CHAPTER XXIV
THE CHEESE RIND THAT NEEDED SHARP TEETH
"So, mister, please excuse us, but you open up that sluice, Or Gawd have mercy on ye, if I turn these gents here loose!"
--The Rapogenus Ball.
Rodburd Ide, fresh-arrived from Castonia in hot haste, saw well to itthat he and Dwight Wade were safe from interruption in the wangan camp.He even drove a sliver from the wood-box over the latch of the door.Wade, summoned down from the chopping by a breathless cookee to meet hispartner, gazed upon these nervous, eager precautions in some alarm.
"Now, brace your feet, and get hold of something and hang on hard,"advised the "Mayor of Castonia."
"Good Heavens, Mr. Ide, what has happened to her?" gasped the young man.His trembling hands clutched at the edge of the splint table, hallowedby Elva Barrett's smiles of love across it.
"Her!" snorted the little man, in indignant astonishment. "You don'tthink I've whaled up here hell-ti-larrup on a jumper to sit down andtalk about women, do you?"
"But Miss Barrett--" gulped Wade.
"Miss Barrett--" Ide checked himself, discreet even in his impatience."Miss Barrett is all right, and the girl is all right, and--say,look-a-here, my boy, don't you think of a girl, don't you look at agirl, don't you even dream of a girl, for the next two months!" He drovehis hard little fist upon the sacred table.
He leaned forward, and his very beard bristled at the young man. "Forgetyour mother, forget your grandmother, forget that there is anything toyou except grit and muscle. For if ever two men had a man's work cut outfor 'em we're the ones. If ever two men found themselves on the outsideof a ripe cheese and needed teeth to gnaw in, we're the men. Money! Ican't see anything but dollar bills hangin' from those spruce-trees. Butyou've got to put on brad-boots and climb to get them. You've got towalk over men to get 'em!" He was striding about the little room. "Ireckon I seem a little excited," he added, with a catch in his voice."But by the priest that hammered the tail for the golden calf, I've gotreasons to be excited. I've smelt it comin' for two years, son! I 'ain'tsaid anything. I didn't say anything to you when I took you intopartnership; I didn't dare to. But I smelt it all the time. I 'ain'twatched the comin's and goin's of certain men at Castonia for nothin'!Let 'em bring guns and fishin'-poles! They can't fool me. I smelt itcomin'. And now, by ----, it's come!" Again he banged his fist on thetable and glared down on his partner.
The partner stared back at him with so much dismay and reproachfulinquiry that Ide blew off his superfluous excitement in one vigorous"Poof!" and sat down.
"The sum and substance of it is, those old Hullin' Machine falls ain'tgoin' to bellow away all them thousands of hoss-power in empty noise anylonger. But they've made a noise big enough to reach the crowd that'sorganized to fight the paper trust. See now?"
Wade's eyes gleamed in swift comprehension.
"The independents are goin' to develop that power. They're goin' tobuild the biggest paper-mill in the world there. They're goin' to extendthe railroad up to Castonia. They're goin' to do it all on an oldcharter that every one had forgotten except the lobby clique that put itthrough and has been holdin' it for speculation. And why I know it alland no one else knows it on the outside yet, my boy, is because they'vehad to come to _me_! They've _had_ to come to _me_!"
And he promptly answered the eager though mute inquiry in the youngman's eyes.
"Every dollar that I could save, rake, and borrow for years I've beenputting into shore rights and timber. What timber country I couldn't buyI've leased stumpage on. I've smelt it all comin'. And now they've hadto come to me, Wade. They've bonded the shore rights for a purchase, andit's all settled."
"With all my heart I'm glad for you, Mr. Ide!" cried the young man, witha sincerity that put a quiver into his voice. And both hands seized thehands of the magnate of Castonia in a grip that brought gratified tearsto the other's eyes.
"I know it has always been a surprise to you, Wade, that I was so readyand anxious to give you a lay on the timber end," the little man wenton. "But I knew it was time to operate on these cuttin's this season.There are things you can't hire done with plain money. I wanted courage,grit, and honesty. Most of all, I needed absolute loyalty. There's beentoo much buyin' up of men in these woods. The old gang is a hard one tofight. I reckon I've got you with me."
"Heart, soul, and body, now as from the first, Mr. Ide."
"And the lay I've given you is the best investment I could have made,"declared the partner. "I want you to feel that it is straight business.It was no gift. You're earnin' it. But the big bunch is ahead of you,boy!" His tone was serious.
"Your make will come out of the timber lay. I've said I smelt thiscomin'. If it hadn't come this year we should have sent our logs 'waydown-river along with the rest, and done the best we could to steal aprofit after Pulaski Britt and his gang had charged us all the tolls andfees they could think of, and made us accept their selling-scale. Butnow! But now!" His voice became tense, and he leaned forward and pattedthe young man's arm. "The Great Independent--and that's the name of thenew organization, and it's a name that's goin' to roar like the Hullin'Machine in the ears of the trust--wants every log we can hand over to'em this season. What they don't use in construction work and in theirnew saw-mill they'll pile to grind into pulp next year.
