Page:Hugh Pendexter--The young timber-cruisers.djvu/73

 and Bub accosted him. At first he did not sense their presence and when they repeated their salutation he waved them aside impatiently and with bowed head walked slowly towards the edge of the settlement. He knew he was approaching a crisis in his affairs. He had been on many ventures for the company, had made many cruises, had managed many camps, and never yet had failed to show the expected results. But now there seemed small chance for success. He knew that Nace must be extremely confident to invite a litigation from so powerful a rival. If the line had been changed it must have been changed fully a score of years before, or when Nace was beginning his career as an operator. Abner could not but help admiring the forethought that prompted the swindle.

“To think of his shifting that line and then waiting twenty years before trying to turn the trick,” he muttered, half aloud.

“Could we speak to you, Mister Whitten?” politely repeated Bub for the fifth time.

“What do ye want?” suspiciously asked Abner. “When ye come snooping ’round and a mistering me I know something is up. Have ye seen to the food for to-morrer?”

“Yes, sir; I’ve put in three tins of that