Parker indignantly held the paper toward the colonel. The latter refused to take it. “Sign it!” he roared. “Sign it, or you'll take your medicine!” “Do you think I am a fool, Colonel Ward? Or are you one? I cannot bind my principals in any such manner. Furthermore, a signature obtained under duress is of no value in court. I claim that I am under duress.” “You refuse to sign, then?” “Absolutely. It would be easy enough to sign that paper and then go away and do as I like. But I am not going to lie to you even for a moment. The paper would be worthless in court.” “It ain't a paper that's goin' into court,” Ward retorted. “It's a paper by which you agree to get out of here. It's you an' me. It just means that ro'd shan't be built.” “Put into other words, I am to be scared out, and run back home and report that the road is impracticable?” “There's no one else in the world but you that would be fool enough to start in here an' buck me!” Ward shouted. “And therefore you think if I agree to leave, no one else will dare to undertake the thing? You do me too much honor, Colonel Ward. But I repeat, I shall not run away.” “Don't you realize I have gone too far into this thing to pull back now? I warn you that I may have to do things I don't like to do in order to protect myself. I can't back out now--no, sir!” “You shouldn't have started in, then!” Parker sat down and looked away as if the incident were closed. He slowly tore up the agreement and tossed the pieces on the floor. This bravado made Ward choke. “Stand right up, do you, an' threaten to put me into state prison?” “You went into this with your eyes open. You must take the consequences. You are a business man, and are supposed to have arrived at years of understanding. This matter isn't like kicking over a mud house at school.” “Look here, I've got every lumber operator in this section behind me in this matter. You hain't realized yet what you're up against.” “If that is the case,” Parker replied, his eyes kindling, “I can see that this state is in for one of the big scandals of its history.” Ward, who had been carried away by his passion and desire to intimidate, understood now how this admission would compromise men who would be ruined politically if any hint of such an illegal combination should be noised abroad. When he had offered to defeat the actual construction of the road, he had been warned that he must take all the responsibility upon himself. He had willingly assumed it, for he was as proud of his reputation for savage obstinacy as other men are of popular credit for more noble attributes. Col. Gideon Ward had confidently boasted to his associates that he would prevent the building of the Poquette railroad. He would rather lose half his fortune than confess to them that he had been beaten by a youth.