ration, Peter
shot at him a quick phrase in Russian. But the man gave no sign of
comprehension.

"Who put this man on?" asked Peter, turning to Wells.

"I did," said the native sullenly.

"Why?" said Peter, growing warmer. "Didn't I tell you that in future I
would hire all the men myself?"

"We're short-handed, since you fired two of the best axmen we got----"

"You disobeyed orders----"

"_Orders_--Hell!"

"All right. We'll see who's running this camp, you or me. To-morrow
morning Jesse Brown starts as foreman here. Understand?"

Shad's eyes shot fire, then smoldered and went out as he turned with a
sneering laugh and walked away.

"As for you," said Peter to the stranger, who stood uncertainly, "you go
to the office in the morning and get your envelope." Then repeated the
sentence in Russian. "If you don't understand--find somebody who does."

That the stranger had understood Peter's demeanor if not his language
was evident, for in the morning he had vanished.

After that clearing of the air things went somewhat better at the camp.
Jesse Brown, though not aggressive, was steady and honest and had a
certain weight with the Jerseymen. As to the others, there was doubt as
to whether anything would have satisfied them. For the present, at
least, it was a question of getting on as well as possible with the
means at hand. There was a limit to Peter's weekly pay roll and other
men were not to be had. Besides, Peter had promised McGuire to keep the
sawmills busy. He knew that when he had come to Black Rock the work on
the lumber contract had already fallen behind the schedule, and that
only by the greatest perseverance could he make up the time already
lost.

As he rode back to his cabin on the afternoon after his encounter with
Shad Wells and the stranger with the black mustache, he found himself
quite satisfied with regard to his summary dismissal of them both. On
Beth's account he had hesitated to depose Shad. He knew that before he
had come to Black Rock they had been friends as well as distant
relatives, and Beth in her frequent meetings with Peter had expressed
the hope that Shad would "come around." Peter had given him every
chance, even while he had known that the Jerseyman was working against
both McGuire's and Peter's interests. Flynn and Jacobi, the men Peter
had sent away, were radicals and agitators. Flynn had a police record
that did not bear close inspection, and Jacobi was an anarchist out and