Westy was kind of flabbergasted, so I spoke up and said, "We've
got a right inside of our own car. We've got a right to cook in there if
we want to. What harm does that do? Haven't we got a right to try to
reduce the cost of living? If you want to start this car going, go ahead
and do it, but I tell you beforehand that the brakes don't work. And you
can keep off of our car, too."

The man said I was an impudent little some-thing-or-other, and he was
just starting to pick up the bag of flour when, good night, all of a
sudden a little man stepped out from the crowd. All I noticed about him
was that he had a cigar in his mouth and his hat was kind of on the
side. But, oh, boy, I heard his voice good and plain.

He said, "Look here, _you_. What's all this trouble about? You mustn't
think you can browbeat these boys, because you _can't_. See? I'm telling
you the law and you can take it or leave it just as you like. If you've
got any kick, go to the railroad. If you're not satisfied to wait until
this car goes away, start it going. You stand between those two tracks
or on the platform of that car, and you're on the property of the United
States Railroad Administration. I'm a lawyer and I'm telling you that.
It's you that happens to be here, not these boys. Here's a crowd of
people being fleeced--eating sandwiches that aren't fit to throw to a
dog and drinking red lemonade that would die of shock if it saw a lemon.
Twenty cents for a cup of coffee that they ought to pay me a dollar for
drinking! Now you boys just climb aboard and let's see what you can do.
You've got the American people in back of you. I've heard about you
scouts; now let's see what you can do. Get aboard and get busy. You're
here, because you're here----"

"That's just what we said," Pee-wee shouted.

"All right," the man said; "climb up and I'll take care of the legal end
of it. I'm for the Boy Scouts to the last ditch. I once tried a case
just like this. Let 'em talk to the car. Climb up and see what you can.
I don't believe you know how to boil water!"

He just sat down on the lowest step of the platform and stuck his hat on
the side of his head awfully funny, and lighted his cigar. Everybody
began laughing. The people were all on our side, that's one sure thing,
anyway.

CHAPTER XXXVII

TENDERFLOPS AND OTHER FLOPS

"He's right," Pee-wee whispered to me; "that's a good argument. Because
if a thing is somewhere where it shouldn't be, if it