MacNutt had been delayed for a few hours by a small jam, but finally he ran into the logs of McCane’s rear. He reached the dam at the head of a dozen indignant “bully-boys,” and he and Joe tackled McCane.
“You’ve got to move your logs,” Joe told him again.
“Not till I get ready,” McCane answered as before.
“You think you’ll hang our drive, do you?” said MacNutt. “Well, you won’t. You get your crew out on them booms at once and go to sluicing.”
McCane merely grinned.
“Get at it!” cried the foreman furiously, and took a step forward.
Rough Shan did not yield an inch.
“If you want a fight you can have it quick,” said he. “Me men have quit me. I can’t pay their wages; I’m hung up meself.”
“That’s a poor lie,” said MacNutt.
“Ask them,” returned McCane. “If ye will step out here I’ll beat the face off of ye!”