He had it in mind to add: "If you don't know enough for that, I'll find a more competent engineer," but he kept his temper and refrained.
"Twouldn't be of any use," answered Davidson, after a moment. "We're producing more coal now than we can market."
"How is that? I don't understand. Your order book—which I looked over to-day—shows orders a full month ahead of shipments, besides many canceled orders, countermanded because not filled promptly enough to satisfy the customers. You're superintendent as well as engineer. I wish you'd try to clear up this puzzle."
"Oh, it's simple enough. The railroad people won't furnish us cars enough. I could ship a hundred carloads to-morrow if I had the cars, but I haven't got 'em, and I can't get 'em."
"Do you mean that you are offering coal as freight to this railroad, and the road is refusing it?"
"Yes, that's about it. I've asked for cars and can't get 'em, except a few each day."
"Do the other mines along this little branch railroad have the same trouble?"
"There is only one other mine on this line."
"Well, does it encounter the same difficulty in marketing its coal?"
"No—at least not to so great an extent. You see somebody there is standing in with the railroad people. I suppose they've had a little block of stock given to them—the railroad people, I mean. So the Quentin mines get all the cars they want, and we get only their leavings."