of the north woods. Lida had the poignant feeling of
+being very much alone just then--and she was afraid!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN
+
+
+Suppers were always over with early in Adonia. The red west was banded
+with half on hour's April daylight when the new waitress finished her
+work. She hurried up to her room; she locked her door with the
+panic-stricken air of one who desires to shut out danger.
+
+She was in no mood to question the worthiness of the impulse which had
+sent her into the north, but she was realizing in fuller measure the
+difficulties with which she must deal. In the dining room she had felt
+recklessly intrepid and the utter mystification of Buck Crowley had
+amused her. But she had had plenty of opportunity in her Vose-Mern work
+to know the nature of Crowley--he had the shell of an alligator and the
+scruples of a viper and would double-cross a twin brother if the project
+could help the fortunes of Buck himself.
+
+Once more she admitted that she was afraid. It was if she had touched
+levers and had started machinery which she could not stop; she had
+launched two men at each other and had observed the first ominous
+clinches--and Crowley had warned her that she was in the region of
+"he-men." But Crowley was not of a sort to use the manly weapons of the
+frank fighters of the north.
+
+With the sense of hiding away from impending trouble, sorry for her
+share in starting it, she sat by the window, put her forehead on her
+arms, wept weakly, and told herself that she was a very poor article of
+a heroine.
+
+However, the sunset soothed and invited her when she wiped her eyes. She
+beheld the honest outdoors of the forest country. She was hungry for
+those open places of earth. She knew that her resolution was ebbing the
+longer she hid herself in that hole of a room, like a terrified animal.
+She put on a hat and a wrap and started out.
+
+She was perfectly well aware of the gantlet she must run.
+
+Crowley was patrolling the porch; she issued from a side door of the
+tavern, but she was obliged to pass him in order to get into the street.
+His high sign to her was peremptory and unmistakable--Mr. Crowley had
+business with her! Right then, in spite of her planned intent to bluff
+out the situation just as long as she could at that distance from Mern,
+she was not in a state of mind to meet Crowley.
+
+She heard steps behind her and was accosted, but her frown of
+apprehensiveness became a smile of welcome when she turned and beheld
+Latisan; the welcome was not so much from interest in Latisan as from
+the sense that she would have a respite from Crowley.
+
+"If you're going to look the place over, won't you allow me to go
+along?" he pleaded. "I'll follow behind like a terrier, if you tell me
+to. I want to keep you from being bothered by anybody."
+
+She showed concern and looked about her.
+
+"Oh, by that cheap drummer, I mean. You needn't ever be afraid of
+woodsmen up here. I was watching him when you came out. If it wasn't for
+starting a lot of tattle I'd beat him up on the street."
+
+"Really, you'd better come along with me, Mr. Latisan, out of the reach
+of any such temptation."
+
+"Perhaps you'd like to get a view of the falls from the best point," he
+suggested, as they walked on.
+
+When they turned into a path and disappeared from Crowley's ken the
+latter buttoned his coat and started leisurely on their trail.
+
+On the edge of the gorge there was a niche in the cliff, a natural seat
+padded with moss. Latisan led her to the spot. He did not indulge his
+longing to sit beside her; he stood at a little distance, respectfully,
+and allowed her to think her thoughts. Those thoughts and her memories
+were very busy just then; she was glad because the everlasting diapason
+of the falls made conversation difficult.
+
+Until then, in her reflections, she had been considering Ward Latisan
+merely as her stricken grandfather's staff of hope, an aid so essential
+that the Comas had determined to eliminate him. She surveyed him as he
+stood there in his own and fitting milieu and found him reassuringly
+stalwart as a dependable champion.
+
+Alone with him, making estimate with her eyes and her understanding, she
+was conscious that her first surprise at sight of the real Latisan was
+giving way to deepening interest.
+
+She reflected again on the character which had been given this man by
+Rufus Craig, and remembered more vividly what she had written about him
+for the guidance of the Vose-Mern agency.
+
+There must be something wrong in Craig's estimate! She felt that she had
+an eye of her own for qualities in a man, and this man's clean sincerity
+had impressed her in their first meeting in the New York cafeteria.
+
+He turned from his survey of the waters and met her gaze. "I was pretty
+much flustered that day in New York, Miss Jones. I was more so to-day at
+the railroad station. I don't know how to act with girls very well," he
+confessed naively. "I want to say something right here and now. There
+are mean stories going the rounds about me up in this country. I'm
+afraid you'll hear some of them. I don't want you--I don't want
+everybody to think I'm what they are trying to make out I am--they lied
+over Tomah way to hurt me in business. But perhaps you don't care one
+way or the other," he probed, wistfully.
+
+He found encouragement in her expression and went on. "I was away at
+Tech, taking a special course, and they lied about me. I was trying to
+make something more of myself than just a lumberjack. And I thought
+there was a chance for me to help things on the Tomah after I learned
+something about engineering. I was doing my best, that's all, and the
+liars saw their opening and took it. If you hear the stories I hope you
+won't believe them."
+
+Hastily she looked away from his earnest and imploring eyes and gave her
+attention to the turbid freshet flood, shredded into a yellow and
+yeasty riot of waters.
+
+Her recollection of childhood became clearer now that she was back
+beside the cataract which was linked with all her early memories. He did
+not venture to disturb her with more talk.
+
+She remained there until the chill from the air and the mist from the
+falling waters and the growing dusk warned her.
+
+They were back at the edge of the village street before he spoke again.
+"The falls are pretty wild now; they're beautiful in the summer when the
+water is low. When I was a boy I footed it over here from the Tomah a
+few times and sat in that niche and listened to the song the waters
+seemed to sing. It was worth the long hike. Being there just now brought
+back something I'd almost forgotten. One day the waters sung me to sleep
+and when I woke up there was a little girl dancing in front of me and
+pointing her finger, and I looked at myself and saw she had made a chain
+of daisies and hung it around my neck and had stuck clover blooms all
+over me. And when she saw that I was awake she scampered off with some
+other children. Queer how the funny little thoughts like that pop up in
+a person's mind!"
+
+Fresh from the scene, softened by her ponderings, Lida felt the surge of
+an impulse to tell him that the same memory had come to her while she
+sat in the niche. She was the child who had made the daisy chain--who
+had been bolder than the other children in approaching the sleeping
+stranger. And she was not ready to agree with him that the memory was
+"queer." She wished she could confess her identity to him right then,
+because the confession would enable her to bring up a topic which had
+been interesting her very much--how personalities, meeting as strangers,
+often prompt each other through subtle psychic qualities of past
+association; there were instances in the books she had read where
+persons claimed to have recognized each other from past incarnations;
+but Lida did not believe that stuff, she had told herself. As to the
+mutual remembrance of the daisy chain--that was different--it seemed
+quite natural. She could remember just how comically that boy's nose
+twitched when she was waking him up with a buttercup blossom.
+
+Latisan was conscious of a queer unwillingness to have her leave him. He
+wondered what excuse he could offer to prolong the companionship of the
+evening. He wanted to link up her affairs with his in some way, if he
+could--that there might be something in common between them. To solicit
+her aid--her counsel; it is the first hankering of a man in his striving
+toward a woman's favor.
+
+In this case, the drive master, desperately casting about for an excuse,
+was guilty of something like an enormity in venturesomeness. His own
+business was calling him to the big house on the ledges; in his new
+state of softened spirit he was dreading any run-in with Echford Flagg.
+Perhaps gossip had already carried to Flagg the reason why the drive
+master had not hastened to report about the dynamite victory. To exhibit
+the actual reason for the delay, in her own winning person, seemed a
+very proper thing to do according to Latisan's clouded judgment of the
+moment.
+
+"Let me tell you!" he urged. "I've got to run up to Flagg's on business.
+You'll have something to talk to him about--those friends----"
+
+"No, no!" She hurried on toward the tavern.
+
+He ventured to clasp her arm, detaining her. "He's a poor, sick old man.
+A little talk with you will do him good."
+
+Her memory was vivid. "But you told me in New York that he won't have a
+woman near his house."
+
+"He's different nowadays," persisted Latisan. "He's sick and it will be
+a treat for him to have a girl say some kind words. I want him to meet
+you----"
+
+But she shook off his hand and resolutely kept on her way. "I must go
+in. I'm tired after my long journey--and my work." There were loafers in
+front of the tavern. "I'm very much obliged to you, Mr. Latisan," she
+called so that all could hear, "for your kindness in showing me the way
+to the falls. Good night!" She disappeared.
+
+There was nothing for Latisan to do but to brave the old tiger of the
+big house alone. Outside of his desire to keep her with him as long as
+possible, he had wanted her to go along into the presence of Flagg as a
+guaranty of the peace; he did not believe that Flagg would launch
+invective in the hearing of the girl; furthermore, Latisan was conscious
+of a proud anxiety to exhibit her.
+
+Flagg tipped the shade of the lamp so that Latisan's face was
+illuminated when the drive master was in the room.
+
+"Shaved!" snorted the tyrant. "All duded up and beauing around a table
+girl. I know all about it. Latisan, you----"
+
+"Just a moment, Mr. Flagg!"
+
+"Shaved, right in the start of the driving season! Shut up! I can see
+what's happening. I heard you had brought the dynamite. But somebody
+else told me. Yes, told me other news! I can't depend on you any longer
+to bring me reports. But you're planting something worse than dynamite
+under yourself. Parading a girl and keeping me waiting and----"
+
+"Let me warn you, sir. Only my pride in doing a job I have set out to do
+is keeping me on with you. If you insult that young lady by another word
+I'll quit you cold, here and now!"
+
+There was a moment of silence.
+
+Rickety Dick, sitting on his stool with a cat in his arms, wriggled as
+uneasily as did the cat, who had been alarmed by the high voices.
+
+"Talk about dynamite being dangerous!" muttered Flagg. "There's
+something else----"
+
+But when he looked into Latisan's countenance he lowered the shade of
+the lamp and did not state what the something else was.
+
+"If you know about the dynamite, sir, there's no need of my saying
+anything. It's on its way north. I shall start for headwaters at
+daybreak. I'll be down to report as soon as possible."
+
+"When you get up on the drive, you stay there, Latisan."
+
+"It's my pledged word that I must report to you in person. You insisted
+on it. I don't propose to give you any chance for come-backs. I shall
+report, Mr. Flagg."
+
+He walked out.
+
+Soon he heard the pattering of feet behind him on the ledges and he was
+hailed cautiously by the quavering voice of old Dick.
+
+"Who is she, Mr. Latisan? Who is that girl?" panted Dick; "I saw her
+when she walked with you. I was side of the road."
+
+"And ran and tattled to Flagg, eh?"
+
+"No--no, sir! It was old Dempsey who came and gossiped. But what's her
+name?"
+
+"Patsy Jones."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"I'm sure because she told me so," retorted the drive master. "Her word
+goes with me."
+
+"But--but----"
+
+"But what?" Latisan's manner was ominous.
+
+"Of course she knows who she is," faltered old Dick. "And my eyesight
+ain't clear--and it was a long time ago--and my memory ain't good, of
+course, and----"
+
+"And your wits don't seem to be of the best, either," snapped the young
+man. "You and Flagg better keep your tongues off that young lady. Do you
+understand?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Latisan. Yes, sir!"
+
+Latisan stepped back and took hold of Dick by the sleeve of the ragged
+jacket. "Who did you think she was?"
+
+"I guess I didn't really think--I only dreamed," was the old man's
+stammering reply. "If you say she's Patsy Jones that's enough for me."
+
+"She says that she is--and that makes it so." Latisan strode on his way.
+
+Rickety Dick lifted his arms, then he lowered them without his "Praise
+the Lord!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN
+
+
+Crowley, shrouded in the evening gloom, tapped on the parlor window the
+signal tattoo agreed upon between himself and Miss Elsham. The light in
+the parlor went out promptly and she came and replied to Crowley under
+the edge of the lifted sash. She had been apprised by her associate of
+the advent of Miss Kennard on the scene; Crowley had hastened to slip a
+note under her door.
+
+"You saw 'em start for a walk, did you? Well, you saw me follow 'em,
+then. Chased 'em to the edge of the falls and hid."
+
+"What sort of talk is she giving him?"
+
+"Talk! I couldn't hear. I don't like water, anyway. I like it less when
+it bangs down over rocks and stops me from hearing what I want to hear."
+
+"What does she tell you?"
+
+"She has only shot a few words at me like beans out of an air gun.
+Claims she's here on the case."
+
+"Do you believe that?"
+
+"I don't dare to tell her that I don't believe it--considering the way
+she stands in with Mern. It may be his afterthought--he's a bird that
+flies funny sometimes, you know."
+
+"Leave her to me; I'll dredge her to-morrow."
+
+"That'll be good dope; she'll have to bring in your meals as soon as you
+give orders to Brophy."
+
+"They'll have to be snappy orders to make him stop bringing 'em
+himself," said Miss Elsham. "The old fool stood around while I was
+eating supper and told me how much money he has saved and how lonesome
+he is since his wife died. I have told him to send Latisan to me this
+evening on a matter of business, no matter how late Latisan comes in.
+He's too jealous to give the word, I do believe."
+
+"I can't understand the hang of it--her grabbing him so quick," lamented
+Crowley. "It's a devil of a note when we have to take time off the main
+job to detect out a mystery right in our own concern! What are you going
+to say about her when you write up your report to-night?"
+
+He was referring to the inviolable rule of the Vose-Mern office that a
+daily report must be made by each operative.
+
+"Nothing, Buck. Let's tread easy. We may seem to be trying to tell Mern
+his business. She's here and he must be perfectly well aware that she's
+here. Don't you write anything in your report. Leave her to me."
+
+"All right! You handle it."
+
+Then Crowley departed and sat down in his room and put into his report a
+full statement about Miss Kennard's arrival and actions and his own
+activity in regard to her. Crowley had elaborate ideas about the art of
+double-crossing everybody, even his associates in the agency. He figured
+that it could not hurt anything to give Mern a full report on all
+matters; and if there was anything peculiar in Kennard's presence there,
+Crowley's assiduity would contrast to his credit and shame Elsham's
+negligence. He had frequently made good hits by cajoling fellow
+operatives to suppress certain matters which he had then reported to his
+advantage with Mern. And Elsham, in this case, was claiming to be in
+charge, making him only the watchdog of her safety.
+
+Crowley growled derogatory comments on her temptress qualities when he
+peered past the edge of his curtain in the morning and looked down on
+Latisan mounting into his jumper seat. The young man did not seem to be
+in an amiable or a confident state of mind, and his plain dolor
+comforted Crowley somewhat, even though Latisan was going back to the
+drive.
+
+The drive master had not been able to see Miss Patsy Jones that morning,
+as he had hoped; he had no excuse to hang around the tavern till she did
+appear. Brophy served the breakfast; he declared that he was going to
+hang on to that table girl if good treatment could prevail, and he was
+never going to ask her to wait on early breakfasters.
+
+Crowley got additional comfort out of Latisan's loud proclamation that
+he would be down in Adonia again very soon. The drive master seemed to
+be striving to draw somebody's attention to that fact. He cast looks
+behind him at the upper windows of the tavern when he drove away.
+
+That day, according to the plans he had made in New York, Mr. Crowley
+took pains to give himself an occupation in Adonia; loafers who were not
+bashful were quizzing him about the nature of his business up there.
+
+The barber had one corner of the village pool room; Crowley made a
+trade to occupy another corner. He opened up a case of cheap jewelry and
+traded it by day and raffled it evenings; he was not molested in his
+sporting propositions, as he called the procedure, after he had arranged
+a private talk with the deputy sheriff. Crowley, with his fancy
+waistcoat and his tip-tilted hat, fitted the role he was playing. He was
+right in the path of all the gossip that traveled to and fro; therefore,
+the role suited his needs.
+
+His nightly conferences with Miss Elsham at the parlor window were not
+pleasant; Miss Elsham was not in a state of mind which conduced to
+cordial relations.
+
+She had not been able to "dredge" Miss Kennard. That young lady waited
+on Miss Elsham, but not with a tray. After a talk with Brophy, who
+agreed with her absolutely and placatingly, begging her to suit herself
+in all her acts provided she would stay on, Miss Kennard went into the
+parlor, closed the door carefully, and told Miss Elsham where that young
+woman got off as an exacting lady of leisure. "Mr. Mern would not allow
+it--one operative doing menial work for another. If you choose to come
+into the dining room, that's different."
+
+Miss Kennard then turned and walked out. She refused to stay with Miss
+Elsham and have a talk. "We are ordered to be very careful up here," she
+reminded the operative. Miss Elsham was impressed. It was as if Mern
+were sending new cautions by this latest arrival.
+
+Miss Kennard, in her dabblings in psychoanalysis, had secured some
+concrete aids for action in addition to the vague abstractions which had
+come into her mind when Latisan had so naively confessed on the cliff
+above the cataract. She understood fully the potency of a suggestion
+which left a lot to the imagination of the other party; only a bit of a
+suggestion is needed--and it must be left to itself, like yeast, to
+induce fermentation. For that reason Miss Kennard abruptly walked out
+and left Miss Elsham alone to reflect--not running away, but retiring
+with the air of one who had said a sufficient number of words to the
+wise.
+
+Miss Elsham, in her conference at the window with Crowley that evening,
+revealed how actively her batch of ponderings had been set to working by
+that bit of suggestion. Crowley, listening, wished privately that he
+could call back that report to Mern; Mern had repeatedly warned him to
+keep to his place as a strong-arm operative, bluntly bearing down on the
+fact that Crowley's brains were not suited for the finer points of
+machination. According to Miss Elsham's figuring--and Crowley
+acknowledged her innate brightness--the plot had thickened and Kennard,
+known to all operatives as Mern's close confidant, was up there as chief
+performer.
+
+Several days elapsed before Crowley--perspiring whenever his worries
+assailed him--got any word from Mern. The chief wrote guardedly, and
+Crowley read the letter over a dozen times without being exactly sure
+just what course he was to pursue. The truth was, Mr. Mern himself was
+doing so much guessing as to Miss Kennard that he was in no state of
+mind to give clean-cut commands.
+
+Crowley's letter was the first intimation to the chief of the
+whereabouts of his confidential secretary. She had not resigned, nor had
+she asked for a leave of absence, nor had she bothered to write or
+telephone; she did not show up at the office--that was all!
+
+Lida, having discarded ethics, had decided to play her game from an
+ambuscade, just as the Vose-Mern agency did its business.
+
+To give any information to the foes of Echford Flagg would be giving
+odds--and she was working single-handed and deserved odds for herself.
+She resolved to make her game as peculiar as possible--to keep all of
+them guessing--to oblige them to take the initiative against her if they
+should find out the secret of her strange actions. The element of time
+entered largely into her calculations: every day on which she stood
+between them and Ward Latisan--every day that he devoted to the
+drive--was a day to be charged to her side of the ledger; and there are
+not many days in the driving season when the waters _are_ high and the
+river is rushing.
+
+A keener mind than Crowley's would have detected in Mern's letter all
+the chief's inability to understand. What Crowley did get from the
+letter was the conviction that Miss Kennard was not to be molested at
+that time. Mern made that clear, though he was vague on other points.
+The chief was wondering whether excess of zeal might be the reason for
+Miss Kennard's amazing performance. He remembered certain hints which
+she had dropped as to her financial needs, and she had not seemed
+averse when he had told her on occasions that he thought of giving her a
+commission when the right kind of a case came along. To turn a trick for
+a rich corporation--working alone so that she might claim full
+credit--undoubtedly had appealed to her as her great opportunity, Mern
+reflected, and she had set off on her own hook, fearful that he would
+not alter the arrangements he had made. He was angry; he muttered oaths
+as he weighed the situation. But he did not put any of his anger into
+his letter to Crowley. Miss Kennard knew too much about the general
+inner workings of the agency! In this new case there was specifically a
+five-thousand-dollar net fee in case Latisan could be eliminated and his
+crew left to the mercies of Comas bluster and cash. Miss Kennard, if
+unduly molested, could say two words in the north country and put that
+contingent fee into limbo.
+
+Therefore, Chief Mern was treading softly at first.
+
+But from the letter which treated the general situation so gingerly the
+strong-arm operative extracted one solid and convincing command. He was
+to watch Miss Kennard. The command seemed entirely natural. Had he not
+been sent up there to watch--or watch over--no matter which--Miss
+Elsham? His instructions in regard to Miss Kennard seemed to make her a
+particularly valuable person in the Vose-Mern plans. He was not to allow
+anything to interfere with his watching of Miss Kennard, not even for
+the sake of Miss Elsham. He was to observe every movement, catch every
+word, if possible, mark every detail of Miss Kennard's operations.
+
+Crowley did not show the letter to Miss Elsham, nor did he speak of it.
+He would mortally offend her by revealing his double-crossing tactics;
+as a woman she would be more offended by being relegated to the
+background in favor of the newcomer.
+
+Crowley found his espionage an easy job at first. All he had to report
+to Mern for three or four days was that "Patsy Jones" did her work in
+the hotel and remained in her room till after dark--and then went out
+and strolled aimlessly. She would not talk with Crowley when he grasped
+at opportunities to speak to her on her walks. She reminded him that
+fellow operatives must be careful; furthermore, scandal might oblige her
+to abandon her job; he would be responsible if he insisted on dogging
+her about the village.
+
+However, Crowley was able, a few days later, to slip her a letter from
+Mern; the chief had inclosed it in a missive containing further
+instructions to the operative to make sure of every move of Lida. The
+inclosed letter was addressed to "Patsy Jones."
+
+Lida read it when she was back in her room. She noted with satisfaction
+that Chief Mern was still guessing and that his detective mind was
+unable to solve the mystery except on the ground that she was so loyal
+to the agency and so ambitious for herself that she had tackled the job
+as a speculation. He chided her because she had not reported her
+intention. He asked for a full statement.
+
+She hid the letter carefully in her bureau. Having put it away for
+further reference in case she did make up her mind to answer the
+questions when forced to do so, she delayed replying. She did not want
+to lie needlessly to Mern--she was willing to let him do imagining, too,
+seeing how well it was working, to all appearances, in the cases of
+Elsham and Crowley.
+
+She had her own reasons for keeping withindoors in the daytime. The
+matter of Rickety Dick was worrying her. He had seen her as a girl of
+sixteen, worn with her vigils beside a sick mother; the light through
+the area windows had been dim, and he had stumbled against chairs in the
+room as if his vision were poor.
+
+However, she discovered at the outset of her stay in Adonia that she had
+become the object of old Dick's intent regard whenever he found
+opportunity. He often trudged past the tavern on his errands; he dragged
+slow steps and squinted and peered. Once she caught him peeping at her
+through the open door of the dining room. She had feared some such
+closer inspection and had drawn back her hair and twisted its waviness
+into an unsightly pug; the moment she saw him she slipped into her mouth
+a piece of spruce gum which an admiring woodsman had presented, and then
+she chewed vigorously and slatted herself about in a tough manner. He
+sighed and went away muttering.
+
+He ventured another and a last sortie, as if he wanted to make an end of
+his doubts. He also made a sensation.
+
+Rickety Dick came to take dinner at the tavern!
+
+He was in his best rig, with which he was accustomed to outfit himself
+for the funerals of his old friends. There was a faded tail coat which
+flapped against baggy gray trousers. A celluloid collar on a flannel
+shirt propped up his wrinkled chin.
+
+Martin Brophy stared at old Dick and then cast a look up at the office
+clock, whose hands, like Dick's in the moment of mental stress, were
+upraised on the stroke of twelve.
+
+"Flagg dead?" inquired Brophy, unable otherwise to account for Dick's
+absence from the big house at the dinner hour.
+
+"No! Toothache! Can't eat to-day. He let me off to go to a burying."
+
+"Whose?"
+
+Old Dick shook his head and passed on into the dining room, peering hard
+into the face of the waitress as he plodded toward her. "Burying!" he
+muttered. "May as well make sure it's dead--and put it away."
+
+Lida met him as she was meeting her other problems up there--boldly.
+
+She leaned over him when he was seated and recited the daily bill of
+fare. He did not take his eyes off her face, now close to his.
+
+"Lida Kennard," he whispered, hoarsely, panting, pulling the hard collar
+away from his throat with trembling fingers, "why ain't ye home with
+your poor old grandfather, where ye belong? Lida Kennard, why ain't ye
+home?"
+
+Her eyes did not waver. Brophy had followed, to be better informed as to
+the funeral, and stood in the doorway.
+
+"Who's the nut?" inquired Patsy Jones, acridly, turning her gaze to the
+landlord. "He's calling me names." Her hard tones made the old man
+wince.
+
+"He's all right--safe--only a little crazier than usual," returned
+Brophy. "If you want to eat, Dick, go ahead and eat--but don't bother
+Miss Jones. I don't allow anybody to bother her. And where's that
+funeral, I ask you again?"
+
+"Here!" said the old man, rapping his knuckles on his breast. "It's
+buried. I guess I am crazy. Oh yes, I'll admit it. I see things that
+ain't so."
+
+"Well, go ahead and eat," commanded Brophy.
+
+"I don't want to eat--I can't, now." He pushed back his chair and rose.
+
+"What names did he call you?" demanded the landlord, truculently. "I
+won't have your feelings hurt, you know!"
+
+"Oh, only made some funny noises," retorted Miss Jones, flippantly. "Let
+him go. I don't mind."
+
+Rickety Dick plodded out as he had plodded in; he was shaking his head,
+dismissing all his hopes and his dreams.
+
+Miss Jones went to another guest. "The world is full of 'em," she said.
+"We have lamb, beef, and pork."
+
+Brophy retired, entertaining no further curiosity.
+
+The surge of homesickness that swept through the girl choked her--its
+spray blurred her eyes as she gazed after old Dick, pitying his bent
+shoulders under the sun-faded coat. But even in her sorrow, because she
+had been obliged to deny his wistful plaint so heartlessly, she was
+conscious of relief. She had been afraid of his recognition of her;
+after this she would be more free to come and go.
+
+That evening at supper there was a guest who troubled her thoughts more
+than had Rickety Dick, but in another way. Ward Latisan was down again
+from the drive, still adoring her frankly and unabashed with his eyes,
+following all her movements; it was plain that he had taken counsel with
+himself while he had been away from her and that his love had been made
+acute by separation. She was of a mind to hide away from him in her room
+after her work was done. But there was the cultivation of his friendship
+to consider! She must keep up that friendship in order to be able to
+influence him.
+
+Timorously, wondering what was to come from the coil of events as she
+saw them shaping in that region of barehanded conflict, she put on her
+hat and went forth. Latisan stepped off the porch and joined her,
+plainly no longer concerned with what the gossipers of Adonia might say
+or think.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN
+
+
+As on a previous occasion, when the gloom of the night had settled, they
+were again at the side of the village street, at the mouth of the path
+by which they had returned from the cliff above the falls.
+
+She had sought the falls that evening because the din of the waters
+would keep him from talking too much. She was afraid of the light in his
+eyes and of the repressed feeling in his tones. She knew that she must
+repulse him if he wooed. Her emotions were mixed, but she was sure there
+was no love in her heart--all her thoughts were concerned with her
+quest. If love should by any possibility develop in her and she should
+allow him to see it, what would become of his man's appetite for fight
+and danger? She felt obliged to view surrender to him in that light. On
+the other hand, she could not afford to offend him deeply by allowing
+matters to come to a climax between them right then; the climax must
+disclose her lack of affection. She had been estimating that hale man of
+the woods--she was certain that what she felt toward him was only
+friendly respect for his character, and she could not lie to him or fawn
+falsely for her purposes.
+
+"I must go up now and face the usual music," he said, sourly. "I'm
+getting to be afraid of myself with Flagg."
+
+"I've heard he's afflicted with the toothache to-day. You must make all
+allowances," she entreated, with a dash of jest in her earnestness.
+
+"Then I especially need a protector. I'm going to ask you again to go
+along with me. Really, you're needed if I'm expected to stay on my job.
+Why," he went on, jest mingling with seriousness in his own case, "if
+the Flagg drive comes down all right through my efforts, you can take
+the credit of the victory because you were present to-night and smoothed
+things; he'll just have to be decent, with a strange young lady in the
+room."
+
+She was not ready with peremptory refusal, as she had been on the other
+occasion; she had met the bugbear of Rickety Dick and had prevailed over
+the old man's suspicions. As Latisan averred, her presence might help
+matters; she would entertain strange and acute regrets if her absence
+should allow the split that Latisan seemed to apprehend.
+
+He timidly put his hand on her arm. "Please!"
+
+"I'll be intruding on a business talk. I may make him all the more
+touchy." She was hesitating, weighing the hazards of each plan--to go or
+to stay away.
+
+"There's no private business to be talked. I'm simply going to tell him
+that I have blown the ice and have the logs in the river and I want to
+have his orders about how many splash dams I can blow up if I need to do
+it for a head o' water to beat the Three C's drive to Skulltree. Really,
+he needs to talk with somebody who is gentle," he went on, and she
+responded to the touch on her arm and walked slowly with him up the
+hill. "He sits there day by day and reads the tooth-for-tooth part of
+the Old Testament, and it keeps hardening his heart. I've thought of a
+plan. Suppose you get friendly with him! You can take some soothing
+books up to him in your off hours and read aloud. Let's try to make a
+different man of Eck Flagg, you and I."
+
+So, over the ledges where her childish feet had stumbled, Lida Kennard,
+trembling, anxious, yearning for her kin, went again to the door of the
+big mansion on the hill.
+
+Latisan's words had opened a vista of hope to her; she might be able,
+after all, to render the service to which old Dick had exhorted her,
+hiding her identity behind a woman's desire to cheer an invalid.
+
+It was the same square, bleak house of her early memories, now dark
+except for a dim glow through two dingy windows in the lower part; the
+yee-yawed curtains were eloquent evidence of the housekeeping methods.
+
+"He won't have any women around, as I told you." Latisan was not tactful
+in his excuse for the slack aspect of the house.
+
+"I'm afraid it isn't best for me to go in," she said, making a final
+stand.
+
+"If you go with me you're all right," declared the drive boss, with
+pride of power where the Flagg interests were concerned. "It'll do him
+good to be jumped out of himself--to see a young lady from the city."
+
+Latisan did not knock; he walked in, escorting the girl.
+
+In the middle of the sitting room, in a wheel chair that was draped
+with a moosehide tanned with the hair on it, she beheld an old man with
+a fleece of white mane and beard. A shaded oil lamp shed a circle of
+radiance on a big book which lay on his knees. The girl noted that the
+book was the Bible. Outside that circle of radiance the room was in
+darkness and the old man heard footsteps without being able to see who
+had entered; in the shadows was old Dick on his stool.
+
+"That you, Latisan?" demanded the master.
+
+"Yes, sir!" Ward was about to say more, introducing the girl, but Flagg
+broke in, paying no attention to what his drive master might have on his
+mind.
+
+"Here's the stuff for real men in this book! You ought to take time to
+read it. I'm sorry I didn't read it regular when I was going about on
+two legs." He pounded his hand on the opened pages. "The parsons are now
+preaching too much New Testament stuff. When my folks dragged me to the
+meetinghouse in the pod-auger days we got Old Testament--red hot. I've
+been hoping I remembered it right--I've been looking it up. Listen!"
+
+"'If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or
+the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is thine soul, entice thee
+secretly, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," which thou hast not
+known, thou, nor thy fathers; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor
+hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou
+spare, neither shalt thou conceal him; but thou shalt surely kill him;
+thine hand shalt be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward
+the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that
+he die.'"
+
+Again the old man beat his hand upon the book. "There are the orders for
+you, Latisan!"
+
+"I don't know as I just get you, sir!"
+
+"You don't expect to find the Three C's mentioned by name in Holy Writ,
+do you? But the case is covered. They're asking you and me to serve
+other gods. They're asking us to go into their combine. If we do so it
+means that the sawmills on this river will be closed and the homes
+deserted. They're taking all the timber down to the paper mills. To hell
+with their paper! The folks need lumber for houses. The Three C's shan't
+control the market and boost prices so that folks can't buy. Latisan! I
+tell you again, you've got your orders, backed by the Scripture. An eye
+for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! Families or corporations, it's all the
+same! Why don't you say something?"
+
+"I'm waiting to introduce a young lady, sir. This is Miss Jones who has
+just come to town."
+
+Flagg tipped the shade of the lamp and deflected the light upon the
+couple. He bawled an ugly oath. "Clean shaved, again! Making a dude of
+yourself! Sapgagging with a girl?"
+
+Latisan stepped forward and broke in on the tirade. "I'll have to ask
+you to trig that kind of talk, Mr. Flagg. Miss Jones has come here to
+cheer you up."
+
+"When I want any girl to come here and cheer me up I'll drop her a line
+and give her thirty days' notice."
+
+The caller who had been snubbed so bluntly turned on her heel. She
+pleaded, faintly, "I'm sorry, sir. I'll leave you and Mr. Latisan to
+talk over your business."
+
+"I can't blame you for going," said Latisan. He followed her, and to her
+profound amazement she discovered that a woodsman could be as
+temperamental as a prima donna. "I'm going, too, Mr. Flagg," he called
+over his shoulder. "I'm going for good and all where you're concerned.
+I'm done with you. I gave you your fair warning. Send another man north
+to the drive."
+
+"Just one minute, there, Latisan!" called the master, harshly. "Unless
+you're afraid to stay here that length of time or can't spare the minute
+away from your wench!"
+
+The drive master stopped at the door and spun around on his heel.
+
+There had been but one flash of the light's rays on Lida--the old man
+had immediately allowed the shade to drop; standing just beyond the
+doorway in the hall, she was safely in the shadows.
+
+"If you expect to hear me whinny like a sick horse you're mistaken,"
+went on Flagg, with the staccato of ire. "Now I know what you're worth.
+You have appraised yourself. A girl's grin has bought you. I don't know
+what sort she is, nor care I. But unless she's a fool she can see what
+you're worth, too. Go along, now!"
+
+There was compunction in Latisan, and he realized it. But there was that
+untamed spirit of old John, as well, and it made for rancor and
+rebellion.
