volume which lay upon the desk,
and appeared to be looking for something, which he found at last.

"I can't employ you," he said coldly.

"Why not, sir?"

"Because your record is not good."

Ben's eyes flashed with proper indignation.

"I don't understand, sir," he said, in a dignified tone.

"It strikes me that my language is plain."

"What complaints were made of me? I should like to know in what
respect I failed to do my duty."

"Probably you know as well as I can tell you," said the
superintendent. "At any rate, I have no time to waste in examining
into the matter. I prefer to take a boy who has nothing against him.
Next."

Ben left the office, smarting not so much at the failure to obtain
employment, as at the unfounded charges trumped up against him.

Just outside the office he met Sam Archer.

"Good morning, Bradford," said Sam, eyeing our hero curiously.
"Are you going to work in the mill?"

"No," said Ben shortly.

"Perhaps old Taylor will give you employment."

"No doubt he would if he had occasion to employ any one. Mr.
Taylor is a gentleman."

"Do you mean to say father isn't a gentleman?"

"You can draw your own conclusions."

Ben was not quite an angel, though he was a manly boy, and he felt
pugnacious.

"I've a great mind to knock you down," said Sam.

"You may have the mind, but you haven't got the strength to do it,"
said Ben.

"I won't dirty my hands with touching you."

"That's prudent, at any rate," retorted Ben.

"You'd better go home and read your prize."

"That's good advice, though it comes from a bad source," returned
Ben. "It isn't needed, however, for I have been reading it. I can
quote two lines--

"'Be not like dumb, driven cattle,
Be like heroes in the strife.'"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you will find it hard to drive me."

"Perhaps so, but I've done one thing," boasted Sam.

"What's that?"

"I told father not to take you if you applied; and that's why you are
going away with a flea in your ear."

"I am not surprised to hear this," he answered. "Indeed, I am very
glad to hear it."

"You are glad to hear it?" repeated Sam, puzzled.

"Yes."

"I don't understand why you should be."

"I suppose not. I am glad you know just why I was refused."

"Well, I hope you are satisfied."

"I am entirely so."

"I wonder what the fellow means," thought Sam.

Chapter XXIII

The Decoy Letter

Sam