ain Jack's mind, somewhat dazed by the unexpected attack,
that he was the occasion of the uproar. Rising from his place he tried
vainly to catch the Chairman's attention.

"Come up to the platform," said a voice in his ear. He turned and saw
McNish shouldering his way through the excited crowd toward the front.
After a moment's hesitation he shrugged his shoulders and followed. The
move caught the eye and apparently the approval of the audience, for it
broke into cheers which gathered in volume till by the time that McNish
and Captain Jack stood on the platform the great majority were wildly
yelling their enthusiastic approval of their action. McNish stood with
his hand raised for a hearing. Almost instantly there fell a silence
intense and expectant. The Scotchman stood looking in the direction of
the excited Cockney with cold steady eye.

"A'm for freedom! The right of public assembly! A'm feart o' nae enemy,
not the deevil himself. This gentleman is a member of my Union and he
stays r-r-right he-e-r-re." With a rasping roll of his r's he seemed to
be ripping the skin off the little Cockney's very flesh. The response
was a yell of savage cheers which seemed to rock the building and which
continued while Mr. Wigglesworth in overflowing effusiveness first shook
Maitland's limp hand in a violent double-handed pump handle exercise and
then proceeded to introduce him to the distinguished visitor, shouting
his name in Maitland's ear, "Mr 'Oward (H)E. Bigelow," adding with a
sudden inspiration, "(H)Introduce 'im to the (h)audience. Yes! Yes! Most
(h)assuredly," and continued pushing both men toward the front of the
platform, the demonstration increasing in violence.

"I say, old chap," shouted Captain Jack in the stranger's ear, "I feel
like a fool."

"I feel like a dozen of 'em," shouted Mr. Bigelow in return. "But," he
added with a slow wink, "this old fool is the daddy of 'em all. Go on,
introduce me, or they'll bust something loose."

Captain Jack took one step to the front of the platform and held up
his hand. The cheering assumed an even greater violence, then ceased in
sudden breathless silence.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said in a slightly bored voice, "this
gentleman is Mr. Howard E. Bigelow, a representative of the American
Federation of Labour, whom as a member of the Woodworkers' Union, Local
197, I am anxious to hear if you don't mind."

He bowed to the visitor, bowed to the audience once more swaying un