+
+In that room at the moment old John's spirit was veritably present in
+the grandson, reviving the ancient north-country duello of unconquered
+wills with old Echford in the flesh--and a Latisan had never lowered the
+crest before a Flagg.
+
+"It's a cheap hired man you want!" Compromise was offered no opportunity
+by young Latisan's manner and tone. "Hire one--of your picking! And a
+devilish fine boss that kind will make for you!"
+
+"I'll hire nobody," roared Flagg. "I'll ride to the head of the drive in
+this chair. Even with both sides of me paralyzed I'll be worth more than
+you are, you lallygagging, love-cracked loon! Get out of here!"
+
+When the two were outside in the night the girl faced Latisan. "I insist
+on going alone, sir. You have no right to leave a helpless man as you're
+doing. I cannot believe that you mean what you said just now!"
+
+"I'm through! I have let him curse me out all along and I took it whence
+it came. But this time it's different."
+
+"Please go back to him."
+
+"I will not. I'm done!"
+
+The grim thought came to her that she had ineluctably become a valuable
+operative in the interests of the Vose-Mern agency. According to
+appearances the work was finished. However, she promptly blazed into
+indignation which rang true. "I'm only a stranger to that poor old man.
+He did not understand. I had no right to rush in on him as I did."
+
+"I had the right to invite you."
+
+"I won't have it on my conscience that I have been a party to this break
+between you two. If it were not so dreadful it would be silly, sir."
+
+"I have the right to be silly about my own business, if you're bound to
+call it silly, what I have done."
+
+"Go back, I tell you!"
+
+"I will not!"
+
+"You shall not walk away with me."
+
+"I invited you to come up here. I shall see you to the door of that
+tavern. You may never speak to me again, but you won't be able to say
+about me that I deserted you in the dark night."
+
+"Will you come back here after you have escorted me to the tavern?"
+
+"No! It's settled into a stand-off between Flagg and me."
+
+"Don't you want to please me?"
+
+"Yes, even to lying down here in the mud and letting you walk on me," he
+declared, his fervor breaking from the repression he had been
+maintaining with difficulty. "And it's because he has insulted somebody
+that I feel like that toward--that's why I'm done with him. I'm not
+putting it very smoothly. But it's in here!" He pounded his fist on his
+breast.
+
+"Mr. Latisan, this is folly. I'm only a waitress."
+
+"I'm thanking God that you are and that you aren't too high above me, as
+I was afraid you were when I met you in New York. You're down where I
+can talk to you."
+
+She started to walk away, but he leaped and seized both her arms. "This
+is going mighty fast," he gasped. "I never talked to a girl in this way
+in all my life. I'll probably never dare to talk to you if I wait for
+daylight to-morrow--I'll be too scared of my thoughts overnight."
+
+She did not try to twist herself free from his grasp; she was more
+self-possessed than he was--he was trembling in all his frame.
+
+"It's like dynamite," he stammered. "I reckon it was in me all the time!
+The first flash of your eyes lighted the fuse! I've blown up." He pulled
+her close to him, flung his arms about her, and kissed her. But
+immediately he loosed her and stepped back. "I didn't intend to do that!
+My feelings got away from me."
+
+"And now may I go along?" she inquired, coldly, after he had remained
+silent for a time.
+
+"I'm sorry I have made you angry. I don't know how to go at a thing like
+this one I'm tackling," he said contritely. "But I feel that talking out
+straight and man fashion is the only way. Will you marry me?"
+
+"Certainly not, sir!"
+
+He did not attempt to stay her when she walked on. He trod humbly by her
+side.
+
+"I was afraid you wouldn't. But I couldn't keep back the asking any more
+than I can push back that flood you can hear down in the gorge. It just
+had to pour along, that asking!"
+
+"Mr. Latisan, you astonish me. You desert your employer on account of a
+mere whim----"
+
+"Don't you call my standing up for you any whim, if you please!" The
+change in his tone from humility to stern and masterful command caused
+her to catch her breath. She was not accustomed to dominance by men.
+
+"At any rate, sir, you have proposed marriage to a stranger, a mere
+come-by-chance into this place, not knowing who or what I am. I have a
+right to be astonished."
+
+"Probably! But you aren't any more so than I was in New York when I
+realized what had happened to me."
+
+"So, now you can forget all about me and go back to your work on the
+drive!"
+
+"You have said I did not know much about you. It's plain you don't know
+me! I have told Eck Flagg I am done. And I am! You don't understand. I'm
+a Latisan and----" he faltered then; it sounded like boyish boasting and
+he was a bit ashamed.
+
+"Somehow that helpless old man has stirred all my sympathy. Why won't
+you do as I ask?"
+
+"Because a girl who throws a man down as you have hasn't any right to
+ask him to do this or that."
+
+They were near the tavern before either spoke again.
+
+"I'm not saying that I'm not sorry for Eck Flagg," the drive master
+stated. "I don't want you to leave me to-night with the idea that I'm a
+quitter or a coward or a sneak about what's my duty. I'll be honest with
+you. You think I'm a fool because I've fallen in love with you so
+suddenly. A man who has tussled with drives and log jams for as many
+years as I have needs to think quickly, make up his mind about what it's
+right to do, and then stick to it. I'm not going to sacrifice myself for
+Flagg--a man with the hard heart that's in him." He caught his breath
+and plunged on: "You say to-night that you won't marry me. I'm going to
+stay close by and see if you won't change your mind. A roaring fire is
+in me right now!" His demeanor terrified her. The primitive man was
+blazing. "I don't dare to take the chances on what would be in me if I
+should go back to the drive and leave you here to be smirked at by every
+cheap man who comes along. I have dreamed too much about you!" He was
+wooing with the avatar of old John. "By the gods! you're my girl! I'm
+going to have you! I'll stay on that job!"
+
+"I shall leave this place to-morrow. It will be very--well, very unwise
+for you to annoy me."
+
+"I'm going to follow you."
+
+"Mr. Latisan, I have listened to you; you shall listen to me!" She spoke
+sharply. Now she displayed the equipoise of one who had learned much
+from self-reliant contact with men. "I'll not argue with you about what
+you call love. But there's something which love must have, and that's
+self-respect. If your folly on account of me takes you away from your
+honest duty you'll despise me when you come to yourself. You have been
+honest with me. I'll be honest with you. I like you. I can see that
+you're a big, true man--much different from most of the men I have met
+before this. But I shall lose all my good opinion of you if you desert
+your job. And, as I have said, you'll hate me if I allow you to do so.
+Can we afford to take chances?"
+
+While he pondered she made hurried mental account of stock in her own
+case.
+
+She was not admitting that she felt any especial consideration for this
+man as a lover; she was protecting her grandfather and striving for her
+own peace of mind as a payer of a debt of honor. He followed her when
+she walked on toward the tavern.
+
+"May I ask what you mean by taking chances? Chances on being something
+more to each other than we are now?" he asked, wistfully.
+
+"I think we have gone quite far enough for one evening, sir."
+
+He pulled off his cap. "Before I go to sleep I shall say my little
+prayer. I shall ask that you won't be thinking I have gone too far. I'm
+sure it won't be a prayer to the God of the Old Testament, such as Eck
+Flagg was reading about. I'll whisper up to Mother Mary. She understands
+women. I don't."
+
+He bowed in silence when she gave him a hasty "good night!"
+
+Latisan whirled suddenly after the girl closed the door behind her--came
+about on his heels so quickly that he nearly bumped into the assiduous
+operative Crowley, who had been taking desperate chances that evening.
+
+But Latisan's gaze was directed downward in deep thought as he walked
+slowly away, and he did not perceive the eavesdropper.
+
+Mr. Crowley had heard aplenty, so he informed himself; he had followed
+them all the way from the big house down to the tavern, treading close
+behind, depending on their absorption in each other, his shoes in his
+hand, not minding the ledges and the mud; and he was in his mental
+stocking feet, too, treading on the bedrock of the obvious, as he
+figured on the proposition.
+
+He had been told many times, Mr. Crowley had, that he possessed a
+single-track mind and was not fitted to deal with the subtleties of
+criminal investigation and had not the expansive wit to comprehend the
+roundabout ways of steering victims to their doom. But Mr. Crowley was
+indubitably fitted by training to write a handbook on the art of
+double-crossing--and he reckoned he knew an out-and-out job of that sort
+after what he had heard that evening. For his own peace of mind, and to
+save himself from going crazy by reason of any more puzzlement over Miss
+Kennard's alleged mysterious methods in her work, he kept insisting to
+himself that she was merely double-crossing the Vose-Mern agency in the
+good old-fashioned way. Not his the task to wonder why!
+
+He rushed up to his room and started in on his report. It had stuck
+in Crowley's crop--seemed humiliating--to be made a subaltern in the
+case of women operatives. He believed that at last he was in right
+and proper on the grand opportunity of his career; he would come down
+from the bush with the bacon; Elsham had fallen down and Kennard was
+double-crossing--and Crowley, good old reliable Crowley, would show
+Chief Mern where the credit should go! He set his little, cheap
+typewriter on his sturdy knees and pecked away stolidly with his
+forefingers.
+
+Latisan remained outdoors a long time, for the night matched the gloom
+of his thoughts. And once more, in spite of himself, his dark ponderings
+concerned themselves with suspicions as to what and who this girl really
+was.
+
+In his early deference to her he had been ready and willing to believe
+all she said about herself, and his suspicion had seemed to be
+extinguished; he realized that it merely had been smoldering. Why would
+not a waitress marry him, one of the Latisans of the Tomah? Was he what
+old Flagg had so inelegantly stated--a sapgag where a girl was
+concerned? He began to distrust his strength as a man; he had wasted a
+day in New York; he was ready to give up his man's job on the Noda
+because he could not get his thoughts away from her and on his work. His
+last stay at headwaters had been hours of torture. He had gone to sleep
+dreaming of the girl instead of putting his attention on the problems of
+the morrow--and the details of the drive that spring needed all sorts of
+judgment and foresight.
+
+While he was in that state of mind, trying to excuse defection, he told
+himself, as he trudged to and fro, that he was not a fit man for Flagg.
+Nevertheless he cursed himself for being so weak. He had read stories of
+woman's subjugation of the famous and the strong and had wondered what
+sort of lunacy had overtaken such men. Here he was making an invalid's
+tantrums an excuse to give up his work and dangle at the skirts of an
+unknown girl; and he knew it was because of the mystery of her real
+identity and because his jealousy was afire on account of an uncertainty
+which was now aggravated by her refusal to marry him.
+
+Latisan had not been in the village ten minutes that afternoon before
+Gossip Dempsey had giggled and told him he'd better keep sharp watch on
+his girl, because the jewelry man was everlastingly after her like a
+puppy chasing the butcher's cart; the simile was not nice, but Latisan
+was impressed by its suggestion of assiduity.
+
+In the tumult of his thought, grudgingly conscious that he was ashamed
+of the real reason for giving up his work, Latisan evasively decided
+that the thing was now up to Echford Flagg. He had warned Flagg man
+fashion. He had given his word to Flagg as to what would happen if Flagg
+persisted in treating him like a lackey. Flagg had persisted. Latisan
+had kept his word. He could not retreat from that stand; he could not
+crawl back to Flagg and still maintain the self-respect that a drive
+master must have in the fight that was ahead.
+
+Therefore, Latisan decided to stay in Adonia and let Flagg make
+overtures; for their future relations the drive master would be able to
+lay down some rules to govern Flagg's language and conduct. Under that
+decision persisted the nagging consciousness that he wanted to be with
+the girl instead of on the drive and he was more and more ashamed of the
+new weakness in his character. And he was also ashamed of the feeling
+that he wanted to find out more about her. In the past his manliness had
+despised prying and peering. He had been able to bluster loyally to old
+Dick; he was more truthful to himself. What was she, anyway? He would
+not admit that he had been so completely tipped upside down in all his
+hale resolves, aims, and objects by a mere nonentity who looked no
+higher than a job as waitress at Brophy's tavern.
+
+Then he went into the tavern out of the darkness and blinked at the
+landlord, who called him to the desk and gave a letter into his hands.
+It was sealed, but there was no stamp on it.
+
+"Ordered by Mrs. Everett to hand it to you," reported Brophy, sourly.
+"She wanted to see you last time you were down, but it slipped my mind
+to tell you."
+
+Latisan read the note. The lady of the parlor entreated him to come to
+her on a matter of business, no matter how late the hour might be. He
+tore up the paper on his way to the fireplace and tossed the bits on the
+embers.
+
+"Same room for me?" he asked Brophy.
+
+"Yes, but Mrs. Everett said for me----"
+
+"Damn Mrs. Everett! I'm going to bed."
+
+It consoled him a little, as he walked upstairs, to reflect that he was
+not dominated by all the women in the world, even if he was in the way
+of making himself a fool over one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN
+
+
+Latisan, going to sleep, hoped that he would awake with a saner
+viewpoint.
+
+He did admit to himself in the morning that if Echford Flagg should show
+the right spirit of compromise the thing could be patched up on terms
+which would allow the drive master to be his own man instead of being a
+spanked youngster.
+
+The girl seized an opportunity to speak to him when she brought his
+breakfast. "Things look better this morning--I'm sure they do. Tell me.
+I worried half the night. I must not be the cause of trouble."
+
+"Yes, they look better."
+
+"And you're starting back to-day for the drive?" Her voice was low but
+eager. "Tell me that you are!"
+
+His smouldering suspicion! Red tongues of fire darted up from it!
+
+"I'm afraid you won't be able to get rid of me to-day. Business is
+keeping me here."
+
+Her entreating smile faded; she backed way from him as if she had
+received a rude thrust, and then she went about her work.
+
+There was a real sensation in the tavern that morning! The exclusive
+star boarder of the parlor came into the public room to eat her
+breakfast. Her charms were enhanced by a becoming morning wrap, and,
+following out her liberal code governing the relations of sex in modern
+days, she seated herself at Latisan's table, greeting him with a
+mingling of bright good humor and gentle rebuke.
+
+"Give me a good reason why you have not been the advising friend you
+promised to be, and I may not be too angry, Mr. Latisan."
+
+"I--I thought I'd wait till this morning----"
+
+"Thank you! Then I'm welcome at your table."
+
+She lowered her voice after that. She was engrossed with ordinary topics
+whenever the waitress's duties brought Lida to the table. If there was
+to be rivalry between the operatives of Vose-Mern, Miss Elsham decided
+that her tactics with the Flagg drive master should not be known. She
+did the talking and Latisan gave the appearance of being an earnest
+listener. At a matter of fact, he played up strongly his affectation of
+devoted interest. Ingenuous amateur that he was in the subtleties of
+love, he was trying out a method which he had heard commended; he was
+wondering how much an aroused jealousy might accomplish in the case of
+Miss Patsy Jones.
+
+He cast side glances and saw that she seemed to be disturbed. He
+bestowed on Mrs. Everett more profound attention. He even allowed
+himself to say when the waitress was within earshot, "I think I'll know
+by to-morrow whether I'm to keep on at the head of the drive. If I don't
+and if matters allow, I'll be glad to take charge of your trip into the
+north country."
+
+Latisan, boyishly crude in his methods, felt that Miss Jones would have
+an interpretation of her own for "matters" and would do some earnest
+thinking before she turned him over to the companionship of a rich
+young widow, even in the humble role of a chief guide.
+
+In spite of Brophy's sign, "No Smoking in This Dining Room"--a
+restriction intended for woodsmen--Miss Elsham lighted a cigarette in
+her satisfaction; her failure to interest the man of the woods even to
+the extent of a second interview had been worrying the seductress de
+luxe of the Vose-Mern establishment after her unbroken successes with
+the men of the city.
+
+She went out of the room chatting with Latisan, and found an opportunity
+to sweep Miss Kennard with a patronizing glance.
+
+Latisan spent the forenoon on the tavern porch, smoking his pipe and
+waiting--even hoping--for a message from Echford Flagg. Rickety Dick
+passed the place several times on his usual errands. Flagg, therefore,
+would be informed that the drive master was loafing in the village. But
+old Dick did not bring any word from the big house to Latisan.
+
+To be sure, the split of the evening before had seemed discouragingly
+final. But after the girl's rebuke and appeal Ward was ashamed of the
+persisting stubbornness which was making him an idler in that exacting
+period when the thunderous Noda waters were sounding a call to duty. He
+did not want her to think of him as vindictive in his spirit, and still
+less did he desire her to consider him petty in his motives and notions.
+
+On the other hand, the proposition was strictly a man-to-man affair, and
+Echford Flagg had made relations unendurable.
+
+Ward wished devoutly that he could clear his thoughts; they were
+muddled. Back of the inertia which was hiding him in Adonia there seemed
+to be reasons other than the new animosity toward his employer. Really,
+he confessed to himself, he would like to go to Flagg and win to a
+manlike and mutual understanding which would serve both of them. But he
+muttered when he looked up at the big house, and he kept on waiting for
+the master to offer an opening.
+
+He confessed that his was a childish attitude toward an employer. Had he
+allowed his infatuation to twist him into this being who was putting the
+burden of an offer of compromise upon a poor old stricken man who ought
+to be protected from his own intolerance?
+
+However, the drive master was aware of a certain satisfaction in being
+on hand to watch and weigh affairs in Adonia that day.
+
+The raffle man, as the villagers called Crowley, seemed to have a great
+deal on his mind, Latisan reflected. Crowley made several trips to the
+telegraph office at the railroad station.
+
+At dinner Miss Jones averted her eyes from Latisan and there was no talk
+between them. Latisan tried to comfort himself, by the thought that
+jealousy was operating. He saw her go out in the afternoon for a walk,
+but he did not offer to accompany her. His naive conviction was that his
+indifference and the threat of interest in Mrs. Everett would suffice to
+bring Miss Patsy Jones down from her coquette's pedestal.
+
+He was tempted to leap up and follow when he saw Crowley trailing after
+the waitress; but Crowley went only a little distance, and then he came
+back and went into the tavern and upstairs.
+
+Again in midafternoon old Dick passed, but he brought no word to the
+waiting drive master.
+
+This insulting indifference, as Latisan considered it, indicated that
+Echford Flagg was no longer depending on Ward as champion. There had
+been no misunderstanding of language. Latisan had quit--and Flagg was
+contented to let him stay quit.
+
+The young man felt more acutely cheap and small. He had been setting
+himself up as the one man who could drive down the Flagg logs. The fact
+that he could not bring himself to break away instanter and go north to
+his duty--without orders from Flagg and without considering further his
+entanglement with a girl--was a fact that steadily lessened his
+self-esteem. He had been able to go straightforwardly in all matters
+till then; this new inability to handle complex affairs and to untangle
+the situation made him distrust himself and wonder whether he was much
+of a man, anyway!
+
+Then came night--and he went to his room to brood.
+
+At supper the girl of his thoughts had been conspicuously rude in the
+manner with which she banged down dishes in front of him.
+
+Lida had been doing some pondering of her own. She would not admit that
+she had been piqued by his attentions to Elsham and by his partial
+promise to that complacent young lady. But she was finding him to be
+very much of a child, she told herself. He needed to be protected from
+himself at that juncture. And he needed to be convinced that he was
+wasting his time just then by staying away from duty and playing the
+lover. Lida's first thought was that if he found no profit in lovemaking
+he would go back to his work in spite of what he had told her. She could
+not bring herself to believe that a man like Latisan would succumb to
+Elsham's wiles.
+
+In that mood, both as protectress and as stanch believer in his
+uprightness, she found that her interest in him was becoming more vivid
+than she had realized. Her warming heart sent a flush into her cheeks
+when she remembered the passionate embrace. She noted that flush when
+she looked into her mirror. She was making herself ready for slumber.
+
+"Don't be a fool!" she warned the reflection in the mirror.
+
+Having clarified the situation to that extent in her thoughts before
+going to sleep, she awoke and began the new day with better confidence.
+The spirit of the Open Places certainly did make folks honest, she told
+herself! She felt that the morning must have brought common sense to
+Latisan, as it had to her.
+
+From her window she saw him walking to and fro in front of the tavern.
+The early dawn was flushing the east. His being abroad at that hour
+suggested that he was going back to his work instead of playing the
+idling lover. She decided to be frank with him; she dressed in haste,
+hurried down and faced him, and told him how glad she was that he had
+come into his right senses; she had determined that her best course was
+to take his reformed mental state for granted.
+
+"Yes, I'm sensible enough to quit being a boss bulldog for a man like
+Eck Flagg." He was sorry after he said it. But there was no word from
+Flagg--and her insistence, as if she wanted to be rid of him, rasped his
+raw temper.
+
+"But you're going back to the drive!" she gasped.
+
+"I am not."
+
+"Don't you value your reputation among men?"
+
+"I do!"
+
+"They'll say you're a quitter." She spoke boldly and sharply.
+
+"Let me tell _you_ something! When you told me that you wouldn't marry
+me I came nigh quitting where you're concerned. But I am back in my
+right senses, as you say! You're mine! I have told you so. I tell you
+again this morning. It's something of a fix you've got yourself into,
+eh?"
+
+She grew pale and her wide eyes were filled with startled protest; he
+was placid enough, but his calmness made the thing more grim and
+threatening when she reflected on the suggestiveness of that word "fix."
+She was unable to endure his scrutiny. He did not try to restrain her
+when she turned away, hastening into the tavern.
+
+Brophy came into the dining room when he heard her setting the tables.
+"Well, by swanny! You're up without being called! You ain't much like
+the others I've had here!"
+
+He was silent for some time, and when she turned she found him surveying
+her with curious intentness. "It ain't none of my business, of course,
+but I hope you ain't of a marrying notion, just yet awhile."
+
+"That remark seems a little uncalled for, Mr. Brophy."
+
+"I'm speaking out because Ward Latisan doesn't seem to be the flirting
+kind, miss. You can't fool with him."
+
+"I thank you. I shall avoid Mr. Latisan from now on. I have
+thoughtlessly taken walks with him."
+
+"If it's such a thing as you're intending to get married I'd rather lose
+you to Latisan than to anybody else in this region. He's solid goods,
+miss! Solid!"
+
+She was seeking confirmation to strengthen her resolves. "I hear that
+his employer is an invalid. I suppose that makes Mr. Latisan pretty nigh
+indispensable, doesn't it?"
+
+"There'll be no Flagg drive down this spring without Ward on the
+job--I'll say that much," declared Brophy, with vigor. "I can't afford
+to make any loud talk about the Three C's, miss," he went on, lowering
+his voice cautiously, "because I cater to all comers. But I don't know
+another boss driver who couldn't be scared off or bought off at the
+present time, considering the hold the big corporation has got on things
+up this way. They're bound to monopolize the river--the Three C's gang.
+But they can't freeze out the independents this year if Ward Latisan
+stays on the job for Eck Flagg. The death clinch comes this season!"
+
+"Where's your law up this way, Mr. Brophy?" she demanded.
+
+"I guess neither side dares to call on the law right now. Law might tie
+up everything. Logs have got to come along with the spring driving
+pitch, and high water won't wait till lawyers get done arguing."
+
+He took down a gong and pounded on it with a padded mallet while he
+marched through the office to the porch and back again. It was the
+breakfast call.
+
+"I'll say about Eck Flagg," he stated, when he hung the gong back on its
+hook, "that he ain't so much to blame for his sour temper as some folks
+are bound to have it. Old Job of the Bible had nothing on Eck for
+troubles. No matter what he has done, Eck has been a square fighter.
+Probably you ain't interested, even to the extent of a hoot, in gossip
+about the neighbors. But Eck had a bad one put over on him years ago. He
+hasn't been right since that time. Square dealing is his religion. But
+to get his worst trimming right in his own family, it was awful.
+Son-in-law done it. But I reckon I'd better hang up on that subject,
+miss. Here comes Latisan for breakfast."
+
+The landlord plodded out.
+
+This man who seated himself, waiting to be served by her, who was
+determined to possess her, had been unwittingly alienated by her from
+the duty which was owed to that helpless grandfather in his extremity.
+
+The reminder which Brophy had tossed at her carelessly had served to
+rouse her to desperation. She clung to a service table to keep from
+falling. She staggered when she started to cross the room to Latisan;
+her hands and feet were prickling as the blood resumed its course in her
+veins.
+
+"You're sick," he suggested, solicitously.
+
+She shook her head. She turned her face from him, afraid of his
+questioning gaze. "Give your order, please!"
+
+"Bring anything."
+
+She started away, but turned and hurried back to his table, her face
+hard with resolution. She feared that the resolution would be weakened
+by delay; in a few moments others would come into the room.
+
+"I have changed my mind about that offer of marriage. This morning I
+say, 'Yes!'"
+
+He gaped at her and started to rise.
+
+"Don't leave that chair!" she commanded, her low tones tense. "There are
+men in the office looking this way. I'll marry you when the Flagg drive
+is down, with you at the head of it, doing your duty. You may think that
+over while I'm in the kitchen."
+
+When she returned with food, Latisan, flushed, eager, only partially
+assured, looked her in the eye, challenging her candor. "That's straight
+talk, is it?"
+
+"It is!"
+
+"I thank God! But why--right here in the open--where I can't----"
+
+"I'll answer no questions."
+
+"I'd like to know why you picked out this place to tell me. I can't be
+shut away from all the glory in the grandest moment of my life! I want
+to get up and yell for joy. I want to take you in my arms."
+
+"I'll not allow that. Furthermore, you are to leave for the drive
+immediately after you have eaten your breakfast." Her manner cowed him.
+
+"Very well!" he returned, meekly. "When I looked into your eyes I knew
+that your word to me was good!"
+
+She was finding the fixity of his gaze disconcerting and leaned above
+the table, arranging the dishes which contained his food. She was
+grateful for the protection the public room was affording; she would not
+have been able to declare herself in the privacy which love, in most
+circumstances, demands.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, in a half whisper, taking advantage of her
+nearness. "You are more than you seem to be. You are, I say! You are not
+silly and selfish like most girls in a time like this. You are able to
+make me do anything you ask. I'll go north and fight because you want me
+to. But an ordinary girl wouldn't take a big view of things, as you do."
+
+"Yes--for the sake of having a man be what he ought to be."
+
+He wagged his head doubtfully. "But if you'll tell me the honest truth
+about----"
+
+"Hush! Here comes a man."
+
+It was Crowley. He had looked from his chamber window and had seen the
+two in conversation in front of the tavern. He was strictly on the job
+that day; he had dressed in such a hurry that he was tying his necktie
+as he entered the room. He sat down at a table and glared grimly at
+Latisan and the girl; provided with ammunition that fortified his
+courage, Crowley had resolved to make his bigness in the matter,
+unafraid.
+
+His appearance at that moment and the manner of his espionage and the
+memory of what had been said concerning his pursuit of the girl stirred
+Latisan to the depths. His emotions had been in a tumult ever since the
+girl had declared her promise. He was in no mood to reason calmly. He
+could not control himself. He purposed to go to what he thought was his
+duty as her accepted champion. Therefore, he leaped from his chair, put
+his arm about her waist, and pulled her across the room, in spite of her
+resistance.
+
+"Listen to me, you sneak!" he adjured Crowley. "This young lady and I
+are engaged to be married."
+
+"Hush!" she cried, in mingled fright and fury. "You promised----It
+isn't----"
+
+"I made no promise except to go north because you have asked me to go.
+I'm going back to my job, and I'll have the Flagg logs down if I have to
+smash the bottom out of the river," he boasted, in his new pride.
+"Crowley--as I believe your name is--you have heard me announce the
+engagement. If you give this young lady another twisted look or crooked
+word while I'm away, may God have mercy on your soul!"
+
+He was talking to the one man who ought to hear that news, so the lover
+felt, but his voice was raised in his emotion and Brophy and the
+loungers in the office heard, too.
+
+Latisan kissed her once, swiftly and rapturously.
+
+According to the code of social procedure in Adonia, as the office
+onlookers viewed the matter of congratulation, the occasion called for
+three cheers; they were proposed and given and even Brophy joined, but
+with sour grace.
+
+She had endeavored ineffectually to check Latisan's outburst,
+understanding fully the interlocking perils involved in the promulgation
+to Crowley that the drive master was going back to his work. It had
+become her own personal, vital affair, this thing! She was far from
+admitting even then that love was urging her to the promise she had
+made so precipitately. The wild spirit of sacrifice had surged in her.
+She was able to pay--to redeem! It was all for the sake of the family!
+But this love-cracked idiot, babbling his triumph, had thrown wide the
+gate of caution--had exposed all to the enemy; she feared Crowley in his
+surly, new mood!
+
+Poor Ward turned to her a radiant, humid stare of devotion; she
+responded by flashing fury at him from her eyes. Her cheeks were
+crimson. "Haven't you any wit in you?" she raged, holding her tones in
+leash with effort, her convulsed face close to his amazed countenance.
+
+"It was to put you right----" he stammered.
+
+"It has made everything all wrong!"
+
+Men had come into the room. She hurried away from the dumfounded lover.
+
+While she went about her work, sedulously keeping her gaze from Latisan,
+she heard the men jocosely canvassing the matter. They called to the
+drive master, giving him clumsy congratulation. There were timber
+cruisers who were going into the north country; they declared with
+hilarity that they would spread the news. They ate and went stamping
+away, news bureaus afoot.
+
+She marched to the pathetic incarnation of doubt and dolor after a time;
+he was lingering at table in a condition that was near to stupefaction.
+
+"Why aren't you on your way?" she demanded, with ireful impatience.
+
+"You'll have to tell me what the matter is with you!"
+
+"I'll tell you nothing--not now! But you have something to tell Mr.
+Flagg, haven't you?"
+
+"You're right! I'll go and tell him that I'm starting for the drive. If
+I have to smash the hinges off the door of Tophet I'll put our logs----"
+
+"That's it!" she cried, eagerly. "Our logs! We'll call them our logs.
+Don't mind because I seemed strange a little while ago. You'll
+understand, some day. But now hurry! Hurry!" She forced herself to
+smile. She was eagerly in earnest, almost hysterical. She spoke his
+name, though with effort. "Remember, Ward! Our logs! Bring them
+through!"
+
+He leaped out of his chair. The other breakfasters were gone. She stood
+on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
+
+Immediately after Latisan had left on his way to assure Echford Flagg,
+the girl was reminded of her putative Vose-Mern affiliations. Crowley
+lounged back into the room, taking advantage of the fact that she was
+alone. "Put me wise as to why you're playing this shot with the reverse
+English."
+
+"Hands off, Crowley! You're only a watchdog, paid to guard me."
+
+"I don't propose to have our folks double-crossed. You have started that
+drive boss back onto his job, and you and he announce an engagement this
+morning! You're cagy or crazy! I won't have anything put over! If you're
+straight, come through to me and I'll back you. Otherwise----" He tossed
+his hands in an eloquent gesture.
+
+"I'll wire to have you pulled down to the city."
+
+"I have done some wiring ahead of you. It's up to our folks to find out
+what's the big idea."
+
+"Crowley, won't you leave it all to me?" she pleaded, fighting to the
+last ditch for her secret and for time. "Can't you see that I'm placing
+a double-crosser in the enemy's camp?"
+
+He looked at her hard and long and his lips curled into a sardonic grin.
+"You're a good one. I'll admit that. But you can't stand there and give
+me the straight eye and make me believe you have made over Latisan to
+that extent. I've got him sized. It can't be done!"
+
+Crowley was right--she could not meet his sophisticated gaze.
+
+"What do you expect me to do?" she asked, lamely.
+
+"Keep him off the drive. If he starts to leave this village to-day I'm
+going to grab in."
+
+She knew Crowley's obstinacy in his single-track methods. There was no
+telling what he would undertake nor what damage might be wrought by his
+interference. She tried to force from him his intentions; he paid no
+heed to her appeals or her threats.
+
+She was fighting for her own with all the wit and power that were in
+her; she was standing in the path by which the enemies must advance,
+resolved to battle as long as her strength might last, serving as best
+she could to distract attention from the main fight to herself, willing
+to sacrifice herself utterly.
+
+Crowley walked with a bit of a swagger from the room, lighted a
+cigarette in the office, puttered for a few moments with some old
+newspapers on a table, and then went out of doors and strolled along the
+road in the direction of the big house on the hill. She observed his
+course from a side window. She felt the impulse to run after him and
+beat her fists against that broad and stubborn back.
+
+She saw Latisan come striding down from the Flagg mansion, determination
+in his manner.
+
+The two men met. They halted.
+
+Her apprehension became agony, but she did not dare to interfere between
+them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
+
+
+Crowley, standing in front of Latisan, twisted his countenance into an
+expression of deprecatory, appealing remorse.
+
+"I have taken the liberty of apologizing to the young lady, sir! Now
+that I know how matters stand, I want to beg your pardon very humbly. I
+haven't meant anything wrong, but a man of my style gets cheeky without
+realizing it."
+
+Latisan had come off well in his interview with Echford Flagg. The old
+man seemed to be in a chastened mood. When he had been informed of the
+part the girl was playing, the master had admitted that the right kind
+of a woman can influence a man to his own good.
+
+Therefore, when the drive master strode down the hill, the radiance of
+his expansive joy had cleared out all the shadows. He was willing to
+meet a penitent halfway. He put out his hand frankly. Crowley held to
+the hand for a moment and put his other palm upon Latisan's shoulder.
+"Congratulations! I know my place, now that it has become a man-to-man
+matter between us. But before--well, I'll tell you, Mr. Latisan, I had
+met Miss Jones in New York in a sort of a business way and I was
+probably a little fresh in trying to keep up the acquaintance."
+
+Latisan had extricated his hand, intending to hurry on about his
+affairs. But here was a person who seemed to be in a way to tell him
+something more definite about one who was baffling his wild anxiety to
+fathom her real identity. However, Latisan did not dare to ask
+questions. His own pride and the spirit of protecting her reasons for
+reticence, if she had any, fettered his tongue; he was ashamed to admit
+to this man, whom he had so recently hated, that the real character of a
+fiancee was a closed book.
