the pine
forest around Royal, had become the enemy of the newspaper and was aware
of the feeling among the workmen. A word from Boglin, backed by
Skeelty's tacit consent, would induce the men to go to any length in
injuring the _Millville Tribune_ and all concerned in its welfare.

Considering these facts, Mr. Merrick shrewdly suspected that the
dynamite explosion had been the work of the mill hands, yet why it was
harmlessly exploded in a field was a factor that puzzled him
exceedingly. He concluded, from what information he possessed, that they
had merely intended this as a warning, which if disregarded might be
followed by a more serious catastrophe.

The idea that such a danger threatened his nieces made the old
gentleman distinctly nervous.

There were ways to evade further molestation from the lawless element at
the mill. The Hon. Ojoy could be conciliated; Thursday Smith discharged;
or the girls could abandon their journalistic enterprise altogether.
Such alternatives were mortifying to consider, but his girls must be
protected from harm at any cost.

While he was still considering the problem, the girls and Arthur having
driven to the office, as usual, Joe Wegg rode over from Thompson's
Crossing on his sorrel mare for a chat with his old friend and
benefactor. It was this same young man--still a boy in years--who had
once owned the Wegg Farm and disposed of it to Mr. Merrick.

Joe was something of a mechanical genius and, when his father died,
longed to make his way in the great world. But after many vicissitudes
and failures he returned to Chazy County to marry Ethel Thompson, his
boyhood sweetheart, and to find that one of his father's apparently
foolish investments had made him rich.

Ethel was the great-granddaughter of the pioneer settler of Chazy
County--Little Bill Thompson--from whom the Little Bill Creek and Little
Bill Mountain had been named. It was he who first established the mill
at Millville; so, in marrying a descendant of Little Bill Thompson, Joe
Wegg had become quite the most important resident of Chazy County, and
the young man was popular and well liked by all who knew him.

After the first interchange of greetings Joe questioned Mr. Merrick
about the explosion of the night before, and Uncle John frankly stated
his suspicions.

"I'm sorry," said Joe, "they ever started that mill at Royal Falls. Most
of the workmen are foreigners, and all of them rude and reckless. They
have caused