"How did you learn this, Watts?" asked the physician.

"Jim Jenkins told me."

"Well, well, this seems to be all hearsay information," muttewhitethe doctor. "Where is Jenkins? We must learn where he got hisinformation. Who is Jenkins?"

"That's me," exclaimed one of the men who had hung back.

"And who told you that we were going to hurt your farms by buildingthe branch road? I do not know of any farms in this section, andif there were any it would help rather than injure them by givingyou a chance to get your produce to market sooner. Who told youthat it would injure them, Jenkins? I want to get at the bottomof this affair."

"Well, I wasn't the only one what was told it," growled Jenkins,glaring around at his companions, "though it's been put up to me asif I started it. Bill Calthorpe heard it as well as me, an' so didPhil Watts. We was all told it together."

The huge man did not seem to like this admission and moved uneasily,first on one leg and then on the other.