+
+"Honestly, she ought to have told you that she knew me," complained
+Crowley. "It would have saved all that trouble between you and me." He
+rubbed his ear reminiscently. "But perhaps she did," he pursued,
+affecting to misinterpret the hardness which had come into Latisan's
+face. "But how she could say anything against me, as far as she and I
+are concerned, I can't understand."
+
+"She has not mentioned you to me," returned Latisan, curtly.
+
+"That's queer, too," said Crowley, wrinkling his brow, his demeanor
+adding to the young man's conviction that the whole situation was
+decidedly queer. Once more the smoldering embers were showing red
+flames! "Mr. Latisan, get me right, now! I don't propose to discuss the
+young lady, seeing what she is to you. But perhaps you'll allow me to
+refer back to what you said to me, personally, in the tavern a little
+while ago. We can make that our own business, can't we?"
+
+Crowley accepted a stiff nod as his answer and went on. "You told me
+that you are going back to the drive because the young lady has
+insisted on your doing so. That right?"
+
+"It is. But I fail to see how you can make it any part of your business
+and mine."
+
+"It happens to belong in my business." He put his hand to his breast
+pocket as if to reassure himself. He proceeded with more confidence.
+"Are you afraid of the truth, Mr. Latisan--scared to meet it face to
+face in a showdown?"
+
+"I'm in the habit of going after the truth, no matter where it hides
+itself."
+
+"Then I guess you'd better come along with me. I've got to the point
+where I've got to have the truth, too, or else fetch up in a crazy
+house."
+
+Crowley's determination was set definitely on his mind's single track.
+If a man had an urgent reason for doing a certain thing and the
+compelling reason were removed, he might naturally be expected to do
+something else, Crowley figured.
+
+If Latisan proposed to go back to work because his love and allegiance
+caused him to obey a girl's commands, he would do the opposite of what
+she asked if his love and confidence were destroyed. It seemed to be a
+case of two and two making four, as Crowley viewed the thing. He was
+done with tangled subtleties.
+
+He put his hand again on his breast pocket as he walked with the drive
+master down the hill. There was a letter in that pocket; Crowley had
+purloined it from the girl's bureau that day when he had so quickly
+returned from following her. And he also had a telegram in that pocket;
+the wire had come along that morning, addressed to Miss Patsy Jones, in
+his care.
+
+The job, as Crowley understood orders, was to keep Latisan off the river
+that season. Crowley saw a way of doing that job and of getting the
+credit for the performance.
+
+The girl, staring through the window with strained attention, noting
+every detail of the meeting, seeing the appearance of amity and of
+understanding, beholding Crowley put his hand on Latisan's shoulder in
+the pose of friendly adviser, suspected the worst; she was stricken with
+anguished certainty when Latisan strode toward the tavern; according to
+her belief, two men were now arrayed against her. The drive master's
+haste indicated that she had been betrayed by the sullen botcher of
+methods.
+
+In that room she felt like a creature that had been run to
+cover--cornered. She wanted to escape into the open. There was honesty
+outside, anyway, under the sky, at the edge of the forest, where the
+thunder of the great falls made human voices and mortal affairs so petty
+by contrast.
+
+She ran through the tavern office and faced Latisan in the yard; there
+were curious spectators on the porch, the loungers of the hamlet, but
+she paid no attention to them; she was searching the countenance of
+Latisan, avidly anxious, fearfully uncertain regarding what mischief had
+been wrought in him.
+
+He smiled tenderly, flourishing a salute. "All serene in the big house!"
+
+The white was succeeded by a flush in her cheeks. She looked up into his
+honest eyes and was thrilled by an emotion that was new to her. It was
+impossible not to answer back to that earnest affection he was
+expressing. Gratitude glowed in her--and gratitude is a sister of love!
+
+"I beg your pardon," put in Crowley, "But can't the three of us step
+inside and have a little private talk?"
+
+He made a gesture to indicate the gallery of listeners on the tavern
+porch.
+
+Once that morning Lida had found protection by handling an important
+crisis in a public place. She was having no time just then to think
+clearly. She was feeling sure of Latisan, after his look into her eyes.
+She mustered a smile and shook her head when the drive master mutely
+referred the matter to her, raising his eyebrows inquiringly.
+
+"You'd better," warned Crowley, bridling.
+
+The girl felt that she had no option except to keep on in the bold
+course she had marked for herself. She could not conceive that the
+operative would prejudice the Vose-Mern proposition in public. "I cannot
+understand what private matters we three have in common, sir. I have no
+desire to listen. Mr. Latisan has no time, I'm sure. He is leaving for
+the north country."
+
+"That's true," agreed Latisan, under the spell of her gaze, won by her,
+loyal in all his fiber, determined to exclude all others in the world
+from the partnership of two. He had put aside his anxiety to know what
+she had been in the city, as Crowley knew her; that quest seemed to be
+disloyalty to her. "I'm starting mighty sudden! Sorry, sir! Let Brophy
+put your business with us in his refrigerator till the drive is down."
+
+Careless of the onlookers, the girl patted his cheek, encouraging his
+stand. "Till _our_ drive is down. Remember, it's ours!" she whispered.
+
+"Harness in my horses," Latisan called to Brophy's nephew in the door of
+the tavern stable.
+
+She was human; she was a girl; Latisan's manner assured her that she had
+won her battle with Crowley, whatever might have been the methods by
+which he had tried to prevail over the drive master. She could not
+resist the impulse to give the Vose-Mern operative a challenging look of
+triumph that was lighted by the joy of her victory.
+
+Crowley's slow mind speeded up on its one track; he opened the throttle,
+smash or no smash! He marched up to Latisan and displayed a badge,
+dredging it from his trousers pocket. "That's what I am, mister, an
+operative for a detective agency. So is she!"
+
+"I am not," she declared defiantly.
+
+"Maybe not, after your flop in this case. But you were when you struck
+this place, if your word means anything!"
+
+"You're a liar," shouted Latisan. He doubled his fist and drew it back;
+the girl seized the hand and unclasped the knotted grip and braided her
+fingers with his.
+
+"I don't blame you, Latisan. It's natural for you to feel that way
+toward me right now," agreed Crowley. "She has slipped the cross-tag
+onto you. But you're no fool. I don't ask you to take my word. Go down
+to that railroad station and wire to an address I'll give you in New
+York. Ask her if she dares to have you do it."
+
+There was no longer a smolder in Latisan--it was all a red flame!
+
+He had not realized till then how penetratingly deep had been his
+conviction that this girl was something other than she assumed to be.
+
+Crowley pulled a letter from his pocket, flapped it open, and shoved it
+under Latisan's nose.
+
+There was no further attempt to deal behind doors with the affair. It
+was in Crowley's mind, then, that spreading the situation wide open
+before the gaping throng, which was increasing, crowding about in a
+narrowing circle, would assist his plan to make intolerable Latisan's
+stay in that region.
+
+"Look at the letterhead--Vose-Mern Agency! Look and you'll see that it's
+addressed to Miss Patsy Jones, Adonia. Take it and read it! It's orders
+to her from the chief!"
+
+Latisan was plainly in no state of mind to read; he crumpled the letter
+in his hand and stuffed the paper into his trousers pocket.
+
+"Here's a telegram," continued the operative. "It's for her to go back
+to New York. It hasn't been enough for her to double-cross you; she's
+doing the same thing to the folks who have hired her. Nice kind of dame,
+eh? I don't know just what her game is, friend! But I'm coming across to
+you and tell you that the big idea is to keep you off the drive this
+season. Good money has been put up to turn the trick."
+
+In the midst of the whirling torches which made up his thoughts just
+then, Latisan was not able to give sane consideration to her zeal in
+urging him to duty; he was conscious only of the revelation of her
+character. Out of the city had come some kind of a design to undo him!
+
+The village was still agog with the news of his engagement; the news
+bureaus on legs had gone north to tattle the thing among all the camps;
+and she was a detective sent to beguile him! The faces of the bystanders
+were creasing into grins.
+
+"Ask her!" urged Crowley, relentlessly. "Or ask New York."
+
+Postponement of the truth was futile; denial was dangerous; a confession
+forced by an appeal to New York would discredit her motives; she had not
+formally severed her connection with the agency. She determined to meet
+this man of the woods on his own plane of honesty.
+
+"Come with me where we can talk privately," she urged; her demeanor told
+Latisan that she was not able to back the defiant stand he had taken
+with Crowley a moment before.
+
+"It's too late now," he objected, getting his emotions partly under
+control. "The thing has been advertised too much to have any privacy
+about it now. When they are left to guess things in this section the
+guessing is awful! I'm never afraid to face men with the truth. He has
+said you came here as a detective. Those men standing around heard him.
+What have you to say?"
+
+"Won't you let me talk to you alone?"
+
+"If I'm to stand up here before men after this, the facts will have to
+come out later; they may as well come out now."
+
+He spoke mildly, but his manner afforded her no opportunity for further
+appeal; he was a man of the square edge and he was acting according to
+the code of the Open Places. She put away womanly weakness as best she
+was able and continued with him on his own ground.
+
+"There is a plot to keep you away from your duty on the drive this
+season. You know as well as I do what interests furnished the money for
+such a purpose."
+
+"And you know about it, do you, because you are one of the detective
+gang?"
+
+"I have worked for the Vose-Mern agency."
+
+She could not deny the evidence of that letter which he had shoved deep
+down into his pocket. He had reminded her of it by whacking his hand
+against his thigh.
+
+"So that's what you are!" Again he was losing control of himself.
+
+Men in the crowd snickered. They were perceiving much humor in the
+situation.
+
+"I can explain later." She, too, was breaking down under the strain. She
+whimpered, pleading with him. "After you have brought down the drive I
+can explain and----"
+
+"Now! It must be now! I can't bring down any drive till you do explain."
+
+She did not understand.
+
+But he knew all too bitterly under what a sword of Damocles he was
+standing. Ridicule was ready to slay him! The Big Laugh was already
+gurgling deep in the throats of all the folks. The news of his
+engagement had gone ahead of him to the north country; the Big Laugh
+would roar along in the wake of that news.
+
+"The truth! It must come out now!" he shouted. "All the truth--the whole
+truth about yourself!"
+
+"I can't tell you!" wailed Lida Kennard, turning her back fearsomely on
+the big house on the ledges.
+
+"You've got a mouthful of truth out of me. Can't you see how it is?"
+growled Crowley.
+
+"So that's what you are, is it?" Latisan dwelt on the subject, twisting
+the handle that Crowley had given him.
+
+"Mr. Latisan, listen to me! I implore you to forget me--what I am! Go to
+your work."
+
+"My work has nothing to do with this matter between you and me. So
+that's what you are!" he repeated, insistent on his one idea, looking
+her up and down. "A detective sneak!"
+
+"I am done with the work. I am a human being, at any rate, and you
+promised me----"
+
+He sliced his hand through the air. "That's all off! You lied to me. It
+must have been a lie, seeing what you are. But I believed, and I stood
+up and took you for mine. The word has gone out. Every man on the Noda
+will know about it. I had no rights over your life till you met me. But
+when a woman lies to a man to make him do this or that she is laughing
+at him behind his back. You have played me for a poor fool in the tall
+timber. That's the word that's starting now."
+
+"If you have found out how worthless I am," she sobbed, "you can go on
+with your work and be a real man."
+
+He loosed the leash on himself. He mocked her with bitter irony, his
+face working hideously. "'Go on with your work!' Don't you have any idea
+what men are up these woods? Who'll take orders from me after this?
+They'll hoot me off the river! I'm done. You have put me down and
+under!"
+
+More than the spirit of sacrifice was actuating her then. Her impulses
+were inextricably mingled, but they all tended to one end, to save him
+from error. His scorn had touched her heart; meeting him on his own
+plane--on the level of honesty--woman with man, she was conscious of
+bitter despair because he was leaving her life. She was fighting for her
+own--for the old man in the big house, for the new love that was
+springing up out of her sympathy for this champion from whom, without
+realizing the peril of her procedure, she had filched the weapons of his
+manhood at the moment when he needed them most.
+
+"The heart has gone out of me! You have taken it out!" he cried.
+
+"I swear before our God that I'll be straight with you from now on.
+Won't it put heart in you if I'm your wife, standing by you through
+everything?" She took a long breath. Her desperation drove her to the
+limits of appeal. "I love you! I know it. I must have known it when I
+urged you on to your duty. I'm willing to say it here before all. Take
+me, and let's fight together."
+
+In her hysterical fear lest she was losing all, she took no thought of
+her pride; she was making passionate, primitive appeal to the chosen
+mate.
+
+But she did not understand how absolutely hopeless was the wreck of this
+man's fortunes, as Latisan viewed the situation. Ridicule, the taunt
+that he had been fooled by a girl from the city, was waiting for him all
+along the river. Echford Flagg would be the first to deny the worth of a
+man who had received the Big Laugh. No man on the Noda had ever incurred
+mock to such a degree. And he had vaunted his engagement to her!
+
+She went toward him, her hands outstretched; he had been backing away
+from her.
+
+"Look out!" he warned. "I never struck a woman!" He spread his big hand.
+All the fury of his forebears was rioting in him.
+
+He was not swayed by rage, merely; there would have been something petty
+in ordinary human resentment at that moment. There was another quality
+that was devilishly and subtly complex in the sudden mania which
+obsessed him. He had seen woodsmen leaping and shouting in the ecstasy
+of drunkenness; liquor seemed to affect the men of the woods in that
+way--to accentuate their sense of wild liberty. Latisan had been obliged
+to pitch in and quell riots where woodsmen had heaped their clothes and
+were making a bonfire of the garments they needed for decency's sake.
+And a mere liquid had been able to put them into that temper!
+
+But this that was sweeping through all his being was liquid fire!
+
+He had never been else than a spectator of what alcohol would do to a
+man; he had never tasted the stuff.
+
+Here he was, all of a sudden, drunk with something else--he knew that he
+was drunk--and he let himself go! He leaped up and tossed his arms above
+his head. By action alone a woodsman expressed his feelings, he told
+himself, and he was only a woodsman; the hellions of the world were not
+allowing him to make anything else of himself! The north country was
+closed to him; his power as a boss was gone. Look at those grinning
+faces around him!
+
+Then he yelled shrilly. Many who stood around understood what that whoop
+meant, though it had not been heard for a long time on the Noda. It was
+"the Latisan lallyloo"! It had echoed among the hills in the old days
+when John Latisan was down from the river and had grabbed a bottle from
+the hand of the first bootlegger who offered his wares.
+
+The grandson, then and there, was veritably drunk with the frenzy of
+despair!
+
+Yanking his arms free, he dragged off his belted jacket and flung it on
+the ground; on the jacket, with a pile-driver sweep of his arm, he drove
+down his cap.
+
+"Lie there, drive master!" he shouted.
+
+The down train of the narrow-gauge was dragging out of the station; a
+succession of shrill whistle toots, several minutes before, had warned
+prospective passengers.
+
+Latisan ran down the middle of the road and leaped aboard the slowly
+moving train when it crossed the highway. Standing on the platform of
+the passenger car, he shook his fists at assembled Adonia and yelled
+again.
+
+Brophy, from the tavern porch, looked hard at the girl and started down
+the steps, making his way toward the jacket and cap which Latisan had
+thrown away.
+
+She ran and picked them up and hugged them in her arms with defiant
+proprietorship.
+
+"How come?" sneered Brophy. "Latest bulletin seemed to be that the
+engagement was broke!" He was suddenly hostile.
+
+She turned from the landlord and faced Crowley. The operative was
+triumphant. "It's understood that I get the credit for this job," he
+informed her, _sotto voce_. His air suggested that he was convinced that
+the destiny of the Flagg drive had been settled.
+
+All about her were implacable faces. The grins were gone. There was no
+misunderstanding the sentiments which those men entertained toward a
+woman who had wrought the undoing of a square man. She presented
+completely then the pathetic spectacle of a baited, cowering, wild
+creature at bay. She was bitterly alone among them. Even Crowley of the
+city was against her. In her agony of loneliness the thought of her kin
+in the big house on the hill came to her mind. But to her, in spite of
+her passionate efforts to aid, must be ascribed the defection of
+Latisan--the breaking of her grandfather's last prop. She had
+intensified in woeful degree the fault of her father; she had compassed
+the ruin of the old man at a time when he was unable to restore his
+fortunes by his own effort. The doors of the house on the hill were
+barred by the iron of unforgiveness and by these new fires of her fault,
+involuntary though that fault was.
+
+Brophy stood before her. "I reckon you ain't going to be very popular
+hereabout as a hash-slinger, Miss Whatever-your-name is." He snapped his
+fingers and stretched his hand to command the transfer of the jacket and
+cap. "I'll take 'em and put 'em in Ward's room."
+
+But she clung to what she had retrieved as if she felt that she held a
+hostage of fortune. Brophy refrained from laying violent hands on the
+articles, and to save his face and create a diversion he turned on
+Crowley.
+
+"Let's see! You have bragged about being a detective! We don't stand for
+your kind or tricks in this neck o' woods."
+
+There was the menace of growls in the crowd. The mob spirit was
+stirring. A man said something about a rail and tar and feathers.
+
+"I'll argue with the boys and try to give you a fair start," stated the
+landlord. "But you'd better pack up in a hurry. You can't wait for
+to-morrow's train under my roof. I'll furnish you a livery hitch to the
+junction. Take the woman with you."
+
+It was an ugly crowd; the landlord was obliged to push back men when
+Crowley followed Lida into the tavern.
+
+Miss Elsham was just inside the door, where she had posted herself as a
+spectator and listener. "There's no telling what they'll do; they're
+bound to find out that I'm an operative," she quavered. "You must take
+me with you, Buck."
+
+He had been appointed her guardian and he could not refuse. But he
+glowered at Lida, white and trembling.
+
+Brophy came in after a struggle at the door; he slammed the portal and
+bolted it.
+
+"They're usually pretty genteel up here where wimmen are concerned," he
+told Lida, "but they're laying it all to you. They'll let you go,
+Crowley, if you'll go in a hurry. Are you one of 'em, too?" he bluntly
+asked Miss Elsham, ready to suspect all strangers.
+
+She nodded. "I'm going with Crowley."
+
+"Understanding that you give me full credit," her associate told her,
+his lips close to her ear.
+
+"I ain't sure but what I'd better hide you till night," the landlord
+informed Lida. "As I said, they're naturally genteel, but----" He
+hesitated when he heard the growing grumble of voices.
+
+"I've got trouble enough in getting away without taking you on for an
+extra load," was Crowley's rough repudiation of Lida. "You have
+double-crossed----"
+
+"I'll accept your opinion as an expert in that line," she said, lashing
+her courage back to meet the situation. "I am not asking any favors from
+Vose-Mern or their operatives. Nor from you," she informed the landlord.
+
+She settled Ward's cap and jacket more securely in the clutch of her
+arms. "Unbar and open the door, if you please, Mr. Brophy."
+
+He demurred.
+
+"It's the door of a public inn. You must open it."
+
+He obeyed, standing ready to repel intruders.
+
+She walked straight out and through the crowd of hostile natives, who
+parted to allow her to pass; her chin was up and her eyes were level in
+meeting the gaze of any man who stared at her.
+
+She had made up her mind where she was going, and the thought of that
+intended destination put some of the spirit of old Echford Flagg in her.
+
+When she was free from the crowd she began to run; instinct of the
+homing sort impelled her to hasten. She had not settled in her mind what
+she would say or do when she got there, but there seemed to be no other
+place in all the world for her right then except the big house on the
+ledges.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
+
+
+Lida did not wait to be admitted to her grandfather's house in the
+conventional manner; she did not dare to test her new resolution by a
+pause on the steps, and she was afraid that Rickety Dick would enforce
+the Flagg injunction against a woman.
+
+Gasping for breath after her run across the ledges, she flung herself
+into the presence of her grandfather.
+
+Dick was holding a flaming splint of wood to the bowl of Flagg's pipe.
+Startled, he dropped the splint, and the fire burned out unheeded on the
+bare floor.
+
+She held on to the cap and the jacket and with her free hand she beat
+upon her breast and tried to pour out a confession of her part in the
+mischief which had been done. She could not tell Flagg who she was; she
+was telling him what she was. She made herself a part of the Vose-Mern
+conspiracy; that seemed to be the best way. She did not try to make
+herself better than her associates; she admitted that she was an
+operative; in no other way could she account for her presence in the
+north country; and the old man's keen eyes warned her that a less
+plausible statement would endanger her secret. Therefore, she arraigned
+herself bitterly as the cause of Latisan's undoing, and to explain her
+new attitude she pleaded love and resulting repentance. There seemed to
+be no other way of giving Flagg a good reason why she was interested in
+speeding the fortunes of Latisan and the Flagg drive.
+
+She began to babble rather incoherently. His silence troubled her. His
+gaze was intent.
+
+After a time, allowing her to talk on, he ordered Dick to bring more
+fire for the pipe, and then he puffed and listened a little longer.
+
+At last he jabbed his pipe stem toward the door, and Dick obeyed the
+silent command and left the room.
+
+"Now, my girl, hold up a moment and get your breath. Sit down!" She
+obeyed.
+
+"I see that you're hanging on to Latisan's cap and jacket. Did he pull
+himself out of the jacket whilst you were clinging to his collar?" In
+spite of the seriousness of the news which she had brought to him, there
+was a touch of dry humor in his tone. "He must have had a pretty
+desperate change of heart to run away from such a girl, after what he
+told me of his feelings this morning."
+
+He talked on, allowing her to recover. "Your words have been tumbling
+along like logs coming down the Hulling Machine Falls, but I reckon I
+understand that a detective agency sent you up here to Delilah my
+Samson. I've just been reading about that case in the Old Testament. And
+you're sorry, eh? It's a start in the right direction--being sorry. He
+told me this morning that he was going back to the drive in spite of
+me--he said it was because you had torched him on to do so. I'll admit I
+haven't got over being thankful to you for that help. And now it's all
+tipped upside down, eh? I'm not surprised. It's the Latisan nature to
+blow up! I knew his grandfather well--and I remember! We seem to have
+made a bad mess of it, you and I. I'll own to it that I haven't been
+careful in the management of my tongue where he's concerned. If I had,
+all the girls this side o' Tophet couldn't have made him jump his job in
+this style. You see, I'm willing to admit my mistake, and that makes me
+feel kinder toward you, now that you admit yours."
+
+Her courage was coming back to her. Only a veritable frenzy of despair
+had forced her into the presence of that old man who had declared his
+unalterable hostility to her and hers. She found him singularly and
+surprisingly mild in this crisis. Wreathed in the tobacco smoke, his
+countenance was full of sympathy. It was an amazing alteration in
+Echford Flagg, so those who knew him would have stated, had they been
+there to behold.
+
+"I suppose you have to slap on a lot of deceit in that detective
+business."
+
+"I'm done with deceit. I've left that work forever."
+
+"So I reckoned whilst I looked at you and heard you talk. I've got quite
+an eye for a change of heart in persons. I hate to see young folks in
+trouble. 'Most always I'm pretty hard on people. I've grown to be that
+way. Had good reasons! But you seem to have caught me to-day in a
+different frame of mind. I didn't get a good look at you last evening.
+I've just been telling myself that you remind me very much of somebody I
+used to know. There was a time," he went on, wrinkling his forehead,
+"when I would have ordered you out of this house, simply on your looks.
+But to-day, somehow, I like to keep my eyes on you. Old age has a lot of
+whims, you know."
+
+She did not venture to speak. Tears were rolling down her cheeks.
+
+"It's too bad, sis! Too bad! 'Tis a tough thing to work out, this
+Latisan matter. You have started the old John devil a-roaring in him!
+And I reckon that now you're falling in love with the fool, even if you
+did come up-country to do something mean to him!"
+
+She nodded; her emotions were too deeply stirred to permit evasion or
+more deceit.
+
+"I have to depend on hired help, sis. And the trouble with any other
+drive master than Latisan is that the opposition crowd can hire away
+what Latisan wouldn't sell--I'll say that for the boy! It's a matter of
+principle with him--this fight for the independents."
+
+"But your men will keep on working, won't they, sir?"
+
+"They'll work--yes! But they won't fight without Latisan to lead 'em.
+That's why the Three C's folks are so hot on the trail of one man.
+They're going to trig my drive at the Skulltree dam unless we are
+through ahead of 'em. Conservation of water, that's what they will call
+it when they make their play for a court order," he snarled. "But it's
+only devilish theft of the rights I hold in common--and that's where
+lawyers have their chance to argue, when rights are common." He found
+himself becoming garrulous in his emotion. He frowned. "But why talk
+such matters to you; you can't understand!"
+
+"No," she admitted, sadly. "I haven't any knowledge about drives. I can
+only understand that through me a great mischief has been done."
+
+"Well, it might have been worse for young Latisan if they hadn't got rid
+of him by this underhand way. Now that he has quit and has gone
+larruping off on his own hook, you may as well get what comfort out of
+it you can," he said, trying to ameliorate her distress. "There's no
+telling what they might have been savage enough to do to him if he had
+stayed to make the fight as he intended to make it."
+
+"Do you give up the fight?"
+
+With the left hand he lifted his helpless right arm across his knees.
+"It's a two-fisted proposition this year. I guess I'm licked. They'll
+buy in my logs at what price they have a mind to pay and will turn 'em
+into paper. The sawmills will have to shut down, and the chap who wants
+to build a home will keep on cussing the price of lumber. I have made a
+good try of it, sis, but the big combinations are bound to have their
+way in the end."
+
+"It isn't right for anybody to have his own way without giving the other
+man a square deal," she cried, adding, with bitterness, "though I'm the
+last person entitled to preach on that subject."
+
+"It's all in the way of progress, so the syndicate fellows tell us," he
+remarked, dryly. "Maybe they know. Whilst they're grabbing in all the
+money, they may be getting control of all the brains, too."
+
+She flung up her arms and accused herself, passionately: "I have been a
+fool. I'd give my very heart to make matters right again!"
+
+"I think so," he admitted. "I reckon you're in earnest."
+
+Again his fixed, appraising stare was disturbing her.
+
+"About Mr. Latisan----" she hurried on. "I can't believe that he'll stay
+away long."
+
+"I guess you know as little about the ways of men up here as you know
+about the drives, my girl. There's plenty of iron in their natures, but
+there isn't much brass in their cheeks. He's done--he can't face the Big
+Laugh. He's seen what it has done to others. But you city folks don't
+understand woods ways and notions!"
+
+She set her firm teeth over her lower lip to control its quivering. Then
+she ventured. It was a resolve born out of her desperate desire to
+redeem, if she were able. There was one thing she could do--it seemed a
+natural thing to do, in that extremity.
+
+"I have something to ask of you. Please don't be angry! I'm trying to
+square myself!"
+
+"Go ahead! I'm ready now to be pretty easy natured when somebody is
+really in earnest about helping me."
+
+"Give me your permission to go north and explain to your men why Mr.
+Latisan isn't on the drive! I'll tell them everything. I'll open my soul
+to those men. They'll understand."
+
+"It's not a girl's job," he declared, sternly.
+
+"I have been trained in a hard school, sir. I have been forced to study
+men and to deal with men. I have been sorry because I have been obliged
+to do the things I have done. But my knowledge of men may help your
+affairs. I am glad I have been through my trials. Let me go north to
+your crews! I beg it of you!"
+
+"I don't want to have you messing into any such business. There's
+something about you--something that makes me want to put a safeguard
+over you, sis, instead of sending you into danger."
+
+"You'll make the danger worse for me if you don't give me that
+permission--a word from you to them that I'm your agent." She arose,
+flaming with her resolution. "I am going anyway, sir! You can't stop me
+from going where I will in the woods."
+
+"You're right!" he admitted, sadly. "I'm so old and helpless that I
+can't even boss a girl."
+
+She stood in front of him and put Latisan's cap on her head; she pulled
+on the belted jacket. "They'll know this jacket and cap! I'll tell the
+story! Do you think it is folly? No! I can see in your face that you
+know what those men will do!"
+
+"Yes, I do know! I have been a woodsman in my time, too! After they have
+listened to you they'll hammer hell out of anything that gets in front
+of 'em."
+
+His face lighted up. He beamed on her. "I told you that old age has its
+whims. A minute ago a whim made me want to keep you away from trouble.
+Now, by the gods! the same whim makes me want to send you north. You
+will stand for Eck Flagg, saying what he'd like to say to his men! The
+right spirit is in you! I ain't afraid that you won't make good!"
+
+He pointed to an object on the wall of the room. It was a stout staff
+of ash tipped with a steel nose and provided with a hook of steel; it
+was the Flagg cant dog. The ash staff was banded with faded red stripes
+and there was a queer figure carved on the wood.
+
+"Lift it down and bring it here and lay it across my knees," he
+commanded.
+
+She ran and brought it.
+
+"They know that stick along the Noda waters," he told her, caressing the
+staff with his hale hand. "I carried it at the head of the drive for
+many a year, my girl. You won't need letters of introduction if you go
+north with that stick in your hand. I would never give it into the hands
+of a man. It has propped the edge of my shelter tent, to keep the spring
+snow off my face when I caught a few winks of sleep; that steel dog has
+rattled nigh my ear when I couldn't afford to sleep and kept walking.
+Tell 'em your story, with that stick in your hand when you tell it! Take
+it and stand up in front of me!"
+
+Her face was white; she trembled when she lifted the staff from his
+knees.
+
+An old man's whim! The girl believed that she understood better than he
+the instinct which was prompting him to deliver over the scepter which
+he had treasured for so long.
+
+And some sort of instinct, trickling in the blood from that riverman
+forebear, prompted her strike a pose, which brought a yelp of admiration
+from the old man. She had set the steel nose close to her right foot and
+propped the staff, with right arm fully extended, swinging the stick
+with a man-fashion sweep.
+
+"Sis, where did ye learn the twist of the Flagg wrist when ye set that
+staff?" It was a compliment rather than a question, and the girl did not
+reply. She was not able to speak; a sob was choking her. Her grip on
+that badge of the family authority thrilled her; here was the last of
+her kin; he was intrusting to her, as his sole dependence, the mission
+of saving his pride and his fortunes. Her tear-wet eyes pledged him her
+devoted loyalty.
+
+"God bless you!" he said.
+
+"And may God help me," she added fervently. Impulse was irresistible.
+She succumbed. She dropped the staff and ran to the old man and threw
+her arms convulsively about his neck and kissed him.
+
+"I'm sorry," she faltered, stepping back. "I'm afraid I startled you."
+
+"No," he told her, after a moment of reflection, "I guess I rather
+expected you'd do that before you went away. Some more of that whim,
+maybe! When do you think of leaving?"
+
+"I'd like to go at once. I cannot stay any longer in this village."
+
+"You'd best get to my drivers as soon as the Three C's slander does."
+
+He shouted at a door and old Dick appeared.
+
+"Move spry now!" commanded the master. "Have Jeff hitch the big bays
+into the jumper. And Jeff will be able to tend and do for me whilst
+you're away. For here's the job I'm sending you on. Take this young
+woman north to the drive. She's tending to some business for me. See to
+it that she's taken good care of. And bring her back when she feels
+that she's ready to come."
+
+"Am I to come here--back to your house to-to----" she faltered.
+
+"To report? Of course you are!" He was suddenly curt and cold after his
+softness of the moment before. He looked as if he were impatient for her
+to be gone.
+
+"Have Dick stop at the tavern for your belongings."
+
+"There's only a small bag, sir."
+
+"If you're short of clothes--well, I advise you to wear Latisan's cap
+and jacket. They'll keep you warm--and they'll keep you--reminded!" He
+put much meaning in his emphasis of the last word.
+
+She bowed her head humbly; the clutch at her throat would not permit her
+to reply to him. Then, bearing with her the Flagg scepter, she went out
+to where the horses were being put to the jumper.
+
+When he was alone the old man laid his hand on the Bible at his side.
+For a long time he gazed straight ahead, deep in his ponderings. Then he
+opened the volume and leaved the pages until he came to the family
+register, midway in the book. After the New England custom, there were
+inscribed in faded ink the names of the Flaggs who had been born, the
+names of those who had died, the records of the marriages. Echford
+Flagg's father had begun the register; the son had continued it. Across
+the marriage record of Alfred Kennard and Sylvia Flagg were rude
+penstrokes. On the page of births was the name of Lida Kennard, and he
+slowly ran his finger under it. When he gazed down at the floor again in
+meditation he met the stare of the cat that Rickety Dick loved and
+petted.
+
+The cat was bestowing no friendly look on Flagg. He had often cuffed her
+whenever she ventured to leap into his lap. He had repulsed the cat as
+he repelled human beings who had sought to make up to him. Now he called
+to her softly, inviting her with his hand. She backed away with
+apprehensive haste.
+
+"I'm starting late, pussy," he muttered. "And I was never much of a hand
+at coaxing anybody to come to me. But I wish you'd hop up here on my
+knee. Come, kitty! Please come!"
+
+It was a long time before he was able to gain her confidence. He heard
+the big bays go trampling away down the ledges. At last the cat came
+cautiously, climbing up his leg, and sat on his knees and stared up at
+his face in a questioning way.
+
+"She's too much like her mother for me not to know her--like her mother
+looked when she went away," he informed the cat. "I reckon I'm a whole
+lot different right now than I ever was before. I'm old and sick--and
+I'm different. I don't blame you for looking hard at me, kitty. I'm so
+lonesome that I'm glad to have a cat to talk to. She's got her mother's
+looks--and the Flagg grit. She wants to do it her own way--like I'd want
+to do it my way, without being bothered. And I'm letting her do it. It
+wouldn't be a square deal if I didn't let her. And she'll do it! It's in
+her! She's trying to pay back. It's the style of the Flaggs. She didn't
+come up here to smash me or Latisan. I didn't believe what she said--a
+Flagg knows when another Flagg is lying. She came to help--and she'll
+do it yet! She's Lida, kitty, Lida!" His tone caressed the name. His
+hand caressed the written name.
+
+Then he turned the pages slowly, going forward in the volume--to the New
+Testament.
