may be I'll go in with him."

"Why, what's the matter with railroading?"

Dyke drew a couple of puffs on his pipe, and fixed Presley with a
glance.

"There's this the matter with it," he said; "I'm fired."

"Fired! You!" exclaimed Presley, turning abruptly toward him. "That's
what I'm telling you," returned Dyke grimly.

"You don't mean it. Why, what for, Dyke?"

"Now, YOU tell me what for," growled the other savagely. "Boy and man,
I've worked for the P. and S. W. for over ten years, and never one yelp
of a complaint did I ever hear from them. They know damn well they've
not got a steadier man on the road. And more than that, more than that,
I don't belong to the Brotherhood. And when the strike came along, I
stood by them--stood by the company. You know that. And you know, and
they know, that at Sacramento that time, I ran my train according to
schedule, with a gun in each hand, never knowing when I was going over a
mined culvert, and there was talk of giving me a gold watch at the
time. To hell with their gold watches! I want ordinary justice and fair
treatment. And now, when hard times come along, and they are cutting
wages, what do they do? Do they make any discrimination in my case? Do
they remember the man that stood by them and risked his life in their
service? No. They cut my pay down just as off-hand as they do the pay
of any dirty little wiper in the yard. Cut me along with--listen to
this--cut me along with men that they had BLACK-LISTED; strikers that
they took back because they were short of hands." He drew fiercely on
his pipe. "I went to them, yes, I did; I went to the General Office, and
ate dirt. I told them I was a family man, and that I didn't see how
I was going to get along on the new scale, and I reminded them of my
service during the strike. The swine told me that it wouldn't be fair
to discriminate in favour of one man, and that the cut must apply to all
their employees alike. Fair!" he shouted with laughter. "Fair! Hear the
P. and S. W. talking about fairness and discrimination. That's good,
that is. Well, I got furious. I was a fool, I suppose. I told them that,
in justice to myself, I wouldn't do first-class work for third-class
pay. And they said, 'Well, Mr. Dyke, you know what you can do.' Well, I
did know. I said, 'I'll ask for my time, if you please,' and they gave
it to me just as if they were glad to be shut of me. So there you are,
Presley. That's the P. & S. W. Railroad Company