"Anything wrong?" he inquired, as Bart folded up the letter and placed it in his pocket.
"Not with me, anyway," replied Bart with a smile. "There is something wrong at Cardysville, a hundred miles or so down the main line," he went on.
"And how does that interest you, Bart?"
"Why, it seems I have got to go down there on some business for the Company."
"To-day?"
"The sooner the better, that letter says. It is from the inspector. It is quite flattering to me, for he starts out with complimenting the excellent business system this office has always sustained."
"H'm!" chuckled Darry—"any mention of your valued extra help?"
"No, but that may come along, for you have got to represent me here again to-day, and possibly to-morrow."
"Is that so?" said Darry. "Well, I guess I can arrange."
"You see," explained Bart, "the letter is a sort of confidential one. Reading between the lines, I assume that a certain Peter Pope, now express agent at Cardysville, and evidently recently appointed, is a relative of one of the officials of the company. Anyway, he has been running—or not running—things for a week. The inspector writes that the man has very little to do, for it is a small station, but that very little he appears to do very badly."