+
+And after a time he found words which fitted his new mood and he read
+aloud to his feline auditor.
+
+"'Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil
+speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind to one
+another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another----'"
+
+Jeff, the servitor, hearing the mumble of the old man's voice, tiptoed
+to the door and peeped in. He goggled at the tableau and listened to the
+words. He was in the state of mind of that oft-quoted doubter who spat
+on the giraffe's hoof and remarked to the bystanders, "Hell! There ain't
+no such animile!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN
+
+
+Brophy was distinctly inhospitable when Lida walked into the tavern.
+
+She curtly stated her errand as she passed him on her way to the stairs,
+and when she returned with her bag he allowed her to leave without
+opening his mouth. She took the money he offered and put it in her
+pocket without counting it.
+
+The men who were about the place were silent, too. The fact that Flagg
+was sending her away in his own hitch stirred their curiosity and had
+considerable to do with keeping their rude tongues off a person who had
+evidently come to an understanding with the master of the big house.
+
+"Where are ye headed, Dick?" asked a bystander while the girl was in the
+tavern.
+
+"Up and down," stated the old man, cryptically.
+
+"Well, if you want to overtake them chums of hers you'll have to lay on
+the braid pretty smart! If they kept on going at the rate they started
+off they're halfway to the junction by now."
+
+When the girl was in her seat Dick sent the bays along at a sharp clip
+down the highway by which Crowley and his companion had departed.
+
+Lida had conferred with Dick on the way down from the big house and had
+decided on a bit of guile to divert the attention of the gossips of
+Adonia from her real objective. According to all appearances she was in
+full flight toward the city, or else was chasing up Ward Latisan; the
+cynics, after that affair in the street when she had pleaded with the
+young man, opined that she was brazen enough to do almost anything that
+a girl should not.
+
+Brophy watched her out of sight.
+
+"If it ain't one thing it's another with these table girls," was his
+sour comment. "I don't know what I'm liable to draw next; the Queen of
+Sheby, maybe!"
+
+When a hill shut off the view from Adonia the bays swung into a side
+lane which connected with the tote road leading north along the Noda
+waters.
+
+A girl who wore for her armor Latisan's jacket and his cap, and carried
+as credentials the woods baton of the last of the independent timber
+barons of the Noda, was hastening on her mission with the same sort of
+fervent zeal that made Joan of Arc a conqueror.
+
+Family fealty, the eager desire to right in some measure the wrong done
+by her father, anxious determination to repair her own fault--all these
+were animating impulses in this Joan of the Northland. But now
+especially was she aware that she was seeking by service to absolve
+herself in the estimation of a poor chap whose love for her had made him
+forget his duty.
+
+There was no talk between the girl and her charioteer. She had plenty of
+thought to occupy her, and he drove on with his gaze straight between
+the ears of the nigh horse.
+
+The road was crooked; when she glanced behind, the woods seemed to be
+shutting doors on her, closing out the world with which she had been
+familiar; and ahead, as the road turned, she was looking into vistas
+which led to the unknown--to a duty of tremendous import--to a task
+which seemed too great for a girl to accomplish. One knowledge comforted
+her--it was a knowledge which came from her childhood memories--she
+could trust those rough men of the woods to treat a girl with respect if
+she deserved it; but would she be able to convince them that the girl
+who wrought such mischief to Ward Latisan deserved respect? They might,
+as her grandfather said, ridicule a man who had been fooled by a girl,
+if that man appeared to them and tried to make good his authority; but
+there would be no laugh in the north country behind Latisan's back, now
+that he had fled desperately from the wreck of his prospects.
+
+She perceived only silent rebuke, even resentment, in Dick's countenance
+when she stole glances at the hard profile above the old man's knitted
+scarf. It was plain that he did not relish his job. She wondered whether
+he believed that her errand was useless. When, after a time, she tried
+to draw some opinion out of him he gave her no replies that aided her.
+
+She felt acutely that she needed sympathy--something for her
+encouragement. The old man's taciturnity hinted that he could be trusted
+with a secret so far as outsiders were concerned; as to Flagg, she was
+not sure of Dick's reliability in keeping anything away from a master to
+whom he was devoted. But if the old man were kept away from Adonia----
+
+"Do I understand that you're to stay north until I'm ready to go back?"
+
+"I've got to. It's orders."
+
+She was choking with the desire to tell him who she was. The lie which
+she had told him in the tavern was a rankling memory--he had been such a
+pitiful figure that day.
+
+Again she looked behind. There were many miles between her and Adonia,
+and the doors of the woods kept closing.
+
+"I need all your help in this thing. I must have a faithful friend. It
+is the one great effort of my life. You can understand so well! I--I
+_am_ Lida Kennard!"
+
+Rickety Dick threw up his arms. The reins fell from his hands. "Praise
+the Lord!" he yelled. The discarded reins slapped the big bays, the
+shout in that silence caused them to leap wildly. The tote road was
+rough and rocky and the equipage was light. Almost instantly the horses
+tore the tongue from the jumper, which was trigged by a bowlder. The
+animals crashed around in a circle through the underbrush, leaped into
+the tote road, and went galloping back toward Adonia, seeking their
+stalls and safety.
+
+Dick rose from where he had fallen and rushed to the girl, who was
+clinging to the seat of the jumper. He took her in his arms, comforting
+her as he would have soothed a child. He wept frankly and babbled
+incoherently. A part of his emotion was concern for her, but more
+especially was it joy because she had discovered herself to him.
+
+"It was in me--the hope that it was you. But I buried it; I buried it,"
+he sobbed.
+
+For some moments he was too much absorbed to note the plight in which
+they had been left. Then his laments were so violent that the girl was
+obliged to soothe him in her turn.
+
+"But when those horses rush into the yard! Think of it! He'll cal'late
+we're killed. Him penned there in his chair with worry tearing at him! I
+must get the word to him." In his frantic care for the master's peace of
+mind he ran away down the road, forgetting that he was abandoning the
+girl.
+
+But in a few moments he came running back to her. "That's the way it
+always is with me! Him first! But after this it's you--and I was leaving
+you here in the lurch. But I don't know what to do!" He looked at her,
+then at the broken jumper; he gazed to the north and he stared to the
+south; in that emergency, his emotions stressed by what she had told
+him, he was as helpless as a child.
+
+Her own concern just then was for her grandfather as well as for
+herself. Those runaway horses appearing in the yard would rouse his
+bitter fear; they would also start a hue and cry which would follow her
+into the north country.
+
+"You must go back, at once!" she urged Dick. "Follow as fast as you can.
+The horses will quiet down; they'll walk. You may overtake them. You
+must try."
+
+"But you!" he mourned.
+
+She lifted the cant dog from the floor of the jumper. "I shall keep on
+toward the drive--somehow--some way. This will protect me; I'm sure of
+it."
+
+He puckered his face and shook his head and expressed his fears and his
+doubts.
+
+"Then I'm showing more faith than you in what this stands for," she
+said, rebukingly. "I believe in it. I trust to it. Haven't you the same
+kind of loyalty where my grandfather is concerned--after all your years
+with him?"
+
+She had appealed to zealous, unquestioning devotion, and it replied to
+her. "I reckon you're right. It wouldn't be showing proper respect if I
+didn't meet you halfway in the thing." He reached out his hand and
+patted the staff. "I'm only a poor old bent stick beside that one. I
+even let the horses run away. Yes, they have run away--and now it's all
+the long miles to the drive! How'll ye ever get there, Miss Lida?"
+
+"By starting!" she returned, crisply, with something of Flagg's manner.
+
+"There are tote teams going north. Anybody'll be glad to give you a
+lift. There are bateaus above here, ferrying supplies up the broad
+water, and you may see a canoeman----" He was wistfully grabbing at
+hopes.
+
+"I'm not afraid," she assured him bravely.
+
+He helped her with advice while he busied himself by hooking the handle
+of her bag over the staff; she carried it across her shoulder and had
+something cheerful to say about poverty making light luggage.
+
+In that fashion she fared toward the north, after she had forced a
+pledge from the old man that he would keep her secret until her work was
+done; she was guilelessly unaware that Flagg's perspicacity had
+penetrated her secret.
+
+Dick plodded toward the south.
+
+There, in the midst of the forest, dwarfed by the big trees, they
+seemed to be weak reeds for the support of the Flagg fortunes.
+
+Before a bend of the road shut them from sight of each other they turned
+and waved a farewell which renewed the pledge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY
+
+
+For a time Lida felt unutterably and miserably lonely and helpless. She
+had stepped out of everything that was familiar in the way of human
+contact and environment; she was facing the new, the untried, something
+that was not a woman's job, as her grandfather had declared.
+
+But it was a job for that one of the Flaggs who still had the grit and
+the strength to perform it!
+
+With that thought came her reaction. She began to realize that as long
+as Dick had been her companion, her guardian, she had not been conscious
+of the real exaltation of determination which now glowed in her. She
+felt courage born of sacred zeal. She was alone, but no longer did that
+thought trouble her. Because she was alone it was up to her! She walked
+on with a steadier stride. If she appeared at the drive under the convoy
+of old Dick she was only a girl sent to whine a confession of fault and
+to wheedle men to help her repair it. Would it not be well to take those
+men fully into her confidence? She was resolved to tell them that she
+loved Ward Latisan; she was admitting this truth to herself and she was
+in a mood to tell all the truth to honest men who would be able to
+understand. She was going north to inspire faith and courage and
+loyalty. Would not the known granddaughter of Echford Flagg be able to
+exert that compelling moral influence over the crew? Those men were
+primitive enough to understand the urge of honest love of woman for a
+man; and there was the spirit of chivalrous romance in the north
+country. She knew it.
+
+Her heart was bolder as she walked on, but her feet ached and the rough
+road wearied her. She met no human being; she sat for a time on a
+wayside bowlder, hoping that some straggling tote team would come up
+from the south and overtake her.
+
+The road snaked along in the Noda Valley, and from time to time she was
+close to the turbid flood which swept down ice cakes and flotsam. From
+her bowlder she could see a broad and calm stretch--a deadwater of which
+she did not know the name.
+
+Then, close to the shore where she waited, came a canoe headed upriver.
+Two men were in it, paddling sturdily, taking advantage of eddies and
+backwash. Fresh from the city as she was, she felt a thrill of sudden
+terror; the men were Indians and wore the full regalia of tribal dress.
+
+As a child she had seen and remembered well the Tarratines of the
+region; they had been dressed like other woodsmen. These Indians with
+feathers and beads put a strange fear into her in that solitude. She
+slid from the rock and crouched behind it. She grasped the staff of the
+cant dog more firmly; it was her only weapon of defense. But when her
+fingers felt the depressions of the totem mark she turned from terror to
+hope. Latisan, at their first meeting, had referred to the status of
+Echford Flagg among the Tarratines. Courage was back in her again, along
+with her new hope. She leaped to her feet and called to the Indians and
+flourished a salute. They hesitated a moment, then drove their craft to
+the shore a pebble toss away from her.
+
+She did not speak to them--she held the staff so that the emblem was
+shown to them. They disembarked, approached slowly, peered at the totem,
+and saluted with upraised palms.
+
+"I have the right to carry it," she told them. "It is Echford Flagg's.
+He gave it into my hands. He said it is known along the river and will
+help me. I want to go north to his drive. He has sent me. It is on his
+business!"
+
+She received no immediate encouragement from their manner; they looked
+at each other and turned their gaze again to her.
+
+"Frank Orono," said one, patting his hand on his beaded breast. "Him
+brother, Louis Orono."
+
+"The drive is up there. If you're going only a little way in that
+direction won't you take me along in your canoe?" she pleaded,
+confessing, "I'm so tired. There was an accident to the team--I've had
+to walk."
+
+"You see!" said Frank Orono, stroking his hand over the feathers of his
+headdress. "Big time for tribe. All dressed up. Him, me, we go to Olamon
+Island. Governor live there--Chief Susep Nicola. His girl she marry
+to-night. Big time!" He grinned. That evidence of human feeling in the
+countenance which had been so impassive heartened the girl.
+
+"And if I can get as far as Olamon with you----"
+
+They ducked their heads in permission.
+
+"Maybe Chief Susep send you on. Chief he much like him!" Frank Orono
+pointed to the staff. "Chief cut in totem sign, his own hands. You come.
+Be all right."
+
+They spread a blanket for her in the middle of the canoe and paddled on.
+
+It was then past midafternoon of her crowded day.
+
+When at last they swung around a wooded point and beheld the Indian
+village of Olamon the dusk was deepening. Many lights twinkled and a
+huge bonfire waved flaming tongues.
+
+"Big time!" chuckled Frank Orono. "Pretty girl--nice feller she marry.
+Chief be glad to see you--you tell him!"
+
+Those who were gathered at the pull-out place surveyed her with
+curiosity. The bonfire lighted the scene and many were able to see the
+totem mark on the staff of the cant dog. Those saluted her respectfully
+and passed the word to others, who came crowding about.
+
+Therefore, when the brothers Orono escorted her into the presence of
+Sachem Nicola, Lida entertained the confidence of one who was among
+friends. The chief--or rather, the elected governor of the tribe--dwelt
+in a modest cottage, and with him was the priest who had come for the
+wedding ceremony. It was the priest who displayed the liveliest interest
+in the girl and he promptly began to seek the reason that had brought
+her north with that emblem of authority. He questioned her with
+kindness, but with much vigor.
+
+But Susep Nicola asked no questions. He seemed to accept her presence as
+a quite natural thing. A Tarratine never puts a question to a guest; the
+guest may explain or state his business in his own good time. The
+sachem set a chair for her and relieved her of the staff and her bag. He
+put his finger on the emblem and smiled. There was inquiry in his eyes
+whether she knew and understood. She bowed her head.
+
+As best she could she parried the questions of the inquisitive priest
+without making it appear that she was trying to hide anything. "It's an
+errand, and Mr. Flagg was kind enough to loan the staff as my token in
+these parts. You know he is ill and cannot go about any more. He must
+leave certain things to others."
+
+"Well," admitted the priest, plainly struggling with a hankering to ask
+her bluntly what service a girl could perform for Flagg on the drive,
+"the ladies in these days are into all the affairs of men as well as on
+the juries, so we must consider it as quite natural that you have been
+sent up here by Mr. Flagg. At any rate, we should be grateful that you
+are here," he declared, gallantly.
+
+"It's on account of the accident to my team that I'm forced to intrude
+at a time like this," she apologized to Nicola. He was an old man, gaunt
+and bowed, and his festal trappings seemed rather incongruous
+decorations.
+
+"But you bring my brother's staff, and it makes you welcome for yourself
+and stands for him because he cannot come."
+
+He called, and a woman appeared. He gave directions, and the woman
+offered to conduct Lida to a room in the cottage.
+
+"You are honored guest," said the governor. "In an hour the wedding
+takes place in the church, and then the wedding supper!"
+
+"To which I beg permission to escort you," said the priest, bowing low
+as Lida went from the room.
+
+She laid off her woods panoply of cap and jacket and made herself fit
+for the festival to such an extent as her scanty wardrobe would permit.
+
+Before the wedding procession started for the church she was presented
+to the bride, Nicola's youngest daughter. The woman who had shown Lida
+to her room had gossiped a bit. The bride was the fruit of the
+governor's second marriage and had inherited her French Canadian
+mother's beauty. And the groom was a French Canadian, a strapping chap,
+a riverman of repute.
+
+Lida was told that the men of the river, the jacks of the driving crews
+far and near, were making much of the wedding on account of their liking
+for Felix Lapierre. She had looked from her window and had seen bateaus
+come sweeping down, loaded with shouting men, the oars flashing in the
+light of torches set in the bows of the big boats. She felt more
+confident in regard to the morrow; those bateaus would be going back to
+the north and she had determined to make her plea for passage. In her
+anxiety the halt for the night was irksome. But she concealed her
+feelings and took her place in the procession, a post of honor that was
+deferentially assigned to her by the chief.
+
+The flares of moving torches lighted all and the smoke from them wavered
+above the plumes of the festal costumes and spread the illumination
+among the swaying boughs of the spruces and the pines.
+
+An Indian brass band of pretensions rather more than modest led the way
+toward the church. The rear guard was made of rivermen who marched in
+ragged formation, scuffling, elbowing one another, shouting jokes,
+making merry after their manner. Their boots, spurred with drivers'
+spikes, crunched into the hard earth and occasionally struck fire from
+an outcropping of ledge. They pulled off those boots at the door of the
+church and went into the place, tiptoeing in their stocking feet.
+
+So Alice and Felix were joined in marriage.
+
+Lida sat beside the girl's mother during the ceremony.
+
+The tears that are shed by womankind at weddings form a baptism for
+sentiments which cannot be easily translated into exact understanding.
+It had begun to seem very far away in time and space, that tragedy of
+the morning in Adonia, that wreck of a man's love, and the blasting of
+what Lida had admitted to herself was her own fond hope. Now, in this
+scene, hearing the words which gave lovers the sacred right to face the
+world hand in hand, her own grievous case came back to her in poignant
+clearness. She wept frankly; there had been honest tears in the mother's
+eyes. The two looked at each other and then the mother's hand slid into
+the girl's and mutely expressed for the stranger what could not be put
+into words. There were no questions and no replies--the situation
+required none.
+
+For the more casual guests, the rivermen and others, the supper was
+spread out of doors near the water. It was a simple feast which had been
+cooked over coals in the open.
+
+The sachem's party ate in a large room; by day it served the women of
+the tribe as a workshop. The walls were gay with the handicraft which
+had been hung up to clear a space for the tables. There were braided or
+woven baskets of all sizes and every hue; there were beaded skins and
+frippery of feathered gewgaws and moccasins and miniature canoes and
+plaques of birch, hand carved. And subordinating all else, even the
+scents and savors of the food, was the perfume of the sweet grass.
+
+Outdoors, in a circle of torches, the band played merry airs.
+
+"You should not be sad, mam'selle," reproved Father Leroque, who had
+constituted himself Lida's squire at supper. "This is a very merry
+occasion."
+
+"I feel all the more as if I were intruding--bringing my troubles here."
+
+The chatter of many voices made a shield for conversation between the
+two. The priest hesitated for some time; then he made sure that nobody
+was listening and leaned closer to her.
+
+"I beg your pardon, mam'selle, if I seem presumptuous in touching on a
+matter regarding which you have not given me your confidence. I may be
+allowed to mention a bit of news. It came to me just before we sat down
+to supper. News travels fast in this region, you may know. From mouth to
+mouth it flies. Bateaus have come up the river, and the men of those
+bateaus have listened to timber cruisers and have heard from the
+drivers of tote teams who have come scattering through the woods below.
+There is the news of an engagement. I trust I may be allowed to speak of
+the news to you because it is my thought that you are the young lady
+concerned."
+
+She was not able to reply.
+
+"And there is more news," he persisted. "Pardon me if I mention that,
+too. It is my province to console those who are in trouble, as best I
+may. Perhaps there is some way in which I can help you. I think highly
+of young Latisan. I know him because my duties have taken me into the
+Tomah region. There has been trouble between you and him--a
+misunderstanding. Is there any way in which I can be a mediator--as his
+friend?"
+
+"He has gone away," she choked. "I don't know where he is. It was my
+fault. If I could have explained, it might have helped, but he would not
+wait to hear me through."
+
+The priest's gentleness had conquered her resolution to keep her secret
+till she reached the men of the Flagg drive. He perceived her bitter
+need of sympathy.
+
+"I respect confidences, even those given me outside the pale of my
+church's confessional. Young Latisan is like his grandfather--tinder for
+a stray spark. If I know your fault--if I can tell him, when I see him,
+what you would have liked to tell him----"
+
+Hurriedly, in low tones, stammering in her eagerness, she did reveal who
+she was, what she had tried to do, and what she hoped to be able to do.
+
+He was instantly alive to her cause with all the sympathy that was in
+him--an especially sincere sympathy because as a missionary priest he
+was close to the hearts of all the folk of the north country, probing
+their affairs with an innocent but vivid interest and striving always to
+aid with earnest zeal.
+
+Though Lida had parried his questions at first, protecting her secret,
+she was now grateful because he had persisted; his manner and his nature
+removed him from the ranks of mere busybodies. A comforting sense arose
+from having confided in him.
+
+"In the Tomah I will find young Latisan; I am on my way across the
+mountains, mam'selle. He must be awake and himself by now; he must have
+gone home. When I tell him the truth he will lift all the trouble from
+your shoulders. But till he comes you must be brave. And who knows? You
+may be able to smooth the path! If you plead your grandfather's cause up
+here, I believe even the great Comas company will listen and be kind.
+There are many outside this door who have come down from the drives to
+have a bit of fun at the wedding. There must be Flagg men. I will find
+out."
+
+"Let me go with you," she urged, anxiously.
+
+He demurred.
+
+"But I'll not speak to them. If I can see them--only a few of them--the
+real men of our drive--I believe I shall find courage to go on."
+
+She prevailed, though he was doubtful and warned her that the babbling
+of the new gossip might be embarrassing.
+
+And so it proved as Father Leroque feared; men perceived only the
+beguilement of Ward Latisan and had heard only the sordid side of the
+happenings in Adonia; the girl was glad because she was hid in the gloom
+outside the circle of light that was the nimbus of the bonfire. They
+were laughing as they discussed a matter which had eclipsed the interest
+in the wedding. Her cheeks were hot and she was scarcely restrained by
+the priest's monitory palm on her shoulder.
+
+Men were feasting and gossiping; they were herded around the fire,
+squatting Turk fashion, steaming pannikins on the ground by their sides,
+heaped plates on their knees.
+
+"Fifteen of us," stated a man, answering a question. "And prob'ly more
+to follow. Ben Kyle has gone up there in a hurry, grudge and all, and is
+hiring for the Comas. If there ain't going to be any fight we may as
+well work for the Three C's."
+
+"Stay here!" commanded Father Leroque, patting the girl's arm. "Stay
+where they can't see you." He stepped forward into the firelight. "Do I
+understand that the Flagg crew is breaking up?"
+
+"Fifteen of us in this bunch," restated the man, rapping his pannikin to
+dislodge the tea leaves and holding it out for more of the beverage.
+"Wedding brought us down--the news we hear is going to keep us going.
+Flagg is done."
+
+"Yes, if his men desert him. You mustn't do it; it isn't square."
+
+The priest found it easy to locate the recreants among the other
+rivermen; they shifted their eyes under his rebuking gaze. "Go back to
+your work. Another will come in young Latisan's place."
+
+"All respect to you, Father! But we can't do it," said the spokesman.
+"We're Latisan's men. The rest of the gang will laugh us out of the crew
+if we go back."
+
+"I'll have Latisan himself on the job inside of a few days, my men,"
+declared the priest, stoutly.
+
+He had promised to them another who would take the drive master's place;
+now he promised Latisan. The men were merely puzzled; they were not
+convinced.
+
+"Will you go back?"
+
+"We can't go back." It was said with conviction, and a mumble of voices
+indorsed him. "Still, all respect to you, Father! But Latisan won't fit
+any longer even if he does go back. He has let himself be goofered."
+
+Father Leroque had set up his temporary altar in many a lumber camp; he
+knew woodsmen; therefore, he knew that argument with those men would be
+idle.
+
+"You have heard," he said to Lida when the two walked away deeper into
+the shadows. "I'm sorry. But so the matter stands."
+
+"But if I go now and talk to them--confess to them----"
+
+"They are Latisan's own men, and the story is fresh, and their
+resentment is hot. You will not prevail, mam'selle. And if you fail
+to-night with those men you risk failing with all. You must go on to the
+drive--talk to the others who are still loyal. I fear much, I must warn
+you, but I will not try to keep you from what seems to be your duty. It
+would be too great unhappiness for you if you should go back now,
+feeling that you had not done your best."
+
+The bandsmen had eaten of the wedding feast and were again valorously
+making gay music outside the workshop building from whose windows poured
+light and laughter.
+
+"I can't go back in there--I can't!" sobbed Lida. "Right now I want to
+hide away."
+
+With gentle understanding the priest escorted her to the door of the
+sachem's cottage. "I will pray for you, that the morning may bring good
+courage again. I will talk with you then--in the morning."
+
+She stammered broken words of gratitude and escaped to the covert of the
+little room.
+
+Father Leroque went back to the wedding party and called the governor
+out into the night. For a long time the two conferred, walking to and
+fro under the big pines.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
+
+
+Sunrise was crystal clear, with frosty crispness, for April in the
+northern latitudes flirts long with Winter on his way to everlasting
+snows. Lida saw the sun come quivering over the big trees and sat by her
+window, continuing the doleful ponderings which had made the night black
+and dismal. There was no cheer for her in the morning radiance; as she
+faced what was ahead of her, new fear grew in her; faith in herself was
+waning after the defection of Latisan's men. Would Echford Flagg's own
+crew stand by a stricken master or hearken to the appeal of Flagg's kin?
+
+The rivermen guests had departed; there were no bateaus on the shore;
+faint smoke came wreathing from the black embers of the feast fire.
+
+Early as it was, there was the stir of life in the other rooms of the
+cottage, and she ventured forth timidly into the presence of the
+governor's family. The little mirror in her room had revealed to her the
+pallor of her face and the mournful anxiety in her eyes.
+
+There was no talk at breakfast; the family copied the manner of the
+governor, who had greeted Lida with a single word, gestured her to her
+chair, and now ate in silence. All his festal trappings had been laid
+aside; he was a grave, wrinkled man in the ordinary attire of a
+woodsman. In her new humility Lida wondered how she would summon
+courage to ask for canoemen to take her north. The impulse to keep on
+toward the drive was no longer so keen and courageous and absorbing, she
+realized. She had dreamed vividly when she stood in the presence of
+Echford Flagg; but she had begun to face practicality, and the
+difficulties frightened her.
+
+Before the breakfast was finished, Father Leroque came in; he had lodged
+in the quarters provided for his visits, a small room in the vestry.
+
+The sisters who taught the boys and girls of the community had brought
+his food. But he sat at the elbow of the governor's wife and drank the
+coffee that she poured for him. He was cheery, vivacious, and he smiled
+consolingly on Lida, who was not able to return his morning optimism.
+His arrival broke the fetters of silence, and even Susep Nicola joined
+in the chatter which the priest kept stirring.
+
+Lida kept her gaze on the floor and saw the broad shaft of sunlight
+shift slowly and relentlessly, marking the passage of precious time.
+
+"I must go," she said, suddenly, looking into the countenance of Nicola.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I'm afraid I ought to have been on my way before."
+
+"It's for you to say when you go; you are welcome here," he returned. "I
+have waited for you to say." It was according to his code of
+hospitality--the guest must indicate desire. He rose. His wife brought
+to Lida the jacket and the cap. But the chief picked up the Flagg cant
+dog and carried it when he led the way to the door.
+
+Father Leroque seemed to understand what was in Lida's mind just then.
+"You are worried about how you are to travel, is it not so? You do not
+need to ask, mam'selle!" He bowed her to the door.
+
+In front of the sachem's house hung a broad disk of tanned moosehide in
+a frame. Nicola pounded on the makeshift gong with a mallet. Men
+assembled quickly in front of him, coming as if they had expected the
+summons.
+
+"You know. I have told you," said the chief. He stroked his hand over
+the totem mark on the cant dog handle. "You know how our brother has
+been the good friend of the Tarratines on this river."
+
+One step in advance of the others of the throng stood Felix Lapierre,
+the bridegroom.
+
+"How many?" asked the chief.
+
+"Twenty," said Felix. "And all very much happy to do the good service."
+
+The priest smiled into the amazed eyes of the girl. "For your
+conveyance? Ah no, mam'selle. For your good help on the drive. They are
+rivermen--the best. Felix Lapierre leads them and you shall see for
+yourself what a king of the white water he is. He will be your
+right-hand man on the drive. It is all very fine, eh, mam'selle?"
+
+She was staring from face to face, overwhelmed. She could not reply.
+
+"We talk it over--him and me--last night," said Nicola, indicating the
+priest by a respectful bow. "It's for my brother, and the blood of my
+brother." He bowed to her.
+
+"And all so very happy," repeated Felix. His black eyes sparkled and he
+flung up his hands in the gay spirit of emprise. "You must not care
+because some have run away. They would not be good in a crew if they
+feel that way now. We feel good. We shall work for you; we are your
+men."
+
+The big matter, this astounding making good of her forces, this rallying
+of volunteers in such chivalrous and unquestioning fashion--she found
+herself unable to handle the situation in her thoughts or treat it with
+spoken words just then. But the other--the human thing----
+
+"It's--it's the honeymoon," she stammered. "It will be taking you away
+from your wife."
+
+"She's my girl," put in Nicola. "She tells him to go."
+
+Father Leroque perceived Lida's distressful inability to pull herself
+together at that moment, and he employed his ready tact, giving her time
+for thought. "It's quite a natural thing, this taking away of the new
+bridegroom for the service of the Flaggs," he declared with a chuckle.
+"There's even a song--I think it was written by Poet O'Gorman. Do you
+know it, Felix? I can see by your grin that you do. Very well. Let's
+have it. As I remember it, it states the case according to the Flagg
+methods."
+
+Lapierre pulled off his cap; his eyes were alight with merriment; he
+sang gayly:
+
+    The night that I was married--the night that I was wed--
+    Up there came old Echford Flagg and rapped on my bed head.
+    Said he, "Arise, young married man, and come along with me,
+    Where the waters of the Noda they do roar along so free."
+
+"You see!" suggested the priest, archly, smiling, palms spread. "When
+Flagg calls, the honeymoon must wait. It promises good adventure, and
+Felix would be sorry if he were not in it."
+
+Cap in hand, Lapierre swept his arm in a broad gesture of respectful
+devotion. It was a touch of gallantry which raised the affair above the
+prosaic details of mere business and which made the relations closer
+than those of employer and employed.
+
+In Lida gratitude was succeeding amazement, and the glow of that
+gratitude was warming her courage into life again. When she had stepped
+from Nicola's door a few moments before she felt bitterly alone and
+helpless and she had no eye for the glory of the day. Suddenly the
+sunshine seemed transcendently cheery. All the aspects of the case were
+changed. Now she could go on to the drive as one of the Flaggs should
+go--with loyal men at her back to replace those who had deserted. She
+could hearten a broken crew with men, not merely with a strange girl's
+plaintive story and appeal.
+
+"We're ready, mam'selle," said Felix.
+
+The women of the community were gathered in front of the sachem's house.
+
+Lapierre went smiling to his bride and put his arm about her; but when
+he started to draw her toward Lida the latter anticipated the coming by
+running to meet them. She took the little bride in her arms.
+
+The priest, Felix, and the governor swapped looks and nods which
+indorsed an understanding that was wordless between the young women.
+
+When Lida turned from the governor's daughter she saw the governor
+himself coming toward her. He held out the cant dog; it lay across his
+palms and he tendered it respectfully.
+
+She winked the mist of tears from her eyes and struggled with a
+hysterical desire to babble many words.
+
+"Hush!" warned the priest. "We all know!"
+
+There, in a golden silence, she realized how cheap and base was the
+clinking metal of speech that had been the currency of herself and
+others in the crowded town.
+
+The river, slowed by the deadwater, was mute, though its foam streaks
+showed where it had crashed through the gorges above. A few chickadees
+chirruped bravely. There were no other sounds while the girl took the
+Flagg scepter in her own hands.
+
+She walked with Felix to the shore, where the flotilla of canoes lay
+upturned at the pull-out place. Again the Oronos were assigned to her,
+and she was comforted much because they no longer seemed like strangers.
+
+"Au revoir!" called Father Leroque when the canoes were afloat on the
+brown flood. "I'm making haste to the Tomah, mam'selle, to keep my
+promise!"
+
+He had already accomplished so much for her! In her new thanksgiving
+spirit she was finding it easy to believe that he could bring about what
+her self-acknowledged love for Latisan so earnestly desired.
+
+In single file, holding close to the shore, the canoes went toward the
+north. There was no talk between those who paddled; against the brown
+shore the canoes were merely moving smudges.
+
+Rufus Craig, coming down the middle of the deadwater in one of the
+great bateaus of the Comas company, paid no attention to the smudges.
+The bateau rode high and rapidly on the flood that moved down the
+channel. Craig was writing in his notebook and four oarsmen were obeying
+his command to dip deep and pull strong.
+
+Craig had met Ben Kyle by appointment at the foot of the Oxbow portage
+and he had found Kyle to be particularly malevolent and entirely
+willing--and Kyle had gone north to the Flagg drive in the pay of the
+Three C's.
+
+It had been a profitable interview, as Director Craig viewed it.
+
+Now he was chasing along the trail of rumor to Adonia; the rumor was
+encouraging. If Latisan really had been pried out of the section, Craig
+saw an opportunity to run back to New York to make a private settlement
+with Mern and enjoy a little relaxation before the pressing matters of
+the drive in full swing claimed all his attention. Right then, according
+to all appearances, the Comas business up-country was doing very well in
+the hands of the understrapper bosses. Therefore, Director Craig smiled
+over the pages of his notebook.
+
+The brown smudges in single file went on and on. Noon at the foot of the
+portage at Oxbow! Lida sniffed the wood smoke of the cook fire and ate
+her lunch and drank her tea.
+
+Up the narrow trail of the gorge she followed at the rear of her men;
+the canoes, upturned on their shoulders, glistened in the sparkling
+sunshine. She was bringing real aid in a time of stress, as one of the
+Flaggs should! More and more that consciousness heartened her.
+
+Quiet water at the put-in, then rapids where the canoes were poled, the
+irons clinking on the rocks over which the turbid waters rolled; more
+calm stretches where haste was made.
+
+A night in the open at a camping site where a couch of boughs was piled
+for her under a deftly contrived shelter of braided branches of
+hemlocks.
