“But you have in your hands three million and a half, which under the present arrangement you get free of any charge whatever.” “And we ought to get it,” cried Daly. “Great guns! Here we intend to saw this summer and quit. We want to get in every stick of timber we own so as to be able to clear out of here for good and all at the close of the season; and now this condigned jobber ties us up for a million and a half.” “It is exceedingly annoying,” conceded Thorpe, “and it is a good deal of Radway's fault, I am willing to admit, but it's your fault too.” “To be sure,” replied Daly with the accent of sarcasm. “You had no business entering into any such contract. It gave him no show.” “I suppose that was mainly his lookout, wasn't it? And as I already told you, we had to protect ourselves.” “You should have demanded security for the completion of the work. Under your present agreement, if Radway got in the timber, you were to pay him a fair price. If he didn't, you appropriated everything he had already done. In other words, you made him a bet.” “I don't care what you call it,” answered Daly, who had recovered his good-humor in contemplation of the security of his position. “The fact stands all right.” “It does,” replied Thorpe unexpectedly, “and I'm glad of it. Now let's examine a few figures. You owned five million feet of timber, which at the price of stumpage” (standing trees) “was worth ten thousand dollars.” “Well.” “You come out at the end of the season with three million and a half of saw logs, which with the four dollars' worth of logging added, are worth twenty-one thousand dollars.” “Hold on!” cried Daly, “we paid Radway four dollars; we could have done it ourselves for less.” “You could not have done it for one cent less than four-twenty in that country,” replied Thorpe, “as any expert will testify.” “Why did we give it to Radway at four, then?” “You saved the expense of a salaried overseer, and yourselves some bother,” replied Thorpe. “Radway could do it for less, because, for some strange reason which you yourself do not understand, a jobber can always log for less than a company.” “We could have done it for four,” insisted Daly stubbornly, “but get on. What are you driving at? My time's valuable.” “Well, put her at four, then,” agreed Thorpe. “That makes your saw logs worth over twenty thousand dollars. Of this value Radway added thirteen thousand. You have appropriated that much of his without paying him one cent.” Daly seemed amused. “How about the million and a half feet of ours HE appropriated?” he asked quietly.