because he thought
he could handle the matter better than his comrade. Festing was too
blunt and sometimes got angry. He saw that the men were determined,
but while they had, no doubt, been worked upon, he thought they had no
personal grudge against him or his partner.

"There's only one way you could put the screw to the bosses, and that
way's dangerous. The _Colonist_ states that they have a number of men
unemployed in the coast towns. If Kerr wrote to a labor agent, he'd send
him up a crowd."

"It would cost him high to bring the men here, and take some time."

"That is so," Charnock agreed. He saw the others had made their plans
and calculated the pressure they could put upon the engineers. Time was
important, and he thought the foreman had helped them to estimate the
expense the company would incur by the delay before they could get new
men.

"Putting down your tools would cost you something," he resumed. "How
long do you imagine it would take to persuade Kerr?"

"I guess a week would fix him; he wouldn't stand for a fortnight."

"Very well! I don't suppose your object is to put us off the road;
you want what you're entitled to. So do we all, and though it's often
troublesome to get, there's no use in taking the hardest way. If you
stop, you lose a fortnight's wages and somebody will get fired. Not now,
of course, but afterwards; the bosses know their job. Well, give us ten
days, and the time you miss won't run to many dollars. If we can't put
the rails down then, we'll quit."

There was silence for a moment, and then somebody said, "We'll let it go
at that. It's a deal!"

The others growled consent and Charnock waited until they moved away,
after which he shut the door and sat down wearily.

"You took the right line," Festing said.

"I hesitated about fixing the time, but we can't go on much longer."

"No," said Festing. "Well, we have ten days!"

They said nothing more and soon afterwards went to bed. Next morning
there was a marked haziness in the west, but the frost was keener. It
looked as if they must be beaten, although they meant to fight until
defeat was sure, and Festing was surprised when he glanced at his
comrade. This was not the careless lounger he had known. Charnock's
face was grim and somewhat pinched; his hands were torn and bruised.
He picked the heaviest stones to lift and was the first to take hold of
ponderous beams. Festing owned that he had misjudged Charnock, but
not more th