gh ground that had been rutted by the wheels of
the jigger wagons. The muffled thud of the hoofs of dozing horses guided
him in his search for the stables, and he found the door of the
hostlers' quarters and pounded.

"You'll have to go see the super; I don't dare to let a hoss out of here
without orders," said the man who listened to his request.

"Tell me where his house is, and lend me a lantern."

The hostler yawned and mumbled and complained because he had been
disturbed, but he fumbled for the lantern, lighted it, and gave it to
Latisan, along with directions how to find the super's home.

That minor magnate was hard to wake, but he appeared at an open upper
window after a time and listened.

"We can't spare a horse in mud time, with the hauling as heavy as it is.
Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Ward Latisan."

"Hold that lantern up side of your face and let me see!"

The young man obeyed meekly.

"Excuse me for doubting your word of mouth," said the super, after he
had assured himself, "but we hardly expected to see you back in this
region." It was drawled with dry sarcasm.

"I haven't the time to argue on that, sir. I have business north of
here. I'll hire a horse or I'll buy a horse."

"And you heard what I said, that I can't spare one. By the way, Latisan,
you may as well understand that I won't do business with you, anyway.
You got me in wrong with my folks and with the Three C's, too, when you
bribed my men to load that dynamite."

"I can't see why the Comas company----"

"I can. My folks can. If we get saw logs this year we've got to buy 'em
through Rufus Craig. When you ran away and let Ech Flagg get dished----"

"His drive is coming through," insisted Latisan, desperately, breaking
in on speech in his turn.

"Where are you from, right now?" inquired the super.

"New York."

"And a devil of a lot you must have found out about the prospect of logs
from the independents, Flagg or anybody else. Don't come up here and try
to tell me my business; I've been here all the time. Good night!" He
banged down the window.

And once more Ward was alone in the night, distracted and desolate. This
testing of the estimation in which he was held in the north country
after the debacle in Adonia made his despondency as black as the
darkness which surrounded him.

He wanted to call to the super and ask if at least he could buy the
lantern. He decided it would be better to borrow it.

He set away afoot by