"I've got their contract, Wade. Every log to be scaled for 'em onour landings! And I reckon that will be the first time a squareselling-scale was ever made on this river. No Pirate Britt and hisgang of boom-scale thieves for us this time! Every honest dollar wemake will come to us. And there'll be a lot of 'em, son."
Wade, even though Rodburd Ide had so brusquely commanded him to forgethis love, felt that love stirring in the thrill that animated him now.Did not success mean Elva Barrett? Did not fair return from honest toilmean that he could face John Barrett, bulwarked by his millions? Forgethis love? Ide couldn't understand. His love was a spur whose everythrust was delicious pain. But now that the great secret was out,Rodburd Ide's tide of enthusiasm seemed to be in somewhat ominous anddepressing reflux.
He spread upon the splint table a lumberman's map, and his handstrembled as he did so.
"You've done as I told you, and only yarded at the ends of thetwitch-roads, and haven't hauled to landings?" he inquired.
Wade nodded.
"I was waitin', I was waitin'," explained the other, nervously scrubbinghis hand over the map. "If nothin' had happened at Umcolcus Hullin'Machine this year we'd have landed our logs on Enchanted Stream and run'em down into Jerusalem, and taken our chances along with Britt's logs.'Twas a hard outlook, Wade. The last time I dared to operate here I didthat, and you'll find jill-pokes with my mark stranded all along thestream. The old pirate took my drive because he claimed control of thedams, charged me full fees, and left behind twenty-five per cent. of mylogs, claiming that the water dropped on him. But I noticed he got allof his out. It's what we're up against, my son. If I'd tried to fighthim with an independent drive he would have had me hornswoggled all theway to the down-river sortin'-boom, and then would have had my heart outon the scale. It's what we're up against!" he repeated, despondently."There isn't any law to it. It's the hard fist that makes the right upthis way. I'm tellin' you this so you can understand. You've got tounderstand, my boy. I wish it was different. I wish it was all square. Ihate to do dirty things myself. I hate to ask others to do 'em."
It was not entirely a gaze of reassurance that the young man turned onhim. Ide avoided it, and with stubby finger began to mark the map toillustrate his words. Wade leaned close. He realized that a new andgrave aspect of the situation was to be revealed to him. Getting thetimber down off the stumps had absorbed his attention utterly. As togetting it to market, he had been awaiting the word of his partner andmentor.
"Here it is!" growled Ide. "It's a picture of it! And if it ain't a goodpicture of the damnable reason why no one else but Pulaski Britt and hiscrowd can make a dollar on these waters, then I'm no judge. Here w
e areon Enchanted--mountain here and pond here! The dam at our pond will giveus water enough to get us down to Britt's dam on Enchanted dead-water.Then we've got to deal with Britt. Law may be with us, but in dealin'with Britt up here in this section law is like a woodpecker tryin' topull the teeth out of a cross-cut saw. Britt has got the foot ofEnchanted Stream, and he controls Jerusalem Stream that gobblesEnchanted. That's our outlook to the east of us. Now to the west, andonly two miles from our operation here, is Blunder Stream. Runs intoUmcolcus main river, you see, like Jerusalem Stream away over here tothe east. Straightaway run. Fed by Blunder Lake, up here ten miles tothe north--that is, it ought to be fed! And it ought to be the stream totake our logs. But more than thirty years ago, without law or justice,Britt closed in the rightful western outlet of Blunder Lake with a bigdam, and dug a canal from the eastern end to Jerusalem Stream, and everyspring since then he's used the water for the Jerusalem drive. A half adozen small operators have been to the legislature from time to time toget rights. Did they get 'em? Why, they didn't even get a decent look!Old King Spruce doesn't go to law or the legislature askin' for things.King Spruce takes them. Then the laborin' oar is with the chaps who tryto take 'em away. Even if a thing is unrighteous, Wade, it doesn't stirmuch of a scandal in politics to keep it just as it is. It's what we'reup against, I say!"
He held down the map, his finger on Enchanted, as though typifying thepower that held them and their interests helpless. Wade gazed upon thefinger-end. He felt it pressing upon his hopes. His brows wrinkled, buthe said nothing.
"The Great Independents will make that name heard by the nextlegislature, I've no doubt," Ide went on, "but that's a year from now.In the mean time we've got five millions or so of timber here at thisend, and its market and the money waitin' at the other end, which isCastonia. And there's another thing, Wade, and it's the biggest of all:we've got to hold our timber above the Hullin' Machine. Nature has fixedthe place for us. There's the dead-water behind Hay Island. With Brittdrivin' our logs, he'd ram 'em hell-whoopin' through the Hullin'Machine, and find an excuse for it, and then buy 'em in down-river athis own price. If we undertook to follow him down Enchanted andJerusalem, he wouldn't leave enough water to drown a cat in. I'm takingthe time to show you this thing as it stands, son. You've got to see allsides of it."
