CHAPTER XVIII. THE TWO MAJORS.

Tom wanted to sail the _Belle_ a while, in order to ascertain her points; and though it was now dark, he unmoored her, and stood up the lake. After I had called upon the gentleman who had engaged the _Belle_, to explain the change in my arrangements--which, as the person knew Tom very well, were entirely satisfactory--I went home. My father had just returned from the other side; and I found our family in the most cheerful frame of mind. Our star appeared to be in the ascendant again.

“I have been warned out of town, father,” said I, as we sat down to supper.

“Who warned you?” asked my father, with a smile which indicated that he did not consider the warning as of any great consequence.

“Tommy Toppleton. He halted his battalion, and pitched into me as though he intended to crush me beneath the hoofs of his pony.”

I went on to explain what the little major had said; but none of us were alarmed. My mother counseled moderation, as she had always done, and father thought we could make the most by minding our own business.

“I told Tommy I would rather serve him than injure him; and if I know myself, I spoke the truth,” I added.

“That’s right, Wolfert! I’m glad you said that, for I know you meant it,” said my good mother. “While we do our duty, and endeavor to serve the Lord faithfully and patiently, we shall triumph in the end. It does not make much difference if we are cast down for a time, or if wicked men seem to have conquered us, we shall prosper if we are good and true. We can afford to wait for success as long as we do our duty. As the minister said last Sunday, God does not always call that success which passes for such in this world. Real success is being ever faithful to God and conscience.”

I believed what my mother affirmed; but it always did me good to hear her repeat the lesson of wisdom and piety. It always strengthened my soul, and helped me to maintain my standard of duty. My father was not a religious man, though he always went to church, and had a high respect for sacred things. He always listened in silence to the admonitions of my mother; but I was sure he approved them, and believed in them.

Before we rose from the table, the door-bell rang, and my mother, who answered the summons, informed me that Major Toppleton desired to see me immediately at his own house.

“What does this mean?” asked my father, manifesting much interest in the event.

“I don’t know; but the message reminds me of what Tommy said when we parted,” I replied.

“What did he say?”

“When I told him I would rather serve than injure him, he replied that perhaps I might have a chance to prove what I said.”

“It may be that the major intends to make you an offer,” added my father. “I have no doubt he feels very sore about the events of this afternoon.”

“Very likely he does, for we certainly beat the Lightning Express all to pieces; and I am confident we can do it every time we try, on the down trip.”

“Suppose he should make you an offer?” inquired my father anxiously. “What if he should offer you three or four dollars a day to run the Lightning Express?”

“I am glad you asked the question, father, for my mind is made up. I may be wrong, but I think I am right. I should decline the offer.”

“If he offered you more wages than the colonel agreed to pay you?”

“Colonel Wimpleton has fairly engaged me to run the _Ucayga_,” I replied, taking my hat from the nail. “It would not be right for me to leave him without giving him reasonable notice of my intention to do so.”

“Certainly not. As long as he uses you well, you are bound to do the same by him, whatever happens.”

“I refused to leave the railroad company when the colonel offered me more wages than I was receiving. He has given me my place in good faith. If I can do better on this side of the lake than I can on the other, I think I have the right to resign my situation, if I give reasonable notice.”

“Quite right, Wolf,” replied my father warmly. “Major Toppleton discharged us both without an hour’s notice, and I don’t think we are under special obligation to him for his recent treatment of us, though he certainly did us a good turn when we were persecuted by Colonel Wimpleton.”

My father and I were in perfect accord, as we generally were on questions of right and of policy; and I hastened to the major’s house, not without a certain dread of confronting the great man. I was admitted to the library. I had hoped I should obtain at least a sight of Grace, but I did not; and I braced my nerves for the interview with the great major and the little major, for both of them were present. The father bowed loftily and haughtily as I entered, and the son looked supercilious and contemptuous. Neither of them was courteous enough to invite me to take a seat, and I stood up before them, waiting their imperial pleasure.

“You sent for me, Major Toppleton, and I have come,” I ventured to say; and the cold reception accorded to me had a tendency to make me stand upon my dignity.

“I find, to my surprise, that you have gone into the employ of Colonel Wimpleton,” said the senior major, with a sneer upon his lips.

“Yes, sir,” I replied, bowing.

“I am astonished!” added the major.

“Neither my father nor myself could afford to remain without employment, when good offers were made to us,” I answered respectfully.

