t began with--"

He got no farther for the moment. There was a scuffling and shuffling
of feet from the direction of the stairs, and Nelson appeared in
advance of three rather ill-at-ease visitors. They were dressed in
workmen's clothing and carried their caps respectfully in their hands.

"A committee from our strikers," explained Varr curtly to his partner.
He stood up. "Don't bother, Jason, stay here with Mr. Krech while I
talk to them in the outer room. It'll take me about two minutes to get
rid of 'em!" he added grimly.

He strode from the room and met the approaching delegation halfway
across the main office. From where they sat, Jason Bolt and his friend
could watch the ensuing proceedings and hear every word that was spoken.

Varr was instantly wrathful at discovering in the gray-haired
individual who turned out to be their spokesman an old employee whose
name was Maple, the very man he had spoken of to Bolt as possibly
replacing Graham as manager. He could almost hear Jason chuckling over
the fact as he snapped a curt command at the fellow to state his
business.

"We've come for a talk with you, Mr. Varr," began Maple soberly,
"because there's some of us who feel that this strike has gone on too
long as it is. It's bad for us, sir, and it must be bad for you and
Mr. Bolt. We three have been appointed to call on you gentlemen and
ask you to look into the whole situation with us. There's points on
which we've been unreasonable, maybe, and there's others where we think
you've been unreasonable. If we give in a bit and you give in a bit
perhaps we can reach some sort of a compromise that'll let us all go to
work--"

"Stop! I've been waiting for that word compromise! You can go back
and tell your crowd that this strike isn't going to be settled--it's
going to be _broken_!" Varr smashed one fist into the other as he
roared his defiance. "Go back and tell 'em! Tell 'em I'll watch every
man of you starving in the gutters before I'll be driven into doing
what I've said I won't do. Go set some more fires in the tannery;
you'll soon find that'll get you nowhere but in jail!"

"We've set no fires, Mr. Varr," answered Maple with dignity. "On the
contrary, sir, the three of us here now were amongst them who helped to
put out the fire last night. You've no call to blackguard honest men.
As for starving in the gutter, sir--"

He stopped speaking to reach in his pocket and draw out a few small
bills,