pump up a word to say. He cleared his throat loudly once
or twice, but the men ignored him utterly. He kept casting his shifty
little sidewise glances at the boss, wondering why he didn't go away,
but Bannon continued to stand there, giving an occasional direction, and
watching the progress of the work with much satisfaction. The little
delegate shifted his weight from one foot to the other and cleared his
throat again. Then he saw that two or three of the men were grinning.
That was too much.

"Well, I'll go with you," he snapped.

Bannon could not be sure how much of an impression Grady's big words and
his ridiculous assumption of importance had made upon the men, but he
determined to counteract it as thoroughly as possible, then and there.
It was a sort of gallery play that he had decided on, but he felt sure
it would prove effective.

Grady turned to go down as he had come up, by the ladders, but Bannon
caught him by the shoulder, saying with a laugh: "Oh, don't waste your
time walking. Take the elevator." His tone was friendly but his grip was
like a man-trap, and he was propelling Grady straight toward the edge of
the building. Four big timbers had just come up and Bannon caught the
released rope as it came trailing by. "Here," he said; "put your foot in
the hook and hang on, and you'll come down in no time."

Grady laughed nervously. "No you don't. I suppose you'd be glad to get
rid of me that way. You don't come that on me."

The men were watching with interest; Bannon raised his voice a little.
"All right," he said, thrusting his foot into the great hook, "if you
feel that way about it. We'll have a regular passenger elevator in here
by and by, with an electric bell and sliding door, for the capitalist
crowd that are going to own the place. But we workingmen get along all
right on this. Swing off, boys."

He waited for Grady down below. It mattered very little to him now
whether the walking delegate chose to follow him down the hoist or to
walk down on the ladders, for every one had seen that Grady was afraid.
Bannon had seen all the men grinning broadly as he began his descent,
and that was all he wanted.

Evidently Grady's fear of the rope was less than his dread of the
ridicule of the men, for Bannon saw him preparing to come down after the
next load. He took a long time getting ready, but at last they started
him. He was the color of a handful of waste when he reached the ground,
and he staggered as