CHAPTER XXXII
"Dale this looks as if we were out of it."
"Yes, Owen, and I think it is a shame."
"Undoubtedly. But what are you going to do about it?"
"Perhaps we'll hear from Mr. Wilbur before Saturday."
"Yes, but even so, Mr. Balasco is manager here, as he says. We'll have to go."
So talking, the pair made their way back to the yard from which they had come. Here they told Andy Westmore and Bruce Howard of what had occurred.
"It's a jolly shame," said Bruce. "I declare, I almost feel like throwing up the job myself. I had some words with Mr. Balasco just before he went down to Portland, and I came pretty close to walking off then."
"If I were you I'd report the matter to Mr. Wilbur," said Andy Westmore. "And tell him he had best come on and look at what's being done."
"We have sent him a letter," answered Owen.
The next day found Owen in the woods, working as if nothing unusual had happened. Dale was sent down to the tool house near the office, to bring up some oil needed on the donkey engine.
Dale was about to step into the tool house when he saw a man alight from one of the lumber trucks on the railroad track, and come toward the main office. The man looked slightly familiar, and as he came closer the young lumberman recognized the individual as the one he had seen in the lumber office in Detroit, while waiting to see Mr. Wilbur.
"Hullo!" he heard Ulmer Balasco call out. "I wasn't looking for you to-day, Hildan!" And then the man shook hands with the lumber dealer and stepped into the office.
"Foxy Hildan!" thought Dale, and then he remembered how he had heard the man's name before. "He had some dealings with Mr. Wilbur in Detroit, and with that thin man at the lumber office there. This is getting interesting."
From the window of the tool house he could see the two men in the office, and also see the book-keeper working away over the books.
Ulmer Balasco and Foxy Hildan were talking very earnestly, but presently he saw Balasco hold up his hand as a warning, and jerk his thumb toward the book-keeper. Then the two men came out of the building and walked along a path running behind the tool house.
Dale hardly knew what to do, and before he realized it the two men were within a dozen feet of where he was standing, behind several boxes and casks. The men had halted, and were talking as earnestly as ever.
"Now don't you worry at all," he heard Foxy Hildan say. "I've got Wilbur fixed, and he won't come anywhere near you. He thinks everything is going along as smoothly as possible."
"But when the blow falls——" began Ulmer Balasco.
"We'll stand from under, and he'll be the only man to get hit." Foxy Hildan laughed coldly. "Why, Balasco, don't you know that this means at least ten thousand dollars to us?"
"I know that."
"And when the company goes to smash, you and I can buy it in on the quiet, for what that railroad contract brings. It's a dead-easy, open-and-shut proposition."
"If we can keep Wilbur away for two weeks longer, Foxy. I'm holding back the lumber all I can, without creating too much suspicion."
"Well, keep on holding it back. Don't get scared with the prize almost in your hand."
"The trouble is, a couple of young fellows who are out here have written to him to come on, and——"
"You said that before. Well, I'll send him an important telegram to come to San Francisco, and that will keep him away."
So the talk ran on, in channels that were new to Dale. But he caught the gist of the matter. These men were going to keep Jefferson Wilbur away from this plant at all hazards—and ruin him.
"They shan't do it! I'll telegraph for him to come on at once!" thought the young lumberman. "I'll show Mr. Ulmer Balasco and Foxy Hildan that they are not as smart as they imagine!"
As soon as the men had departed, Dale left the tool house on the run. He made his way straight for the yard where Owen was at work, and called his chum to one side.
"Can that be possible!" exclaimed Owen, when he had heard the story. "They are certainly a pair of rascals. Yes, we must send word to Mr. Wilbur just as quickly as we can."
With Andy Westmore as foreman it was an easy matter to get away. Both jumped on a log train bound for the creek, and arriving at the end of the run, hurried on foot toward Tunley.
"Hullo, you back here again?" cried the station master to Owen. "That's queer. Tolly just said he had taken down a mighty important message for you."
Tolly was the operator at the station.
"Where is he?" asked Owen, and looked meaningly at Dale.
"Here he comes now."
In a moment more the operator appeared. He carried in his hand a sealed telegram envelope.
"Here is Owen Webb now!" called out the station master.
"Are you Owen Webb?" asked the operator curiously, and he looked the young lumberman over from head to foot.
"That's my handle," replied Owen, using an expression he had picked up since coming West.
"Then this is for you." The operator handed over the message. "I wish you luck," he added. "I was counting on something happening before long," and he walked away.
