o his crew. He
grinned. It was evident that he considered that anything under that
general head was in the Duke's supreme control, and that his employer's
orders absolved him.

"It's just what they've been trying to prod into you--it's their game,"
adjured Presson, beating expostulating palms upon Thornton's breast.

"Then it has worked," the old man replied, calmly. He pushed the
chairman aside. "Rush'em, Ben, and, if they don't go easy, toss 'em over
the fence."

The big boss sauntered among his crew and growled a few crisp commands.
The smile he wore gave the affair the appearance of a lark, and the
woodsmen took it in that spirit. But the mob was sullen. Those who were
not active rebels had been stung by the contempt that their leader now
displayed. Some resisted when the woodsmen pushed them half playfully. A
burly fellow stood his ground. Ivus Niles lurked at his back.

"The folks up in the Jo Quacca Mountains will snicker in good shape when
I tell 'em that Fightin' MacCracken let himself be dumped out of Duke
Thornton's dooryard by a pack of lard-eating Quedaws," he sneered in
the giant's ear.

MacCracken swept away the first three men with swinging cuffs. He was
thinking of his reputation at home. The taunt pricked him.

"Call 'em off--call 'em off, sir," pleaded Davis. "I've been trying to
get these men out of your yard. I don't approve of Niles. Let's have our
politics clean, Mr. Thornton. I'm willing to argue with you. But don't
let's have it said outside that Fort Canibas' politics is run by
plug-uglies."

"He's right, Thelismer; you're letting them score a point on you,"
protested Presson.

But Thornton had been too grievously wounded that day to be able to
listen to peace measures. He strode down off the porch, shouting
commands. His men were willing, and MacCracken's defiance gave them the
provocation they wanted.

"If it's fight you're looking for, you spike-horn stag," announced the
boss, bursting through the press to reach the Jo Quacca champion, "we
can open a full assortment, and no trouble to show goods."

He knocked MacCracken flat, reaching over the heads of the smaller men,
and the next moment the Canadians swarmed on the fallen gladiator like
flies, lifted him and tossed him into the road. The rest of the mob
escaped. Niles's emblematic buck sheep, cropping the grass in the fence
corner, was tossed out behind the fugitives.

"I was hoping there'd be a little more cayenne in it," co