d to work to find
it out, didn't I?"

Bowers nodded. He felt like a field that had been plowed so deep that it
would yield better than ever before. He reflected, too, that the
experience gained in years of success should serve well in times of
adversity.

"What's on the program?" he asked.

"The men will begin to drift in from the mines and lumber camps. Then
it's a matter of sitting tight till they're paid off."

Bowers thrust out his lips. He had seen men come in from the woods with
their pockets full of money, and that was bad enough, but without money--!

"I've had a talk with Manson who seems good for it, and the works will be
under heavy guard. That's all we can do in the meantime. I'm going to
Philadelphia as soon as possible."

"But not at once?"

Clark smiled. "No, not at once."

XXII.--THE MASTER MIND AT WORK

Bowers went thoughtfully home and; next morning, flung himself into his
work with renewed courage. He had need of it--they all had need of it.
There were now thousands who waited for their pay, and daily these
ranks were swelled by others who drifted in from the woods. Hundreds
of merchants began to refuse credit, though Filmer valiantly used all
his resources. St. Marys was, in truth, stupefied, and when the first
shock began to smooth itself out, the reality of the thing became
grimly apparent, and then arose the first rumor of trouble in
Ironville, that straggling settlement of shacks where dwelt the bone
and muscle of the works.

To the Swede and Polander there was no suggestion of achievement in the
vast buildings in which they labored. It was only the place where they
earned their living. They worked amongst giant mechanisms beside which
they were puny, but theirs was a life of force and strength which took
from them the fear of anything that was merely human. Thus surprise
changed to resentment, and resentment began to resolve itself into a
slow and consuming anger. The works were dead, but in the main office
the accounting staff was bending desperately over statements
imperatively demanded by Philadelphia. The black browed Hungarians saw
the lights at night, and felt that they were being played with by those
more powerful than themselves. If a furnace man was discharged, why
keep on these scribblers?

Outside St. Marys the news ran apace. Toronto papers dwelt on it, and
the Board of Trade read it with regret mingled with thankfulness that
Clark had embarked o