"It's a nice river," he said, audibly. "I hate to git done out of it."

After long delays Crane and Keith made pretense of building camps and
starting to log. But one difficulty after another descended on their
operations. In the spring, when each of them should have had several
millions of feet of spruce ready to roll into the water, not a log was
on rollways. Not a man was in the camps, for, owing to reasons not to be
comprehended by the public, the woodsmen of both operators had struck
simultaneously and left the woods.

Presently the first interest day arrived, with not even a hope of being
able to meet the required payment at a future date. Bondholders--dummies,
just as Scattergood's contractor was a dummy--met. Their deliberations
were brief. Foreclose with all promptitude was their word, and foreclose
they did. With the result that legal notices were published to the effect
that on the sixteenth day of June the dam, booms, cribbing, improvements,
charter, contracts, and property of whatsoever nature belonging to the
Coldriver Dam and Boom Company were to be sold at public auction on the
steps of the county courthouse. Scattergood had lost his river....

"Terms of the sale are cash with the bid," said Crane to Keith. "I saw
to that."

"Good. Wasn't necessary, I guess. There hasn't been even a wriggle out
of Baines."

"Won't be. We'll have to send somebody up to bid it in. It's just taking
money out of one pocket to put it into the other, but we've got to go
through the motions."