ments after his
descent through the drifts. Knotted veins stood out on his forehead.
There was no coherence in the noises he was making in his effort to
speak words. He kept jabbing with his whip handle.

Evidently Craig's first thought was that the menace of the whip was for
him; he half put up a curved arm to ward off blows. In spite of his
attention to Flagg he surveyed Latisan with considerable astonishment.

Ward had not recovered his poise. A passenger is usually more perturbed
than a driver in desperate situations. That crazy dash down the cliff
had frightened him into speechless and numb passivity. He still clung to
the jumper seat with his stiffened fingers.

"Before you do anything you'll be sorry for, Mr. Flagg, let me assure
you that we have the law behind us in what we're doing," suggested
Craig, with nervous haste. "The legislature extended our charter for
development purposes and a special act protects us."

Flagg strode away a dozen paces and then came back with better command
over his faculties of speech. "Damn your legislature! What right has it
got to tamper with a landbreak that God Almighty has put between
waters?"

"The act was passed, Mr. Flagg. There was an advertised hearing. If you
were interested you should have been there."

"What does a legislature know about conditions up here?" demanded Flagg,
with fury. "They loaf around in swing chairs and hearken to the first
one who gets to 'em. They pass laws with a joker here and a trick there,
and they don't know what the law is really about. You're stealing my
water. By the gods! there's no law that allows a thief to operate. And
if you've got a law that helps you steal I'll take my chance on keeping
my own in spite of your pet and private law."

"Go ahead, Flagg," said Craig, impudently, no longer apprehensive about
the whip. "I'm not your guardian to save you from trouble. There's water
enough for all of us."

"You have swept the slopes so clean for your cursed pulp-wood slivers
that you have dried up the brooks, and there isn't enough water any
more, and you know it. Your damnation canal will suck the life out of
the Noda."

"You listen to me, Flagg!" adjured Craig, getting back all his
confidence as the executive of a powerful corporation. "Another special
act allows us to raise this dam and conserve the water so that there'll
be plenty after we use our share for the canal. You're safe and----"

"Safe!" raged the old man, and again