And inasmuch as all the signs point to
Pennington's gobbling us anyhow, it strikes me as a rather good
business on his part to give us sufficient rope to insure a thorough
job of hanging."
"But what idea have you got back of such a procedure, Bryce?"
"Merely a forlorn hope, Dad. Something might turn up. The market may
take a sudden spurt and go up three or four dollars."
"Yes--and it may take a sudden spurt and drop three or four dollars,"
his father reminded him.
Bryce laughed. "That would be Pennington's funeral, Dad. And whether
the market goes up or comes down, it costs us nothing to make the
experiment."
"Quite true." his father agreed.
"Then, if you'll come down to the office to-morrow morning, Dad,
we'll hold a meeting of our board of directors and authorize me, as
president of the company, to sign the note to the bank. We're
borrowing this without collateral, you know."
John Cardigan sighed. Such daring financial acrobatics were not usual
with him, but as Bryce had remarked there was no reason why, in their
present predicament, they should not gamble. Hence he entered no
further objection, and the following day the agreement was entered
into with the bank. Bryce closed by wire for the extra logging-
equipment and immediately set about rounding up a crew for the woods
and for the night-shift in the mill.
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