they're a hard crowd. They're over there on
the side, watchin' the fire. A gang of them! Soon as I can get the men
together we'll drive them out of town. There'll be a fight, if I don't
miss my guess."

"Hurry the men! Have all of them get their guns! Come on!"

"Not yet, Dorn. We're fightin' fire yet. You an' Jerry help all you
can."

Indeed, it appeared there was danger of more than one cottage burning.
The exceedingly dry weather of the past weeks had made shingles like
tinder, and wherever a glowing spark fell on them there straightway was
a smoldering fire. Water, a scarce necessity in that region, had been
used until all wells and pumps became dry. It was fortunate that most of
the roofs of the little village had been constructed of galvanized iron.
Beating out blazes and glowing embers with brooms was not effective
enough. When it appeared that the one cottage nearest the rain of sparks
was sure to go, Kurt thought of the railroad watertank below the
station. He led a number of men with buckets to the tank, and they soon
drowned out the smoldering places.

Meanwhile the blazes from the box-cars died out, leaving only the dull
glow from the red heap that had once been the elevators. However, this
gave forth light enough for any one to be seen a few rods distant.
Sparks had ceased to fall, and from that source no further danger need
be apprehended. Olsen had been going from man to man, sending those who
were not armed home for guns. So it came about that half an hour after
Kurt's arrival a score of farmers, villagers, and a few railroaders were
collected in a group, listening to the pale-faced Olsen.

"Men, there's only a few of us, an' there's hundreds, mebbe, in thet
I.W.W. gang, but we've got to drive them off," he said, doggedly.
"There's no tellin' what they'll do if we let them hang around any
longer. They know we're weak in numbers. We've got to do some shootin'
to scare them away."

Kurt seconded Olsen in ringing voice.

"They've threatened your homes," he said. "They've burned my
wheat--ruined me. They were the death of my father.... These are facts
I'm telling you. We can't wait for law or for militia. We've got to meet
this I.W.W. invasion. They have taken advantage of the war situation.
They're backed by German agents. It's now a question of our property.
We've got to fight!"

The crowd made noisy and determined response. Most of them had small
weapons; a few had shot-guns or rifles.

"Come