st in time, for the foreman struck at him with the iron. It
clashed upon the pick-handle, but Charnock got the next blow home and
the foreman fell upon the table, on which Charnock pinned him down. Then
getting his right arm loose, he struck with blind fury.

He was seized from behind, and while he struggled to get loose somebody
gasped: "That's enough! Do you want to kill the man?"

"Yes," said Charnock hoarsely. "Let me go!"

"Help me choke him off! He's surely mad!" cried the man behind.

Somebody else got hold of Charnock. He was dragged back, hustled away
from the table and towards the door. Then the bar was torn from his
hands and a man pushed him out in the snow.

"You have fixed him good," said somebody in a breathless voice. "Go home
and cool off!"

"If Wilkinson's inside, I'm coming back," Charnock declared.

The man laughed. "Wilkinson lit out through the store-shed 'bout a
minute after you came in."

Charnock felt faint and dizzy, but tried to think when the fellow banged
the door. It looked as if Wilkinson knew why he had come, and had stolen
away after seeing the struggle begin. Moreover he had friends who might
go after him and tell him what had happened to the foreman. Then he
remembered that the locomotive engineer had been ordered to move some
cars, and set off for the track.

The snow was rough, he fell into holes, and stubbed his feet against the
ties, but stumbled on until he heard the locomotive snort. Then there
was a jar of iron, wheels rattled, and a dark mass in front began to
roll away. He was too late, and when he stopped and tried to get his
breath two men came down the track.

"Did any of the boys go out on the train?" he asked.

"Only Wilkinson," one replied.

"Where's he going?"

"I don't know," said the other. "As he took his clothes-bag, it doesn't
look as if he was coming back."

Charnock set off for Norton's office. He did not know how he got there,
because a reaction had begun, and he sat down feeling powerless and
badly shaken.

CHAPTER XXX

UNDERSTANDING

At midnight, Charnock, sitting drowsily in a chair in Norton's office,
roused himself with a jerk. He was too anxious about Festing to go to
bed, but bodily fatigue reacted on his brain and dulled his senses. For
all that, he thought he heard steps in the snow, and getting up quickly
went to the door. The bitter cold pierced him like a knife and he
shivered. A man stood outside, and his dark figure, silho