A clamour that had at first been merely noisy and
meaningless, began now to gain an effect.
Thorne confessed himself puzzled.
"If it isn't a case of a snowball growing bigger the farther it rolls, I
can't account for it," said he. "This thing ought to have died down long
ago. It's been fomented very skilfully. Such a campaign as this one
against us takes both ability and money--more of either than I thought
Samuels could possibly possess."
In the meantime, Erbe managed rapidly to tie up the legal aspects of the
situation. The case, as it developed, proved to be open-and-shut against
his client, but apparently unaffected by the certainty of this, he
persisted in the interposition of all sorts of delays. Samuels continued
to live undisturbed on his claim, which, as Thorne pointed out, had a
bad moral effect on the community.
The issue soon took on a national aspect. It began to be commented on by
outside newspapers. Publications close to the administration and
thoroughly in sympathy with its forest policies, began gravely to doubt
the advisability of pushing these debatable claims at present.
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