itions
difficult. Some of the men still showed the effects of their drink and
hurled epithets about the room, obviously meant for Peter's ear, but he
sat through the meal patiently and then got to his feet and demanded
their attention.

As he began he was interrupted by hoots and cat-calls but he waited
calmly for silence and seeing that they couldn't ruffle him by
buffoonery they desisted after a moment.

"Men, I'm not going to take much of your time," he said. "A short while
ago I came down here and talked to you. Some of you seemed to be
friendly toward me and those are the men I want to talk to now. The
others don't matter."

"Oh, don't they?" came a gruff voice from a crowd near the door. And
another, "We'll see about that."

Peter tried to find the speakers with his gaze for a moment and then
went on imperturbably. "I'm going to talk to you in plain English,
because some things have happened in this camp that are going to make
trouble for everybody, trouble for me, trouble for McGuire, but more
trouble for you."

"That's what we're lookin' for--trouble----," cried the same voice, and
Peter now identified it as Flynn's, for the agitator had come back and
stolen in unawares.

"Ah, it's you, Flynn," said Peter easily. "You've come back." And then
to the crowd, "I don't think Flynn is likely to be disappointed if he's
looking for trouble," he said dryly. "Trouble is one of the few things
in this world a man can find if he looks for it."

"Aye, mon, an' without lookin' for it," laughed a broad-chested Scot at
Peter's table.

"That's right. I met Flynn a while ago over in the office. I made him an
offer. I said I'd fight him fair just man to man, for our opinions. He
refused. I also told him he was a coward, a sneak and a liar. But he
wouldn't fight--because he's what I said he was."

"I'll show ye, Misther----," shouted Flynn, "but I ain't ready yet."

"You'll be ready when this meeting is over. And one of us is going out
of this camp feet first."

"We'll see about that."

"One of us will. And I think I'll do the seeing."

A laugh went up around Peter, drowned immediately by a chorus of jeers
from the rear of the room.

But Peter managed to be heard again.

"Well, _I_ didn't come on this job looking for trouble," he went on
coolly. "I wanted to help you chaps in any way I could." ("The Hell you
did.") "Yes, I did what I could for your comfort. I raised your wages
and I didn't ask more than an hones