“All right,” growled Finn as he took a step toward the door, propelled by his brother’s insistent hand. “Lave me be, Jawn. I’ll get him another time. Mind ye, now,” he cried to Kent, “we mane to have every foot of timber the contract calls for, an’ no shenanigan about ut! An’ ye may bless yer stars for Jawn, here, me bucko. Only for him I’d have lamed ye!”
Joe did not reply to the threat. “When you came in I was willing to stay with the contract, even at a loss,” he said. “Now, I tell you straight that if there’s a way out of it you won’t get another foot of boards from me.”
John Clancy grinned at him. “Hunt for holes in it, an’ welcome,” he said dryly. “If our lawyers is bum we want to know it, so we can change ’em. Nicholas K. Ryan drawed that agreement. I’m thinkin’ ye couldn’t break it wid dynymite.”
When they had gone Joe dug his copy of the agreement out of the safe and went to see Locke.
“I want to know,” he said, “if this agreement will hold water.”
Locke barely glanced at the document.
“Ryan drew this, and your father signed it against my advice,” he said. “Hold water? It would hold gas. What’s the matter? Aren’t they living up to it?”
“Living up to it? I should say they are!” exclaimed Joe. “That’s just the trouble. I want to know if there’s a way out of this for me?” He explained the position, and the lawyer listened, frowning.
“They’re a sweet pair,” he commented. “And so you want to dodge out of an agreement with them because you stand to lose money on it?”
Joe reddened. Baldly put it amounted to just that, though in the heat of his anger he had lost sight of his former scruples.