“Matter with it?” snorted Locke. “Why, it’s a man-trap, nothing short of it. Can’t you read, or didn’t you read? If you didn’t know what you were signing there’s a glimmer of hope.”
“I read the thing,” Joe admitted.
“And yet you signed it! Why, you young come on, if you fail to deliver by July 1st they may refuse to accept any logs whatever; and, moreover, you become their debtor and bind yourself to pay an amount which they say is ascertained damages for non-performance. Do you get that with any degree of clarity?”
“Oh, that’s all right, I guess,” said Joe, and repeated Wismer’s explanation. “I’m sure to have the logs down early in June, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Any clause in a contract matters,” said Locke. “You’re gambling on a date. The amount they specify as damages is an arbitrary one, and may be twice as great as the loss to them. This is another of Nick Ryan’s deadfalls—I recognize the turn of the phrases—and he’s got the little joker tucked inside, as usual. After this don’t you sign a blame thing without showing it to me.”
Locke’s words would have caused Joe some uneasiness but for the fact that he was sure of making delivery. Having arranged a market for his logs, or, rather, one having arranged itself for him, the next thing was to provide the logs themselves. He and Wright held council with McKenna, Tobin, Deever, and MacNutt, the former being Kent’s walking boss and the last three his foremen.
The winter’s work was divided in this way: Deever and Tobin were to finish cutting the limits on the Missabini; MacNutt was to take the Wind River limit, just acquired; Dennis McKenna, the walking boss, had a general oversight of the camps, but would divide his time between Tobin’s and Deever’s, after locating the camp at Wind River, which limit he had cruised before the purchase.
Immediately on reaching this decision, the foremen got together the nucleus of crews.
“Why don’t you go up to the Wind with McKenna and take a look at things?” said Crooks.
Joe welcomed the suggestion with enthusiasm. He had been sticking pretty closely to the office, and the prospect of a couple of weeks in the open air was attractive.