this year. That means a large loss, of course, as you know."

"I don't know nothin' about the pesky business, and I don't wan to,"
snorted Reed.

"Well, there's borers, for one thing, to spoil a good many of the
logs. And think what it will mean to the mills. No logs means no
lumber. That is bankruptcy for a good many who have contracts to
fulfil. And no logs means the mills must close. Thousands of men
will be thrown out of their jobs, and a good many of them will go
hungry. And with the stream full of the old cutting, that means
less to do next winter in the woods--more men thrown out. Getting
out a season's cut with the flood-water is a pretty serious matter
to a great many people, and if you insist on holding us up here in
this slack water the situation will soon become alarming."

"Ye finished?" demanded Reed grimly.

"Yes," replied Orde.

The old man cast from him his half-whittled piece of pine. He
closed his jack-knife with a snap and thrust it in his pocket. He
brought to earth the front legs of his chair with a thump, and
jammed his ruffled plug hat to its proper place.

"And if the whole kit and kaboodle of ye starved out-right," said
he, "it would but be the fulfillin' of the word of the prophet who
says, 'So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they
shall bereave thee, and pestilence and blood shall pass through
thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken