s head. "Eet is come! I have open eet--I can not wait.
Eet say we shall have the contract! Ah, _oui! oui! oui! oui_! We shall
have the contract!"

Houston, suddenly awake to what the message meant, reached for the
letter. It was there in black and white. The bid had been accepted.
There need now be but the conference in Chicago, the posting of the
forfeit money, and the deal was made.

"Eet say five thousand dollars cash, and the rest in a bond!" came
enthusiastically from Ba'tiste. "Eet is simple. You have the mill, you
have the timber. Ba'teese, he have the friend in Denver who will make
the bond."

"But how about the machinery; we'll need a hundred-thousand-dollar plant
before we're through, Ba'tiste."

"Ah!" The old French-Canadian's jaw dropped. "Ba'teese, he is like the
child. He have not think of that. He have figure he can borrow ten
thousand dollar in his own name. But he have not think about the
machinery."

"But we must think about it, Ba'tiste. We've got to get it. With the
equipment that's here, we never could hope to keep up with the contract.
And if we can't do that, we lose everything. Understand me, I'm not
thinking of quitting; I merely want to look over the battlefield first.
Shall we take the chance?"

Big Ba'tiste shrugged his shoulders.

"Ba'teese, he always try to break the way," came at last. "Ba'teese, he
have trouble--but he have nev' been beat. You ask Ba'teese--Ba'teese say
go ahead. Somehow we make it."

"Then to-morrow morning we take the train to Denver, and from there I'll
go on to Boston. I'll raise the money some way. I don't know how. If I
don't, we're only beaten in the beginning instead of at the end. We'll
simply have to trust to the future--on everything, Ba'tiste. There are
so many things that can whip us, that--" Houston laughed shortly--"we
might as well be gamblers all the way through. We'll never fulfill the
contract, even with the machinery, unless we can get the use of the lake
and a flume to the mill. We may be able to keep it up for a month or
two, but that will be all. The expense will eat us up. But one chance
is no greater than the other, and personally, I'm at the point where I
don't care."

"_Oui_! Ba'teese, he have nothing. Ba'teese he only fight for the
excitement. So, to-morrow we go!"

And on the next day they went, again to go over all the details of their
mad, foundationless escapade with Chance, to talk it all over