Reade," went on
Mr. Prenter. "Mr. Bascomb is the head of our company, but other directors
represent more of the stock of the company than he does. I am one of them.
Sometimes Mr. Bascomb gets a bit hard-headed, and he is inclined to give
orders that others of us wouldn't approve. I judge that you and he were
having some dispute when I happened along."
"I didn't regard it as a dispute, sir," Reade rejoined. "In the first
place, I had discharged, for incompetency and faithlessness, a foreman
named Evarts.
"And Evarts is a pet of Mr. Bascomb's," smiled Mr. Prenter. "I imagine
that Evarts is even some sort of family connection who has to be looked
after and kept in a good job."
"Anyway," Tom continued, "I explained that Evarts was worse than useless
here and that I couldn't have him in the camp or on the job."
"Quite right, I fancy," nodded Mr. Prenter. "In the second place, Mr.
Bascomb ordered me to stop my crusade against the gamblers who had tried
to invade the camp and rob the men of their earnings. Hazelton and I had
that sort of row once out in Arizona---and we won out."
"You deserve to win out here, too," remarked Mr. Prenter. "I have no
patience with anything but straight, uncompromising right.
Pages:
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85