"Break it!" he pleaded. "You're ruining me. I've got all my money
in that mill."

"Well," said Orde, "we've got a lot of money in our logs too. You
haven't treated us quite right."

Reed glanced frantically toward the flood up stream.

"Come," said Orde, taking him gently by the arm. "There's no reason
you and I shouldn't get along together all right. Maybe we're both
a little hard-headed. Let's talk it over."

He led the old man ashore, and out of earshot of the rivermen.

At the end of ten minutes he returned.

"War's over, boys!" he shouted cheerfully. "Get in and break that
jam."

At once the crew swarmed across the log barrier to a point above the
centre pier. This they attacked with their peavies, rolling the top
logs off into the current below. In less than no time they had torn
out quite a hole in the top layer. The river rushed through the
opening. Immediately the logs in the wings were tumbled in from
either side. At first the men had to do all of the work, but soon
the river itself turned to their assistance. Timbers creaked and
settled, or rose slightly buoyant as the water loosened the tangle.
Men trod on the edge of expectation. Constantly the logs shifted,
and as constantly the men shifted also, avoiding the upheavals and
grindings together, wary eyes estimating the correlation of the