"What ye got to say about this?" snorted Peg, taking in the burned area with a sweep of his stick.
"As a forester, I am very sorry that this has happened, though it was through no fault of ours," answered Tom.
"Ye lie!" exploded the foreman.
"Tatem, you will please drop that sort of talk here. Remember there are ladies present. Besides, I don't take that word from anyone. I said, the fire occurred through no fault of ours. A tree fell on our campfire and scattered the embers, and, before we realized it, the forest was on fire. We worked all night and all the forenoon trying to head the fire off, which we finally succeeded in doing. Had we not done our part, this whole section would long since have been entirely burned off. Why are you taking it upon yourself to come here and interfere with us?"
"Why? Ye bloomin' idiot! I'm talkin' because ye've burned off a few hundred thousand feet of timber from our section. That's why, and yer goin' to pay for every stick of it. Do ye git me?"
"Oh, perfectly, perfectly," interjected Hippy.
"Your section, did you say?" demanded Tom.
"That's what I said," leered Peg.
"You are mistaken. This is not your section. It is possible that you may have intended to crowd your boundaries and steal a few thousand feet of state timber, but so far as its belonging to you or to the people you represent, I know better."
"Ye—ye say I'm a thief?" demanded Peg, the words seeming to stick in his throat.