partners decided to allow themselves twenty-five hundred dollars
apiece by way of salary.

"If we don't make any dividends at first," Orde pointed out, "I've
got to keep even on my interest."

"You can't live on five hundred," objected Newmark.

"I'll be on the river and at the booms six months of the year,"
replied Orde, "and I can't spend much there."

"I'm satisfied," said Newmark thoughtfully, "I'm getting a little
better than good interest on my own investment from the start. And
in a few years after we've paid up, there'll be mighty big money in
it."

He removed his glasses and tapped his palm with their edge.

"The only point that is at all risky to me," said he, "is that we
have only one-season contracts. If for any reason we hang up the
drive, or fail to deliver promptly, we're going to get left the year
following. And then it's B-U-S-T, bust."

"Well, we'll just try not to hang her," replied Orde.



XVI