"Climb up me!" But the invitation was not accepted.

Bloody, eyes discolored, mouth and nose steadily swelling, the foreman moved away with his battered crew, finally to disappear in the forest.

Ba'tiste reached for the cant hook, and balancing it lightly in one hand, sought a resting place on the edge of the flume.

Houston sat beside him.
"What on earth can it all mean ?" he asked, after a moment of thought.
"They go back--get more men.

Mebbe they think they whip us, _oui_?
Yes?
Ba'teese use this, nex' time." He balanced the cant hook, examining it carefully as though for flaws which might cause it to break in contact with a human target.