e one thing I wanted--to see him. I
pushed through the people, gained the street, and fairly ran down the
alley that led to the side entrance of the hall, where a small group was
gathered under the light that hung above the doorway. There stood on the
step, a little above the others, a young man in a grey flannel shirt,
evidently a mechanic. I addressed him.

"What does the doctor say?"

Before replying he surveyed me with surprise and, I think, with
instinctive suspicion of my clothes and bearing.

"What can he say?" he retorted.

"You mean--?" I began.

"I mean Mr. Krebs oughtn't never to have gone into this campaign," he
answered, relenting a trifle, perhaps at the tone of my voice. "He knew
it, too, and some of us fellows tried to stop him. But we couldn't do
nothing with him," he added dejectedly.

"What is--the trouble?" I asked.

"They tell me it's his heart. He wouldn't talk about it."

"When I think of what he done for our union!" exclaimed a thick-set
man, plainly a steel worker. "He's just wore himself out, fighting that
crooked gang." He stared with sudden aggressiveness at me. "Haven't I
seen you some-wheres?" he demanded.

A denial was on my lips when the sharp, sinister strokes of a bell were
heard coming nearer.

"It's the ambulance," said the man on the step.

Glancing up the alley beyond the figures of two policemen who had
arrived and were holding the people back, I saw the hood of the
conveyance as it came to a halt, and immediately a hospital doctor and
two assistants carrying a stretcher hurried towards us, and we made way
for them to enter. After a brief interval, they were heard coming slowly
down the steps inside. By the white, cruel light of the arc I saw Krebs
lying motionless.... I laid hold of one of the men who had been on
the platform. He did not resent the act, he seemed to anticipate my
question.

"He's conscious. The doctors expect him to rally when he gets to the
hospital."

I walked back to the Club to discover that several inquiries had been
made about me. Reporters had been there, Republican Headquarters had
telephoned to know if I were ill. Leaving word that I was not to be
disturbed under any circumstances, I went to my room, and spent most of
the night in distracted thought. When at last morning came I breakfasted
early, searching the newspapers for accounts of the occurrence at
Templar's Hall; and the fact that these were neither conspicuous nor
circumstantial