Trying to keep down his feelings, Owen tore open the envelope and took out the telegram. For such a communication it was quite long, and ran as follows:
"Owen Webb, Tunley, Ore."Report received. I hereby appoint you my representative at the camp and the office of the Wilbur-Balasco Company until my arrival. Show this to Balasco as your authority. That railroad contract must be pushed through. Will telegraph Rice, asking him to assist you if necessary. Total output must go to railroad. Stop work on flume. Keep Dale Bradford with you until I see him. Important."Jefferson Wilbur."
"Owen Webb, Tunley, Ore.
"Report received. I hereby appoint you my representative at the camp and the office of the Wilbur-Balasco Company until my arrival. Show this to Balasco as your authority. That railroad contract must be pushed through. Will telegraph Rice, asking him to assist you if necessary. Total output must go to railroad. Stop work on flume. Keep Dale Bradford with you until I see him. Important.
"Jefferson Wilbur."
Owen read the telegram twice and allowed Dale to do the same over his shoulder. Then the friends looked at each other.
"Here's a job for you, Owen. How do you like it?"
"Oh, I guess I can pull through," was the grim answer. "But just imagine Ulmer Balasco's feeling when I tell him what's doing!"
"Mr. Wilbur wants me to stay with you until he sees me, and says it is important. What can that mean?"
"I don't know, I'm sure, unless it has something to do with that mining claim your father owned."
Dale's face lit up, and then fell again.
"Oh, I'm not going to raise any false hopes," he said. "Perhaps he wants to give us both steady positions here, and don't want me to go away merely because Balasco discharged me."
Owen stretched himself, as if getting ready to heave on a big stick of timber.
"I've got some work cut out for me, no doubt of that," he said. "I shouldn't wonder if I'd have something like a fight with Balasco."
"If he says too much I'll take a hand and let him know what I overheard in the tool house."
"Do you think it worth while to send that message we were going to?"
"No, for it isn't likely Mr. Wilbur will get it. He may be on the train bound for here already."
"I wish I could get word to Mr. Rice. He is a fine man and will probably help me all he can."
"I'll tell you how we can do it. Walk over to the Dennison camp and telephone. There is a private wire."
This was agreed to, and without the loss of a moment they hurried to the Dennison camp, a mile and a half away. Permission to use the wire was readily given, and Owen soon had the owner of the saw- and shingle-mill at the telephone.
"Yes, I just got the telegram from Wilbur," said Philip Rice, in reply to Owen's question. "I'm glad he's alive to the fact that something is wrong."
"Will you back me up, if I have trouble?"
"Certainly I will. I'll help Wilbur every time. I'll be up at your office this afternoon at four o'clock sharp. And by the way: he sent word to me to have that Baptiste Ducrot arrested. I've telephoned to the sheriff of this county, so, if you need that officer up your way, all you've got to do is to let me know."
"I don't know if I'll have to go as far as that," answered Owen, and then added: "Wait a minute. My friend Dale Bradford is with me. He heard some queer talk between Balasco and Foxy Hildan a couple of hours ago. Perhaps we'll have to have Hildan held."
"If you can prove anything against him have him held by all means!" exclaimed Philip Rice. "Fifty lumbermen in Oregon and California will bless you for it."
"Then you had better bring the sheriff with you," replied Owen; and after a few more words the conversation was brought to a close.
It must be admitted that Owen's heart beat strongly when he journeyed back to the lumber camp. He knew that Ulmer Balasco was a hard man with whom to deal, and that the task before him was one by no means easy.
"But Mr. Wilbur is in the right," he said to Dale. "And I am going to stick up for him to the finish. That lumber has got to go down to the river—every stick of it—and in jig time, too."
"If I were you I'd take Andy Westmore into my confidence before I spoke to Balasco," said Dale. "He knows this camp from end to end, and he'll know exactly what to do with the men."
"That's a good idea, Dale, and I'll tell Bruce Howard and a few of the others too."
Not to be seen by Ulmer Balasco, they took a roundabout way to the yard where Andy Westmore and Bruce were at work. While Owen told the old lumberman the news, and showed the telegram, Dale related the particulars to Bruce.
"It's what I expected," said Andy Westmore. "It should have happened two weeks ago. That contract only runs two weeks and three days longer. We'll have to hustle like mad to fill it on time."
"Will you stick by me, Westmore? I'll appoint you head yardmaster from this minute if you will."
"It's a go, Webb!" They shook hands. "We'll put her through or bust!"
Bruce was equally delighted. "I just want to see old Balasco tumble," he said. "It serves him right—especially if he was trying to harm his partner. A man who will go back on his partner is as mean as dirt."
Inside of half an hour over a dozen of the men had been interviewed, and without an exception they agreed to abide by Owen's orders. Then the young lumberman, accompanied by Dale and Westmore, walked to the office to "have it out" with Balasco.