+
+And on in the first flush of the morning toward the drive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
+
+
+Ben Kyle made "his bigness" when he went into Flagg's crew on his
+mission for Craig. He was not admitting to himself or anybody else that
+he was traitor. He blustered and bullyragged; he had been their boss and
+he had been fired without cause, he insisted. Even the loyal men did not
+presume to answer back; he had been too recently their master and the
+aura of authority still persisted. He came with a white-hot grudge and
+with rumors which he embroidered to suit his needs. Kyle had been far on
+the edge of affairs, and only the ripples of the Adonia events reached
+him. But his statement that Latisan had run away with a girl seemed to
+be certified by the drive master's continued absence. And there were
+those stories of Latisan's former weakness in the city; they had been
+sleeping; they were not dead.
+
+Kyle was hiring for the Comas company--unabashed, blatantly. He strode
+from man to man, banging heavy palm on shoulders. "Come with the real
+folks. What's old Eck Flagg to-day? You might as well be hired by a
+bottle-sucking brat in a baby carriage. Where's Latisan? You tell me his
+men went downriver to meet him; they've kept on going. He has hid away,
+dancing his doxy on his knee. Where's your pay coming from when Eck
+Flagg goes broke?"
+
+Kyle waded in the shallows where men were rolling logs, shouting to be
+heard above the roar of the waters.
+
+"We hired for a fight," said the men who hated the Comas. "But it
+doesn't look like one is going to be made."
+
+"We've always stood behind Eck Flagg," said the old stand-bys of the
+crew. "But we ain't getting a square chance for honest work."
+
+It was plain that the spirit was being beaten out of them under the
+hammer of Kyle's harangue--whether it was the adventurous spirit which
+craved fight or the honest spirit which had sent them north to the job.
+
+When the night came down, after they had cleaned their pannikins of
+food, steaming hot, from the cook's kettles, while they smoked around
+the fire which drove away the evening chill, Kyle paced to and fro among
+the groups, declaiming, detracting, and urging. He knew that he was
+prevailing, though slowly. Woodsmen in shifting their allegiance are not
+swayed by sudden impulse. His voice rang among the trees in the silence
+of the evening.
+
+"Latisan is a sneak--Latisan is a runaway! Eck Flagg is next to a dead
+man!" Over and over he made those declarations, battering discouragement
+into their slow comprehension in order to win them to the Comas company.
+"And Latisan has thrown down real men for the sake of a girl! Do you
+want to get the Big Laugh when you show yourselves downriver?"
+
+Voyagers who came from the southward, leaving their canoes below the
+falls, moved silently, after the fashion of the Tarratines. They halted
+on a shadowed slope within the range of Kyle's raucous voice, and Lida
+stepped forward to listen. The red flames lighted a circle among the
+trees, and she beheld the seated groups and saw the swaggering
+malcontent who paced to and fro.
+
+"I'm with the Three C's now, first, last, and all the time! Their money
+is waiting for you, men. Come, with the real folks, I tell you!"
+
+And again, with even more fantastic trimmings, he set forth the story of
+Latisan's flight with a girl who had seduced him from his duty in the
+north.
+
+Lida snatched the Flagg cant dog from the hands of Felix; he had been
+the bearer of her scepter. He blinked when he looked at her. The
+far-flung light of the camp fire, reflected in her eyes, had set
+veritable torches there. Her lips were apart and her white teeth were
+clenched and her face was ridged with resolution.
+
+There was no mistaking the intention which righteous anger had stirred
+in her, but when she started down the slope Felix leaped and ventured to
+restrain her with a touch on her arm. "Is it well to let the Comas know
+that you are here or what you are going to do? Pardon, mam'selle, but
+think!"
+
+"The lies! The lies!"
+
+"Yes, mam'selle, but you can tell them the truth when he is not there to
+hear."
+
+"But now he is there, and I cannot go to the men."
+
+"In a little while you may go; he will not be there. And if he does not
+know what is going on up here, after his back is turned, maybe we shall
+have day after day to push our logs in ahead of all the others,"
+explained the riverman. "They will be days worth much." Then with the
+imagery of his race he added, "Those days will be gold beads on our
+rosary, mam'selle!" He smiled into her eyes, from which the fires were
+departing. "Please wait here with the the others."
+
+He whispered to several of the Indians; when he sauntered down the slope
+the four summoned Tarratines stole to right and left, masking themselves
+in the shadows, flanking the champion who was going alone.
+
+Most of the men of the crew recognized Felix Lapierre when he walked
+into the circle of light. They leaped up, surrounded him, their mouths
+full of hilarious congratulation, of excuses why they had not attended
+the wedding, of awkward jokes and questions. They could not understand
+why he had come north so soon. He shook his head, mildly refusing to
+satisfy their curiosity.
+
+Kyle stood for a time; then he resumed his pacing. He no longer had
+listeners. Like children, the rivermen were wholly absorbed in a new
+toy--a bridegroom who had so suddenly deserted the handsomest girl
+between Adonia and The Forks.
+
+"Oh, let him alone," advised Kyle, whetting his new grouch. "If they
+ain't running away _with_ girls in this region, they're running away
+_from_ 'em!"
+
+Felix swung around and faced the speaker. "Do you speak of me?" he
+asked, quietly.
+
+"Take it that way if you want to."
+
+"Your tongue seems to be very busy, I have that to say to you. From up
+there on the hill I heard what you have to say about M'sieu Latisan,
+that he has run away with a girl."
+
+"And he has."
+
+"You lie!"
+
+That retort snapped the trigger on Kyle's inflamed temper. "You
+damnation squaw man!" he yelped, and drove a blow at the French
+Canadian; and Felix, following the fighting custom of his clan of the
+Laurentian Valley, ducked low, leaped high, and kicked Kyle under the
+hook of the jaw. It was the _coup a pied_. Kyle staggered and went down.
+When he struggled up and weakly attacked again, the antagonist met him
+face to face and smashed a stunning blow between Kyle's eyes; he fell
+and remained on his back.
+
+"One for me, and one for my wife he has insult'," cried Felix. He spun
+around, searching their faces. "Do any of you like to back him up?"
+
+"Not on your life," said a spokesman. "He doesn't belong in this crew."
+
+"I'm much oblige'," said Felix, politely. He whistled, and the four
+Indians rushed out from the shadows. "If he is not of the crew, then if
+he goes away it does not matter."
+
+He commanded the Indians, and they lifted Kyle and started off with him.
+
+"He'll not be hurt," Felix assured the men of the crew. "He'll go down
+the river where it's better for him."
+
+Nobody offered protest. They were glad to be rid of that bellowing,
+insistent voice of the trouble-maker.
+
+Their attention was wholly engaged with the involuntary departure of
+Kyle, and they did not observe Lapierre when he walked away; they turned
+to ask more questions, to be informed what this abduction signified, but
+Felix was nowhere to be seen. Men called but he did not reply.
+
+Babble of comment and argument! It was a picked fight--anybody could see
+that. Why should Lapierre come north in the Flagg interests? Lapierre
+had never worked in a Flagg crew. It was begun so suddenly and was ended
+so soon! A minute's flash of drama against the background of the night,
+into which they stared with searching eyes while they made clamor like
+quacking ducks that had been startled from sleep by a prowler! Curiosity
+was lashing them. They were wonted to their reckless adventure in the
+white water; it had become dull toil. This affair was something real in
+the way of excitement, with a mystery which tantalized them. Again they
+called into the night, seeking an explanation.
+
+The prologue by which the Comas agent had been removed as tempter and
+tale-bearer had not been staged by Felix for calculated effect; he had
+thought only of getting Kyle out of the way. But never was an audience
+in more keenly receptive mood for a sequel than were those men who
+crowded closely in the patch of camp-fire radiance and asked questions
+of one another.
+
+To them when they were in that mood came one who made the drama more
+poignant. They were hushed, they blinked uncertainly, they found it
+unreal, unbelievable.
+
+For here was a girl, far north at the head of the drive in the season
+of the roaring waters. She came slowly from the night and stood at the
+edge of the circle of light. She was wearing Latisan's jacket and
+cap--there was no mistaking the colors, the checkings and the stripes; a
+drive master needs to signal his whereabouts to a crew just as a fire
+captain must make himself conspicuous by what he wears.
+
+They glanced at her garb, amazed by it. Then her face claimed all their
+attention, for she said to them, her voice steady, her eyes meeting
+theirs frankly, "I have overheard the talk a man has just made about a
+girl who coaxed Ward Latisan away from his work here. I am the girl."
+
+It seemed as if men had been holding their breath since her appearance;
+in the profound silence the exhalations of that breath could be heard.
+
+"But Ward Latisan did not run away with me from his duty. My being here
+answers that lie. And I have even a better answer--a reason why I would
+be the last one in the world to interfere willingly with his work this
+spring." She stepped close to them, nearer the fire, so that they could
+see what she held forth, tightly clutched in both hands. "This is
+Echford Flagg's cant dog--he told me it would be known by all his men.
+He gave it into my keeping for a sign that he has sent me north. And I
+have a right to carry it. I am Lida Kennard. I am Echford Flagg's
+granddaughter."
+
+Behind her came crowding the Tarratines.
+
+"Men have deserted from your crew. Here are others to take their
+places," she announced with pride.
+
+She was dealing with men who were bashed by utter stupefaction; she
+noted it and her self-reliance grew steadier. She drove the point of the
+cant dog into the soft duff with a manner after the heart of Flagg
+himself. She spread her freed hands to them in appeal. "I have come here
+to tell you the truth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
+
+
+Latisan had pitched the tune for that drive when he started it.
+
+It was a tune in quick tempo, with the staccato clangor of the kettle
+drums of the dynamite when he burst the icy sheathing of the waters in
+order to dump the first logs in.
+
+When he was on the job the directing wand of his pick pole kept
+everything jumping.
+
+Even when he was away for a few days his men toiled with the spirit that
+he had left with them. They had adopted his cause and shared his
+righteous resentment against the tactics of the Three C's.
+
+They were able to work on without his guidance, after a fashion, but for
+the fight that was ahead of them down the river they had depended on his
+captainship. Therefore, Kyle with his scandals and reports and his
+urging had been in a way to break down their morale. When they
+reflected, they realized it. And it had been a wicked thing to face--the
+prospect that they might quit! With Latisan of the Latisans present with
+them, pursuing an honest vengeance, there were lift and sweep and swing
+which made their toil an adventure rather than plain drudgery.
+
+Then that day when rumor and Kyle and Latisan's protracted absence had
+nigh killed courage!
+
+But then, the inspiring night which had brought the granddaughter of
+Echford Flagg with her story, her confession, her plea, and her still
+strong faith in the awakening of Ward Latisan when he was able to know
+the truth! She did not gloss her own involuntary fault; she was frank in
+the statement that she loved the man whom she had harmed by her mistake.
+She knew it was the truth; she took them into her confidence. Then there
+was more than mere courage in the men of the drive--they were sharers in
+the spirit of romance which put the dynamic zeal of fanatics behind
+those logs. The girl's cause was linked with Latisan's and was a
+compelling force.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Like racing horses the Flagg timber rushed along, crowding the river
+from side to side.
+
+The stream drives, breaking the bonds of the ice, had caught the top
+pitch of the floods and were hurled into the boiling rapids.
+
+But there was more than the mere thrust of the roaring waters behind
+those tumbling logs.
+
+The Flagg drive had a soul that year!
+
+It was what the Comas corporation lacked.
+
+Behind the Flagg logs were honest men, pityingly loyal--still to
+Latisan--and behind the toilers was a dominating spirit that was a
+combination of courage, wild enthusiasm, loyalty, and devotion in a
+campaign that now was entered upon with tempestuous fervor in the
+presence of Lida Kennard. When that fervor went smashing against the
+Three C's crowd the men who were animated only by a corporation's wages
+became cowards and stepped aside and gave the champions the right of
+way.
+
+The slogan of Flagg men was, "Gangway for the girl!"
+
+They had taken up her cause; they had enrolled themselves with a perfect
+abandon of all considerations of self; for them, getting down that
+timber was merely a means to a much-desired end.
+
+They were recklessly determined to help the girl make good! That was the
+urgeful sentiment which their thoughts inscribed on the invisible
+oriflamme of the warfare that was waged for the new Joan along the
+waters of the Noda.
+
+It was not especially because she was the granddaughter of Echford
+Flagg. His wages had never bought more than perfunctory service from
+crews. She was herself--and she had confessed her debts.
+
+When she told them why she was wearing Latisan's cap and jacket, when
+she owned to her error and laid the blame on herself, when she pleaded
+with them to help her in undoing the bitter mischief, she won a devotion
+that questioned nothing.
+
+"Men, he will come back. He will understand it all when he is himself
+again. And if you and I are able to show him that we have done his work
+well he will hold up his head once more as he has a right to do."
+
+"God bless ye, girl, ye can't keep yourself apart from Latisan in this
+thing," declared an old man. "It's for the two o' ye that we do our work
+from now on! And it's for all of us, as well! For we'll ne'er draw happy
+breaths till we can stand by and see you meet him on the level--eye to
+eye--like one who has squared all accounts between you two! And the old
+grands'r, as well. What say, boys?"
+
+But cheers could not serve their emotions then. They pulled off their
+caps and scrubbed their rough hands across their jackets and walked to
+her in single file and shook her hand in pregnant silence.
+
+And then the timber went through; the drive was beating all the past
+records.
+
+When they needed water they took it. They blew their own dams and were
+very careless with dynamite when they came upon other dams of whose
+ownership they were not so sure.
+
+"You see, miss, rights are well mixed up all through this region," said
+old Vittum, who had been spokesman for his fellows on her first meeting
+with them. He gave her a demure wink. "The main idea is, God is making
+this water run downhill just now, and it doesn't seem right for mortal
+man to stop it from running."
+
+They "manned the river," as the drivers say. That meant overlapping
+crews, day and night.
+
+No squad was out of sight of another; a yell above the roar of the flood
+or a cap brandished on the end of a pike pole summoned help to break a
+forming jam or to card logs off ledges or to dislodge "jillpokes" which
+had stabbed their ends into the soggy banks of the river. Men ate as
+they ran and they slept as they could. Some of them, snatching time to
+eat, sitting on the shore, went sound asleep after a few mouthfuls and
+slumbered with their faces in their plates till a companion kicked them
+back into wakefulness. They grinned and were up again!
+
+As for Lida Kennard, she was treated with as much tender care as if she
+were a reigning princess on tour. She protested indignantly because
+they would not allow her to rough it along with them. They made soft
+beds of spruce tips at their camping sites and they gave her the post of
+honor in a big bateau.
+
+In the rush of affairs she did not pause to wonder whether she was
+offending any of the proprieties by staying on with the drive; she had
+become the Flagg spirit incarnate and was not troubling herself with
+petty matters.
+
+Old Vittum and Felix were her advisers, and they prized her presence as
+an asset of inestimable value; she allowed them to think for her in that
+crisis.
+
+"It's a tough life, miss, the best we can make it for you," admitted
+Vittum. "But if you can stick and hang till Skulltree is passed it means
+that the boys will keep the glory of doing in 'em!"
+
+From rendering service according to her ability they could not prevent
+her, though the men protested. She helped the cooks. Hurrying here and
+there, following the scattered men of the crews, she tugged great cans
+of hot coffee. When the toilers saw her coming and heard her voice they
+took desperate chances on the white water, jousting with their pike
+poles like knights in a tourney.
+
+She put into the hearts of the crew the passion of derring do!
+
+The drive that spring was not a sordid task--it was high emprise, it was
+a joyous adventure!
+
+Then the logs which had raced in the rapids came to the upper reaches of
+the slow deadwater of the flowage of the Skulltree dam; the flowage
+reached far back that year.
+
+At Skulltree was the crux of the situation, as Flagg had insisted,
+ragefully.
+
+From the early days there had been a dam at that point; it was common
+property and conserved the water to be loosed to drive logs over the
+shallow rapids below.
+
+The Three C's had spent more money on that dam, claiming that bigger
+drives needed extra water. The dam had been raised. The flowage vastly
+increased the extent of the deadwater, slowing the logs of the
+independents, whose towage methods were crude. The changes which had
+been made needed the sanction of impending legislation, required the
+authority of a charter for which application had been made. In the
+meantime the Three C's were holding the water and would be impounding
+logs; these logs were to be diverted through the new, artificial canal.
+
+In asserting their rights the corporation folks were endangering the
+independent drives which were destined for the sawmills of the Noda.
+
+Day by day, as the drive went on, the girl listened to the talk among
+her men until she understood, in some measure, the situation. All the
+reckless haste was made of no account unless their logs were to be
+permitted to pass the Skulltree dam.
+
+Vittum explained to her that the law was still considering the question
+of "natural flowage." The dam had been changed from time to time in past
+years until the matter was in doubt.
+
+"But the way the thing stands now there ain't much of that nat'ral
+flowage," he told her. "I claim that we have the right to go through,
+law or no law. Word was served early on Latisan that he must hold up at
+Skulltree this year and wait for the law."
+
+"Did he say what he proposed to do?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, miss! I'll have to be excused from repeating what he said, in the
+way he said it, but the gist of it was that he was going through. He
+said he would use some kind of flowage, and hoped that when the lawyers
+got done talking in court it would be decided that the aforesaid nat'ral
+flowage was the kind that had been used by him."
+
+She pulled off Ward's cap and turned it about in her hand, surveying it
+judiciously. "I can seem to see just how he looked when he said it."
+
+"He said it loud, miss, because the man he was talking to was a good
+ways off. He was a sheriff. He couldn't get very nigh to Latisan. We was
+holding the man off with our pick poles because he was trying to serve a
+paper."
+
+"An injunction?"
+
+"I don't know," confessed the relator mildly. "Somehow, none of us
+seemed to be at all curious that day to find out what it was. Sheriff
+nailed it to a tree and then somebody touched a match to it. Latisan
+said he reckoned it must have been an invitation to Felix's wedding, but
+it was just as well that nobody ever read it, because the crew was too
+busy to go, anyway!"
+
+"Are Comas men guarding Skulltree dam?"
+
+"They sure are, miss!"
+
+She and the old man were seated on the shore of the deadwater. The
+evening dusk was deepening.
+
+Near them the cook's fires were leaping against the sides of the
+blackened pots; in the pungent fragrance of the wood smoke which drifted
+past there were savory odors which were sent forth when the cook lifted
+off a cover to stir the stew. The peacefulness of the scene was
+profound; that peace, contrasted with the prospect of what confronted
+her men if Flagg's logs were to go through, stirred acute distress in
+the girl. Coming down through the riot of waters she had not had time to
+think. Their logs were ahead; the laggards of the corporation drive were
+following. She had wondered because even the cowards, as they had shown
+themselves to be, had not put more obstructions in the way. There had
+been abortive interference, but it was evident that the Three C's had
+been making the first skirmishes perfunctory affairs, depending on
+dealing the big blow at Skulltree.
+
+In the Flagg crew it was a subject for frequent comment that Rufus Craig
+had not appeared in the north country to take command of his forces in
+those parlous times when the Three C's interests were threatened. In
+council Lida and her advisers began to wonder how much information
+regarding the Flagg operations had filtered to the outside or whether
+the defeated Comas bosses were not apprehensively withholding word to
+headquarters that they had been beaten in the race on the upper waters.
+
+"Craig would be here before this if he knew what was going on," averred
+Vittum. "They're either ashamed or scared to send him word, and they
+think it can all be squared for 'em at Skulltree." He sighed and turned
+his eyes from her anxious stare.
+
+Near her were rivermen who were waiting for their suppers. She was aware
+of a very tender feeling toward those men who had been risking their
+lives in the rapids in order to indulge her in a hope which she had made
+known to them. She reflected on what the sarcastic Crowley had said when
+he told her that in that region she was among he-men. "If you're not
+careful, you'll start something you can't stop," he had threatened.
+Could she stop these men from going on to violent battle? Would she be
+honest with her grandfather and Latisan if she did try to prevent them
+from winning their fight? All past efforts would be thrown away if
+Skulltree dam were not won.
+
+Out on the deadwater were several floating platforms; the men called
+them "headworks." On the platforms were capstans. The headworks were
+anchored far in advance of the drifting logs, around which were thrown
+pocket booms; men trod in weary procession, circling the capstans,
+pushing against long ashen bars, and the dripping tow warp hastened the
+drift of the logs.
+
+As the men of the sea have a chantey when they heave at a capstan, so
+these men of the river had their chorus; it floated to her over the
+quiet flood.
+
+    Come, all, and riffle the ledges! Come, all, and bust the jam!
+    And for aught o' the bluff of the Comas gang we don't give one
+                good--
+          Hoot, toot and a hoorah!
+    We don't give a tinker's dam!
+
+"That's exactly how they feel, miss," said the old man. "They're on
+their way. They can't be stopped."
+
+But the declaration depressed rather than cheered her. Those men had
+taken up her cause valiantly and with single-hearted purpose, and she
+was obliged to assume responsibility for what they had done and what
+they would do to force the situation at Skulltree. In the rush of the
+drive, with the logs running free, the river was open to all and
+Latisan's task was in the course of fulfillment and the Flagg fortunes
+were having fair opportunity in the competition. But now competition
+must become warfare, so it seemed. She shrank from that responsibility,
+but she could not evade it--could not command those devoted men to stop
+with the job half finished.
+
+The priest's promise to find Latisan had been living with her, consoling
+the hours of her waiting. Her load had become so heavy that her yearning
+for Latisan's return had become desperate and anguished.
+
+The slow drag of the logs in the deadwater gave her time for pondering
+and she was afraid of her thoughts.
+
+She was not accusing Latisan of being an inexcusable recreant where duty
+was concerned; she was understanding in better fashion the men and the
+manners of the north country and she realized the full force of the
+reasons for his flight and why the situation had overwhelmed him. Her
+pity and remorse had been feeding her love.
+
+But the priest had promised. Latisan must know. Why did he not come to
+her and lift the dreadful burden in her extremity?
+
+Old Vittum, sitting on a bleached trunk among the dry kye stranded on
+the shore, plucked slowly the spills of a pine tassel, staring down
+between his knees. "You've seen how they have worked, miss, for every
+ounce that's in 'em. But I don't know how they'll fight if they don't
+have a real captain--a single head to plan--the right man to lead off.
+Latisan's that! Half of 'em came north because they figured on him. I've
+been hoping. But I'm sort of giving up."
+
+"I don't like to hear you say that," she cried. "As soon as he knows the
+truth he will come to us. Father Leroque promised to carry that truth to
+him."
+
+"Providing the priest can find him in the Tomah country--yes, you have
+said that to me and I've been cal'lating to see Latisan come tearing
+around a bend in the river most any minute ever since you told me. But
+Miah Sprague, the fire warden, went through to-day. I've been hating to
+report to you, miss, for I'm knowing to it how you feel these days; your
+looks tell me, and I'm sorry. But Sprague has come from the Tomah and he
+tells me that Ward Latisan hasn't been home--hasn't been heard from.
+Nobody knows where he is. That is straight from Garry Latisan, because
+Garry is starting a hue and a cry and asked Miah to comb the north
+country for news."
+
+She did not reply. She was not sure that there was a touch of rebuke in
+the old man's mournful tones, but she felt that any sort of reproach
+would be justified. She had never made a calm analysis of the affair
+between herself and Latisan, to determine what onus of the blame rested
+on her and how much was due to the plots and the falsehoods of Crowley.
+She clung to her sense of fault in order to spur herself to make good;
+that same sense, a heritage from a father, had served vicariously in
+rousing her spirit to battle for her grandfather.
+
+"I hope you're going to keep up your grit, miss," urged Vittum. "We'll
+do our best for you--but I ain't lotting much on Latisan's showing up
+again. It's too bad! It'll break his heart when he finds out at last
+what he has been left out of and what a chance he has missed."
+
+Like many another, she had, at times, dreamed vividly of falling from
+great heights. That was her sensation then, awake, when she heard that
+Ward Latisan was not to be found. Despair left her numb and quivering.
+Till then she had not realized how greatly her hope and confidence in
+his final coming had counted with her. She had not dared to think that
+his anger would persist; it had seemed to be too violent to last.
+However, it was plain that rage had overmastered the love he had
+proclaimed. Lida was very much woman and felt the feminine conviction
+that a lover would be able to find her if his heart were set on the
+quest. There was only a flicker of a thought along that line; it was
+mere irritation that was immediately swept away by her pity for him. She
+was able to comprehend man's talk then--she knew what Vittum meant when
+he spoke of the chance that was missed--and she understood how Ward
+Latisan would mourn if he heard too late what the struggle that year on
+the Noda waters signified in the case of the girl for whom he had
+professed love.
+
+She could not talk with the old man; she stumbled across the dry kye,
+threw herself on her couch of boughs, and pressed her palms over her
+ears to keep out the threat in the song of the men who toiled around and
+around the capstan post, drawing the Flagg logs in their slow,
+relentless passage to the scene of the promised conflict at Skulltree.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
+
+
+"I'll be cursed if I don't think I ought to hire a real detective and
+put him onto the inside affairs in this office," was Chief Mern's ireful
+opinion after he had listened to Crowley and Miss Elsham when they
+reported in from the north country. They were voluble in their own
+behalf, but their talk was slippery, so the chief felt. They were also
+voluble in regard to Lida Kennard, but Mern found himself more than ever
+enmeshed in his guesswork about that mysterious young lady.
+
+Crowley kept shifting off the topic onto his own prowess, patting
+himself on the breast and claiming all the credit for getting Latisan
+off his job.
+
+Miss Elsham, on her part, kept lighting fresh cigarettes and was
+convincing on only one point: "No more wild men of the woods for me.
+Never again in the tall timber. I'll do night and day shifts in the
+cafes if you ask me to. And I've got a knickerbocker suit that's for
+sale!"
+
+Mern had several interviews with the two, trying to understand.
+
+When the blustering Crowley was present Miss Elsham allowed him to claim
+all the credit and made no protest.
+
+Alone with Mern, she declared that Buck was a big bluff, but she was not
+especially clear in her reports on his methods.
+
+"But what has become of Kennard?"
+
+"I don't know. Lynched, maybe. They were threatening to do it to Buck
+and me before we got away."
+
+One thing seemed to be true--Mern had a wire from Brophy in reply to an
+inquiry: Ward Latisan had gone away and was staying away.
+
+And Rufus Craig, arriving in the city, telephoned the same information
+to the chief and promised to call around and settle.
+
+Crowley was informed of that confirmation, and grinned and again patted
+his breast and claimed the credit.
+
+"All right," allowed the chief, "you're in for your slice of the fee.
+But if you're lying about Kennard I'll make you suffer for deserting
+her."
+
+"I stand by what I have said. She was double-crossing us."
+
+Later, Crowley began to inquire casually from time to time whether Miss
+Kennard had sent in any word. He was not good at concealing his
+thoughts, and he was manifestly worried by the prospect of possible
+developments, but Mern was not able to pin him down to anything
+specific. As a matter of fact, Crowley had not fathomed the mystery of
+Miss Kennard's actions in Adonia and was not in a way to do so by any
+processes of his limited intelligence; he admitted as much to himself.
+
+He was clumsy in his efforts to extract from the chief something in
+regard to the report which supposedly had been sent in by Miss Kennard,
+and Mern's suspicions were stirred afresh. He gave Crowley no
+information on that point; one excellent reason why he did not do so
+was this: Miss Kennard had not sent in any report. Mern was still
+waiting to hear from her as to certain details; he wanted to talk with
+her. Crowley ventured to state that she had left Adonia, and he
+suggested that she was on the trail of Latisan. The operative, pressed
+for reasons why she was still pursuing Latisan, if the drive master had
+been separated from his job by Crowley, averred that, according to his
+best judgment, the girl had gone crazy. That statement did not satisfy
+Mern, but it enabled Crowley to avoid tripping too often over
+inconsistencies.
+
+Under those circumstances the uneasy feeling persisted in Chief Mern
+that the Latisan case was not finished, in spite of Craig's compliments
+and Crowley's boasts and Miss Elsham's bland agreement as to facts as
+stated, though with avoidance of details.
+
+Mern usually shut down the cover on a case as soon as the point had been
+won; he had found in too many instances that memory nagged; he had
+assured Craig that having to do what a detective chief was called on to
+do in his business had not given him the spirit of a buccaneer.
+
+But in this case the lack of candor in his operatives disturbed him,
+though he did not presume to arraign them; he could not do that
+consistently; in the interests of his peace of mind he had always
+assured his workers that they need not trouble him with details after a
+job had been done.
+
+Crowley, mystified, had said nothing about the amazing love affair. It
+occurred to him that the protestations of Miss Kennard might have been a
+part of her campaign of subtlety, interrupted by his smashing in; he
+was more than ever convinced that his was not the kind of mind that
+could deal with subtlety.
+
+Miss Elsham never mentioned Latisan's apparent infatuation; she had been
+sent north in the role of a charmer and did not propose to confess to
+Mern that she had failed utterly to interest the woodsman.
+
+Undoubtedly the reticence of both of them was merciful; to heap this
+crowning burden upon Chief Mern's bewilderment in regard to the actions
+of a trusted employee would have disqualified him mentally for other
+cases which were coming along.
+
+Crowley loafed diligently at the Vose-Mern offices when he was not out
+on duty; there was no knowing when he might be able to turn a trick for
+the good of the concern by being on hand, he told himself, and for one
+of his bovine nature all waiting around was easy and all stalls were
+alike.
+
+Therefore, one day he was on hand to rush a quick tip to the chief.
+Crowley turned his back on a caller who entered the main office; the
+bulletin bearer hurried into Mern's presence.
+
+"It's the big boy from the bush--Latisan!"
+
+"Ugly?"
+
+"I didn't wait to see."
+
+"You have told me straight, have you, about his being a bad actor when
+he's riled?"
+
+"That's the real dope on him, Chief. Don't let him in to see you--that's
+my advice."
+
+Mern took a little time for thought, inspecting his operative narrowly.
+
+"I ain't intending to butt in, you understand," apologized Crowley,
+reddening.
+
+"I think that's good advice, speaking from the standpoint of prudence."
+
+"There's no good in hashing the thing over with him; he's off the job
+and I claim the credit and----"
+
+"But from the standpoint of curiosity," broke in Mern, relentlessly,
+"I'll be almighty glad to have a talk with him. I'll probably get some
+facts now. Shut up! If you have come back and told me all the truth I
+wouldn't be taking a chance with this man. You're to blame! Remember
+that another time. Beat it!" He jabbed his thumb in the direction of a
+door which enabled clients to leave without going back through the main
+office.
+
+"A man named Latisan," reported the door boy.
+
+"Tell him to come in."
+
+Crowley turned the knob of the catch lock and dodged out into the
+corridor.
+
+Mern stood up to receive the caller.
+
+He was not inspired by politeness. He was putting himself in an attitude
+of defense and was depending on the brawn of a man who had been a tough
+proposition when he swung his police club on a New York beat. He even
+moved a chair which might get underfoot in a rough-and-tumble. But his
+muscles relaxed when he looked at the man who entered.
+
+Latisan was deprecatory, if his manners were revealing his feelings. He
+was apologetic in his mien before he spoke; he gave Mern the impression
+of a man whose spirit was broken and whose estimate of himself had gone
+far toward condemnation. And Mern read aright! The bitter dregs of days
+and nights of doleful meditation were in Latisan--the memory of aimless
+venturings into this or that corner where he could hide away, the
+latest memory of the stale little room in a cheap New York hotel
+persisting most vividly in his shamed thoughts because he had penned
+himself there day after day, trying to make up his mind to do this or
+that--and, especially at the nadir of what he felt was his utter
+degradation, had he dwelt on the plan of ending it all, and from time to
+time had turned on a gas jet and sniffed at the evil fumes, wondering of
+what sort would be death by that means. To think that he would descend
+to that depth of cowardice! Nevertheless, he was not especially
+surprised by this weakness, even while he hated himself for entertaining
+such a base resolve. One after the other, right and left, the blows in
+his business affairs had crashed down on him. He understood those
+attacks, and he was still able to fight on. But the enemy that had
+ambuscaded him behind the guise of the first honest love of his
+experience had killed faith and pride and every tender emotion that
+enables a man to fight the ordinary battles of life.
+
+Therefore, he ventured into the presence of Mern with down-hunched
+shoulders under the sagging folds of a ready-made coat, bought from the
+pile in an up-country village.
+
+"Well, what can I do for you, sir?" demanded Mern, relieved of
+apprehension, seeing his advantage and more coldly curt than usual in
+his dealings with men whom he could bully.
+
+"I had this address," faltered Latisan; he pulled from his pocket a
+sheet of paper which had been crumpled into a mass and then folded back
+into its original creases. "I was thinking--I've been sort of
+planning--I thought I'd come around and ask you----" It was one of the
+things, this errand, for which he had been trying to summon resolution
+while he sat in the stuffy room, glancing up at the gas jet.
+
+Mern jerked away the paper, noting that its letterhead was his own. It
+was his epistle to one "Miss Patsy Jones, Adonia," demanding from her
+information as to just what she was doing as an operative for the
+Vose-Mern agency.
+
+"It's about Miss Jones. I thought I'd step in----"
+
+"Well?" demanded Mern when Latisan paused.
+
+"That's her real name, is it? I know how detectives----"
+
+"It's her real name," stated Mern, of a mind to protect her until he was
+convinced that she did not deserve protection by him.
+
+"She works for you?"
+
+"She does."
+
+"Could I see her for a few minutes--for a few words----"
+
+"I don't think so," hedged the chief. "Just why do you want to see Miss
+Jones?"
+
+"I've been thinking matters over. I did a terrible thing when I was sort
+of out of my mind. She had something to say to me and I didn't wait to
+hear it. Perhaps I have made a mistake. Now I'd like to talk with her
+and find out about something."
+
+"Just what?" probed Mern.
+
+"I can't say right now. It's between us two, Miss Jones and myself--at
+least I thought it was. I'm going to have a talk with her before I tell
+anything to anybody else." He declared that stubbornly.
+
+"How do I know what your scheme is? You're probably holding a grudge
+against one of my operatives. I can't turn her over to you to be
+harmed."
+
+Latisan straightened. "I shall not harm her by a word or a touch."
