"
"Yes, they came to my father too, and he put his name down, I remember.
As near as I can say, it was a petition to ask the company to give Todd
the position of pilot; and stated the belief of all those who signed
that he would make good. He used to be a pilot on Lake Sunrise, and
before that on one of the Great Lakes."
"But, Frank, why the petition, if he was able to fill the place you'd
think all he had to do was to make application, and then jump in?"
"Well, it seemed to be pretty generally known about Bloomsbury that Todd
had not always been as straight as he is today; and lots of people
believed he would never hold his place a week; but he's had it all
summer now, and seems to be giving satisfaction, all right," Frank went
on to say.
"But there was a past, you mean; Todd had gone the pace, and used to
drink and gamble, I suppose. Perhaps, now, he even used to herd with a
tough set. How about that, Frank?"
"It's so all right. Todd got down pretty low, and was even a hobo, I
heard, before he took a brace, and came back to Bloomsbury to make a man
of himself again."
"Gee! I'm real sorry to hear that," Andy muttered.
"What? That he reformed?" demanded the cousin, in pretended surprise.
"Shucks! no; but about his having been a tramp; because, don't you see,
Frank, it makes things look black for Todd.
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