ef, and so had done the next best thing,--thrown him a heavy iron
belaying pin.

Thorpe was active, alert, and strong. The men could come at him only in
front. As offset, he could not give ground, even for one step. Still,
in the hands of a powerful man, the belaying pin is by no means a
despicable weapon. Thorpe hit with all his strength and quickness. He
was conscious once of being on the point of defeat. Then he had cleared
a little space for himself. Then the men were on him again more savagely
than ever. One fellow even succeeded in hitting him a glancing blow on
the shoulder.

Then came a sudden crash. Thorpe was nearly thrown from his feet. The
next instant a score of yelling men leaped behind and all around him.
There ensued a moment's scuffle, the sound of dull blows; and the dock
was clear of all but Dyer and three others who were, like himself,
unconscious. The captain, yielding to the excitement, had run his prow
plump against the wharf.

Some of the crew received the mooring lines. All was ready for
disembarkation.

Bryan Moloney, a strapping Irish-American of the big-boned, red-cheeked
type, threw some water over the four stunned combatants. Slowly they
came to life. They were promptly yanked to their feet by the irate
rivermen, who commenced at once to bestow sundry vigorous kicks and
shakings by way of punishment. Thorpe interposed.

"Quit it!" he commanded. "Let them go!"

The men grumbled. One or two were inclined to be openly rebellious.

"If I hear another peep out of you," said Thorpe to these latter, "you
can climb right aboard and take the return trip." He looked them in
the eye until they muttered, and then went on: "Now, we've got to get
unloaded and our goods ashore before those fellows report to camp. Get
right moving, and hustle!"

If the men expected any comment, approval, or familiarity from their
leader on account of their little fracas, they were disappointed.
This was a good thing. The lumber-jack demands in his boss a certain
fundamental unapproachability, whatever surface bonhomie he may evince.

So Dyer and his men picked themselves out of the trouble sullenly and
departed. The ex-scaler had nothing to say as long as he was within
reach, but when he had gained the shore, he turned.

"You won't think this is so funny when you get in the law-courts!" he
shouted.

Thorpe made no reply. "I guess we'll keep even," he muttered.

"By the jumping Moses," snarled Scotty Parsons