l show ye the
reason, though 'tis not my habit. D'ye mind I told ye that the Eureka
material was rollin' down the tote-road by the truck load? Thousands
of dollars worth of it every day is bein' delivered at the mill site.
Why? Because for some reason Orcutt has not yet found out that he does
not own the timber. The minute he does find out, not another pound
will be delivered."

"You mean----?"

"I mean that portland cement, an' the reinforcin' steel, an' plate an'
whatever else goes into the construction of a paper mill is bein' set
down on the Shamattawa, one hundred miles from a railway at Orcutt's
expense. And that every ton of it is stuff that won't pay its way out
of the woods. The freight an' the haulin' one way doubles the cost.
An' even if he tried to take it out, he'd have a hundred miles of
tote-road to build. Eureka freight travels only one way on McNabb's
tote-road--an' that way is in!"

Hedin stared at the man in astonishment. "And you can buy it at your
own figure!" he cried. "Why, you can prevent even his empty trucks
from going back. God, man, it will ruin Orcutt!"

"'Tis his own doin's," answered the man. "'Twill serve him right. He
should have 'tended to his bankin' instead of pickin' on poor old John
McNabb, that should be back of his counter sellin' thread, as he told
me himself. Ten cents on the dollar he offered for my tote-road."

"I'll do it!" exclaimed Hedin. "It will be hard, but it will be worth
it, to see that crook get what's coming to him. And then I'm going
away. Murchison will give me a letter, and I'll strike the Company for
a job."

McNabb nodded. "I guess ye're right, about not goin' back to the
store," he said slowly. "Your heart is in the North."

There was a strange lump in Hedin's throat. He glanced into the face
of his employer, and was surprised at a certain softness in the shrewd
gray eyes that gazed far out over the lake. After a time the old man
spoke, more to himself than to him. "Ye could both run down for a
month or two in the winter!"

"What?" asked Hedin, regarding the speaker with a puzzled expression.
"Both of who? A factor only gets away in the summer."

"So they do--so they do," answered McNabb, absently. "Well, we'll be
goin' back now. My engineer, maybe, will be wantin' a conference."

XXIV

A rather strained silence greeted the entrance of McNabb into the
trading room. Jean and Murchison occupied the only two chairs the