“Well,” says Mark, slow and careful and sort of hand-picking every word to get a good sound one without wormholes in it, “well, we got it into our heads that the Middle-West Power Company must have honest men runnin’ it, and that they wouldn’t be likely to stand for cheatin’ and underhand work. We b-believed that business couldn’t go on if that wasn’t so, and we come to find out. If it was so, we wanted to show you how things goes on that you don’t understand about—that gits b-b-blamed onto you and makes some f-folks think all business men is crooked. That’s why we came.” “Go ahead,” says President James. “Tell it to us.” “We own the dam and mill in Wicksville,” says Mark, “and we and Silas Doolittle Bugg have been runnin’ it.” “Mark’s been the boss,” says I. “That don’t m-matter. Well, we was r-runnin’ this mill to get Silas Doolittle out of a hole. He didn’t know anythin’ about b-business, so we took holt, and things was goin’ perty good till Mr. Wiggamore come to town and wanted to git our dam. He come into the mill and wanted we should give it to him. That was about it. And when we wouldn’t do that, he started in to threaten us and to tell us he would t-t-take the dam away from us anyhow.... That’s what he’s been t-t-tryin’ to do. Here’s a few of the things he’s done, that we kin p-p-prove. He hired a man to damage our m-machinery. He t-t-tried to buy up some debts of ours to use ’em to s-shut down the mill. He’s hired our men away so we couldn’t run. He’s managed to get the f-f-factory inspector to close us down when there wasn’t right or reason to it, and he’s found a couple of chattel m-mortgages on machinery that Silas Doolittle forgot to tell us about, and deputy sheriffs are in the mill now. That’s only a p-part. He wouldn’t make us a f-f-fair offer, and he wouldn’t talk business. He wanted to gouge us out of our mill. That’s the whole thing, and we kin p-p-prove it.” “Um!” says President James. “It isn’t true,” says Wiggamore. “I’ve done none of those things. These boys wanted the earth for their broken-down dam, and I couldn’t stand for it. I knew you gentlemen wanted this thing done cheaply and quickly, and I’ve been doing my best. They wanted some silly sum of money, and I wouldn’t listen to them.” “So you told us. What did you want, young men?” “Here’s our p-p-pickle,” says Mark. “We own that m-m-mill and dam. The mill hain’t worth a cent with the dam gone. We said Mr. Wiggamore ought to buy the m-mill, too, at a reasonable price, and he wouldn’t l-listen. I guess he’d _rather_ do things crooked than straight.” “Wiggamore hasn’t done anything,” the fat man whispered to the man next him. “That dam is vital and the site for the power-house below it is vital. He hasn’t got results either place.” “So,” says Mark, “we come here to f-f-fight. We know what we’re entitled to and we’re goin’ to git it.” “In ten days, gentlemen,” says Wiggamore, “I can promise you the dam at a cost of only a few hundred dollars.”