Two Young Lumbermen by Edward Stratemeyer

"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."