"I don't know how it could have happened," the breaker boss said, "for I haven't told even my own wife that you was to be Joe's butty; but these young villains know all about it. I've heard Skip tellin' his cronies, an' I'm sure they're up to some mischief. Be careful, an' don't go outside alone, leastways, not till the business of the riot has blown over."
"I'll look to it that they haven't a chance to do much harm," Fred replied, laughingly, as he passed on to learn the first duties of a miner.
Joe, Bill, and Sam accompanied Fred to his new working place, and the former said as they were being let down the incline:
"I hear Billings swears he won't leave town."
"I passed him on my way home last night," Bill added, "and he warned me agin keepin' Sam as my butty."
"Why?"
"He says he is a spy, hand in glove with you, an' that all who work with them as give information to the bosses will catch it rough."
Bill Thomas laughed as he said this; but Joe looked serious.
"I don't like this way of working. The lower level is bad enough without thinkin' all the time that somebody is tryin' to do a fellow up."
"Nonsense. Barkin' dogs don't often bite, an' so long as we know he means mischief there ain't much chance of trouble. The thing to be figgered out is, how're we goin' to fix this job?"