+
+"I suppose you hold a grudge against this agency, don't you?"
+
+"The Comas company--Craig, rather--hired you to do a thing, and it has
+been done. Craig is the one with a grudge; it's against me. I trigged
+him. I reckon he has a right to get even, as he looks at it, if his
+money can buy what you have to sell."
+
+"We don't like to do some of the things that are put up to us, Latisan.
+But I may as well be out and open with you. Craig paid us a lot of money
+when we broke the strike for him. We have to consider business. That's
+why we went ahead and got you, as we did. If you had been able to turn
+around and get us, I would not have held any hard feelings. It's all in
+the game." There was no especial sympathy in Mern's tone; he was
+treating a victim with a patronizing air.
+
+"I'm afraid I'm not up to tricks enough to play that game," retorted
+Latisan. "We'll have to let it stand as it is. I'm sort of trying to
+clear up my mind about the whole matter, so as to put it behind me. I
+don't want to feel that there's any mistake about Miss Jones. That's why
+I'd like to see her once more."
+
+He was showing nervous anxiety.
+
+It came to Mern that here was offered an opportunity to go even farther
+with Latisan than the contract had demanded. Now that the man had been
+pulled off the drive, a little shrewd maneuvering would hold him in New
+York, away from the Flagg interests, until the Comas folks could have
+their way. No doubt Craig would consider that the extra service was an
+acceptable bonus, over and above what the agency had done.
+
+"I'll tell you." Mern was affable. "Miss Jones is away on another case.
+She is likely to report 'most any time. The best way for you is to drop
+in each day, say around three o'clock in the afternoon. I think she will
+be glad to explain anything you're now puzzled about. You still think,
+do you, you'd better not tell me?" The chief's curiosity, his desire to
+dig into the doings of his operatives, urged him to solicit Latisan
+again. "My advice----"
+
+"I don't want it. I don't take any stock in a man who does the kind of
+work you're up to," declared Latisan, bluntly. "I don't take much stock
+in anybody, any more. I may be a fool for wanting to see that young lady
+again--but I'll call in to-morrow."
+
+"About three!" Mern reminded him, having an object in setting that hour.
+
+Latisan nodded and went away.
+
+The chief called the Comas corporation offices and got Director Craig on
+the telephone. When Mern announced his identity, Craig evidently
+supposed that it was a matter of a dun and broke in, chuckling: "I'll
+bring the check in to-morrow. I'd have done so, anyway, for I plan to
+start north right away. What's the matter, Mern? Grabbing for the coin
+because you are afraid the job isn't going to stay put?"
+
+"That isn't the idea at all. I simply want to show you something which
+will prove that the money has been well earned. I'll show you Latisan."
+
+"I don't care to meet that gentleman right now. Oh no!"
+
+"I'll plant you where you won't be seen. You can view Exhibit A. I think
+I'll be able to promise that Latisan is going to stay here in New York.
+That ought to make you feel safer when you go back north into the
+jungle. No tiger behind a tree!"
+
+"Say, I'll hand you that check like daddy giving a stick of candy to the
+baby!" said Craig with hearty emphasis. "I'll own up that I have been
+killing time here in the city, waiting to get a line on Latisan--where
+he is. I have found that he's a lunatic when he's ugly--and there's no
+telling how far a grudge will drive a man in the big woods. So he's here
+in town?"
+
+"Yes, and I'm rigging hopples to keep him here, I tell you. Come in at
+two forty-five. See the tame tiger!"
+
+Then Mern called in Crowley, who was very ill at ease, but was
+obstinately and manifestly at bay. "Let's see. Didn't I understand you
+to say, Buck, that Miss Kennard had gone chasing Latisan?"
+
+"That's the way I figured it."
+
+"You're wrong. He's chasing her. That's why he came in here."
+
+The chief had snarled, "You're wrong," in a peculiarly offensive tone.
+Mr. Crowley, after his proclaimed success in the Latisan case, had come
+up a number of notches in self-esteem and was inclined to dispute an
+allegation that he was wrong in that matter or in anything else. He was
+provoked into disclosures by sudden resentment. "She stood out there in
+the public street and said she was in love with him and would marry him
+after the drive was down, and she grabbed up his cap and coat when he
+ran away, and if it ain't natural to suppose that she was going to chase
+him up and hand 'em over, then what?"
+
+"Look here, Crowley, what kind of a yarn is this?"
+
+"It's true."
+
+"Why didn't you tell me before?"
+
+"It didn't have anything to do with the case, as I was working it. It
+was a side issue!" Crowley raised his voice, insisting on his own
+prowess. "The idea was to get him off the job--and I did it. I
+claim----"
+
+"You infernal, damnation lunkhead, get out of my office till I calm
+down," raged the chief.
+
+He yelped at Crowley when the operative was at the door: "Go hunt up
+Elsham and bring her here. It looks to me as if Kennard was foxier than
+the dame I sent, and has turned the trick in her own way."
+
+"I ain't afraid of questions," declared the operative. "They'll only
+bring out that I'm right when I claim the credit."
+
+He hastened to shut the door behind him. Mern acted as if he were
+looking for a missile.
+
+"But where is she? Why in the blue blazes doesn't she report in?"
+muttered the chief, worriment wrinkling his forehead. On the face of
+things, it seemed that, valuable as Miss Kennard had been as
+confidential secretary, she was still more valuable as a skillful
+operative--and Chief Mern was earnestly desirous of having her back on
+the job.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
+
+
+Chief Mern's interview with his two operatives the next forenoon did not
+yield the solid facts he was after. They disputed each other. Miss
+Elsham insisted that she had had Latisan on the run and claimed that his
+apparent involvement with Miss Kennard was merely a silly and fleeting
+flirtation with one whom he supposed was a table girl in a tavern.
+
+"You gave me his character, all written out," insisted Miss Elsham.
+"He's that kind. He didn't dare to presume with me as he would with a
+girl in a dining room; but I was getting along all right till Crowley
+butted in." She turned spitefully on that monopolizer and meddler. "And
+now don't stand there and say again that you claim the credit. I'll slap
+your face!"
+
+Miss Elsham lied so strenuously that she was convincing.
+
+Crowley, trying hard to tell the truth for once, stammered and stumbled
+over the amazing details of the lovemaking between Latisan and Miss
+Kennard. The chief found the really veracious recital beyond belief.
+
+"She wouldn't offer to marry him, standing there in public," stormed
+Mern. "I know Kennard. She isn't that sort. I'll go to the bottom of
+this thing, even if it means a trip for me to that God-forsaken tank
+town. I'd give a thousand dollars to see Lida Kennard walk in through
+that door. I was never so worried about anything in all my life," he
+lamented. "Crowley, you deserted the most valuable person I have ever
+had in my office--and God knows what has happened to her." He sent them
+away.
+
+"What does it get anybody to tell the truth?" grumbled Crowley.
+
+"Nothing, when it sounds so ridiculous as the truth in this case,"
+averred Miss Elsham. "Everybody seems to go crazy up in the tall
+timbers. Give me the tall buildings for mine after this."
+
+In high good humor Rufus Craig appeared to Mern that afternoon a little
+before three o'clock. He sat down, pulled out the slide leaf of Mern's
+desk, and produced a check book. "No need my seeing Exhibit A before
+settling. Tell me the expense account. I'll include everything in one
+check."
+
+With pen poised, waiting until the figures were brought in, the Comas
+man expressed his satisfaction. "There were three on the job, so I was
+told in Adonia when I came through. That's all right, Mern. I expected
+you to use your own judgment. I didn't have much time in Adonia--grabbed
+what information I could while waiting for the train to start--but it's
+a sure bet that Latisan is off for good. From what I heard it was your
+Miss Jones who really put it over--gave Latisan what they call up there
+the Big Laugh. Now who the blazes is this Miss Jones?"
+
+"An operative of ours," the chief replied, with repression of enthusiasm
+decidedly in contrast with Craig's indorsement of her. Mern did not dare
+to be other than vague, leaving Lida Kennard's identity concealed until
+he could understand something about the inside affairs in his agency.
+The reflection that he was still in the dark--could not talk out to a
+client as a detective should--was stirring his sour indignation more and
+more.
+
+"I'd like to meet her," urged the director. "She must be a wonder. A
+great actress, I should judge, from what I was told in Adonia."
+
+"She's having her vacation just now."
+
+"Look here, Mern! I'm going to stick a couple of hundred more onto this
+check. Send it along to her and tell her to have an extra week or a new
+dress at my expense. I've made a side-line clean-up on the Tomah this
+season and money is easy with me." That was as explicit as Craig cared
+to be in regard to the deal with the Walpole heir. Still poising his
+pen, the director turned expectant gaze on the door when the knob was
+turned; a flurried, fat girl whose manner showed that she was new to the
+place had received Mern's orders about the figures; now she came
+bringing them.
+
+Craig frowned while he wrote the check after the girl had retired.
+
+He was a bit pettish when he snapped his check book shut. "Say, Mern, I
+always like to see that Kennard girl when I come into your office. I
+like her looks. I like the way she puts out her hand to a man."
+
+"I'm sorry she isn't here. But she's--she's out--sick."
+
+"Good gad! I hope it's nothing serious." Craig showed real concern.
+
+"Oh no! Just a--a rather severe cold." The chief was having hard work
+to conceal his mental state--being obliged to lie that way, like a fool,
+in order to hide the mystery in his own office!
+
+"Give me her street number. I'll send up a bunch of flowers."
+
+"She is out with some friends in the country to get clean air. I don't
+know the address."
+
+Mern perceived that more questions were coming. Craig was frankly
+revealing his interest in Miss Kennard.
+
+The chief pulled out his watch; he had a good excuse for changing an
+embarrassing subject. "Latisan is about due. Of course, you don't want
+to be seen. I'll post you in one of the side consulting rooms."
+
+"It seems rather silly, this spying," remonstrated Craig. "I'm taking
+your word about Latisan. I'm getting ready to start north, and have a
+lot of matters to look after."
+
+"Humor my notion," urged the chief. "He has been tamed down and I want
+you to see him. You'll understand why I believe I can keep him hanging
+around here till you have nailed things to the cross up-country."
+
+Craig showed no alacrity, but he allowed Mern to lead him to a small
+room that was separated from the main office by a ground-glass
+partition; there was a peephole at one corner of a panel. The director
+promised to wait there until the interview with Latisan was over. The
+chief said he would make it short.
+
+Latisan walked in exactly on the stroke of three; after he came up in
+the elevator he had waited in the corridor, humbly obedient to Mern's
+directions as to the hour.
+
+"Nothing doing in that matter to-day, Latisan," stated the chief,
+affecting to be busily engaged with papers on his desk. "Try me
+to-morrow, same time."
+
+"Very well, sir," agreed the young man, somberly. In prospect, another
+twenty-four hours filled with lagging minutes! He had grown to know the
+hideous torture of such hours in the case of a man who before-time had
+found the days too short for his needs.
+
+"By the way," said Mern, still hanging grimly to the desire to find out
+more about what the matter was with the office's internal affairs, "did
+anybody tell you that Miss Jones had returned to New York?"
+
+"I wired to Brophy a few days ago. He said she had come back here,
+according to what he knew of her movements."
+
+"You fell in love with her, didn't you?" The chief's tone was crisp with
+the vigor of third-degree abruptness.
+
+"Yes," admitted Latisan, showing no resentment; he had promulgated that
+fact widely enough in the north.
+
+"Just why did she urge you so strongly to go back to the drive?" The
+young man's meekness had drawn the overeager chief along to an
+incautious question.
+
+"You ought to know better than I, sir. I take it that she was obeying
+your orders about how to work the trick on me, though it isn't clear in
+my mind as yet; but I'm not a detective."
+
+"Did she promise to marry you as soon as the Flagg drive was down?"
+Still Mern was boldly taking advantage of the young man's docility.
+
+"That's true. I must admit it because it was said in public."
+
+Mern scratched his ear. The thing was clearing somewhat in Crowley's
+direction; the blunderer had not lied on one point at least--the point
+that Mern found most blindly puzzling. What in the mischief had happened
+to the nature of Lida Kennard, as Mern knew that nature, so he thought!
+
+"You remember Operative Crowley, do you?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+"Are you holding an especial grudge against him?"
+
+"I don't know why I should, sir. It's a dirty business he's in, but he
+gave me that letter which I turned over to you yesterday, and for some
+reason he exposed the trick that was being put upon me by the girl. If I
+can get at the bottom of the thing, for my own peace of mind, I'll be
+glad."
+
+Chief Mern sympathized with that sentiment!
+
+Then he took a little time for reflection. Perhaps a meeting between
+Latisan and Crowley might strike a few sparks to illuminate a situation
+that was very much in the dark.
+
+"If Crowley is around the office I'm going to ask him to step in here.
+The talk will be all friendly, I take it?"
+
+"I have nothing against Crowley, as matters stand."
+
+Latisan did not greet Crowley when the operative replied to the summons
+and walked into the private office; on the other hand, Latisan showed no
+animosity. He merely surveyed Crowley with an expression of mingled pity
+and wonderment, as if he were sorry for an able-bodied man who earned a
+living by the means which the operative employed.
+
+Crowley, at first, was not as serene as the man whom he had injured.
+
+"Latisan tells me that he holds no grudge," stated Mern, encouragingly.
+
+"I'm glad of that, Latisan. We have to play the game in this business.
+And I'm not laying it up against you, how you made a monkey of me in
+that dining room and nigh twisted my head off. Both of us know now who
+it was that rubbed our ears and sicked us at each other."
+
+The victim of the operations nodded, no especial emotion visible in his
+countenance.
+
+"Right here between us three I'll come out all frank and free,"
+continued Crowley. "I'm making a claim to the chief in this thing,
+Latisan, and I believe you'll back me up. She jumped in on me and
+Elsham--one day later from the agency than we were--and she wouldn't
+talk to me, and I'll admit I didn't have her play sized from the start.
+But she wasn't the one that turned the trick." Mr. Crowley was venturing
+rather far with the victim, but he was encouraged by Latisan's continued
+mildness and by a firm determination to set himself right with Mern, who
+had been doubting his efficiency.
+
+"As I have been looking at it, she was the one who did it," insisted the
+young man.
+
+"Now see here! Wake up!" Crowley was blustering as he grew bolder. "You
+were letting the girl wind you around her finger. What woke you up? What
+made you sore on the whole proposition up there? It was my tip to you!
+You can't deny it."
+
+"Yes, it might have been your tip," admitted Latisan, knotting his
+brows, staring at the floor, confused in his memories and puzzling over
+the mystery. "I had promised to bring down the logs because she asked me
+to keep on and do it."
+
+"There you have it!" indorsed Crowley, swinging his arm and flattening
+his thick palm in front of the chief. "I claim the credit."
+
+Crowley had become defiantly intrepid, facing that manner of man who was
+so manifestly cowed and muddled. The operative was back in his
+encouraging environment of the city; he remembered the thrust of those
+prongs of fingers on his head when he was obliged to dissemble and was
+shamed in the north country. He was holding his grudge. And he was
+assiduously backing up the claims he had made to his chief. "The girl
+you're talking about had nothing to do with pulling you off the job. She
+was double-crossing our agency."
+
+"Think so?" queried Latisan.
+
+"I know it. But I don't know what fool notion got into her up there. I
+have told Mr. Mern all about it. I'm the boy who woke you up!"
+
+"Do you agree, Latisan?" asked Mern, brusquely.
+
+"I'm not thinking clearly, sir. But if this man is right, I ought to
+apologize to her."
+
+"She is no longer employed by us, but we'll try to locate her." Mern was
+willing to come out in front of Crowley with that information; the
+situation did seem to have cleared up! "Hang around town. Come in
+again."
+
+Latisan dragged himself up from his chair.
+
+Then Crowley of the single-track mind--bull-headed blunderer--went on to
+his undoing. "I'm sorry it has come about that you've got to fire her,
+Chief. I know what a lot she was worth to you here, as long as she kept
+to her own job."
+
+"We'll let it rest," said Mern, warningly. He remembered that he had not
+posted Crowley on the fact that the sobriquet "Miss Patsy Jones" still
+hid the identity of the girl where Latisan was concerned.
+
+"All right! That suits me, Chief, so long as I get the credit. I'll shut
+up, saying only that I'm sorry for Miss Lida Kennard."
+
+Latisan had been moving slowly toward the door, aware that the
+conversation between the two pertained to their own affairs and that he
+was excluded.
+
+He halted and swung around when he heard the name of Lida Kennard. The
+torpor of idleness and woeful ponderings had numbed his wits. The name
+of Lida seemed to have been dragged into the affair by Crowley. Ward did
+not understand how she could be involved in the matter. He put that
+thought into a question which he stammered.
+
+Mern, knowing nothing about his secretary's lineage, resenting her
+secrecy and methods which he had not been able to penetrate, was not in
+a mood to shield her any longer. "It's the same girl, Latisan. She
+called herself Jones up your way. Her right name is Lida Kennard."
+
+Latisan blinked like one who had emerged from darkness into blazing
+light. He swayed slowly, breasting that deluge of the truth which
+suddenly swept through him.
+
+He walked to the window, turning his back on them, and gazed squarely
+into the quivering sun that was westering between lofty buildings. His
+eyes were enduring the unveiled sun with more fortitude than his soul
+endured the truth which had just been unveiled.
+
+This--this was the heart of the mystery!
+
+He was not meditating while he stood there; he was beholding!
+
+He saw in the white light the spirit of her sacrifice--a sacrifice which
+embraced even her submission to him; in his desolate denial of any
+worthy attributes in himself he was not admitting that she loved him. He
+realized what she had sought to achieve in the north country, why she
+could not declare herself. And he had allowed a trick to make a fool of
+him, make him a traitor to her, send him off, sneaking in byways, idling
+in dark corners, in the time of her most desperate need!
+
+Right then there was in him the awful conviction that he could not go
+and face her, wherever she was, so utterly a renegade had he shown
+himself.
+
+He was taking all the blame on himself. He had run away from a laugh--a
+fool obsessed by a silly notion of the north country--in this new light
+it seemed silly. He had not waited like a man to hear the truth from
+her! He had betrayed all the cause; he could not go back to the drive.
+
+He had listened to a lying sneak from a detective agency and had
+rebuffed, insulted, abused horribly Lida Kennard! Lida Kennard! The name
+seemed to be hammering at his eardrums. The granddaughter of Echford
+Flagg! A lone girl trying to save a cause! In her anguished desperation
+she had been willing to give herself in the way of sacrifice even to
+such a recreant as Ward Latisan must have appeared in his boyish and
+selfish resentment! Oh, the sun was cool in comparison with the fires
+which raged in him.
+
+The fatuous Crowley moved toward the window. "Well, what say, old boy?"
+
+When the young man turned slowly the operative stuck out his hand. "I'm
+agreeing with you--no grudges! Let's shake!"
+
+"Yes, you did it," said Latisan. He did not raise his voice. He was
+talking as much to himself as to Crowley. "A tip to me, you called it."
+
+"We have to do those things to get quick results," Crowley agreed,
+patronizingly. "Give us your hand, boy!"
+
+Crowley got what he asked for. He was not prepared for the amazing
+suddenness of the open-handed blow that fell on the side of his head and
+sent him staggering into a corner.
+
+Mern grabbed up the telephone. Latisan leaped and tore the instrument
+from the chief's grasp, ripped it loose from its fastenings, and hurled
+it through the ground-glass door.
+
+Mern was a big man; he had been invincible as a police officer. But when
+he leaped and struck at Latisan, the latter countered with his
+toil-hardened fist and knocked Mern down. Crowley had also served with
+the police. But he was no match for the berserker rage which had
+transformed the man from the woods. Latisan whirled again to Crowley,
+beat him to his knees, set his foot against the antagonist's breast and
+drove him violently backward, and he fell across Mern.
+
+But Latisan was not through. Men who had viewed John Latisan in the old
+days when he came roaring down to town, had they been present in the
+Vose-Mern offices that day, would have recognized in the grandson the
+Latisan temperament operating in its old form and would not have been
+surprised. The avenger picked up Mern's desk chair. He swung it about
+him, smashing everything in the room which could be smashed. He flung
+away the fragments of the chair and rushed into the outer office.
+
+The fat girl was calling for central, for police.
+
+"Hand it over!" he commanded. "And you'd all better step outside," he
+suggested, after he had torn loose the wires. "I'm using the office
+right now."
+
+He picked up the chair from which she fled. It was heavy and he used it
+to smash other furniture. Then he began to beat out the glass which shut
+off the other private rooms which adjoined the main office. In that
+process he brought the terrified Craig into view. He dropped the chair,
+reached in, and dragged Craig over the sill of the compartment. "This
+has been coming to you on the Noda waters! I'm glad you're here now to
+get it!" He held the Three C's director helpless in utter dismay, at the
+full length of a left arm, and pummeled him senseless with a right fist.
+Then he dragged him to the door of the chief's office and flung him
+across the two men who were stirring.
+
+"It's a fifty-fifty wreck--this office and me--pretty nigh total!"
+
+He walked out. Youth, strength, and an incentive which did not animate
+the others, had enabled him to prevail.
+
+Mern and Crowley struggled weakly from under the man who was pinning
+them down.
+
+"I'll get word to the cops," stuttered Crowley, holding his hand to his
+battered and bleeding lips.
+
+"Wait till Craig comes to!" protested Mern. "He may want us to hush the
+thing. He has been hollering for soft pedal all the time. He seems bad!
+Get a doctor!"
+
+The physician who came confirmed Mern's opinion as to the condition of
+the field director; Craig himself was querulously emphatic on the point
+when he had been brought to consciousness. But he insisted on postponing
+consideration of the proper action to take in Latisan's case until he
+had time to forget his aches and compose his thoughts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
+
+
+Early the next morning glaziers, carpenters, and telephone repair men
+monopolized the Vose-Mern offices to the exclusion of regular business.
+The chief had told his office force to stay away for the day.
+
+He had found one chair that was whole, and he sat and watched the "after
+the storm" effect gradually disappear.
+
+Mern's thoughts were as much in disorder as the interior he was
+surveying.
+
+Instead of feeling lively enmity in the case of Latisan, he was
+admitting to himself that he rather admired the young wildcat from the
+woods. At any rate, Latisan had accepted at face value Mern's repeated
+dictum that if the other fellow could get Mern while Mern was set on
+getting the fellow, there would be no grudges. Latisan's come-back, the
+chief reflected, was crude work, but it was characteristically after the
+style of the men of the open; and the wreck of an office was less
+disastrous than the wreck of a man's prospects and his very soul. Mern
+was not a bit of a sentimentalist, but he could see the situation
+vaguely from Latisan's standpoint. And he realized that there was still
+something behind it all which he had not come at.
+
+He was roused from his ponderings by the crunching of feet on broken
+glass, and looked up and beheld Latisan. Halted just inside the door of
+the main office was a policeman in uniform. And the officer, well known
+by Mern, caught the chief's eye and winked.
+
+Mern jumped to his feet; he was much astonished and glanced to see
+whether Latisan's fists were doubled.
+
+"Good morning, sir!" said the caller, politely. "I have come around
+early to let you know that I'm not the kind of a man who does a thing
+and runs away from the responsibility of it."
+
+With prolonged scrutiny--stares which crossed like fencing blades--the
+two principals mutely questioned each other. Latisan displayed the most
+composure. He had not the same reason as had Mern to be surprised; it
+was immediately made plain that Latisan had devoted some thought to
+preparations for the interview. He stepped closer. Even though his smile
+seemed to be meant as an assurance of amity, Mern flinched; he
+remembered that the woodsman had begun the battle the day before after a
+remark in a most placid tone.
+
+Latisan tipped his head to indicate the waiting policeman. "I brought
+him along. I asked him to come up from the street. He doesn't know what
+for."
+
+"Nor I, either!" blurted Mern.
+
+"I thought you might want me arrested on sight, and I remember what I
+did to your telephones, and I figured I'd save you the trouble of
+sending out."
+
+There was no mistaking the drive master's new mood. He was polite; he
+was contrite. The picturesque touch furnished by supplying a policeman
+suggested the Vose-Mern "anticipatory system" and appealed to the
+chief's grim sense of humor. Also, Mern was moved by that consciousness
+which warms real men, when it's a mutual acknowledgment, "He's a good
+sport."
+
+Mern waved his hand to the policeman, putting into that gesture a
+meaning which the officer understood; the officer started for the outer
+door.
+
+"Just a second!" called Latisan. He pulled out a roll of money and gave
+the policeman a bill. "You can use that to pay your fare down in the
+elevator."
+
+Latisan held the roll in sight until he and Mern were alone. "While the
+cash is out, I may as well inquire what the bill is."
+
+"For what?"
+
+"For this." The woodsman swung the hand which held the money, making a
+wide sweep to take in all the wreck.
+
+"No bill, Latisan! You can't pay a cent. I think we'll call it natural
+wear and tear in the course of business."
+
+The chief was sitting in the chair which had escaped damage. He insisted
+on the caller taking that chair; Mern sat on a carpenter's sawhorse.
+
+"Perhaps I had you going yesterday, Chief Mern, but to-day it's you who
+have got me going!" admitted Latisan, frankly mystified by this
+forbearance.
+
+"I'm only backing up the talk I have always made about giving the other
+fellow his innings if he wants to take 'em and has the grit to put it
+over. Look here, Latisan, two men are never really well acquainted till
+they've had a good run-in with their fists. You and I have been standing
+each other off on facts. Let's get down to cases. How did it happen that
+you fell for Lida Kennard so suddenly?"
+
+Ward flushed. It was a sacred subject, but he resolved to be frank with
+Mern, searching for the truth. "It was not sudden. I met her here in the
+city by accident months ago--and I must have fallen in love with her
+then. I've been admitting that I did, though I did not know her real
+name till yesterday. And I did not know she was a detective, set on my
+trail. And even now----"
+
+"You don't believe it, eh? Let me say it to you, Latisan--and get me
+right! You're a square chap and I can afford to be square, now that the
+job is done and paid for. The girl never was an operative. She was my
+confidential secretary, and the best one I ever had. Working hard here
+to pay up the debts she had incurred on account of her mother. As clean
+as a whistle, Latisan! She never told me she was going north. That
+letter you brought is one I wrote after Crowley reported that she was
+there--and I wanted to know why she was there."
+
+"I can tell you why. She is Echford Flagg's granddaughter."
+
+Mern leaped up and kicked the carpenter's bench away from him. Latisan
+rose, too, as if prepared to resent any detracting speech.
+
+"Don't trouble yourself," snapped Mern. "I'm not saying a word against
+her for what she was doing up there. I trained her myself in what she
+called the ethics of this business, and she had been practicing what I
+have preached. It's all right, Latisan."
+
+"The thing cleared itself up pretty quickly for me yesterday when I
+found out her name. But now that I know who she is I'm in hell. I ran
+away! I have left that drive----"
+
+"Aw, to blazes with your drive!" yelped Mern, with scorn. "Only logs!
+But what I want to know is this, does the girl love you?"
+
+"She told me so, but how can she have any affection for such a man as I
+have shown myself to be? I think she was sacrificing herself because she
+believed I was the one who could bring down the Flagg drive."
+
+Mern surveyed him cynically. "Say, Latisan, I hope you're not the kind
+who would bite a gold coin stolen from a dead man's eye. You woods
+fellows have too much time for joint debates with your own selves. Go
+find that girl and square yourself. I want her to have what she wants,
+if she is in love with you. That's the kind of a friend I am to her. I
+can't tell you where she is. I haven't heard from her since she walked
+out of this office. But let me say something to you! My kind of work has
+wised me up to what folks are likely to do! I'll bet a thousand dollars
+the girl hasn't run very far away from the north country, even if you
+did think it was too hot to hold you."
+
+Latisan shook his head slowly. Confidence was still chilled in him; the
+memory of what had happened was a forbidding barrier; in her case, at
+the thought of thrusting himself back into her presence, he was as
+timid to an extreme as he had been fearless in his dealings with men in
+the Vose-Mern offices.
+
+While he was wrestling with his thoughts, delivery men were wrestling
+with furniture, bringing it in through the door from the corridor,
+blocking the passage.
+
+Mern snapped his attention from Latisan, then he pushed the latter out
+of the range of vision from the corridor door.
+
+Craig was out in the corridor, cursing the furniture and the men who
+were obstructing the doorway. Craig was in a hurry and in a state of
+mind; his language revealed his feelings.
+
+"It won't do--it won't do!" insisted Mern when Latisan protested at
+being shoved behind the partition. "He mustn't see you. Hear him rave!
+I'm not staging another fight to-day. Stay in there! Crouch down! Keep
+out of sight."
+
+When Craig won his way past the blocking furniture he stormed to Mern,
+stamping across the glass-strewn floor, shaking his fists and jabbering.
+
+He was in a horrible state of rage. His face was so apoplectically
+purple that the bruises on his patched-up countenance were subdued
+somewhat by lack of contrast.
+
+"Look at me! Called down to the home office just now, looking like this.
+Lying like blazes about an automobile accident! That's what your
+invitation to view the tame tiger has done for me. But that isn't what
+I'm here for, you damnation, four-flushing double-crosser." He continued
+to berate the chief.
+
+"Say, you hold on there!" barked Mern, managing a few oaths of his own
+after struggling out of the amazement stirred by this ferocious attack.
+"If you're here to do business or to complain about the business that
+has been done, you'll have to be decent, or I'll run you out." Mern
+jutted his jaw and took two steps in Craig's direction--and Craig had
+suffered violence too recently to persist in inviting more.
+
+But he was still as acrimonious as he dared to be. Behind his rage there
+was the bitterness of a man who had been tricked out of money--betrayed
+shamefully--but Craig was so precipitate, breathless, violent, so
+provokingly vague with his tumbling words and his broken sentences, that
+Mern ceased to be angry in return and was merely bewildered.
+
+The Comas field director shook under Mern's nose a sheet of paper. He
+kept referring to the writing on the paper and vouchsafed information
+that the writing was made up of notes of a long-distance conversation
+between the woods and the New York offices of the Comas company.
+
+After a time Mern suggested with acerbity that Craig was incoherent.
+
+"I don't doubt it. I feel that way," yelped Craig. "But this message has
+come over three or four hundred miles of wire--relayed, at that, and I
+think the man who started the word from a fire-outpost station wasn't
+entirely right in his head. There's no other way of accounting for the
+statement that Ward Latisan's cap and Eck Flagg's cant dog are bossing
+the Flagg drive."
+
+"Don't get wrought up by crazy guff!"
+
+"But here are some statements that I _am_ wrought up over," declared
+the director, brandishing the paper. "I've got to believe 'em. They
+sound straight. Three of our new hold dams in streams that feed the Noda
+have been blown. The water has been used to sweep the Flagg logs in
+ahead of ours. The lip of the Tougas Lake has been blown, too, and if we
+lose that water it's apt to leave us high and dry; our Tougas operation
+is a long way in from the main river. They've shot blue blazes out of
+Carron Gorge and have taken the water along with 'em. Merry hell is to
+pay all up and down that river, Mern."
+
+The agency chief did not relish Craig's bellicose manner, nor the glare
+in his one eye that showed, nor the imputation of vindictive rebuke in
+his rasping tones.
+
+"Craig, I never saw a log in a river. I know nothing about your drives.
+Why are you pitching into me?"
+
+"Why? Why? Because this message says that the girl you sent north--the
+girl who was paid by our money--this report says that she has gone up
+there and has put the very devil into Flagg's men; is making 'em do
+things that the worst pirates on the river never dared to do before.
+What kind of a she wildcat did you hand me, anyway? Mern, a thousand
+tons of liquid fire poured into the valley of the Noda couldn't hurt us
+like that girl is hurting us. Who is she? What is she? Get your word to
+her! Call her off!"
+
+That was no time for equivocation. Craig's frenzy demanded candor and
+threatened reprisal if the truth were not forthcoming. Mern told part
+of the truth.
+
+"She has called her own self off, Craig, so far as this agency is
+concerned. I have no further control over her actions."
+
+Chief Mern was not conscious of any especial surprise after Craig had
+reported that section of his news which could be understood. The
+granddaughter of Flagg could not be expected to do other than she was
+doing. In his honest regard for the helper who had served him so long
+and efficiently, the chief was wondering whether he ought to reveal her
+identity to the Comas man, trying to estimate the danger of such a
+revelation. Craig was not stating that his news hinted who she was.
+
+As to the details of the drive, he was more explicit. He raged on while
+Mern pondered. "The Flagg drive is a week ahead of time. It must be near
+Skulltree dam. I ought to have been up there and I don't understand why
+the infernal fools have been so slow in getting word to me."
+
+He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
+
+"Look here, Mern, I never ought to do another stroke of business with
+you, but I'm in too much of a hurry to go anywhere else."
+
+The business instincts of the head of the agency were stirred; the Comas
+money had been good picking in the past. "I don't think I should be held
+responsible for an operative who has severed connections. Craig, you
+have probably made your own mistakes in depending on helpers."
+
+"Don't you make any mistake this time, Mern! I want a dozen or fifteen
+men--gunmen. Can you furnish 'em?"
+
+"Sure thing! Within an hour."
+
+"I have promised results to my folks this season. I've got to deliver.
+My job depends on it, after all the talk I've made at headquarters."
+
+"Will your headquarters back up my operatives?"
+
+"I'll do that! I'm playing this game on my own hook. There'll be no
+fight. The bluff will be enough, if I have the men. And if I have
+to--well, there's a fight between lumberjacks every season on that
+river, and there's a big wall of woods between Skulltree dam and New
+York, Mern! I'll take my chances up behind that wall. Get the men for
+me."
+
+"When are you leaving?"
+
+"One o'clock this afternoon--Grand Central."
+
+"I'll deliver the men to you there."
+
+Craig stamped away across the glass-littered floor and disappeared.
+
+"Well," averred the chief when Latisan came out from behind the
+partition, "it looks as if somebody had been attending to your job for
+you, son! Also looks as if there might be considerable more doing right
+away!"
