foreseeing our moves."

"The enemy?" repeated Mr. Swift, with mild surprise.

"That's it exactly! The enemy!" replied Mr. Bartholomew
shortly. "The H. & P. A. has got the fight of its life on its
hands. We had a hard enough time fighting nature and the elements
when we laid the first iron for the road a score of years ago.
Now I am facing a fight that must grow fiercer and fiercer as
time goes on until either the H. & P. A. smashes the opposition,
or the enemy smashes it."

"What enemy is this you speak of?" asked Tom, much interested.

"The proposed Hendrickton & Western. A new road, backed by new
capital, and to be officered and built by new men in the
construction and railroad game.

"Montagne Lewis--you've heard of him, I presume--is at the head
of the crowd that have bought the little old Hendrickton &
Western, lock, stock and barrel.

"They have franchises for extending the road. In the old days
the legislatures granted blanket franchises that allowed any
group of moneyed men to engage in any kind of business as side
issues to railroading. Montagne Lewis and his
crowd have got a 'plenty-big' franchise.

"They have begun laying iron. It parallels, to a certain
extent, our own line. Their surveyors were smarter than the men