.

"We don't, and are not at all anxious to know," retorted Griscom,
turning to leave the hall.

"It means that you are blacklisted!" shouted Evans, rising to his
feet. "As to you, Fairbanks, I owe you one, and the time has come when
I am in power. Think twice--join us, or it will be the worse for
you."

"Come on, lad," directed Griscom.

"Men," roared Evans to his mob of friends, "those two are on the black
list. Notice them particularly, and hit hard when you strike."

Ralph went home somewhat disturbed by the episode, but not at all
alarmed. He knew that such complications were frequent among the
unions. His mother, however, was quite worried over the affair.

"That fellow Evans is a bad man, and has a personal hatred for you,
Ralph," she said. "Besides that, as we know, he has been incited to
make you trouble by Mr. Farrington. Be careful of yourself, my son,
for I fear he may try to do you some mischief."

"I can only go on in the clear path of duty," said Ralph sturdily.

The next morning the roundhouse was in quite a tumult. Its vicinity
was picketed by the strikers. Ralph entered the place to find Tim
Forgan, the foreman, in a state of great excitement and worry. There
were not men enough for the regular runs.

"Take out your regular train," he said to Griscom, "but I believe it
will be annulled and new orders issued at the city end of the line.
We're in for trouble, I can tell you. The strikers make some pretty
bad threats, and you want to watch every foot of the route until this
strike is settled one way or the other."

"There is no other way except to oppose these loafers boldly,"
pronounced Griscom. "The union has expelled them, and they are on the
basis of rioters."

"Well, the railroad company will make some move to protect its
property," said Forgan. "They must give us more men, though, or we
will have to annul half the daily trains."

The Limited Mail got out of the yards with some difficulty. They had a
spiked switch to look out for, and a missile from an old building
smashed the headlight glass. At the limits a man tossed a folded paper
into the locomotive cab. It was a poor scrawl containing direful
threats to anyone opposing the new union.

When they reached the terminus Griscom found a committee of men from
the central union waiting for him. They held a consultation. Then a
messenger from the railway office came after him. It was a busy day
for the veteran rail-roader.

"I don't l