He went at his duties with a willing spirit, resolved that there should be no cause for complaint during his last days on the bridge. Only one thing made him feel bad, and that was that he could not prove that Percy and not himself had been to blame for the row.
But Ralph soon learned that many of the village folks who used the bridge daily sided with him. Some of these were very outspoken in their opinion of the committee's actions.
"Under the squire's thumb, all of 'em!" said Bart Haycock, the village blacksmith. "We ought to have a new committee, and maybe we will have at the coming election."
But all this talk did not help Ralph. He had received notice, and in three days his duties on the bridge would come to an end. And the change would also hurt Bob Sanderson, who would now have either to pay for his board or go elsewhere.
"Who is to take your place?" asked Sanderson, when he came to relieve Ralph in the evening.
"I don't know, Mr. Sanderson," returned the young bridge tender. "But I hope, whoever it is, he keeps you as helper."
"Well, that depends," returned the old man. "I wouldn't care to work for everybody, say Dan Pickley, for instance."
"Do you think Dan Pickley is after the job?" questioned Ralph, quickly.
"He was after it before, and he ain't doing much now."
"I imagine Squire Paget will give him the position if he wishes it," mused Ralph. "He and the squire are quite thick."