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Orde's shout of laughter broke the night silence of the whispering breeze and the rushing water. "We'll stick to 'em like death to a dead nigger," was his comment. Newmark, having extracted a kind of cardigan jacket from the bag he had brought with him as far as the mill, looked at the smooth, iron-black water and shivered.
The interested audience now consisted of the dozen men comprised by Orde's friends; nearly twice as many strangers, evidently rivermen; eight hangers-on of the joint, probably fighters and "bouncers"; half a dozen professional gamblers, and several waitresses. The four barkeepers still held their positions.
At the office he found Newmark already seated at his desk, a pile of letters in front of him. Upon Orde's boisterous greeting his nerves crisped slightly, but of this there was no outward sign beyond a tightening of his hands on the letter he was reading. Behind his eye-glasses his blue, cynical eyes twinkled like frost crystals.
Finally the gamblers yielded. A canvass of the drawer, helped out by the bar and the other games, made up the sum. It bulked large on the table beside Orde's higher denominations.
I think I can do it; and I'm entirely willing to take all personal risks. The thing is hazardous and it's Mr. Orde's tug. It's for him to say whether he wants to risk her." "Good Lord, man, what's the tug in a case like this!" cried Orde, who was standing near. Carroll looked at him proudly, but she did not attempt to make her presence known. "I thought so," replied Captain Marsh.
I needn't ask you to stand by the Bengali man in every possible way. You'll do that for your own sake. 'For Orde's. I can't say that I care twopence personally. 'Don't be an ass. It's grievous enough, God knows, and the Government will know later on; but that's no reason for your sulking.
From several doorways Orde's little compact group was accosted by the burly saloonkeepers. "Hullo, boys!" said they invariably, "glad to see you back. Come in and have a drink on me." Well these men knew that one free drink would mean a dozen paid for. But the rivermen merely shook their heads. "Huh!" sneered one of the girls. "Them's no river-jacks! Them's just off the hay trail, I bet!"
Then a steely glint crept into Orde's frank blue eye and the corners of his mouth tightened. "We want no trouble with you, Mr. Reed," said he, "and I'm no lawyer to know what the law requires you to do and what it requires you not to do.
"Good-afternoon," said he. "Will you kindly tell me where Mr. Orde lives?" "This is Mr. Orde's," replied the little old lady. "Pardon me," persisted Newmark, "I am looking for Mr. Jack Orde, and I was directed here. I am sorry to have troubled you." "Mr. Jack Orde lives here," returned Grandma Orde. "He is my son. Would you like to see him?"
When the jam of the drive had descended the river as far as this, Orde found that Heinzman had not yet begun to break out. Hardly had Orde's first crew passed, however, when Heinzman's men began to break down the logs into the drive. Long before the rear had caught up, all Heinzman's drive was in the water, inextricably mingled with the sixty or eighty million feet Orde had in charge.
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