points. He asked Grady a few pointed questions, that,
had the delegate felt the truth behind him, should not have been hard to
answer. But Grady was still under the spell of his own oratory, and in
attempting to get his feet back on the ground, he bungled. James did not
carry the discussion beyond the point where Grady, in the bewilderment
of recognizing this new element in the lodge, lost his temper, but when
he sat down, the sentiment of the meeting had changed. Few of those men
could have explained their feelings; it was simply that the new man was
stronger than they were, perhaps as strong as Grady, and they were
influenced accordingly.

There was no decision for a strike at that meeting. Grady, cunning at
the business, immediately dropped open discussion, and, smarting under
the sense of lost prestige, set about regaining his position by
well-planned talk with individual laborers. This went on, largely
without James' knowledge, until Grady felt sure that a majority of the
men were back in his control. This time he was determined to carry
through the strike without the preliminary vote of the men. It was a
bold stroke, but boldness was needed to defeat Charlie Bannon; and
nobody knew better than Grady that a dashing show of authority would be
hard for James or any one else to resist.

And so he had come on the job this evening, at a time when he supposed
Bannon safe in bed, and delivered his ultimatum. Not that he had any
hope of carrying the strike through without some sort of a collision
with the boss, but he well knew that an encounter after the strike had
gathered momentum would be easier than one before. Bannon might be able
to outwit an individual, even Grady himself, but he would find it hard
to make headway against an angry mob. And now Grady was pacing stiffly
about the Belt Line yards, while the minute hand of his watch crept
around toward ten o'clock. Even if Bannon should be called within the
hour, a few fiery words to those sweating gangs on the distributing
floor should carry the day. But Grady did not think that this would be
necessary. He was still in the mistake of supposing that Peterson and
the boss were at outs, and he had arrived, by a sort of reasoning that
seemed the keenest strategy, at the conclusion that Peterson would take
the opportunity to settle the matter himself. In fact, Grady had evolved
a neat little campaign, and he was proud of himself.

Bannon did not have to wait long. Soon t