"It was his duty," said the captain.
"Ho!" exclaimed Danny. "It's your business to protect the public, ain't it?"
"Of course," admitted the captain.
"Well, ain't we the public?"
The captain laughed uneasily. His experience as a policeman had left him very much in doubt as to who were the public. Both sides to a controversy always claimed that distinction, and the law-breaker was usually the louder in his claims. Danny's inability to see anything but his own side of the case was far from unusual.
The captain took Danny into his private office and talked to him. The captain did not wish to lock up the boy, so he sent for Danny's father and also for the manager of the branch messenger-office. Meanwhile he tried to explain the matter to Danny, but Danny was obtuse. Why should not he do as his father and his father's friends did? When they had a disagreement with the boss, they picketed the plant, and ensuing incidents sent many people to the hospitals. Why was it worse for one boy to do this than it was for some hundreds or thousands of men? Danny was confident that he was within his rights.
"Dad knows," he said in conclusion. "Dad'll say I'm right. You got no business mixin' in."
"Dad's coming," the captain told him.
The manager came first. "The boy ought to be punished," said he. "He hit me with a rock."
"I wish you'd seen him," said the beaming Danny to the captain, for the recollection of that victory made all else seem trivial. "Say! he doubled up like a clown droppin' into a barrel."