+
+"So that's more of your devilish business, is it, sending gunmen to
+fight honest workers?" demanded the drive master, with venom.
+
+"Business is still business with me in spite of the looks of this
+office," returned Mern, unruffled. "Latisan, you can't beef about not
+getting a square deal--and I've put you in the way of getting a tip. It
+looks to me----"
+
+"Just the same as it looks to me!" cried the young man. "We're fully
+agreed as to all the looks! Good day!"
+
+He stood very straight and shot Mern through with a stare from hard gray
+eyes. There was no longer any of the faltering uncertainty that he had
+displayed. Grim determination radiated from him.
+
+"Good day to you, also!" Mern called after Latisan when he strode toward
+the door, then adding suggestively. "If any mail happens to come here
+for you, I'm to forward it along to that Skulltree dam, so I take it!"
+
+The irony did not provoke any retort from the drive master. He went away
+with a rush, but his demeanor showed that he was not running away from
+anything or anybody. He was hastening toward something.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
+
+
+Latisan was on that one o'clock train when it left Grand Central
+station.
+
+From the gallery of the concourse he had seen Craig march to the gate
+and give a packet into the hands of one of a group of men waiting there.
+Then Craig had gone on quickly with the air of a cautious performer who
+did not care to be identified with the persons for whom he had provided
+transportation.
+
+The drive master rode in a coach and felt safe from detection; he
+guessed that Craig would hide his battered face in the privacy of a
+drawing room. Latisan had trailed the operatives and saw them enter the
+smoking car.
+
+In the late afternoon, at a stage in the journey, he crossed a city on
+the heels of the party and again was an unobtrusive passenger in a
+coach, avoiding the sleeping cars. He slept a bit, as best he could, but
+mostly he pondered, fiercely awake, bitterly resolute. He fought away
+his memory of the betrayal of a trust; he indulged in no fond hopes in
+regard to one whom he now knew as Lida Kennard. He was concentrating on
+his determination to go back to the drive, not as master, but as a
+volunteer who would carry his cant dog with the rest of them, as humble
+as the plainest toiler. He did not try at that time to plan a course of
+action to be followed after he was back on the Flagg drive. He was
+going, that was all!
+
+It was a hideous threat, the menace that Craig was conveying into the
+north country in the persons of those gunmen from the city! There had
+been plenty of fights over rights on the river, but they had always been
+clean fights, where muscles and fists counted for the victory.
+
+Craig had claimed that the bluff of the guns would be sufficient.
+Latisan was not agreeing, and on that account he was finding the outlook
+a dark one.
+
+The train on which he was riding was an express headed for Canada, and
+was due to pass the junction with the Adonia narrow-gauge at about two
+o'clock in the morning. There was no scheduled stop at the junction; the
+afternoon train connected and served the passengers from downcountry.
+
+Latisan had bought a ticket to the nearest regular stopping place of the
+express. He began to wonder whether Craig, with the influence of the
+Comas to aid him and his fifteen fellow passengers in an argument, had
+been able to secure special favors.
+
+To the conductor, plucking out the hat check before the regular stop the
+hither side of the junction, he said, "By any chance, does this train
+ever stop at the Adonia narrow-gauge station?"
+
+"It happens that it stops to-night by special orders."
+
+Latisan paid a cash fare and rode on.
+
+The coach in which he sat was the last car on the train; the smoker and
+sleeping cars were ahead.
+
+When the train made its unscheduled stop, Latisan stepped down and was
+immediately hidden in the darkness. He saw Craig and his crew on the
+station platform; the headlight of a narrow-gauge locomotive threw a
+radiance which revealed them. Therefore, it was plain, Craig had wired
+for a special on the Adonia line.
+
+Only one car was attached to the narrow-gauge engine; Latisan went as
+close as he dared. There was no room for concealment on that miniature
+train. It puffed away promptly, its big neighbor on the standard-gauge
+roared off into the night, and Latisan was left alone in the blackness
+before the dawn. And he felt peculiarly and helplessly alone! In spite
+of his best efforts to keep up his courage, the single-handed crusader
+was depressed by Craig's command of resources; there was a sort of
+insolent swagger in the Comas man's ability to have what he wanted.
+
+Latisan knew fairly well the lay of the land at the junction, but he was
+obliged to light matches, one after the other, in order to find the lane
+which led to the stables of the mill company whose men had been drafted
+by him on one occasion to load his dynamite. The night was stiflingly
+black, there were no stars and not a light glimmered anywhere in the
+settlement.
+
+He stumbled over the rough ground that had been rutted by the wheels of
+the jigger wagons. The muffled thud of the hoofs of dozing horses guided
+him in his search for the stables, and he found the door of the
+hostlers' quarters and pounded.
+
+"You'll have to go see the super; I don't dare to let a hoss out of here
+without orders," said the man who listened to his request.
+
+"Tell me where his house is, and lend me a lantern."
+
+The hostler yawned and mumbled and complained because he had been
+disturbed, but he fumbled for the lantern, lighted it, and gave it to
+Latisan, along with directions how to find the super's home.
+
+That minor magnate was hard to wake, but he appeared at an open upper
+window after a time and listened.
+
+"We can't spare a horse in mud time, with the hauling as heavy as it is.
+Who are you, anyway?"
+
+"I'm Ward Latisan."
+
+"Hold that lantern up side of your face and let me see!"
+
+The young man obeyed meekly.
+
+"Excuse me for doubting your word of mouth," said the super, after he
+had assured himself, "but we hardly expected to see you back in this
+region." It was drawled with dry sarcasm.
+
+"I haven't the time to argue on that, sir. I have business north of
+here. I'll hire a horse or I'll buy a horse."
+
+"And you heard what I said, that I can't spare one. By the way, Latisan,
+you may as well understand that I won't do business with you, anyway.
+You got me in wrong with my folks and with the Three C's, too, when you
+bribed my men to load that dynamite."
+
+"I can't see why the Comas company----"
+
+"I can. My folks can. If we get saw logs this year we've got to buy 'em
+through Rufus Craig. When you ran away and let Ech Flagg get dished----"
+
+"His drive is coming through," insisted Latisan, desperately, breaking
+in on speech in his turn.
+
+"Where are you from, right now?" inquired the super.
+
+"New York."
+
+"And a devil of a lot you must have found out about the prospect of logs
+from the independents, Flagg or anybody else. Don't come up here and try
+to tell me my business; I've been here all the time. Good night!" He
+banged down the window.
+
+And once more Ward was alone in the night, distracted and desolate. This
+testing of the estimation in which he was held in the north country
+after the debacle in Adonia made his despondency as black as the
+darkness which surrounded him.
+
+He wanted to call to the super and ask if at least he could buy the
+lantern. He decided it would be better to borrow it.
+
+He set away afoot by the road which led to Adonia. Farms were scattered
+along the highway and he stopped at the first house and banged on the
+door and entreated. At two houses he was turned away relentlessly. The
+third farmer was a wrinkled old chap who came down to the door, thumbing
+his suspenders over his shoulders.
+
+"Ward Latisan, be ye?" He peered at the countenance lighted by the
+lantern. "Yes, I can see enough of old John in ye to prove what ye
+claim. I worked for old John when I was young and spry. And one time he
+speared his pick pole into the back of my coat and saved me from being
+carried down in the white water. And that's why ye can have a hoss to go
+where ye want to go, and ye can bring him back when you're done with
+him."
+
+Therefore, not by any merit of his own, Ward secured a mount and
+journeyed dismally toward the north. The farm horse was fat and stolid
+and plodded with slow pace; for saddle there was a folded blanket. With
+only the lantern to light the way, he did not dare to hurry the beast.
+It was not until wan, depressing light filtered from the east through
+the mists that he ventured to make a detour which would take him outside
+of Adonia. He realized that Craig would have arranged for tote teams to
+be waiting at Adonia, as he had had a special waiting at the junction,
+and was by that time far on his way toward Skulltree dam.
+
+Latisan beat the flanks of the old horse with the extinguished lantern
+and made what speed he could along the blazed trail that would take him
+to the tote road of the Noda basin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
+
+
+The flare of the Flagg camp fires painted the mists luridly; the vapor
+rolled sluggishly through the tree tops and faded into the blackness of
+the night.
+
+Lida was seated apart from the men of the crew, knowing that they
+mercifully wished to spare her from hearing the plans for the morrow.
+
+The logs were down the deadwater to a point where the supremacy at
+Skulltree dam must be settled.
+
+She could hear the mumble of the voices of those who were in conference
+around the fires.
+
+Across a patch of radiance she beheld the swaggering promenade of one of
+the young cookees; he brandished a hatchet truculently. Old Vittum
+reached out and swept the weapon from the youngster's grasp.
+
+Lida heard Vittum's rebuke, for it was voiced sharply. "None o' that! We
+don't fight that way. And I'm believing that there are still enough
+honest rivermen in the Comas crowd to make it a square fight, like we've
+always had on the Noda when a fight had to be!"
+
+Unreconciled, all her woman's nature protesting, she had come to a
+settled realization that the fight must happen; Vittum was putting it in
+words. Now that the struggle was imminent--on the eve of it--she wanted
+to go down on her knees and beg them to give up the project; but she
+did not dare to weaken their determination or wound their pride. She
+crouched on her cot of spruce boughs in anguished misery.
+
+"Nobody has got to the point of using hatchets and guns on this river,"
+corroborated a man on the other side of the fire from Vittum.
+
+Other men pitched their voices higher then, giving up the cautious
+monotone of the preceding conference.
+
+"Is any man afeard?" asked Vittum.
+
+They assured him with confidence and gay courage that no man was afraid.
+
+"I didn't hear any of you Injuns pipe up," said Vittum. "You ain't very
+strong on talk, anyway. But I'd kind of like to know how you feel in
+this matter. We all understood--all of us regulars--that we was coming
+up here to fight when it got to that point. You have grabbed in later
+and perhaps didn't understand it. We ain't asking you to do anything you
+don't want to do."
+
+The Indians were silent. Even Felix Lapierre said nothing when Vittum
+questioned him with a glance. The French Canadian turned to Frank Orono,
+squatting within arm's reach, and patted him on the shoulder. It became
+plain that there was an understanding which did not require words.
+
+Orono rose slowly; he grinned. From the breast of his leather jacket he
+brought forth a cow's horn and shook it over his head, and its contents
+rattled sharply. The other Indians leaped up. They were grinning, too.
+
+Orono began a slow march around the camp fire, lifting his knees high,
+stepping slowly, beating the rattling horn into the palm of his hand.
+Behind him in single file, imitating his step, marched the other
+Indians. The smiles faded out of their countenances; their jaws were
+set, and deep in their throats they growled a weird singsong.
+
+"My Gawd!" yelped Vittum. "It's the old Tarratine war dance and it just
+fits my notions right now, and I'm in on it!"
+
+He scrambled to his feet and fell into line at the rear of the Indians.
+Every man in the Flagg crew followed suit. They imitated the Indian
+singsong as best they were able, their voices constantly giving forth
+greater volume until they were yelling their defiance to the Three C's
+company and all its works.
+
+The men far out on the deadwater, pushing against the bars of the
+capstan, heard the tumult on the shore and shouted the chorus of their
+challenging chantey.
+
+Between Lida and the men who were circling the fire there was a veil of
+mist, and in the halation her champions loomed with heroic stature. She
+did not want them to suppose that she was indifferent; courage of her
+own leaped in her. The campaign which she had waged with them had given
+her an experience which had fortified the spirit of the Flaggs. She
+stepped forth from her little tent and walked down and stood in the edge
+of the light cast by the camp fire. They cheered her, and she put aside
+her qualms and her fears as best she was able.
+
+When she was back in her tent she did not shield her ears from the
+challenging chantey, as she had done before, and she heard with
+fortitude the vociferous pledges of faith in the morrow.
+
+The dawn came so sullenly and so slowly that the day seemed merely a
+faded copy of the night.
+
+A heavy fog draped the mountains and was packed in stifling masses in
+the river valley.
+
+Crews in shifts marched tirelessly around the capstans of the headworks.
+Their voices out in the white opaqueness sounded strangely under the
+sounding-board of the fog.
+
+It was a brooding, ominous, baleful sort of a day, when shapes were
+distorted in the mists and all sounds were magnified in queer fashion
+and the echoes played pranks with distances and locations and
+directions.
+
+Out of the murky blank came one who had gone a-scouting. He touched his
+cap to the girl and reported to her and to all who were in hearing.
+
+"The Three C's chief pirate has got along. Craig is down at the dam. I
+was able to crawl up mighty close in the fog. I heard him. He's ugly!"
+
+"I reckoned he would be a mite peevish as soon as the news of the social
+happenings along the river for the past few days got to him," said
+Vittum. "It's no surprise to me--been expecting him!"
+
+"He's got a special edge on his temper--has been all bunged up by an
+auto accident, so I heard him giving out to the men he was talking to."
+
+"And what's he saying of particular interest to us?"
+
+"Says he's going to stick right at Skulltree and kill us off singly and
+in bunches, just as we happen to come along."
+
+"News is news, and it's good or bad according to the way you look at
+it," declared the old man. "Does that fresh news scare anybody?"
+
+There was a vigorous chorus of denial; when one man averred that the
+statement only made the fight more worth while he was indorsed with
+great heartiness.
+
+"All right!" agreed Vittum. "We'll consider that point settled." He drew
+a long breath; he inquired with anxious solicitude; "Did you overhear
+him saying anything about Latisan? He might have heard something, coming
+in fresh from outside."
+
+The scout gave the girl a glance of apology; he was a tactless
+individual in shading facts. "Of course, all that Three C's bunch is
+liars, and Craig worst of all. But I did hear him say that Latisan is
+loafing in New York and is prob'ly in jail by this time."
+
+The girl rose and walked away, and the fog shut her from their sight
+immediately. She heard the old man cursing the incautious scout. "Why
+the blazes didn't you smooth it? You've gone to work and hurt her
+feelings. She made her mistake, and she admits it. We all make our
+mistakes," said the rebuker. "But she's true blue! I ain't laying up
+anything against Latisan because he doesn't show up. It's because the
+girl is here that we are making men of ourselves right now. She's
+deserving of all we can give her. By gad! say I, she's going to make
+good with our help."
+
+She was a considerable distance down the river path, but she heard that
+speech and the shout of the men indorsing the declaration.
+
+Lida hastened as rapidly as she was able along the path that led to
+Skulltree; she had reconnoitered on the previous day--going as near the
+dam as she dared, trying to make the lay of the land suggest some method
+by which battle might be avoided.
+
+While she ran down the path that morning she was arriving at some
+definite conclusions. The news about Director Craig had put desperate
+courage into her. The upper and the nether millstones of men and events
+in the north country had begun their grim revolutions; she resolved to
+cast herself between those stones in an effort to save faithful men who
+were innocent of fault.
+
+When the dull rumble of the sluiceway waters informed her that she was
+near the camp of the enemy she went more cautiously, and when she heard
+the voices of men she called, announcing that she desired to speak with
+Director Craig.
+
+Somebody replied, after a pause which indicated that considerable
+amazement had been roused by a woman's voice.
+
+"Come along, whoever you are! Mr. Craig is on the dam."
+
+A man who kept jerking his head around to stare frankly at her led her
+along the string piece of the great structure.
+
+Their meeting--she and the Comas director--was like a rencontre in the
+void of space; on the water side of the dam the mists matched the hue of
+the glassy surface and the blending masked the water; on the other side,
+the fog filled the deep gorge where the torrent of the sluiceway
+thundered.
+
+She was obliged to go close to him in order to emerge from the vapor
+into his range of vision and to make her voice heard above the roar of
+the water. His one visible eye surveyed her with blank astonishment;
+near as she was to him, he did not recognize her at first in her rough
+garb of the woods.
+
+"Mr. Craig, I _was_"--she stressed the verb significantly--"an employee
+in the Vose-Mern agency in New York. I met you in their office."
+
+He clasped his hands behind him as if he feared to have them free in
+front of him; her proximity seemed to invite those hands, but his
+countenance revealed that he was not in a mood then to give caresses.
+"Was, eh? May I ask what you are right now?"
+
+"I'm doing my best to help in getting the Flagg drive down the
+river--without trouble!"
+
+"Trouble!" He was echoing her again; it was as if, in his waxing ire, he
+did not dare to launch into a topic of his own. "What do you call it,
+what has been happening upriver?"
+
+"I presume you mean that dams have been blown to get water for our
+logs."
+
+"Our dams!" he shouted.
+
+"I'm a stranger up here. I don't know whose dams they were. I have heard
+all kinds of stories about the rights in the dams, sir."
+
+"I can't say to you what I think--and what I want to say! You're a girl,
+confound it! I'll only make a fool of myself, talking to you about our
+rights and our property. But I can say to you, about your own work, that
+you have been paid by our money to do a certain thing."
+
+She opened her eyes on him in offended inquiry.
+
+"I take it that you're the same one who called herself Miss Patsy Jones
+when you operated at Adonia."
+
+"I did use that name--for personal reasons."
+
+He did not moderate his wrath. "Here I find that Patsy Jones is Miss
+Kennard of the Vose-Mern agency. We have paid good money to the agency.
+When I settled for the last job I added two hundred dollars as a present
+to you."
+
+"I have not received the gift, sir. It does not belong to me. I'm here
+on my own account. I came north at my own expense without notifying
+Chief Mern that I was done with the agency; and strictly personal
+reasons, also, influenced me on that point." She was trying hard to keep
+her poise, not loosing her emotions, preserving her dignity with a man
+of affairs and phrasing her replies with rather stilted diction. "I have
+my good reasons for doing all I can in my poor power to help the Flagg
+drive go through."
+
+The fact that her name was Kennard meant nothing to Rufus Craig, a New
+Yorker who had never bothered himself with the ancient tales of the Noda
+country. He did not understand what interest she could have in opposing
+the Comas company; he could see only the ordinary and sordid side of the
+affair. He looked her up and down and curled his lip.
+
+"You have been a traitor!"
+
+"Not to the right, sir, when I found out what the right was."
+
+"I think you'll have a chance to say something about that in court, in
+your defense! You have put the devil into those men and I'm giving you
+warning."
+
+"I shall tell the truth in court, Mr. Craig. You may or you may not
+find that promise a warning of my own to you and your corporation
+methods."
+
+He blinked and looked away from her. "I'm busy! What are you doing here
+on this dam? What do you want of me? Is it more detective work?" he
+sneered. "Are you getting ready to double-cross the new gang you're
+hitched up with. For what reason you went over to 'em God only knows!"
+
+"He does know!" she returned, earnestly. She stepped closer to him. "I
+came down here to plead that you'll let the Flagg logs go through this
+dam."
+
+"I will not." His anger had driven him to the extreme of obstinacy.
+
+"Mr. Craig, that stand means a wicked fight between men who are not paid
+to fight."
+
+"You've had a lot of influence in making men blow our dams. Use that
+influence in keeping 'em away from this one, and there'll be no fight."
+He turned away, but she hastened forward and put herself in front of
+him.
+
+"I cannot do it, sir! That will be asking our men to give up all they
+have been struggling for. I don't know what the law is--or what the law
+will say. Please listen to me! Keep the men from fighting--this season!
+Then allow the law to put matters right up here. The Flagg logs have
+gone down the river every year before this one. The good Lord has
+furnished the water for all. Mr. Craig, out of the depths of my heart I
+entreat you." She had tried hard to keep womanly weakness away. She
+wanted to conduct the affair on the plane of business good sense; but
+anxiety was overwhelming her; she broke down and sobbed frankly.
+
+What appeared to be recourse to woman's usual weapons served to make him
+more furious. "The matter is before the courts. There's a principle
+involved. This dam stays as it is. That's final!"
+
+"I'm pleading for a helpless old man who cannot come here to talk for
+his own rights."
+
+"Look here, my girl, you're merely a smart trickster from the city--a
+turncoat who can't give one good excuse for being a traitor to your
+employers."
+
+"I can give an excuse!"
+
+"I've had enough of this," he retorted, brutally, pricked by the
+reflection that his corporation would disown him and his methods if he
+failed to make good. "Can't you see that you're driving me insane with
+your girl's folly? You're lucky because I haven't brought officers up
+here and ordered your arrest for conspiracy. You belong in jail along
+with that fool of a Latisan." His rage broke down all reserve. "Do you
+see what he did to me in New York?" He pointed to his bandaged face.
+"I'll admit that he did have some sort of an excuse. You have none."
+
+"I have this," she said. "Mr. Craig! I am Echford Flagg's
+granddaughter."
+
+The shell of his skepticism was too thick!
+
+"Do you think I am a complete fool? Flagg has no kin whatever!"
+
+"How long have you been acquainted in these parts?"
+
+"Three years," he admitted; but he scowled his sentiment of utter
+disbelief in her claim.
+
+"I am what I say I am," she insisted. "Does that make any difference in
+your stand here to-day?"
+
+"Not a bit!"
+
+They surveyed each other for some time, the mists swirling slowly about
+their heads.
+
+"If I shed any more tears and do any more pleading, sir, you'll have
+good reasons for believing that I have no blood of the Flaggs in me! Do
+you still think I'm not what I say I am?"
+
+He sliced the fog contemptuously with the edge of his palm. "You can't
+talk that stuff to me!" She understood the futility of appeal; he turned
+from her and she looked for a moment on the bulging scruff of his
+obstinate neck.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Craig! If talk can't convince you, I'll try another
+way!"
+
+She ran along the string piece and the curtain of the fog closed in
+behind her.
+
+During her absence from the deadwater there had been a rallying of
+forces.
+
+All the men were called in from the headworks and the booms. In that
+following conference over the methods of the impending battle the
+riverjacks were able to express themselves with more sanguinary
+vehemence than would have been allowed in the presence of the girl.
+
+They felt that the fog was a particularly fortunate circumstance, and
+with grim haste they set about taking advantage of the mask that would
+hide their advance. In single file they began their march down the river
+shore. There were men who bore cant dogs; others were armed with pike
+poles. But there was no intent to cut and thrust. It was to be a man's
+fight with the flat of those weapons, with the tools of the job, honest
+thwacks given and taken. If one of them had ventured to pack an edged
+weapon or a gun he would have been shamed among his fellows.
+
+Halfway to the dam they met the girl, hurrying back. She understood. She
+did not ask questions. But when they halted she explained her own
+movements.
+
+"I took it on myself to go to Director Craig," she said. "I was hoping I
+might be able to make him look at the thing in the right way. I did not
+apologize for you or for what has been done. If I could prevent this
+trouble I would make any sacrifice of myself."
+
+"We know that," stated Vittum, and he was indorsed by whole-souled
+murmurs.
+
+"But he would not listen to me. And all I can say to you men is this:
+God bless you and help you!"
+
+They thanked her and then they stood aside from the path, offering her a
+way for retreat to the rear.
+
+But she turned and walked on toward the dam. She shook her head when
+they protested. "No, I claim it as my right to go with you." She was
+even brave enough to relieve the tenseness of the situation by a flash
+of humor. "I don't believe one of those Comas cowards will get near
+enough to hurt any one of you. Haven't we found them out already? But if
+anybody in this crew does get hurt, you'll find me in full charge of the
+field hospital!"
+
+There was no more talk after that; they trod softly on the duff under
+the trees; they dodged the ledges where their spike-soled boots might
+have rasped.
+
+"Did you note where the main bunch is, miss?" whispered the old man at
+her side.
+
+"I saw only one man except Craig. The director was out on the dam, near
+the gates."
+
+"Where the cap'n is, there the gang must be. We'll use that tip."
+
+The men deployed as soon as they were in the open space near the end of
+the dam.
+
+Even though they had had the protection of the fog up to that point,
+they knew their attack could not be made wholly a surprise; they were
+depending on their resoluteness and on being able to beat their way to a
+control of the gates.
+
+Two men appeared to them in the fog.
+
+"Now just a moment before you start something for which you'll be
+sorry," said one of the men. "I'm from the shire town and I'm attorney
+for the Comas corporation." He pointed to a man at his side, who pulled
+aside his coat lapel and exhibited a badge. "This is a deputy sheriff.
+The courts are protecting this property by an injunction."
+
+"We've got only your word for that," stated the old man.
+
+"You have been warned in law. That's all I'm here for. Now unless you
+keep off this property you must take the consequences."
+
+The lawyer and the officer marched away and were effaced by the fog.
+
+"It's too bad it ain't a clear day," remarked the spokesman to the crew.
+"We'd prob'ly be able to see the injunction that's guarding this dam.
+But I ain't going to let a lawyer tell me about anything I can't see."
+
+"But there's a thing I can see," called one of the men who had gone
+skirmishing in the direction which the attorney and sheriff had taken.
+"Here's a Comas crowd strung along the wings o' the dam. I can see what
+they're lugging! Come on, men! It's a cant-dog, pick-pole fight."
+
+The attackers went into the fray with a yell.
+
+The defenders of the dam were on higher ground; some of them thrust with
+the ugly weapons, others swung the strong staves and fenced. There was
+the smash of wood against wood, the clatter of iron. Men fell and rolled
+and came up! They who were bleeding did not seem to mind.
+
+"They're backing up," yelled one of the Flagg crew. "Damn 'em, they're
+getting ready to run, as usual!"
+
+There did seem to be some sort of concerted action of retreat on the
+part of the defenders.
+
+"Look out for tricks," counseled Vittum, getting over the guard of an
+antagonist and felling him.
+
+A few moments later the line of the defense melted; the Comas men dodged
+somewhere into the fog. The assailants had won to the higher level of
+the dam's wing.
+
+And then that level melted, too!
+
+It was a well-contrived trap--boards covered with earth--a surface
+supported by props which had been pulled away by ropes. More than half
+the Flagg men tumbled into deep and muddy water and threshed helplessly
+in a struggling mass until the others laid down their weapons and
+pulled the drowning men out.
+
+The attacking army retired for repairs and grouped on the solid shore.
+Except for the roar of the sluiceway and the gasping of the men who were
+getting breath there was something like calm after the uproar of the
+battle.
+
+Out of the fog sounded the voice of Director Craig.
+
+"We have given you your chance to show how you respect the law. What you
+have done after a legal warning is chalked up against you. Now that you
+have proclaimed yourselves as outlaws I have something of my own to
+proclaim to you. I am up here----"
+
+A stentorian voice slashed in sharply, and Craig's speech was cut off.
+
+The voice came from one who was veiled in the fog, but they all knew it
+for Ward Latisan's. "Yes, Craig, you're here--here about five hours
+ahead of me because you had the cash to hire a special train. However, I
+know the short cuts for a man on horseback. I'm here, too!"
+
+His men got a dim view of him in the mists; he loomed like a statue of
+heroic size on the horse. Then he flung himself off and came running
+down the shore.
+
+He went straight to Lida and faced her manfully; but his eyes were
+humbly beseeching and his features worked with contrite apology. "I know
+now who you are, Miss Kennard. I don't mean to presume, in the case of
+either you or your men. But will you allow me to speak to them?"
+
+"Yes," she assented, trying to hold her poise, helped by his manner.
+
+He turned quickly from her eyes as if her gaze tortured him.
+
+"I have been a coward, men. I ran away from my job. I'm ashamed of
+myself. I can't square myself, but let me do my bit to-day."
+
+"I don't know what you can do--with that gang o' sneaks--after real men
+have had to quit," growled Vittum, unimpressed.
+
+"Maybe I'm sneak enough these days to know how to deal with 'em,"
+confessed Latisan, bitterly. "I stayed back there just now while the
+fight was on, but I knew a man fight wouldn't get us anything from
+them."
+
+The men of the crew made no demonstration; they were awkwardly silent.
+The arrival of the deserter who confessed that he had been a coward did
+not encourage them at a time when they had failed ridiculously in their
+first sortie. He had ceased to be a captain who could inspire. He was
+one man more in a half-whipped crew, that was all.
+
+They who had been dumped over the dam dragged slimy mud from their faces
+and surveyed him with sullen rebuke, remembering sharply that he had run
+away from the girl whose cause they had taken up.
+
+The others, their faces marked with welts from blows, gazed and sniffed
+disparagingly.
+
+But when he spoke out to the girl and her crew they listened with
+increasing respect because a quick shift to manly resolution impressed
+them.
+
+His tone was tensely low and the noise of the tumbling water shielded
+his voice from eavesdroppers on the dam. "I stood back there in the fog
+and I heard what was said about an injunction. It's bad business,
+running against the courts, men. That injunction hangs over the crew of
+Echford Flagg. I am not one of that crew. What I may do is on my own
+account, and I'll stand the blame of it. All I ask is that you step
+aside and let me alone."
+
+"That ain't the way we want to play this game," declared Vittum.
+
+"It isn't a square game, men, and that's why you mustn't play it. It
+isn't a riverman fight to-day. I came north from New York on the train
+with Craig. He brought a gang of gunmen with him. They're hidden there
+in the fog. He means to go the limit, hoping to get by with it because
+you made the first attack. It's up to me from now on."
+
+"What in the name of the horn-headed Sancho do you think you can do all
+alone against guns?" demanded Vittum, scornfully.
+
+"Think?" repeated Latisan. "I've had plenty of time for thinking on my
+way up here. Let me alone, I say!"
+
+Lida went to him and put her hand on his arm, and he trembled; it seemed
+almost like a caress. But by no tenderness in his eyes or his expression
+was he indicating that he considered himself back on his former footing
+with her.
+
+"Miss Kennard, don't keep me from trying to square myself with the Flagg
+crew, if I can. I'm not hoping that anything can square me with you;
+it's past hope."
+
+He moved away, but she clung to him. "I must know what you intend to
+do. I'll not accept a reckless sacrifice--no, I'll not."
+
+"One evening in Adonia you gave me a lecture on duty and self-respect,
+Miss Kennard. I wish I'd taken your advice then. But that advice has
+never left my thoughts. I'm taking it now. I entreat you, don't let me
+shame myself again. This is before men," he warned her, in low tones.
+"Give me my fighting chance to make good with them--I beg you!"
+
+He set back his shoulders, turned from her, and shouted Craig's name
+till the Comas director replied.
+
+"Craig, yon in the fog! Do you hear?"
+
+"I hear you, Latisan!"
+
+"Do our logs go through Skulltree by your decent word to us?"
+
+"I'll never give that word, my man!"
+
+"Then take your warning! The fight is on--and this time I'm in it."
+
+"I'm glad to be informed. I have an announcement of my own to make.
+Listen!" He gave a command. Instantly, startlingly, in the fog-shrouded
+spaces of the valley rang out a salvo of gun fire. Many rifles spat. The
+sound rolled in long echoes along the gorge and was banged back by the
+mountain sides.
+
+"Latisan, those bullets went into the air. If you and your men come onto
+this dam----"
+
+"There's only one kind of a fight up here among honest men--and you
+won't stand for it, eh?"
+
+"We've got your number! You're declared outlaws. These men will shoot to
+kill."
+
+In the chorus from the Flagg crew there were howls and groans.
+
+"And argument won't bring to you any sense of reason and decency, will
+it?" demanded the drive master.
+
+"We shall shoot to kill!" insisted the magnate of the Comas corporation.
+
+"All right! If those are your damnable principles, I'll go according to
+'em."
+
+The girl caught his hands when he started away. "You must not! No matter
+what you are--no matter what you know I am, now. He'll understand when
+we tell him--down there! There's more to life than logs!"
+
+"I have my plans," he assured her, quietly. "You must realize how much
+this thing means to me now."
+
+The unnatural silence in the ranks of the Flagg crew, after Latisan's
+declaration had been voiced, provoked Craig to venture an apprehensive
+inquiry. "You don't intend to come ramming against these guns, do you?"
+
+"Hold your guns off us! I'm going away. And these men are going with
+me."
+
+"That's good judgment."
+
+"But I'm coming back! I won't sneak up on you. That isn't my style of
+fighting. You'll hear me on the way. I'll be coming down almighty hard
+on my heels. Remember that, Craig!"
+
+Lida was at his side when he marched away up the shore toward the Flagg
+camp at the deadwater, and his men trailed him, mumbling their comments
+on the situation and wondering by what sort of miracle he would be able
+to prevail over armed gangsters who were paid to kill.
+
+"I'm going to ask you all to excuse me for playing a lone hand from now
+on, boys," said the drive master, standing in front of them when they
+were gathered at the camping place. "If they weren't working a dirty
+trick with their guns, I'd have you along with me just as I intended in
+the past. But you have had your fun while I've been making a fool of
+myself! Give me my chance now!"
+
+He bowed to Lida and walked up the shore alone. No one stayed him. The
+girl locked together her trembling fingers, straining her eyes till he
+disappeared.
+
+He knew the resources and methods of the drive. Soon he came upon a
+bateau pulled high on the river bank. There were boxes in the bateau,
+covered by a tarpaulin whose stripings of red signaled danger. He found
+a sack in the craft. He pried open one of the boxes and out of the
+sawdust in which they were packed he drew brown cylinders and tucked
+them carefully into the sack. The cylinders were sticks of dynamite. The
+sack was capacious and he stuffed it full. The bag sagged heavily with
+the weight of the load when he swung it over his shoulder and started up
+the bank, away from the river.
+
+When Latisan walked away from Lida the mist again had lent its illusion,
+and he seemed to become of heroic size before the gray screen hid him
+from her sight.
+
+Vittum tried pathetically to relieve the stress of the silence.
+
+"The last peek at him made him look big enough to do 'most anything he
+sets out to do."
+
+"Yes! But how can he fight them all single-handed?" She was pale and
+trembling.
+
+"If I'm any judge, by the direction he took just now he has gone up and
+tapped our stock of canned thunder, miss. And if I ain't mistook about
+his notions, he is going to sound just about as big as he looked when we
+got that last peek!"
+
+The rivermen did not lounge on the ground, as they usually did when they
+were resting. They stood, tensely waiting for what Latisan's manner of
+resolution had promised.
