报社连遭不测，先是造纸厂的工人来闹事，之后是印刷工麦加非不告而别，职位空缺让众人一时束手无策，流浪汉又一次给了他们意外的帮助……
Of course the girls exhausted their store of "effusionsa"on the first two or three papers.A daily eats up "copy"very fast and the need to supply so much material began to bewilder the buddingb journalists.There was not suf？cient local news to keep them going，but fortunately the New York news service supplied more general news than they could possibly use，and，besides，Mr.Marvin，foreseeing this dilemma，had sent on several long，stout boxes filled with"plate matterc"，which meant that a variety of stories，poems，special articles and paragraphs of every sort had been made into stereotypedd plates of column width which could be placed anywhere in the paper where a space needed to be ？lled.This material，having been prepared by skilled writers，was of excellent character，so that the paper gained in its class of contents as the girlish contributions began to be replaced by "plates".The nieces did not abandon writing，however，and all three worked sedulously to prepare copy so that at least one column of the Tribune each day was ？lled with notes from their pens.
Subions came in freely during those ？rst days，forfarmers and villagers alike were proud of their local daily and the price was so low that no one begrudged the investment.But Uncle John well knew that if every individual in the county subscribed，and the advertising patronagee doubled，theincome would fall far short of running expenses.
Saturday night，when the pay rolla had to be met，the girls consulted together seriously.In spite of the new subions received，a deficiency must be supplied，and they quietly advanced the money from their private purses.This was no great hardship，for each had an ample allowance from Uncle John，as well as an income from property owned in her own name.
"It's only about thirty dollars apiece，"said Patsy."I guesswe can stand that until—until more money begins coming in."On Saturday evening there was an invasion of workmen from Royal，many of whom we're rough foreigners who came to Millville in search of excitement，as a relief from their week's confinement at the pine woods settlement at the mill.Skeelty，who thought he knew how to manage these people，allowed every man，at the close of work on Saturday，to purchase a pint of whiskey from the company store，charging an exorbitant price that netted a huge profit.There was no strong drink to be had at Millville，so the workmen brought their bottles to town，carousingb on the way，and thought it amusing to frighten the simple inhabitants of the village by their rude shouts and ribaldc songs.
This annoyance had occurred several times since the establishment of the mill，and Bob West had protestedvigorouslya to Mr.Skeelty for giving his men whiskey and turning them loose in a respectable community；but the manager merely grinned and said he must keep "the boys"satisfied at all hazards，and it was the business of the Millville people to protect themselves if the workmen became too boisterousb.
On this Saturday evening the girls were standing on the sidewalk outside the printing office，awaiting the arrival of Arthur with the surrey，when a group of the Royal workmen appeared in the dim light，swaggeringc three abreastd and indulging in offensive language.Uncle John's nieces withdrew to the protection of the doorway，but a big bearded fellow in a red shirt discovered them，and，lurching forward，pushed his evil countenance in Patsy's face，calling to his fellows in harsh tones that he had"found a partner for a dance."An instant later he received a swinging blow above the ear that sent him sprawling at full length upon the sidewalk，and a quiet voice said：
"Pardon me，ladies；it seemed necessary."
All three at once recognized the supposed tramp whom they had seen the morning of their arrival，but whom Uncle John had reported to be one of the bookkeepers at the paper mill.The young fellow had no time to say more，for the downfall of their comrade brought a shout of rage from thegroup of workmen，numbering nearly a dozen，and with one accord they rushed upon the man who had dared champion the defenseless girls.
Beth managed to open the door of the office，throughwhich Patsy and Louise slipped instantly，but the younger girl，always cool in emergencies，held the door ajar while she cried to the young man：
"Quick，sir—come inside ！"
Really，he had no time to obey，just then.With his back to the door he drove his fists at his assailants in a dogged，persistent way that felled three more of them before the others drew away from his stalwart bows.By that time Larry and Fitzgerald，who had been summoned by Louise，rushed from the office armed with iron bars caught up at random，both eager for a ？ght.The workmen，seeing the reinforcements，beat a retreat，carrying their sadly pommeleda comrades with them，but their insulting language was not restricted until they had passed out of hearing.
Then the young man turned，bowed gravely to the girls，who had now ventured forth again，and without waiting to receive their thanks marched calmly down the street.
When Arthur reached home with the girls，Mr.Merrickwas very indignant at his report of the adventure.He denouncedb Skeelty in unmeasured terms and declared he would ？nd a way to protect Millville from further invasion bythese rough and drunken workmen.
