“Does sound like it,” he admitted; “but I'm not asking all this out of idle curiosity. I've got a scheme in my head that I think may work out big for us both.”
“Well,” assented Orde reservedly, “in that case—I'm foreman on this drive because my outfit went kerplunk two years ago, and I'm making a fresh go at it.”
“Failed?” inquired Newmark.
“Partner skedaddled,” replied Orde. “Now, if you're satisfied with my family history, suppose you tell me what the devil you're driving at.”
He was plainly restive under the cross-examination to which he had been subjected.
“Look here,” said Newmark, abruptly changing the subject, “you know that rapids up river flanked by shallows, where the logs are always going aground?”
“I do,” replied Orde, still grim.
“Well, why wouldn't it help to put a string of piers down both sides, with booms between them to hold the logs in the deeper water?”
“It would,” said Orde.
“Why isn't it done, then?”