“Suits us,” Bob declared, as he too got up from his chair. “All we want is fair play. You let us alone and we’ll do the same by you. But we’re not going to sit still and have our work interrupted and do nothing about it,” he continued, in no way deceived by Big Ben’s smooth front.
“He knew he was getting as good as he was sending all right,” Jack laughed as soon as their visitor had taken his departure.
“Maybe,” Bob returned, a worried look on his face. “But he means trouble and he’s not the one to give up when he once starts out to do a thing. You know that as well as I do. Oh, he’s a slick one all right, but believe me he didn’t pull any wool over my eyes.”
“Nor mine either,” Jack declared hastily. “It won’t be his fault if Father gets away with that contract. But what do you think he’ll try next?”
“Pretty hard to say. But come on, every tree down helps just so much, and I feel like working off some of my surplus anger with an ax,” and Bob led the way to the chopping.
As Bob had predicted, a wonderful change had taken place in the Frenchman, Jean Larue. His overbearing attitude had disappeared entirely and a spirit of genial goodfellowship had taken its place. His companions, always generous to a fault, were quick to notice the change and to throw all previous hard feelings to the winds and accept him on the new basis. Instead of being feared and hated, he soon became one of the most popular men in the crew. He eagerly sought the company of Bob and Jack, and they gladly welcomed his company.
They were about half through supper that night when Tom Bean returned from Greenville and, to their great joy, Mr. Golden was with him.
“Thought I’d run up and see how things were going,” he explained as he greeted the boys. “Tom tells me that we’re making good time so far and that you are developing into first class choppers.”
As soon as supper was over Mr. Golden, Tom and the boys went at once to the office, and as soon as they had the stove roaring in good shape, Jack gave them an account of their morning visitor.
“I’m mighty sorry to have trouble with Ben,” Mr. Golden said, when he had finished. “The man is a bad one to have as an enemy, but I hardly see how it can be helped. It’s the loss of that deed that worries me most. As it stands now he’s got the law on his side, and unless I can find it it looks as though I’d have to lose the tract. That injunction which I got out forbidding him to cut on it isn’t really worth the paper it’s written on, and I imagine he knows it, so if he starts cutting don’t do anything about it; we’d only get into trouble and probably not accomplish anything. If I ever find the deed I can make him pay for all he cuts, and if not, well, I guess the tract’s his.”