"Do you know what I'm inclined to think?" remarked Sam Rover, as he walked over and closed the door to the outer office so that the clerks might not hear what was said. "I'm inclined to think that Nelson Martell is a good deal of a crook."
"And that's just my idea of the man, too," added Tom Rover. "What do you think, Dick?"
At this direct question the oldest of the three brothers pursed up his lips in concentrated thought.
"To tell the truth, I don't know exactly what to think," he answered slowly. "Some of the things that Nelson Martell is trying to put through are certainly rather shady. Still, they may be within the strict letter of the law, and if that is so it would hardly be fair to call the man a crook."
When Jack returned home, he, of course, told his cousins of his encounter at the entrance to the office building.
"It's a pity you didn't have a chance to give Martell one in the eye or in the nose," was Randy's comment. "Such a brute deserves to be hauled down a peg or two."
"Well, I rather think I gave his ear a pretty good twist," answered Jack, grinning.
"You ought to have made him pick up that bundle he flung into the gutter," added Fred.
"I couldn't do much of anything with the crowd gathering around. My! how the people do flock together when the least thing happens! If we had stayed there another minute or two, we might have had a thousand people around us."
With so many things to be thought of and done previous to the departure for Colby Hall, the subject of Nappy Martell was soon dismissed. All the boys were wondering what they had better put in their trunks and suitcases.