a hurry, and ask
his clerk in an angry voice if McGaw had yet been paid the money on his
chattel mortgage. When his cashier showed him the stub of the check,
dated two days before, Crane slammed the door behind him, his teeth set
tight, little puffs of profanity escaping between the openings. As he
walked with Tom to the door, he said:--

"Send your papers up, Tom, I'll go bond any day in the year for you,
and for any amount; but I'll get even with McGaw for that lie he told me
about the dock, if it takes my bank account."

The annual hauling contract for the brewery, which had become an
important one in Rockville, its business having nearly doubled in
the last few years, was of special value to Tom at this time, and she
determined to make every effort to secure it.

Pop filled up the proposal in his round, clear hand, and Tom signed it,
"Thomas Grogan, Rockville, Staten Island." Then Pop witnessed it, and
Mr. Crane, a few days later, duly inscribed the firm's name under the
clause reserved for bondsmen. After that Tom brought the bid home, and
laid it on the shelf over her bed.

Everything was now ready for the fight.

The bids were to be opened at noon in the office of the brewery.

By eleven o'clock the hangers-on and idlers began to lounge into the
big yard paved with cobblestones. At half past eleven McGaw got out of a
buggy, accompanied by Quigg. At a quarter to twelve Tom, in her hood and
ulster, walked rapidly through the gate, and, without as much as a look
at the men gathered about the office door, pushed her way into the room.
Then she picked up a chair and, placing it against the wall, sat down.
Sticking out of the breast pocket of her ulster was the big envelope
containing her bid.

Five minutes before the hour the men began filing in one by one,
awkwardly uncovering their heads, and standing in one another's way.
Some, using their hats as screens, looked over the rims. When the bids
were being gathered up by the clerk, Dennis Quigg handed over McGaw's.
The ease with which Dan had raised the money on his notes had invested
that gentleman with some of the dignity and attributes of a capitalist;
the hired buggy and the obsequious Quigg indicated this. His new
position was strengthened by the liberal way in which he had portioned
out his possessions to the workingman. It was further sustained by the
hope that he might perhaps repeat his generosities in the near future.

At twelve o'clock precisely Mr.