y, Carmachel," reiterated Peter miserably.

"Nonsense! The only question is this--is your sympathy with us or isn't
it?"

"Of course it is!" There was no doubting the fervor of the avowal.

"Then that settles it. Although you have come here but recently, Strong,
we all consider you a friend and count you as one of ourselves. You'll
stand by the bunch, won't you?" Carmachel scrutinized Peter sharply.

"Yes, I will. But you don't understand the circumstances or you would
never urge me to----"

Carmachel interrupted him.

"I guess I understand the circumstances better than you think," returned
he, dryly. "Mr. Coddington got you your place, I've heard. Naturally you
feel under obligations to him for his kindness. That's all very well.
But has he ever been near you since he put you into the tannery? No! He
sits in his office and opens his mail and you are just a boy in the
works. Isn't that so? What's to hinder you from going respectfully to
him with the rest of us and calling to his attention something which
seems to us an injustice? You said yourself it was the best plan. You
pleaded with us to do it."

"I know."

"Then why won't you go yourself? You're not a coward, Strong, nor,
unless I greatly mistake, are you the sort of chap who would point out
to others a path he wouldn't dare follow himself."

"I'll go!" cried Peter suddenly. "I'll go, but I will not do any
speaking."

"Nobody wants you to speak," growled an Italian who had been standing
near and who had overheard the conversation. "Bryant, Carmachel, and the
older men will do the speaking. It's their place."

So it was agreed.

Events shaped themselves rapidly. Within an hour Mr. Coddington, seated
in his perfectly appointed office, received word that a deputation of
his men respectfully requested an interview with him that afternoon.

He was thunderstruck.

What did the demand foreshadow? Was a strike brewing? The men had
appeared perfectly satisfied with the working conditions at the
tanneries. Wages were fairly high and the factories conformed to every
requirement of the Health and Labor Laws.

He touched a bell.

"Ask Tyler to step here," said he, frowning.

Mr. Tyler entered hastily.

"What's all this, Tyler?" demanded his chief. "I hear the men want to
see me."

"I know nothing about it, sir. They've kept their own council. If they
have a grievance they have not told me."

"No labor agitators have been in town recently?"

"Not to