 CHAPTER XII On the twenty-second of November, Bannon received this telegram. Mr. Charles Bannon, care of McBride and Company, South Chicago. We send to-day complete drawings for Marine Tower, which you will build in the middle of Spouting-House. We're a hand company, or building the leg—McBride and Company. Bannon read it carefully, folded it, opened it, and read it again, then tossed it on the desk. We're off now, for sure, he said to Miss Bogle. I've known that was coming, sure as Christmas. Hilda picked it up. Is there an answer, Mr. Bannon? No, just file it. Do you make it out? She read it in sugarhead. And ignored her cool manner. It means that your friends on McBride and Company's Calumet House are going to have the time of their lives for the next few weeks. I'm going to carry compressed food in my pockets, and when mealtime comes around just take a capsule. I think I know, she said slowly, a marine leg is the thing that takes grain up out of ships. That's right, you'd better move up head. And we've been building a spouting-house instead to load it into ships. We'll have to build both now. You see, it's getting around to the time when the pages will be having a fit every day until the machinery's running, and every bin is full. And every time they have a fit, the people up at the office will have another, and they'll pass it on to us. But why do they want the marine leg, she asked, any more now than they did at first? They've got to get the wheat down by boat instead of rail. That's all. Or likely it'll be coming both ways. There's no telling now what's behind it. Both sides have got big men fighting. You've seen it in the papers, haven't you? She nodded. Of course what the papers say isn't all true, but it's lively doings all right. The next morning's mail brought the drawings and instructions, and with them came a letter from Brown to Bannon. I suppose there's not much good in telling you to hurry, it ran, but if there is another minute of day you can crowd in, I guess you know what to do with it. Page told me today that this elevator will make or break them. Mr. McBride says that you can have all January for a vacation if you get it through. We owe you two weeks off anyhow that you didn't take last summer. We're running down that CNSC business, though I don't believe myself that they'll give you any more trouble. Bannon read it to Hilda, saying as he laid it down. That's something like. I don't know where I'll go, though. Winter ain't exactly the time for a vacation, unless you go shooting, and I'm no hand at that. Couldn't you put it off till summer? She asked, smiling a little. Not much. You don't know those people. By the time summer'd come around they'd have forgotten I ever worked here. I'd strike for a month in brownwood grin and say, That's all right, Bannon. You deserve it if anybody does. It'll take a week or so to get your pass arranged and you might just run out to San Francisco and see if things are going the way they ought to. And then the first thing I know I'd be working three shifts somewhere over in China, and brown would be writing me I was putting in too much time at my meals. No, if McBride and company offer you a holiday, the best thing you can do is to grab it and run and saw off the telegraph poles behind you, and you couldn't be sure of yourself then. He turned the letter over in his hand. I might go up on the St. Lawrence, he went on. That's the only place for spending the winter that ever struck me. Isn't it pretty cold? It isn't so bad. I was up there last winter. We put up at a house at Cotou, you know. When I got there the foundation wasn't even begun, and we had a bad time getting laborers. I put in the first day sitting on the ice, sawing off spiles. He'll to laugh. I shouldn't think you'd care much about going back. Were you over there? He asked. No, I've never been anywhere but home and here, in Chicago. Where is your home? It was up in Michigan, that's where Max learned the lumber business, but he and I have been here for nearly two years. Well, said Bannon, some folks may think it's cold up there, but there ain't anywhere else to touch it. It's high ground, you know, nothing like this. He swept his arm about to indicate the flats outside. And the scenery beats anything this side of the Rockies. It ain't that there's mountains there, you understand, but it's all big and open, and they've got forests there that make your Michigan pine woods look like weeds on a sand hill. And the river's great. You haven't seen anything really fine till you've seen the rapids in winter. The people there have a good time, too. They know how to enjoy life. It isn't all grime and sweat and making money. Well, said Hilda, looking down at her pencil, and drawing aimless designs as she talked, I suppose it is a good place to go. I've seen the pictures, of course, in the