"Come back into my car. We can talk
better there."
Tom and Harry mounted to the platform of the car, following Mr.
Ellsworth down the carpeted aisle of a very comfortable private Pullman
car. The general manager pointed to seats, threw himself into another,
and then said:
"Now, tell me all about the row that you've started with the town."
Harry's lips closed tightly, but Tom launched at once into a plain,
truthful account of the affair, bringing it down to the noonday meal of
the present day.
"It's not clear to me just why you should feel called upon to interfere
so forcefully," said the general manager, a little fretfully. "The
workmen are all twenty-one years of age and upwards. Couldn't they
protect themselves if they wanted protection?"
"Yes, sir, certainly," Tom admitted. "However, letting that fellow Duff
put up his tents right on the railroad property would almost make it
look as though the road shared, or at least approved, his enterprise."
"Oh, doubtless you were right to order the fellow off the railroad
property," assented Mr.
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