to fight fire with
fire. For Hawk had proved himself both skillful and dangerous, and would
struggle desperately to get what he thought was his own. It was his last
chance to make a big stake--to be independent for the rest of his life.
He was tasting luxury now and wouldn't give up without a fight to the
death. Something must be thought of--some plan to outwit him, to
circumvent the schemes which would come out of his visit of
investigation to the copper country.

Peter had said nothing to Beth or to Mrs. Cameron of what he had
discovered. He was under no oath of secrecy to the old man, but he
realized that while Hawk Kennedy held the "confession" McGuire was in a
predicament which would only be made more difficult if the facts got
abroad. And so Peter had gone about his work silently, aware that the
burden of McGuire's troubles had been suddenly shifted to his own
shoulders. He spent most of his days at the lumber camp and now had
every detail of the business at his fingers' ends. Timbers had been
hauled to the appointed sites and under his direction the fire towers
were now half way to completion.

He had found Shad Wells down at the mills, morose, sullen and disposed
to question his authority, but McGuire had visited the bunk-house one
night before he went away, and it was soon discovered that Peter and no
other was the boss of the job. Peter for reasons of his own retained
Shad, much to that gentleman's surprise, as foreman of the lumbering
gang, but Peter wasn't at all satisfied with conditions as he had found
them at the lumber camp and mills and, as he discovered later, the
continuance of Shad in the foreman's job was a mistake. If Peter had
hoped by this act of conciliation to heal Shad's wounds and bring about
a spirit of useful cooeperation with the man, he soon found that the very
reverse of this had been accomplished. The lumbermen were an
unregenerate lot, some of them "pineys," a few Italians, but most of
them the refuse of the factories and shipyards, spoiled by the fatal
"cost plus" contracts of war time. All of these facts Peter learned
slowly, aware of an undercurrent moving against him and yet entirely
dependent upon this labor--which was the best, indeed the only labor, to
be had. He made some improvements in the bunk-house for their comfort,
increased the supply of food and posted notices that all complaints of
whatever nature would be promptly investigated. But day after day new
stories came to