timetables, and one of the railroad offices on Clark Street used to have some big photographs of the St. Lawrence in the window. I looked at them sometimes, but I never thought of really seeing anything like that. I've had some pretty good times on the lake and over at St. Joe. Max used to take me over to Barian Springs last summer, when he could get off. My aunt lives there. Bannon was buttoning his coat and looking at her. He felt the different tone that had got into their talk. It had been impersonal a few minutes before. Oh, St. Joe isn't bad, he was saying. It's quiet and restful and all that, but it's not the same sort of thing at all. You go over there and ride up the river on the May Gram, and it makes you feel lazy and comfortable. But it doesn't stir you up inside like the St. Lawrence does. She looked up. Her eyes were sparkling as they had sparkled that afternoon on the elevator when she looked out into the sunset. Yes, she replied. I think I know what you mean. But I've never really felt that way. I've only thought about it. Bannon turned half away as if to go. You'll have to go down there, that's all, he said abruptly. He looked back at her over his shoulder and added. That's all there is about it. Her eyes were half startled, half mischievous, for his voice had been still less impersonal than before. Then she turned back to her work, her face sober, but an amused twinkle lingering in her eyes. I should like to go, she said, her pencil poised at the top of a long column. Max would like it too. After supper that evening, Max returned early from a visit to the injured man, and told Hilda of a new trouble. Do you know that little delegate that's been hanging around? He asked. Grady, she said, and nodded. Yes, he's been working the man. I never saw such a change in my life. He just sat up there in bed and swore at me and said I needn't think I could buy him off with this stuff. He looked down, and Hilda saw that the bowl in his hand was not empty, and raised a row generally. Why, she asked. Give it up. From what he said, I'm sure Grady's behind it. Did he give his name? No, but he did a lot of talking about justice to the downtrodden and the power of the unions and that kind of stuff. I couldn't understand all he said. He's got a funny lingo, you know, I guess it's Pollock, but I got enough to know what he meant, and more, too. Can he do anything? I don't think so. If we get after him, it'll just set him worse in pigs' bristles. A man like that'll lose his head over nothing. He may be all right in the morning. But Hilda, after Max had given her the whole conversation as nearly as he could remember it, thought differently. She did not speak her mind out to Max, because she was not yet certain what was the best course to take. The man could easily make trouble, she saw that. But if Max were to lay the matter before Bannon, he would be likely to glide over some of the details that she had got only by close questioning. And a blunder in handling it might be fatal to the elevator, so far as getting it done in December was concerned. Perhaps she took it too seriously, for she was beginning in spite of herself to give a great deal of thought to the work and to Bannon. At any rate, she lay awake later than usual that night, going over the problem, and she brought it up the next morning, the first time that Bannon came into the office after Max had gone out. Mr. Bannon, she said, when he had finished dictating a letter to the office, I want to tell you about that man that was hurt. I tried not to smile at the nervous, almost breathless way in which she opened the conversation. He saw that whatever it was, it seemed to her very important, and he settled comfortably on the table, leaning back against the wall with his legs stretched out before him. She had turned on her stool. "'You mean the hoistman?' he asked. She nodded. "'Max goes over to see him sometimes. We've been trying to help make him comfortable.' "'Oh,' said Bannon, it's you that's been sending those things around to him. She looked at him with surprise. "'Why, how did you know?' I heard about it.' Hilda hesitated. She did not know exactly how to begin. It occurred to her that perhaps Bannon was smiling at her eager manner. Max was there last night, and he said the man had changed all around. He's been friendly, you know, and grateful. He had forgotten herself again in thinking of her talk with Max, and he said all the time that he wasn't going to make trouble. She paused. "'Yes, I know something about that,' said Bannon. The lawyers always get after a man that's hurt, you know. But last night he had changed all around. He said he was going to have you arrested. He thinks Max has been trying to buy him off with the things we've sent him.' Bannon whistled. "'So our Mr. Grady got his hands on him. That's what Max and I thought. But