Ide's little gray eyes were gleaming at him, and the expression of hisface showed that he was narrowing possibilities to one prospect, and waswondering whether his partner had grasped the full import of thatprospect.
"I think I see all sides of it, Mr. Ide," he said, at last. Then he puthis fingers on the thin thread that marked the course of Blunder Stream."And the only side that doesn't hurt the eyes seems to be this side,west of Enchanted Mountain."
"Well, even then it depends on what kind of specs you've got on,"returned Ide.
"Suppose we forget that dam at the west end of Blunder and Britt's canalto the east for just a moment, Mr. Ide. If we got our logs down the sideof Enchanted Mountain and landed them on Blunder Stream we'd stand ouronly show of heading Britt's drive at the Hulling Machine, wouldn't we?"
"You was reckonin' on havin' water under 'em, wasn't you?" inquired thelittle man, with good-natured satire. "Wasn't plannin' on havin' 'emwalk like a caterpillar, nor fly down, nor anything of the sort?"
"I was reckoning on water," returned the young man, flushing slightly,"but I was not discussing Blunder Lake. I asked you to leave that outfor a moment."
"Leave out Blunder Lake, and you haven't got a brook that will floatchips," said Ide. Then he jumped up and shot his fists above his head."But with a drivin'-pitch in Blunder Stream we can have the head of ourdrive down into Umcolcus River and to Castonia logan while Pulaski Brittis still swearin' and warpin' with head-works across Jerusalemdead-water. We'd have our head there before he had a log down the lastfive miles of lower Jerusalem into the main river. We'll have our sheerbooms set and our sortin'-gap, and we'll hold our logs and let histhrough--his and the corporation drive that he's master of, and has beenmaster of for thirty years. He's been the river tyrant, Wade; but withour head first at Castonia, and our booms set, and we willin' to sortfree of expense to them followin', I'd like to see the man that woulddare to interfere with our common river rights. The old Umcolcus wasrollin' its waters for the use of the tax-payin', law-abidin' citizensof this State before old Pulaski Britt and his log-drivin' associationgang of pirates was ever heard of. They've usurped, Wade! They'veusurped until they've made possession seem like ownership. I've pickedyou as a man that can handle the men that's under him, and isn't afraidof Pulaski Britt. And it's got to be a case of reach and take whatbelongs to you. If they've got any law with 'em in this thing, it's lawthey've stolen like they've stolen the timber lands."
"I've never intended to break law in my dealings with men," said Wade,with a cadence of mournfulness in his tones. "Law up in the big woodsdoesn't seem to be quite as clear-cut as it is in men's relationsoutside. But can there be honest law, Mr. Ide, that will allow men likePulaski Britt to step in and deprive a man of rightful profits earnedby his own hard labor--to deprive him of--" He was thinking then,despite of himself, of Elva Barrett, but choked and added, wistfully,"When it's only an even show a man asks, a fair chance to travel his owncourse, it seems hard that there are men who go out of their path totrip him." It was not lament. He had the air of one who displayed hisconvictions to have them indorsed.
"It's Britt's way," retorted the other, curtly. "He's made money bydoin' it, and expects to make a lot more by bossin' the river."
"I want to see Mr. Britt," said Wade, quietly.
"See Britt! You don't think for a minute you're goin' to induce him totake our drive or do the square thing on the water question, do you?"
"But I want to see him for a reason of my own, Mr. Ide. I'm frank to sayI don't expect any justice from Britt, after my experience with him; butthere is such a thing as justification for myself. I see you don'tunderstand." He noted the little man's wrinkling brows. "I don't knowthat I'm exactly sure of my own mind. But I can't seem to bring myselfto fight this thing according to the code of the woods. I'm going intoit with every ounce of strength and hope that's in me, and there's justone preliminary that I want for my peace of soul. I want to see PulaskiBritt."
"If I was gettin' ready to fight the devil," remonstrated Ide, "I reckonI'd keep away from his brimstone-pot. He's at his Jerusalem camp," headded, grudgingly. "He went through two days ago."
"Then that's where I'll go to find him," said Wade, decisively.
Rodburd Ide fingered his nose and gazed on his partner with frankscepticism. "Whatever you want with Britt, you're wastin' your timeon him"--his tone was sullen--"and the wind-up will be anotherpeckin'-match with that long-legged rooster, MacLeod. I say, savetime and strength for our own business, Wade."
"And I say I've got business with Pulaski Britt, and propose to go tohim like a man," declared Wade. "You and I can't afford to have anymisunderstanding about this, Mr. Ide. You have said you picked me tohandle this end. I've got to handle it in my own way, so far as dealingswith men go. I'll take your advice--I'll _ask_ your advice on details ofthe work, because I don't know. As to my business with Mr. Britt, thereis no doubt in my mind. I want you to go with me."
And in the end Mr. Ide went, nipping his thin lips, not wholly convincedas to the logic of the step, but with his opinion of Dwight Wade'scourage and self-reliance decidedly heightened, and he reflected withcomfort that those were the qualities he had sought in his partnership.