pipes and plotting mischief.

Hugh and Tom were in their working clothes--coarse trousers, shirts,
and heavy shoes, without vest or coat. Their flabby caps lay on the
floor behind them, and their tousled hair hung over their foreheads
almost to their eyes. Tom had no side whiskers, but a heavy mustache
and chin whiskers, while the face of Hugh was covered with a spiky
black beard that stood out from his face as if each hair was charged
with electricity.

Nero, the hound, raised his nose from between his paws and looked up at
the visitor. Then, as if satisfied, he lowered his head and resumed
his nap.

Bradley, as I have said, was angry with himself for walking into such a
trap. It was not fear, but a deep dislike of the man who was the head
and front of the trouble at the mills. He was the spokesman and leader
of the strikers, and he was the real cause of the stoppage of the
works. Harvey looked upon him as insolent and brutal, and he was sure
that no circumstances could arise that would permit him to do a stroke
of work in the Rollo Mills again.

"Good evening," said Harvey stiffly, "I did not expect to find you
here."

Hansell nodded in reply to the salutation, but Hugh simply motioned
with the hand that held the pipe toward a low stool standing near the
middle of the apartment.

"Help yourself to a seat, Mr. Bradley; the presence of Tom and myself
here is no odder than is your own."

"I suppose not," replied Harvey with a half-laugh, as he seated
himself; "I started out for a walk to-day and went too far--that is, so
far that I lost my way. I had about made up my mind that I would have
to sleep in the woods, when I caught the light from your window and
made for it."

The glance that passed between Hugh and Tom--sly as it was--did not
elude the eye of Harvey Bradley. He saw that his explanation was not
believed, but he did not care; there was no love between him and them,
and, had it not looked as if he held them in fear, he would have turned
and walked away after stepping across the threshold. As it was, he
meant to withdraw as soon as he could do it without seeming to be
afraid.

"Is this the first time you have taken a walk up this way?" asked Hugh.

"The fact that I lost my way ought to answer that question; how far is
it, please, to Bardstown?"

"An even mile by the path you came."

"But I didn't come by any path, except for a short distance in front of
this place."

"Then how did you