en, but they were
silent. He looked everywhere but up into the eyes that were blazing down
at him. And finally Bannon felt the muscles within his grip relax.

"I'll tell you what I want you to do," said Bannon to the committeemen. "I
want you to elect a new delegate. Don't talk about interference--I don't
care how you elect him, or who he is, if he comes to me squarely."

Grady was wriggling again.

"This means a strike!" he shouted. "This means the biggest strike the West
has ever seen! You won't get men for love or money--"

Bannon gave the arm a wrench, and broke in:--

"I'm sick of this. I laid this matter before President Carver. I have his
word that if you hang on to this man after he's been proved a blackmailer,
your lodge can be dropped from the Federation. If you try to strike, you
won't hurt anybody but yourselves. That's all. You can go."

"Wait--" Grady began, but they filed out without looking at him. James, as
he followed them, nodded, and said, "Good night, Mr. Bannon."

Then for the last time Bannon led Grady away. Peterson started forward,
but the boss shook his head, and went out, marching the delegate between
the lumber piles to the point where the path crossed the Belt Line tracks.

"Now, Mr. Grady," he said, "this is where our ground stops. The other
sides are the road there, and the river, and the last piles of cribbing at
the other end. I'm telling you so you will know where you don't belong.
Now, get out!"

CHAPTER XIV

The effect of the victory was felt everywhere. Not only were Max and Pete
and Hilda jubilant over it, but the under-foremen, the timekeepers, even
the laborers attacked their work with a fresher energy. It was like the
first whiff of salt air to an army marching to the sea. Since the day when
the cribbing came down from Ledyard, the work had gone forward with almost
incredible rapidity; there had been no faltering during the weeks when
Grady's threatened catastrophe was imminent, but now that the big shadow
of the little delegate was dispelled, it was easier to see that the huge
warehouse was almost finished. There was still much to do, and the handful
of days that remained seemed absurdly inadequate; but it needed only a
glance at what Charlie Bannon's tireless, driving energy had already
accomplished to make the rest look easy.

"We're sure of it now. She'll be full to the roof before the year is out."
As Max went over the job with his time-book next morning, he s