+
+Lida asked no more questions; she was unable to control her tones. She
+had been given a hint of Ward's intentions by what the old man had said
+about the "canned thunder." She did not dare to be informed as to the
+probable details of those intentions; to know fully the nature of the
+risk he was running would have made the agony of her apprehensiveness
+unendurable.
+
+It seemed to them, waiting there, that what Latisan had undertaken was
+never going to happen. They were not checking off the time in minutes;
+for them time was standing still. The far grumble of waters in the gorge
+merely accentuated the hush--did not break upon the profound silence.
+When a chickadee lilted near at hand the men started nervously and the
+girl uttered a low cry; even a bird's note had power to trip their
+nervous tension.
+
+The sound for which they were waiting came to them at last.
+
+It was a sound with a thud in it!
+
+Listeners who possessed an imagination would have found a suggestion of
+the crash of the hammer of Thor upon the mountain top.
+
+"He looked big enough for that when he left us!" muttered the old man.
+He had never heard of the pagan divinity whom men called Thor. His mind
+was on the river gladiator who had declared that he would come down
+heavy on his heels when he started.
+
+The brooding opacity which wrapped the scene made the location of the
+sound uncertain; but it was up somewhere among the hills. The echoes
+battered to and fro between the cliffs.
+
+Before those echoes died the sound was repeated.
+
+"He's coming slow, but he's come sure!" Vittum voiced their thoughts.
+"Them's the footsteps of Latisan!"
+
+On they came! And as they thrust their force upon the upper ledges there
+was a little jump of the earth under the feet of those who stood and
+waited.
+
+There was something indescribably grim and bodeful in those isochronal
+batterings of the solid ground. The echoes distracted the thoughts--made
+the ominous center of the sounds a matter of doubt. That uncertainty
+intensified the threat of what was approaching the dam of Skulltree.
+
+There were other sounds, after a few moments. Rifles were cracking
+persistently; but it was manifestly random firing.
+
+The old man stepped to Lida and grasped her hand and held it. "Don't be
+'feared for him, miss. They're only guessing! He'll be knowing the
+ledges--every lift of 'em that's betwixt him and them. They'll never get
+him with their popguns. But he'll get _them_!" he declared, with venom.
+"I wonder what Craig is thinking now, with his old bug eyes poking into
+that fog and doing him as much good as if he was stabbing a mill pond
+with his finger!"
+
+The rifle fire died away, after a desultory patter of shots.
+
+"They're running!" said one of the crew. "They must be on the run!"
+
+"You bet they're running," agreed the old man. "The Three C's hasn't got
+money enough to hire men, to stand up in front of what's tromping down
+toward Skulltree! Heavier and heavier on his heels!"
+
+Measuredly slow, inexorably persistent, progressed the footsteps of the
+giant blasts.
+
+Latisan's men needed no eye-proof in order to understand the method.
+
+The drive master was hurling the dynamite sticks far in advance of
+himself and to right and to left, making his own location a puzzling
+matter. The men had seen him bomb incipient jams in that fashion,
+lighting short fuses and heaving the explosive to a safe distance.
+
+The blasts were nearer and still nearer, and more frequent; the ground
+quaked under their feet; in the intervening silences they heard the
+whine and the rustle of upthrown litter in the air, the patterings and
+plops of debris raining into the spaces of the deadwater.
+
+Behind the attack was the menace of the bodefully unseen--the
+lawlessness of the fantastically unprecedented.
+
+"I don't blame the fellers with the guns, if they have quit," commented
+Vittum. "They might as well try to lick the lightning in a
+thundercloud."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
+
+
+Mern's mercenaries were not cowards. They had served valiantly as guards
+of strike breakers, had fought in many forays, had winged their
+attackers, and had been winged in return. At mill gates they had
+resisted mobs and had endured missiles; they had ridden on trucks,
+protecting goods and drivers, through lanes of howling, hostile
+humanity; they had thrown the cordon of their bodies around dock
+workers.
+
+But the gunmen's exploits in intrepidity had been, of and in the cities.
+
+The environment at Skulltree was the Great Open.
+
+They were not backed by solidity or barricaded behind walls. There was
+not the reassurance of good, honest earth under their feet; they were
+precariously perched in space, so it seemed--standing on the stringers
+of the dam, peering into a void of shrouding mists and thunderous
+waters, the wilderness all about them!
+
+In their battles in past times they had been able to see the foe; now
+they were called on to fight a noise--the bodeful detonations of blasts,
+to right, to left--here and there.
+
+There was a foe; he was on his way. They did not know what sort of ruin
+he purposed to wreak as the climax of his performance. Craig himself did
+not know, so he affirmed in reply to anxious queries, and the boss's
+uncertainty and increasing consternation added to the peculiar
+psychological menace of the thing.
+
+"Give us orders, Mr. Craig!" pleaded the captain of the guards. "Show us
+something to fight against. How many of 'em are there? Where are they?
+
+"It's that damnable Latisan, working single-handed. I'm sure of it. Go
+get him!"
+
+"If you don't get him, he's going to blow up this dam," stated the
+frightened lawyer.
+
+A far-flung bomb of dynamite landed in the water and shot a geyser
+spraying against the fog pall.
+
+"I'm taking that guess for gospel," affirmed the chief gunman, wiping
+spray from his face. "Mr. Craig, you can't expect us to hang on here,
+facing a thing like what's coming!"
+
+"Shoot him!" gasped the Comas director, but he was revolving on unsteady
+feet and the aimlessness of his gaze revealed that he had no definite
+idea of procedure; his incertitude wrecked all the courage of his
+supporters.
+
+"It can't be done, sir. Not in this fog! We'd better get ashore----"
+
+"And let him wreck this dam?"
+
+"If he's going to wreck it, we'd better be off it."
+
+In his fear Craig became insulting, and that attitude ended his control
+of the situation. "You're hired with money, you cowards! Now earn it!"
+
+"This is where your money can't buy something for you, Mr. Craig," the
+captain of the gunmen declared, and then he led the retreat of his squad
+across Skulltree dam and into the woods on the far shore from the
+portentous, invisible peril.
+
+And with dire extremity clearing for the moment his clouded vision,
+enabling him to look squarely at the matter of service and loyalty as he
+was able to command it, Craig knew that when his money failed him in the
+north country he had no other resource. He had blinked that fact in the
+past, having found that in ordinary affairs his dollars were dominant;
+but this extraordinary event was knocking out from under him all the
+props of confidence; he felt bitterly alone all of a sudden.
+
+"We'll have to vamoose off this dam," declared the deputy sheriff.
+
+"You've got your duty as an officer of the law," shouted Craig,
+desperately feeling that in the case of this man, at least, he was
+making an appeal to something that was not covered by a money
+consideration.
+
+"And I've got my common sense, too!" retorted the sheriff. He started
+away.
+
+"So have I," agreed the attorney, a lawyer who had obeyed a telegram and
+had joined the Craig expedition at the shire town of the county the
+night before.
+
+"There's an injunction!" stormed the field director.
+
+"And there's a lunatic with a sack of dynamite." The lawyer crooked his
+arm across his face; a missile from the white void had splashed near by
+and water sprayed him. "You have told me that Latisan is no longer in
+Flagg's service. I'm not depending now on law, Mr. Craig, I'm depending
+on my legs."
+
+He fled on the trail of the officer. But he left a pregnant thought in
+Craig's mind: Latisan was not an employee of Echford Flagg. As a matter
+of fact, Craig owned to himself--his clarity of vision persisting in
+that time of overwhelming disaster, in the wreck of the hopes built on
+the power of his money--that the thing had now become almost wholly a
+personal, guerrilla warfare between himself and Latisan; and when the
+truth came out, if the matter were forced to that issue, Craig would
+lack the backing of authority fully as much as Latisan lacked it then,
+in his assault on property. The bluff of the guns had not worked! Craig
+was realizing that in hiring such men, as he had on the spur of the
+moment, his rage instead of his business good judgment had prevailed.
+
+There were the repeated warnings of his superiors! The law would be
+obliged to investigate if Skulltree dam were wrecked, and would probe to
+the bottom of the moving reasons! Scandal, rank scandal! Craig could
+behold President Horatio Marlow as he sat that day with upraised,
+monitory forefinger, urging the touchy matter of credits and reputation.
+Craig could hear Dawes, the attorney: "That talk puts the thing up to
+you square-edged!"
+
+Down from the mist-shrouded cliff was advancing a vengeful man who
+walked with the footsteps of thunder.
+
+As Craig had looked ahead, basing his judgment on his experience with
+men and matters, it had seemed an easy matter to guard Skulltree with
+money and law. But in this astounding sortie of Latisan's, Comas money
+was of no use and Craig was developing an acute fear of the law which,
+invoked, would take matters into court. Over and over, his alarmed
+convictions pounded on his caution.
+
+He crouched under a rain of dirt and pebbles--then he ran away.
+
+When he reached the far shore he jumped into a bateau that was pulled up
+there. With all the power of his lungs he yelled for rowers. He was
+obliged to confess loudly and unreservedly that he was giving up the
+fight--was seeking a way of stopping Latisan--before any of his men
+would come from the shelter of woods and fog and serve him.
+
+He cursed them with the vigor of a master of galley slaves when the
+bateau was frothing along the deadwater. Then he bellowed into the fog,
+seeking a replying hail which would locate for him the Flagg crew. There
+was no repentance in him; his was a panic of compromise--a headlong rush
+to save himself from consequences. There was just as much uncertainty
+about what Latisan would do as there was about the dynamiter's exact
+location in that fog.
+
+Therefore, Craig announced himself with raucous staccato of: "I quit! I
+quit! Get that man! Tell him I quit!"
+
+Men hailed from the shore and their voices guided the rowers. Craig
+leaped from the bow of the bateau and waded for the last few yards.
+
+"Go stop him! Bring him here!" He tossed his arms.
+
+"Huh!" scoffed old Vittum. "That's a job for somebody who can tell which
+way the next stroke of lightning is heading."
+
+"I'll give five hundred dollars to the man who'll get to him and stop
+him before he smashes that dam!"
+
+Craig added to the other visions which had been torturing him the
+possible catastrophe of the Comas logs roaring through past the mouth of
+a useless canal; he could look ahead still farther and see the grins of
+the sawmill men down the Noda, setting their own prices.
+
+Once more Craig was finding that his money was getting him nothing that
+day, and his sense of helplessness was revealed by his sagging jowls and
+dolorous eyes; and he had always depended on what money could buy!
+
+There was no alacrity for service shown by any man of Flagg's crew.
+
+"We're not afraid," said Felix Lapierre, breaking on Craig's furious
+taunts. "We have promise' to keep off and let him make good for
+himself--the lone hand--that's it!"
+
+"That's it!" agreed Vittum.
+
+"He has made good," bleated the Comas man. "If he goes any farther it
+will only be bad."
+
+The dialogue was taking place disjointedly in the silences between the
+blasts. But Craig made himself heard above the next explosion. "He's
+ripping hell out of that dam now. Get to him. A thousand dollars for the
+man who stops him!"
+
+"No man in this crew needs any of your money!" Lida was defiantly in
+front of the Comas director. "But if you're ready to listen to reason
+after this----"
+
+She broke off and turned from him.
+
+Before they realized that she had volunteered, she was away in the fog.
+
+In a moment they heard her voice, raised in a thrilling call, appealing
+to the avenger.
+
+"That'll fetch him back--even if he was two miles deep in hell," Craig
+was informed by one of the men. "It's a lucky thing for the Three C's
+that she's on the job to-day."
+
+The Comas director stood holding to a tree. He shivered every time an
+explosion clanged its echoes from cliff to cliff.
+
+And when, after a waiting that was agony, the dreadful bombardment
+ceased, Craig staggered to the bateau and sat down on its prow.
+
+"I don't blame you for looking that way," said Vittum. "If Latisan had
+been driven to get that dam to-day you would have lost your drive for
+the canal; and, before God and your directors, you would have been
+responsible!"
+
+When Latisan came out of the fog he had put away, somewhere, the sack
+which had held destruction.
+
+When he had gone away from them, entering upon the perils of his
+undertaking, he was calm and resolute. Now that he was back, a champion
+who had prevailed single-handed, he was pale, trembling, and broken;
+they did not understand, at first.
+
+Lida came with him, trying to soothe him, pleading and protesting; he
+constantly muttered broken speech and seemed to be trying to control a
+mood that was half frenzy. He left her and stumbled across the open
+space to Craig.
+
+"Everything else you have done--it's nothing as bad as this last. You
+sent her where you didn't dare to go yourself. Good God! you Comas
+sneak, I ought to kill you where you sit! For all you cared you were
+making me a murderer of an innocent girl!"
+
+"You had to be stopped. She went before I knew what she was going to
+do."
+
+"And if she hadn't gone on her own account you would have tried to hire
+her to do it! It's always a case of what you can buy with your
+money--that's your style, Craig. Now you're up against something you
+can't buy. I'm still working alone--understand that? If you want to
+report me as an outlaw, go ahead! I'm giving you squarer warning than
+you gave me on the Tomah when you smashed the Latisans. If I smash that
+dam down there I'll be smashing you! I'll do it if you put as much as a
+toothpick in the way of the independent drives. I'll blow the bottom out
+of your canal, in the bargain. And if you think you or your gang can
+locate me over there"--he pointed in the direction of the hills of the
+watershed between the rivers basins--"try it! I know every hole in those
+hills. I'll keep bombing your drives till you can't keep a man on the
+job. That's the kind of an outlaw I am from now on."
+
+"It's between us now, Latisan. I'll own up to it. It has come to that."
+
+"Yes, it's between renegades. I'm admitting that I'm one," retorted
+Ward.
+
+Craig stood up. If there was any of the spirit of Three C's bluster left
+in him he was concealing it successfully.
+
+"Latisan, all these men have heard me say that I quit. I lost my head
+and was pushing the thing too far, considering it from a business
+standpoint. Can I be any more honest than that?"
+
+"It sounds all right, but I take stock in you only to the extent that
+you'll stay in line if I stay on the job. I shall stay, as I have warned
+you."
+
+"Suppose we talk turkey about the common rights at Skulltree!"
+
+"You'll have to talk with Miss Kennard about her grandfather's
+interests. I'm simply a chance comer here!"
+
+Latisan walked away and leaned against a tree.
+
+Craig approached Lida. "We have already had some talk about the matter,
+I believe. I retreat from the position I have taken. Evidently we must
+make mutual allowances. What have you thought out about the details of a
+plan to let your logs through?"
+
+The girl did not reply; she had no plans; she did not understand such
+matters.
+
+"We'll have to decide on the head of water you'll need, and I take it
+you'll allow us enough for the canal so that we can save our drive."
+Craig was trying hard to offer compromise, but he was not able to
+repress all his sarcastic venom. "There's the matter of sorting and the
+other details. I'll have to ask for your views, Miss Kennard, because
+any misunderstanding may be dangerous, so I have been informed."
+
+She looked helplessly from Craig to Latisan. The latter's aloofness,
+which he had displayed ever since he first appeared to her that day, his
+present peculiar relationship to the affair, his insistence that he
+must serve alone, made her problem more complex. Her vivid yearning was
+to give all into Latisan's keeping, but she did not dare to propose it.
+
+She looked at Vittum and Felix, seeking advice. The French Canadian
+smiled and shrugged his shoulders, evading responsibility. He did not
+understand such matters, either.
+
+"I suppose I might be able to dig up some sort o' general ideas, give me
+time enough," said Vittum, when her eyes questioned him anxiously. "But
+I'm sort of hazy right now." He winked at her and ducked his head to
+indicate Latisan.
+
+"I'm afraid!" she phrased the lament with a doleful motion of her lips
+rather than with spoken words.
+
+"It can't be said but what he'll be impartial--the best one to ask,"
+mumbled Vittum, stepping close to her. "He ain't hired by either side,
+as I understand it!" He was ironic, but there was a suggestion which she
+grasped desperately. She went to Latisan. Their conversation was in an
+undertone and the bystanders did not hear the words.
+
+When she returned to Craig, Lida, confident in her new poise, reassured,
+informed in a fashion which fortified her self-reliance, met the Comas
+man with a demeanor which did credit to the granddaughter of Echford
+Flagg.
+
+"I have not tried to involve Mr. Latisan in any way. I have asked his
+advice as an expert." She looked straight into the shifting eyes of the
+Comas director. "Last fall he was at Tech, and took a special course in
+hydraulic engineering. You know that, of course, Mr. Craig!" She paused
+till he bowed to admit the truth with which she insisted on displacing
+the lie which had followed Latisan in the north country. "And Mr.
+Latisan has had a great deal of practical experience on his own drives.
+It seems absolutely necessary to have a sorting gap here, with men of
+both crews handling the logs. When our timber is through the
+sluiceway--the daily run of logs--we are to be given a head of water
+which will take us through the gorge. As to the logs upriver--the
+rear--we are willing to join drives with you, Mr. Craig, so that we may
+use all the water together." She set back her shoulders. "That plan will
+serve us this season. For another season the independents will have laws
+of their own from the legislature. I'm quite sure that the independents
+have waked up and know now what some special legislative acts can do for
+their interests."
+
+"I beg your pardon for breaking in, Miss Kennard," said Latisan, from
+his distance. "But this seems to be the time for me to say to Mr. Craig,
+in the presence of witnesses, that the same plan goes for the Tomah
+region. The independents over there can't be licked, sir."
+
+"Nor the Latisans," shouted somebody in the Flagg crew.
+
+That friendly corroboration of the young man's inmost determination
+served as a challenge. The drive master walked toward Craig and shook
+his fist. "No, nor the Latisans! We have a sawmill, and we're not
+worrying about the logs to feed it. But you understand, Mr. Craig, that
+the independents must have gangway on the river for their cut. And we
+know how to get gangway!"
+
+He went back to his tree and resumed his whittling.
+
+"To me the future looks very promising," said Lida. "We're all a little
+disturbed now, Mr. Craig, but we're coming to a perfect understanding.
+Don't you think so?"
+
+Craig did not reply at once, and she added, with ingenuous affectation
+of desiring to bring forward reasons for his agreement, "If the Comas
+company does join drives with us you will have the help of a perfectly
+wonderful crew, Mr. Craig. I'm told that we're a week or ten days ahead
+of the usual time--and the men have never seemed to be considering mere
+wages!"
+
+The Three C's director rolled his eyes, avoiding her candidly provoking
+regard. He shifted his gaze to Latisan, who had turned his back on the
+group and was still whittling placidly, propped against a tree by his
+shoulder. "Wonderful teamwork," growled the Comas man. "But sticking out
+for anything else will be a fool stunt. Miss Kennard, there's a lawyer
+over there in the woods, somewhere! The thing to do now seems to be to
+hunt him up so that he can help us to pass papers of agreement." He
+swung his hand to indicate the bateau. "Will you go with me?"
+
+She hesitated. Then she smiled amiably on Craig. "I think I'd rather
+walk along the path, sir. I'll meet you and the lawyer at this end of
+the dam."
+
+Craig trudged down to the boat and was swept away into the fog.
+
+Latisan did not turn; he kept on whittling.
+
+"Mr. Latisan!" she invited. "May I have your company to the dam? I'm
+sorry to trouble you, but I may be obliged to refer to you for further
+advice."
+
+"I feel called on to remark," said old Vittum, always an irrepressible
+commentator when comment seemed to be necessary, speaking after Latisan
+and Lida had walked away into the mist--"I'll say to all that she knows
+her business."
+
+"But it was Latisan who advised her," objected a literalist.
+
+"Hell! I ain't speaking of this drive," snapped the old man. "I'm
+complimenting her on a job where she doesn't need anybody's advice!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY
+
+
+The sun at meridian that day burned away the mists, for it was May and
+the high sun was able to prevail.
+
+The sluiceway of Skulltree dam was open and in the caldron of the gorge
+a yeasty flood boiled and the sunlight painted rainbows in the drifting
+spume. Rolling cumbrously, end over end, at the foot of the sluice,
+lifting glistening, dripping flanks, sinking and darting through the
+white smother of the waters, the logs of the Flagg drive had begun their
+flight to the holdbooms of Adonia.
+
+Lida and the taciturn squire whom she had drafted had climbed to the
+cliffs above the gorge in order to behold the first fruits of the
+compact which had been concluded with Craig and the Comas. Latisan went
+with her to the cliff because she had asked him to show her the way. His
+manner with her was not exactly shyness; she had been studying him,
+trying anxiously to penetrate his thoughts. He was reserved, but
+awkwardly so; it was more like embarrassment; it was a mingling of
+deference and despair in the face of a barrier.
+
+It was warm up there where the sun beat against the granite, and she
+pulled off the jacket which had been one of her credentials in the north
+country. "I took the liberty of wearing it--and the cap. I'll not need
+them any more."
+
+She took the cap from her head. The breeze which had followed the calm
+of the mist fluttered a loose lock of her hair across her forehead and
+the sun lighted a glint within the tress. He gazed and blinked.
+
+"I heard you had them--I heard it in Mern's office in New York," he
+said, with poor tact.
+
+She offered them and he took the garments, clutching the cap and holding
+the jacket across his arm.
+
+"I don't blame you for looking at me as you do," she went on, demurely
+and deprecatingly feminine at that moment. She smoothed her blouse with
+both hands and glanced down at her stained and ragged skirt. "It's my
+only warm dress and I've lived and slept in it--and I haven't minded a
+bit when the coffee slopped. I was trying to do my best."
+
+He rocked his head voicelessly, helplessly--striving to fit speech to
+the thoughts that surged in him.
+
+Then she made a request which perturbed him still more: "You came up
+here on horseback, I think you said. May I borrow the horse?"
+
+"Do you mean that you're going away?" he gulped.
+
+She spread her hands and again glanced down at her attire. She was
+hiding deeper motives behind the thin screen of concern for her
+wardrobe, trying to make a jest of the situation, and not succeeding.
+"You must own up that I need to go shopping."
+
+He turned from her to the chasm where the logs were tumbling along.
+
+"And there's nothing to keep me here any longer, Mr. Latisan, now that
+you have come back!"
+
+He faced her again, swinging with a haste that ground his heels sharply
+on the ledge. But she put up her hand when he opened his mouth.
+
+"Do you think it will do us any good to bring up what has happened? I
+don't. I implore you not to mention it. You have come back to your
+work--it's waiting for you. After what you have done to-day you'll never
+need to lower your eyes before any man on this river. In my heart, when
+I gave you your cap and jacket, I was asking you to take back your work.
+I ask you with all the earnestness that's in me! Won't you do it?" There
+was a hint of a sob in her tones, but her eyes were full of the
+confidence of one who felt that she was not asking vainly.
+
+He did not hesitate. But words were still beyond the reach of his
+tongue. He dragged off the billycock hat which he had bought in town and
+scaled it far out into the turbid flood. He pulled off the wrinkled coat
+of the ready-made suit and tossed it down the side of the cliff. With
+the cap on his head and buckling the belt of the jacket he stood before
+her. "The men gave me my chance to-day; you're giving me a bigger one."
+
+"Then I'm only wasting your time--up here!"
+
+It had not been in Latisan's mind that he would make any reference to
+the past; she had implored him to keep silent and he was determined to
+obey. He was rigidly resolved to offer no plea for the future; this was
+the granddaughter--presumably the heiress of Echford Flagg, to be taken
+into her own after this service she had rendered. A Latisan of the
+broken Latisans had no right to lift his eyes to her!
+
+If there had been a twinkle of hope for his comfort in her attitude of
+reliance on him after he had arrived at Skulltree, there was none at
+that moment, for she had become distinctly dignified and distant. He
+swung back to that bitter conclusion which he had made a part of his
+convictions when he had pondered on the matter in his little room in New
+York--her frantically pledged affection had been only a part of her
+campaign of sacrifice. He was not blaming her for the pretense--he was
+not calling it deceit. She had fought for her own with such weapons as
+she could command in a time of stress.
+
+He followed her meekly when she hurried down from the cliff.
+
+On the path which led back to the Flagg camp a breathless cookee met
+them. "A team is here from Adonia, miss. It's the big bays--Mr. Flagg's
+horses."
+
+Instinctively she turned to Ward, making him her prop as she had done
+previously on that day.
+
+"I've been expecting it," he told her. "It's just what your grandfather
+would do after he got word that Craig had gone through Adonia with his
+roughnecks. Mr. Flagg wouldn't leave you here to face what was
+threatened."
+
+"I didn't tell my grandfather who I was. Dick promised to keep the
+secret," she faltered.
+
+"Remember! Words have wings up in this region! I explained to you once,
+Miss Kennard, and you know what happened when I let loose that flock of
+them at Adonia--like a fool. I don't dare to think about it!"
+
+He paced away from her; then he returned, calm again. "Mr. Flagg must
+have heard--he would keep in touch with what has been going on up
+here--and after he knew, it would be his style to let you go ahead and
+win out. He would understand what it is you're trying to do. His sending
+that team, now that he is afraid of danger, proves that he knows."
+
+When she ran on ahead Latisan did not try to keep up with her; he was
+once again the drive boss of Flagg's crew, a hired man; he had no excuse
+for meddling in the family affairs of his employers, he reflected, and
+in his new humility he was avoiding anything which might savor of
+inquisitive surveillance.
+
+The man who had put the horses to the jumper in Adonia, the man whom she
+knew as Jeff, was the deputy whom Flagg had sent. He had come in
+haste--that was plain to her; he was mopping the flanks of the sweating
+bays.
+
+The deference with which he touched his cap informed her fully as to the
+amount of knowledge possessed by the Flagg household. He unbuttoned, one
+after the other, his overcoat, his inner coat, his waistcoat, and from
+the deepest recess in his garments produced a sealed letter; his
+precautions in regard to it attested the value he put on a communication
+from the master to the master's granddaughter.
+
+The envelope was blank.
+
+The men of the shift that had been relieved stood about her in a circle.
+The arrival of the bays was an event which matched the other sensational
+happenings of the crowded day, and she was conscious that, without
+meaning to be disrespectful, the men were hankering to be taken wholly
+into her confidence--were expecting that much favor from her.
+
+Granddaughter of Echford Flagg she might be--but more than all she was
+one of the crew, that season, a companion who had inspired them, toiled
+with them, and triumphed with them. If any more good news had come they,
+as friends, were entitled to know it, their expressions told her. They
+were distinctly conveying to her their notion that she should stand
+there and read the letter aloud.
+
+The hand which clutched the missive was trembling, and she was filled
+with dread in spite of the consoling thought that she had achieved so
+much. She was afraid to open the letter and she escaped out of the
+circle of inquiring faces and hid herself in her tent; even the crude
+flourish of importance displayed by the manner of Jeff in delivering the
+communication to her had its effect in making her fears more profound.
+The whims of old age--Flagg had dwelt on the subject! She remembered
+that when she was in the big house with Latisan, her grandfather had
+beat on the page of the Bible and had anathematized the ties of family
+in his arraignment of faults. He had been kind, after his fashion, when
+she was incognito, but now that he knew----
+
+She ripped the envelope from the letter and opened the sheet; it was a
+broad sheet and had been folded many times to make it fit the envelope.
+
+It was more like rude print than handwriting. At first she thought that
+her grandfather had been able to master a makeshift chirography with his
+left hand. But boldly at the top of the sheet, as a preface of apology,
+was this statement: "Dicktated to Dick and excuse looks and mesteaks.
+Hese a poor tool at writtin."
+
+Crouching on her bed of boughs, the sheet on her knees, her hands
+clutched into her wind-rumpled hair above her temples, she read the
+letter which her grandfather had contrived with the help of his drafted
+amanuensis.
+
+    To my Grand-daughter. He have to use short words and few. Dick
+    is slow and can't spel.
+
+Lida's thoughts were running parallel with her reading, and she
+remembered that, in those letters of hideous arraignment which she had
+found in her mother's effects, Echford Flagg's own spelling was
+fantastically original. But under the layers of ugly malediction she had
+found pathos: he said that he'd had no schooling of his own, and on that
+account had been led to turn his business over to the better but
+dishonest ability of Alfred Kennard.
+
+Reading on, she could picture the scene--the two old men toiling with
+pathetic earnestness over the task of preparing that letter; here and
+there, the words only partially deleted by lines run across them, were
+evidences that in his flustration under the master's vitriolic
+complaints, old Dick had confused comment with dictated matter--and had
+included comment in his unthinking haste to get everything down. Three
+times a "Dam your pelt" had been written and crossed out.
+
+    He tell you I knew you when I gave you my old cant dog.
+
+Lida gasped when she read the blunt declaration. She might have guessed
+that Echford Flagg would have repulsed a stranger; he had disguised his
+true sentiments under the excuse of an old man's whim!
+
+    I let you go. It was making a squair deal between you and me.
+    Nicola sent me a man to tell me how you had gorn north with his
+    men and so I took Dick back after I had fired him.
+
+It was at this point that a particularly prominent "Dam your pelt" was
+interjected.
+
+    The old fool would have blabbed to me what you told him to keep
+    quiet about. He aint fit to be trusted with any secrits. But he
+    was scard to tell me you was Lida. I told him. But the Comas
+    helyun has gorn past here with men and guns. Let him have the
+    logs. I want you, my granddaughter. Come home.
+
+Tears flooded her eyes. "Come home!" Old Dick had printed those words in
+bold letters.
+
+    This is in haist but he has been 2 hours writtin it and so
+    I send Jeff to bring you. Dont wait. Kepe away from danjur.
+    Come home.
+
+And old Dick, the toiling scribe, had smuggled in at the bottom of the
+sheet a postscript, a vicarious confession which Echford Flagg did not
+know how to make, "Hese cryin and monein for you. Come home!"
+
+It was as if those two summoning words were spoken in her ear,
+plaintively and quaveringly.
+
+She ran from the tent, carrying her little bag and the cant dog scepter
+of the Flaggs.
+
+"Can you start back at once?" she called to Jeff.
+
+"Aye! It's orders."
+
+She saw Latisan at the shore, directing the movements of the men; he was
+once more the drive master, his cant dog in his hand, terse in his
+commands, obeyed in his authority.
+
+He pulled off his cap and walked to meet her when she hastened toward
+him.
+
+"I'm going back to Adonia."
+
+"My guess was right, you see!"
+
+"Are you coming soon to report?--Shall I tell my grandfather----" She
+halted in her query as if she were regretting the eagerness in her tone.
+
+"I'll leave it to you to tell him all that has happened up here. But you
+may say to him, if you will, that I'm staying with the drive from now
+on."
+
+Her charioteer swung the big bays and headed them toward the mouth of
+the tote road, halting them near her.
+
+Her emotions were struggling from the fetters with which she tried to
+bind them. Those men standing around! She wished they would go away
+about their business, but they surveyed her with the satisfied air of
+persons who felt that they belonged in all matters that were on foot.
+
+Latisan was repressed, grave, keeping his place, as he had assigned a
+status to himself. She was glad when old Vittum broke upon the silence
+that had become embarrassing. "It won't be like what it has been, after
+you're gone, Miss Lida Kennard. But I feel that I'm speaking for the men
+when I say that you're entitled to a lay-off, and if you'll be out on
+the hill where you can wave your hand to us when we ride the leader
+logs into the hold-boom, we'll all be much obligated to you! I was
+thinking of calling for three cheers, but I remember how this idea
+seemed to hit better." He led the procession of men past her; they
+scrubbed their toil-roughened palms across their breasts and gave her
+silent pledges when they grasped her hand. "It's sort of a family
+party," said Vittum.
+
+There was inspiration for her in that suggestion. This was no time for
+convention, for placid weighing of this consideration against that, for
+strait-laced repression. The environment encouraged her. Her exulting
+joy drove her on.
+
+Once before, forced by the intensity of her need, she had made small
+account of convenances. But she acknowledged that a half truth had
+nearly compassed destruction of her hopes and the ruin of a man; a liar
+had taken advantage of an equivocal position. But now the whole truth
+about her was clear. Her identity was known--her motives were beyond all
+question. And there were no vindictive liars among those loyal followers
+who had come storming down the river for the sake of her cause.
+
+If she did what she had in her mind to do, what was it except the
+confirmation of a pledge and the carrying out of a promise?
+
+But when she looked appealingly up at Latisan he was steadfastly staring
+past her. Her impulses were already galloping, but the instant prick of
+pique was the final urge which made the impulses fairly run away.
+
+She reached out and took Ward's hand and pressed it between her palms.
+
+"If it's because I'm Lida Kennard instead of the table girl at Brophy's
+tavern, you're foolish," she whispered, standing on tiptoe. "I gave you
+my promise. But perhaps you think it isn't binding because there was no
+seal, such as I put on that lawyer's paper down at the dam.
+Well--then--here's the seal."
+
+She flung her arms about his neck and kissed his cheek.
+
+"Now let the winged word take flight through the region!" she told
+herself. No man could misunderstand the declaration of that kiss!
+
+When Latisan came to his senses sufficiently to move his muscles, she
+avoided his groping arms and ran to the wagon. For a moment the big bays
+crouched, expecting the whistling sweep of the whip, bending their necks
+to watch the passenger climbing to her seat.
+
+"Wait!" begged Latisan. He stumbled toward the wagon, staring at her,
+tripped by the earth ridges to which he paid no heed.
+
+"Yes!" she promised. And then in tones that were low and thrilling and
+significant with honest pledge she said, "I'll wait for you--at home--at
+home!"
+
+Jeff obeyed her quick command and swung the whistling whip, and Latisan
+stood gazing after her.
+
+The men respected his stunned absorption in his thoughts. They went
+scattering to their work. Felix walked with Vittum.
+
+"Ba gor!" The French Canadian vented the ejaculation after taking a
+deep breath. "When she say it to him--as she say it--it make goose flesh
+wiggle all over maself!"
+
+"As I have said!" Vittum was trudging along, his eyes on a big plug of
+tobacco from which he was paring a slice. "As I have said!" He slid the
+slice into his mouth from the blade of the knife. "She knows her
+business!"
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOAN OF ARC OF THE NORTH WOODS***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 22667.txt or 22667.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/6/6/22667
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/22667.zip b/22667.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ade3ce0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22667.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36ba6d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #22667 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22667)