ew better than
Grady that a dashing show of authority would be hard for James or any one
else to resist.

And so he had come on the job this evening, at a time when he supposed
Bannon safe in bed, and delivered his ultimatum. Not that he had any hope
of carrying the strike through without some sort of a collision with the
boss, but he well knew that an encounter after the strike had gathered
momentum would be easier than one before. Bannon might be able to outwit
an individual, even Grady himself, but he would find it hard to make
headway against an angry mob. And now Grady was pacing stiffly about the
Belt Line yards, while the minute hand of his watch crept around toward
ten o'clock. Even if Bannon should be called within the hour, a few fiery
words to those sweating gangs on the distributing floor should carry the
day. But Grady did not think that this would be necessary. He was still in
the mistake of supposing that Peterson and the boss were at cuts, and he
had arrived, by a sort of reasoning that seemed the keenest strategy, at
the conclusion that Peterson would take the opportunity to settle the
matter himself. In fact, Grady had evolved a neat little campaign, and he
was proud of himself.

Bannon did not have to wait long. Soon there was a sound of feet outside
the door, and after a little hesitation, six laborers entered, five of
them awkwardly and timidly, wondering what was to come. Peterson followed,
with Max, and closed the door. The members of the committee stood in a
straggling row at the railing, looking at each other and at the floor and
ceiling--anywhere but at the boss, who was sitting on the table, sternly
taking them in. James stepped to one side.

"Is this all the committee?" Bannon presently said.

The men hesitated, and Murphy, who was in the centre, answered, "Yes,
sir."

"You are the governing members of your lodge?"

There was an air of cool authority about Bannon that disturbed the men.
They had been led to believe that his power reached only the work on the
elevator, and that an attempt on his part to interfere in any way with
their organization would be an act of high-handed tyranny, "to be resisted
to the death" (Grady's words). But these men standing before their boss,
in his own office, were not the same men that thrilled with righteous
wrath under Grady's eloquence in the meetings over Barry's saloon. So they
looked at the floor and ceiling again, until Murphy at last answered:--