the money, then you would have to sue him. Even if you won the
suit, the fight would cost you a good deal more than the amount
you would recover. And the lawyer might beat you, even if you
sued him."

"Then---what's the answer?" demanded the peddler slowly.

"I know the answer," said Tom confidently, "but it would be a
shame to tell you, sir."

"Just the same, I wish you would," replied the peddler coaxingly.

"The answer," replied Reade, "is that you have been cheated."

"But it looks to me like a mean trick," Dick went on.

"What am I going to do about it?" asked the peddler wonderingly.

"I don't believe you can do anything about it, sir," Prescott
answered, "unless you are willing to sue the lawyer, or can make
him agree to fair play. But I certainly would drop in to see
him and tell him that you expect just half of what he has so far
collected."

"I believe I'll do that," replied Peddler Hinman, judging from
the address on the letter, that was his name. "I don't like
to be made a fool of by any man---especially when I need money
as badly as any other man on my route."

Dick took a sweeping glance at the peddler's shabby attire. While,