d to
make on him and that when we paid blackmail it would be to some fellow
who'd deliver the goods. I said he could begin to make trouble just as
soon as he pleased."

"Seems to me you might have asked for a few days' time to decide. Then we
could have got something ready to come at him with. He's liable to call
our men out tonight, ain't he?"

"I don't think so. I thought of trying to stave him off for a few days,
but then I thought, 'Why, he'll see through that game and he'll go on with
his scheme for sewing us up just the same.' You see, there's no good
saying we're afraid. So I told him that we didn't mind him a bit; said he
could go out and have all the fun he liked with us. If he thinks we've got
something up our sleeve he may be a little cautious. Anyway, he knows that
our biggest rush is coming a little later, and he's likely to wait for
it."

Then Hilda spoke for the first time. "Has he so much power as that? Will
they strike just because he orders them to?"

"Why, not exactly," said Bannon. "They decide that for themselves, or at
least they think they do. They vote on it."

"Well, then," she asked hesitatingly, "why can't you just tell the men
what Mr. Grady wants you to do and show them that he's dishonest? They
know they've been treated all right, don't they?"

Bannon shook his head. "No use," he said. "You see, these fellows don't
know much. They aren't like skilled laborers who need some sense in their
business. They're just common roustabouts, and most of 'em have gunpowder
in place of brains. They don't want facts or reason either; what they like
is Grady's oratory. They think that's the finest thing they ever heard.
They might all be perfectly satisfied and anxious to work, but if Grady
was to sing out to know if they wanted to be slaves, they'd all strike
like a freight train rolling down grade.

"No," he went on, "there's nothing to be done with the men. Do you know
what would happen if I was to go up to their lodge and tell right out that
Grady was a blackmailer? Why, after they'd got through with me,
personally, they'd pass a resolution vindicating Grady. They'd resolve
that I was a thief and a liar and a murderer and an oppressor of the poor
and a traitor, and if they could think of anything more than that, they'd
put it in, too. And after vindicating Grady to their satisfaction, they'd
take his word for law and the gospel more than ever. In this sort of a
scrape you want to hit as high as