"So it seems to me, but you appear to be hell bent on trying it."
Dan was enjoying himself and he deliberately added to the other's anger by inquiring, as if in the blinding light of a new idea:
"Why don't you bridge over and go up the other side?" He pointed to the forbidding, broken country which faced them across the rapids.
Gordon snorted. "How long do you intend to maintain this preposterous attitude?" he asked.
"As long as the powder lasts—and there's a good deal of it."
The promoter chewed his lip for a moment in perplexity, then said with a geniality he was far from feeling:
"Appleton, you're all right! I admire your loyalty, even though it happens to be for a mistaken cause. I always liked you. I admire loyalty—It's something I need in my business. What I need I pay for, and I pay well."
"So your man Linn told us."
"I never really discharged you. In fact, I intended to re-employ you, for I need you badly. You can name your own salary and go to work any time."
"In other words, you mean you'll pay me well to let you through."