"About five hundred; a few more or less."

"Now suppose," Newmark leaned forward impressively, "suppose a firm
should be organised to drive ALL the logs on the river. Suppose it
improved the river with necessary piers, dams, and all the rest of it,
so that the driving would be easier. Couldn't it drive with less than
five hundred men, and couldn't it save money on the cost of driving?"

"It might," agreed Orde.

"You know the conditions here. If such a firm should be organised
and should offer to drive the logs for these ten firms at so much a
thousand, do you suppose it would get the business?"

"It would depend on the driving firm," said Orde. "You see, mill men
have got to have their logs. They can't afford to take chances. It
wouldn't pay."

"Then that's all right," agreed Newmark, with a gleam of satisfaction
across his thin face. "Would you form a partnership with me having such
an object in view?"

Orde threw back his head and laughed with genuine amusement.

"I guess you don't realise the situation," said he. "We'd have to have a
few little things like distributing booms, and tugs, and a lot of tools
and supplies and works of various kinds."

"Well, we'd get them."

It was now Orde's turn to ask questions.

"How much are you worth?" he inquired bluntly.

"About twenty thousand dollars," replied Newmark.

"Well, if I raise very much more than twenty thousand cents, I'm lucky
just now."

"How much capital would we have to have?" asked Newmark.

Orde thought for several minutes, twisting the petal of an old
apple-blossom between his strong, blunt fingers.

"Somewhere near seventy-five thousand dollars," he estimated at last.

"That's easy," cried Newmark. "We'll make a stock company--say a hundred
thousand shares. We'll keep just enough between us to control the
company--say fifty-one thousand. I'll put in my pile, and you can pay
for yours out of the earnings of the company."

"That doesn't sound fair," objected Orde.

"You pay interest," explained Newmark. "Then we'll sell the rest of the
stock to raise the rest of the money."

"If we can," interjected Orde.

"I think we can," asserted Newmark.

Orde fell into a brown study, occasionally throwing a twig or a particle
of earth at the offending lump in the turf. Overhead the migratory
warblers balanced right-side up or up-side down, searching busily among
the new leaves, uttering their simple calls. The air was warm and soft
and still, th