o men when Kyle
struggled to his feet and started toward the teamster with the mania of
blood lust in his red eyes. The master put forth a hand and thrust back
the raging mate. Flagg said something, but for a time he could not be
heard above the tempest of howling laughter.

It was riotous abandonment to mirth. Men hung helplessly to other men or
flapped their hands and staggered about, choking with their merriment.
The savageness of the punishment administered to the boastful Kyle
might have shocked persons with squeamish dispositions; it was wildly
humorous in the estimation of those men o' the forest. They were used to
having their jokes served raw.

The roar that fairly put into the background the riot of the falling
waters of the Noda was what all the region recognized as the ruination
of a man's authority in the north country; it was the Big Laugh.

Flagg, when he could make himself heard by his boss, holding Kyle in his
mighty grip, made mention of the Big Laugh, too. "Kyle, you've got it at
last by your damn folly. You're licked forever in these parts. I warned
you. You went ahead against my word to you. You're no good to me after
this." He yanked the list of names from Kyle's jacket pocket.

"Let me loose! I'm going to kill that----"

"You're going to walk out--and away! You're done. You're fired. You
can't boss men after this. A boss, are you?" he demanded, with bitter
irony. "All up and down this river, if you tried to boss men, they'd
give you the grin and call you 'Co Boss'. They'd moo after you. Look at
'em now. Listen to 'em. Get out of my sight. I don't forgive any man who
goes against my word to him and then gets into trouble." He thrust Kyle
away with a force that sent the man staggering. He turned to the bashful
chap, who had resumed his former demeanor of deprecation. "You're hired.
You've showed that you can drive oxen and I reckon you can drive logs."

The teamster was too thoroughly bulwarked by admirers to allow the
rampant Kyle an opportunity to get at him. And there was Flagg to reckon
with if violence should be attempted. The deposed first mate slunk
away.

"That, my men," proclaimed the master, "is what the Big Laugh can do to
a boss. No man can be a boss for me after he gets that laugh. I reckon
I've hired my crew," he went on, looking them over critically. "Stand by
to follow me north in the morning."

CHAPTER SIX

When the autocrat of the Noda strode away, a stalwart youn