he delegate spoke in that tone. A score of
men blocked the way of the train crew.

Bannon was angry. He stood looking at Grady with snapping eyes, and his
hands closed into knotted fists. But Bannon knew the power of the unions,
and he knew that a rash step now might destroy all hope of completing the
elevator in time. He crossed over to the delegate.

"What do you want?" he said gruffly.

"Nothing from you."

"What do you want?" Bannon repeated, and there was something in his voice
that caused the delegate to check a second retort.

"You'll kill these men if you work them like this. They've been on the job
all day."

Bannon was beginning to see that Grady was more eager to make trouble than
to uphold the cause of the men he was supposed to represent. In his
experience with walking delegates he had not met this type before. He was
proud of the fact that he had never had any serious trouble in dealing
with his workmen or their representatives. Mr. MacBride was fond of saying
that Bannon's tact in handling men was unequalled; but Bannon himself did
not think of it in this way--to him, trouble with the laborers or the
carpenters or the millwrights meant loss of time and loss of money, the
two things he was putting in his time to avoid; and until now he had found
the maligned walking delegate a fair man when he was fairly dealt with. So
he said:--

"Well, what are you asking?"

"These gangs ought to be relieved every two hours."

"I'll do it. Now clear up those timbers."

The delegate turned with a scowl, and waved the men back to their work. In
a moment the track was clear, and the train was moving slowly onward
between the long lines of men.

Bannon started the gangs at work. When the timbers were again coming
across from the wharf in six slowly moving streams that converged at the
end of the elevator, he stood looking after the triangle of red lights on
the last car of the train until they had grown small and close together in
the distance. Then he went over to the wharf to see how much timber
remained, and to tell Peterson to hurry the work; for he did not look for
any further accommodation on the part of the C. & S. C. railroad, now that
a train had been stopped. The steamer lay quietly at the dock, the long
pile of cribbing on her deck shadowed by the high bow deckhouse from the
lights on the spouting house. Her crew were bustling about, rigging the
two hoisting engines, and making all ready for unloading