. "Very naturally you'd want
to save your winter cut."

"Then I'd like to have 'em build a bridge somewheres along the river I
aimed to drive--a bridge and a nice dirt embankment, all dressed up
with rails and ties and things on top. I'm allowed to suppose I've got
an awful long standin' score, ain't I, along with all this timber?
Well, that's what I'd like to have 'em do, then. And when I opened her
up, a few miles up river, and she began to roar; when that first head
of water hit the bridge and the sticks begun to grind, I suppose I'd
take up my position on the bank where I could watch real well. I'd
light me a long, black cigar and murmur, sort of languid and
sympathetic, 'There goes your railroad, gents!'"

Before the finish of that speech was reached Garry had begun to follow.
When Joe drew down one corner of his mouth and puffed aloft an
imaginary cloud of smoke by way of added vividness, his own laughter
mingled with Steve's quieter appreciation. But his contribution to the
conversation was not as complacent as Fat Joe's had been.

"Such a move in itself would be outside the letter of the contract," he
expostulated. "Why, they wouldn't dare do anything; they wouldn't dare
to begin driving the river before your time was up, much less do damage
to your completed work. What excuse--what legal excuse--could they
give, even though they were morally certain that you were bound to
fail?"

Very slowly, almost pityingly, Joe turned toward him.

"Legal!" he droned. "Moral?" And then he laughed his clear tenor
outburst which barely escaped being a giggle. "Dear child, judiciously
speaking, law and lumber and morals and mill-feet don't mix. They
don't mix at all, in this section of the country. If they wanted to
bother their heads with an alibi, they could say it was top of flood,
and they weren't eager to be hung up, just because a brass-buttoned
conductor promised 'em a through express in the morning. They could
say-- But what good would explanations do us, huh, if they sent a half
million logs sky-hootin' into our bridge? It wouldn't save our
construction, would it?"

He wheeled back to Steve, his manner brisk.

"Do we leave that stretch open?" he asked. "Is that the way you have
it figured?"

"I'm afraid we'd better," Steve said.

And from the very deliberation of that reply Garry Devereau realized
how vital was the point which they had been weighing so irresponsibly.

That was as close as th