Mr. Battick spoke again, in his usual abrupt fashion:
"Have you had your supper yet, young fellow?"
The tone could not be called cordial.
"I had something to eat on the train," replied Hiram indifferently.
"On that old accommodation?" sniffed Battick. "Case-hardened sandwiches, I bet."
Hiram laughed, but admitted the fact.
"I know what it is to ride on that train," the man said. "In spite of what Jase Oakley told you about me, I wouldn't see a man starve—not right here in my own house," added this queer individual, though still gruffly.
"Oh, the stationmaster did not say anything about you except that you were afraid of rats," Hiram rejoined, watching Battick slyly, for he was very curious about the man.
"That's what that old thimblerigger said about me, eh?" growled Battick. "Lucky he don't often come up this way. It might happen that I should take him for a rat."
He said it so savagely that Hiram considered it best to say nothing more to excite his strange host. Battick brought eggs and bacon and half of a corn pone from a cupboard, preparing the meal deftly at the open fire.