e you a lesson. But so long as I am in this chair we shall be a
united lodge in word and in deed. And now, boys," he continued, looking
round at the company, "I'll say this much, that if Stanger got his full
deserts there would be more trouble than we need ask for. These editors
hang together, and every journal in the state would be crying out for
police and troops. But I guess you can give him a pretty severe warning.
Will you fix it, Brother Baldwin?"

"Sure!" said the young man eagerly.

"How many will you take?"

"Half a dozen, and two to guard the door. You'll come, Gower, and you,
Mansel, and you, Scanlan, and the two Willabys."

"I promised the new brother he should go," said the chairman.

Ted Baldwin looked at McMurdo with eyes which showed that he had not
forgotten nor forgiven. "Well, he can come if he wants," he said in a
surly voice. "That's enough. The sooner we get to work the better."

The company broke up with shouts and yells and snatches of drunken
song. The bar was still crowded with revellers, and many of the brethren
remained there. The little band who had been told off for duty passed
out into the street, proceeding in twos and threes along the sidewalk
so as not to provoke attention. It was a bitterly cold night, with a
half-moon shining brilliantly in a frosty, star-spangled sky. The men
stopped and gathered in a yard which faced a high building. The words,
"Vermissa Herald" were printed in gold lettering between the brightly
lit windows. From within came the clanking of the printing press.

"Here, you," said Baldwin to McMurdo, "you can stand below at the door
and see that the road is kept open for us. Arthur Willaby can stay with
you. You others come with me. Have no fears, boys; for we have a dozen
witnesses that we are in the Union Bar at this very moment."

It was nearly midnight, and the street was deserted save for one or two
revellers upon their way home. The party crossed the road, and, pushing
open the door of the newspaper office, Baldwin and his men rushed in and
up the stair which faced them. McMurdo and another remained below.
From the room above came a shout, a cry for help, and then the sound of
trampling feet and of falling chairs. An instant later a gray-haired man
rushed out on the landing.

He was seized before he could get farther, and his spectacles came
tinkling down to McMurdo's feet. There was a thud and a groan. He was on
his face, and half a dozen sticks were