Skedaddle!"
Reed hesitated, waving his long arms about, flail-like, as though to
begin a new oration.
"Now, do hop along," urged Orde. "We'll pay you any legitimate
damages, of course, but you can't expect to hang up a riverful of
logs just on a notion. And we're sick of you. Oh, hell, then! See
here, you two; just see that this man leaves camp."
Orde turned square on his heel. Reed, after a glance at the two
huge rivermen approaching, beat a retreat to his mill, muttering and
wrathful still.
"Well, good-bye, boys," said Daly, pulling on his overcoat; "I'll
just get along and bail the boys out of that village calaboose. I
reckon they've had a good night's rest. Be good!"
The fringe of trees to eastward showed clearly against the whitening
sky. Hundreds of birds of all kinds sang in an ecstasy. Another
day had begun. Already men with pike-poles were guiding the sullen
timbers toward the sluice-way.
IV
When Newmark awoke once more to interest in affairs, the morning was
well spent. On the river the work was going forward with the
precision of clockwork. The six-foot lowering of the sluice-way had
produced a fine current, which sucked the logs down from above. Men
were busily engaged in "sacking" them from the sides of the pond
toward its centre, lest the lowering water should leave them
stranded.
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