“Perhaps so; but I doubt it. I won his gratitude to-day by not pushing him to the wall.”
“Mebbe ye did fer th’ toime; but he’ll fergit it th’ firrust toime he is dhrunk, an’ thin he’ll lay fer yez. Marruk my worrud, an’ watch out.”
“All right, Larry, I’ll do so. Good-night.”
As Frank was passing through the yard a man stepped out and confronted him. It was old Joe.
“Ye’ve done it at last!” huskily said the old engineer, raising one shaking hand to his chin. “Ye’ve knocked the old man out for good!”
“I am very sorry, Mr.——”
“Bah! Little good that does. It’s all over.”
“I don’t see how you can blame me.”
“If ye’d never come to work on this railroad it would have been all right.”
“That may be true; but I did come here, and I had a right to do that, as you very well know. If you had not become my enemy in the first place and tried to injure me, you would have been all right.”