“Then I am to understand that you and your father have arrayed yourselves against me.”

“By no means, sir.”

“Do you not understand that Wimpleton’s steamer and the Lake Shore Railroad are running against each other?” demanded my late patron severely.

“I do, sir; but I do not think that a fair business competition means any personal ill-will. If it does, it is entirely a matter between you and Colonel Wimpleton. I am not the owner of the _Ucayga_, and she will run just the same whether I go in her or not.”

Major Toppleton bit his lips. Perhaps he felt that my point was well taken.

“You ran the steamer this afternoon, and, by your knowledge of the Horse-Shoe Channel, made a quick trip. Those who know say you took the steamer through in fifteen minutes less than her usual time. I hold you responsible, therefore, for this day’s work.”

“Of course I did the best I could for my employers, as I was in the habit of doing when I ran on the railroad.”

“After doing as much as I have for you and your father, I did not expect to see you both arrayed against me.”

“But you discharged us both, sir. What could we do? We could not afford to refuse good offers.”

“If the Evil One should offer you a price, would you sell your soul to him?”

“Decidedly not, sir. It did not happen to be the Evil One who made us the offers, and they were accepted.”

“It was the same thing!” exclaimed the major bitterly.

“Let me talk, father,” said Tommy, who, by a miracle which I could not comprehend, had thus far remained silent.

His father let him talk, and, like an obedient parent, was silent himself.

“Wolf, you said you would rather serve me than injure me,” continued the little major, fixing his gaze upon me.

“I did; and I meant so,” I replied.

“Suppose I should offer to give you back your place on the locomotive.”

“It will be time enough to answer when you have done so.”

I had no idea that he intended to make me any such offer. The sneers and the looks of contempt bestowed upon me were sufficient assurances that neither father nor son regarded me with any other feeling than aversion. It was not necessary gratuitously to decline the offer in advance, and thus provoke their anger.

“Suppose I should make you the offer,” repeated Tommy, rather disturbed by my evasive reply.

“As you have not made it, I need not answer.”

“I don’t like to make an offer, and then have it refused.”

“I do not like to say what I will do till I have an opportunity to do it,” I answered.

“You need not bother your head about it. I don’t intend to make you an offer. I only wanted to show you that you did not mean what you said about serving me,” continued Tommy spitefully. “I wouldn’t----”

“Stop a minute, Tommy,” interposed his father. “Wolf, after all we have done for you, we have a right to expect something better of you.”

“What would you have me do, sir?” I asked.

“Do! I’ll tell you. Go to Wimpleton to-night. Resign your situation. Then come to me, and I’ll talk with you about a place for----”

“Stop a minute, father,” said Tommy. “Don’t make any promises. I wouldn’t have him on the Lake Shore Railroad any more than I would have Wimpleton himself. He’s a hypocrite--would rather serve me than injure me! Let him resign his place on this steamer! That would be doing something to serve me. After that it will be time enough to talk.”

I made no reply, for it was patent to me that Tommy had sent for me merely to bully me. It was easier and cheaper to bear it than to resent it.

“Perhaps you think you can ruin the Lake Shore Railroad, in which I have invested so much money,” sneered the senior major.

“I have no desire to do so.”

“But you are trying to do it,” added Tommy.

“I intend to work for the interests of my employers. If I have an opportunity to serve you, I shall do so, but not by being unfaithful to those who pay me for my work.”

“That’s just what you did when in my employ,” said the father. “You made your peace with Wimpleton in my yacht, feeding him and taking care of him at my expense.”

“I did only an act of humanity toward him,” I answered, stung by the charge.

“No matter! You are a traitor and a renegade. Go your way, and take the consequences of your treachery. But let me tell you and Wimpleton that when I have made my next move, your steamer might as well be at the bottom of the lake as to attempt to compete with the road.”

I bowed, and left, though I did not escape till Tommy had again poured out the vials of his wrath upon me. If the major had published his “next move” to the world I could not have understood it any better. The up-lake steamers were no longer to make a landing at Centreport, where the _Ucayga_ could get any of her through passengers. I went home and told my father the result of the interview. He only laughed at the impotent rage of the two majors.

Early on Monday morning, as my father and I were pulling across the lake in my old skiff, we saw the _Grace_--Major Toppleton’s yacht--get under way and stand up the lake. This movement explained what occurred on the arrival of the morning boat from Hitaca.