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"I can never repay this child for her devoted care," he said gratefully. "A wife could have done no more." Olga flushed at the tribute, but Barry could see the joy come into her eyes, even as she deprecated her efforts.

"Hell!" she said consciously; "I'd have done as much for a sick dog."

Richard was amused by the girl's characteristic response, but it troubled Barry. Perhaps rumor had been right, and things had gone farther than he had been willing to acknowledge to himself.

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"Miss Lola would have come if she'd known "You hold your tongue, Barry O'Carolan!" Richard held up a restraining hand, which Olga at once respected.

"Olga is right, Barry," he said. "It is best that for the present no one should know where I am Miss Lola could not have come to this place, even if she had wanted to. It happened just as it should, for Olga was willing to take care of me, and I am happy and grateful to have had her. She has been a wonderful help to me, Barry. You ought to find a girl like Olga and marry her."

"No girl would ever marry half a man like me," Barry stammered in his embarrassment . . . "But there're some men with two legs who haven't got such good eye-sight as I have," with which enigmatical comment Barry turned to Olga for the funeral contribution and took his departure, the stamp of his wooden leg on the stairs registering his entire disapproval of the situation.

CHAPTER XVIII

I

HILE Richard lay convalescing, Norcross

W passed through its own physical disarrange

ment. The presence of so many hundreds of unemployed workers congested the streets, and introduced an element of discontent hitherto unknown in the orderly, self-satisfied town. There were occasional outbreaks, but the general attitude of the strikers was that of peaceful patience, confident of being able to outwait the management at the plant.

When the first strike-breakers arrived they occasioned curiosity rather than resentment. What could these strangers accomplish in running machines which year after year had known the touch of but a single hand! It was simply a gallery play on the part of the management to impress the men with their independence. Skilled workmen are not to be picked up on every corner. These Hessians, who came in for blood money at the behest of Capital, might go through the motions, but they could never perform the work of those whose places they took!

The workmen saw little to complain of until Tony Lemholtz began to point it out to them. Then they

became apprehensive. Tony was clever enough to realize that the strike-breakers offered him his opportunity to recover his lost leadership. Richard Norton had won the men away from him by glowing pictures of a future which had failed to materialize. As a spellbinder Richard had temporarily surpassed him; but now his rival had taken himself off, . . whither he knew not nor did he care. The field was clear for Tony to pull down the structure Richard had reared, and to salvage the material for building to his own design.

Groups of workmen met each incoming train and sought to dissuade the newcomers from going to the plant. Moral suasion was employed as the strikebreakers went to and from their work. In some instances these efforts were successful, but for the most part the men had come to Norcross for a definite purpose and went about their business stolidly. In a few instances the attempts at suasion passed the bounds and resulted in personal encounters, but except for these Alec Sterling and his conservatives held back the fire-brands in spite of Tony's tirades.

"Leave them alone," Sterling counseled. "They're ruining more than half the stuff they turn out. We're all right if we keep our heads. The management can't run the plant without us, and they know it. If we use violence, we'll play right into their hands. Leave them alone."

"Yes, leave 'em alone and let 'em think we're scared of 'em!" Tony retorted. "Leave 'em alone and let 'em take the bread out of our mouths!"

"You haven't gone hungry yet, have you?" Sterling

came back. "You're getting your pay regular from the union, whatever happens to us. You should worry." "Yes, I'm gettin' my pay," Tony admitted; "and I'm earnin' it. Not by standin' 'round like you and lettin' 'em tear the coats off our backs, but by doin' somethin' to get through with this loafin', so that all of us can get our pay. They never would have brought in these scabs if they hadn't thought we was cowards. That's what you get for listenin' to that highbrow Mister Richard Norton! Where is he now? Run away, to some place where it's healthier, that's what he's done." "He'll be back when he's needed," Sterling asserted staunchly; "and when he comes you'll have reason to know it. He won't be overlooking you this time."

II

Thus the battle of words raged. Sometimes the men seemed content to abide by Sterling's moderation, sometimes the superintendent felt that his last grip on them had loosened, and that they would follow Tony to tear down the works. Twice he sought interviews with James Norton, but he accomplished nothing.

"Come to me when the men have learned their lesson, Sterling," Norton told him. "I can run this plant without 'em, and I will run it. You all are making me a lot of trouble which I shan't forget, and you all must pay the price for it."

"Then you had better have the State troops ready to act in an emergency," Sterling warned him. "There is an element among the strikers I don't like. We'll hold them back as long as we can, but when the storm

breaks you and the works will need all the protection you can get."

Norton laughed at him.

"I thought you knew men better than that, Sterling. They haven't got it in 'em. They're skunks, every one of 'em, and you know how much courage a skunk has. They'll make the air foul with their threats, but they don't dare raise a hand against me. I've ruled 'em by fear all these years, and they're afraid of me now. There won't be any storm, Sterling, . . just a little breeze stirred up by their own hot air."

Sterling pleaded in vain. The old man sat tight in his overweening confidence, and refused to see anything in the superintendent's warnings except an effort to weaken the Company's stand in the interest of the

men.

"You always take the men's side, Sterling," Norton told him. "That's the only criticism I've ever had to make of you. If you had stood up stiffer in the past I shouldn't have to be doing it now. The men have got almighty cocky with their big wages these last few years. They've forgotten how it feels to have their bellies empty. I'm in no hurry. We'll do a good job now and have it over with. If these men ever come back into this plant it will be on a basis which will keep things smooth for a good long time. Tell 'em that from me, Sterling."

III

Norton found Henry Cross a diversion from his troubles with the men. True to his promise, after the bank

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