I wish to add, to some of my unreasoning young friends, that I felt an equal pride and satisfaction in the fact that I had so often submitted. I had not made haste to get into a row, and it was just as pleasant to think of what I had endured, as of the resistance I had made to oppression. If Tommy had been even tolerably reasonable, there could have been no trouble. It was a very agreeable reflection that I had not been forward in making issue with my imperious young master. If he had not been laboring to ruin me, I think I could even have borne his insults. I was very curious to know what construction Major Toppleton would put upon my conduct. My gratitude to him made me anxious to retain his good opinion, and I had submitted to much for his sake. He certainly could not blame me for what I had done. I had merely refused to be put out of the cars after I had paid my fare. I had simply rebelled against an exhibition of petty malice, as contemptible as it was unreasonable. But, after all, it was not safe to predict what the magnate of Middleport would do when his son was involved in the affair, for the father was quite as much a victim of the young gentleman’s tyranny as I was. The stout stranger was on his way to Hitaca, and he went on board the steamer to continue his journey. Of course there was a great deal of excited talk about the incident of the day, and of the dozen Middleporters on board, those who had the courage to say anything condemned Tommy and upheld me. I thought I was safe enough; and perhaps I should have been, if exciting news had not come down from the scene of the affair. The engineer who had taken possession of the locomotive let off the steam; and being on his way up the lake, he abandoned the machine. As there was no one to take charge of it, Wetherstane, the superintendent, asked me to run it into the engine-house, which I did. I had been duly discharged, and it was not proper for me to do anything more. I walked home with Tom Walton; and we discussed the matter as thoroughly as the occasion required. “How do you suppose it’s coming out, Wolf?” asked Tom, as good-naturedly as ever, but still anxiously. “I haven’t the least idea,” I replied. “I have yielded as long as I could, and I am willing to take the consequence.” I felt that I was not likely to be a martyr as long as Colonel Wimpleton kept his offer of a place on the new steamer open to me, with the promise of a man’s wages. “If I were the major, I should rebel against Tommy a little, just to see how it would seem,” laughed Tom Walton. “Don’t it look strange that a great man like him--I mean the major--should be such a fool as to let his son have his own way?” “It is strange; but I have learned that Major Toppleton is more afraid of Tommy than of all the rest of the world.” “If my mother should let me have my own way like that, I couldn’t respect her. I should think the major would turn over a new leaf, and be a free man.” “He is his own master--”