he didn't give any names. He wouldn't take the jelly.' "'I'm glad you told me,' said Bannon, swinging his legs around and sitting up. It's just as well to know about these things. Grady's made him think he can make a good haul by going after me, poor fool. He isn't the man that'll get it.' "'Can he really stop the work?' Hilda asked anxiously. "'Not likely. He'll probably try to make out a case of criminal carelessness against me, and get me jerked up. He ought to have more sense, though. I know how many sticks were on that hoist when it broke. I'll drop her on there to-night after dinner and have a talk with him. I'd like to find Grady there, but that's too good to expect.' Hilda had stepped down from the stool and was looking out through the half-cleaned window at a long train of freight cars that was clanking in on the belt line. "'That's what I wanted to see you about most,' she said slowly. Max says he's been warned that you'll come round and try to buy him off, and it won't go, because he can make more by standing out.' "'Well,' said Bannon, easily amused at her unconscious drop into Max's language, there's usually a way of getting after these fellows. We'll do anything within reason, but we won't be robbed. I'll throw Mr. Grady into the river first and hang him up on the hoist to dry.' "'But if he really means to stand out,' she said, wouldn't it hurt us for you to go around there?' "'Why?' he said, openly smiling. Then of a sudden he looked at her with a shrewd, close gaze and repeated. "'Why?' "'Maybe I don't understand it,' she said nervously. But Max doesn't think I see things very clearly, but I thought perhaps you would be willing for me to see him this evening. I could go with Max and—' She faltered, when she saw how closely he was watching her. But he nodded and said, go on. "'Why, I don't know that I could do much, but—' "'No,' she tossed her head back and looked at him. "'I won't say that. If you'll let me go, I'll fix it. I know I can.' Bannon was thinking partly of her, of her slight graceful figure that leaned against the window frame, and of her eyes usually quiet, but now snapping with determination, and partly of certain other jobs that had been imperiled by the efforts of injured working men to get heavy damages. One of the things his experience in railroad and engineering work had taught him was that men will take every opportunity to bleed a corporation. No matter how slight the accident or how temporary in its effects, the stupidest workmen has it in his power to make trouble. It was frankly not a matter of sentiment to Bannon. He would do all that he could, but gladly make the man's sickness actually profit him so far as money would go, but he did not see justice in the great sums which the average jury will grant. As he sat there he recognized what Hilda had seen at a flash, that this was a case for delicate handling. She was looking at him tremendously in earnest, yet all the while wondering at her own boldness. He slowly nodded. "'You're right,' he said. "'You're the one to do the talking. I won't ask you what you're going to say. I guess you understand it as well as anybody.' "'I don't know yet myself,' she answered. "'It isn't that—it isn't that there's something particular to say, but he's a poor man, and they have been telling him that the company is cheating him and stealing from him. I wouldn't like it myself if I were in his place and didn't know any more than he does, and maybe I can show him that we'll be a good deal fairer to him before we get through than Mr. Grady will.' "'Yes,' said Bannon. "'I think you can. And if you can keep this out of the courts, I'll write brown that there's a young lady down here that's come nearer to earning a big salary than I ever did to deserving a silk hat.' "'Oh,' she said, the earnest expression skipping abruptly out of her eyes. "'Did your hat come?' "'Not a sign of it. I'd clean forgotten. I'll give brown one more warning, a long collect telegram, about forty words, and then if he doesn't tow up, I'll get one and send him the bill.' There was a man that looked some like Grady worked for me on the Galveston House. He was a carpenter, and thought he stood for the whole Federation of Labor. He got gay one day. I warned him once, and then I threw him off the distributing floor. Hilda thought he was joking until she looked up and saw his face. "'Didn't it—didn't it kill him?' she asked. "'I don't remember exactly. I think there were some shavings there.' He stood looking at her for a moment. "'Do you know?' he said. "'If Grady comes up on the job again, I believe I'll tell him that story. I wonder if he'd know what I meant.' The spouting-house, or river-house, was a long narrow structure, one hundred feet by thirty-six, built on piles at the edge of the wharf. It would form, with the connecting-belt gallery that was to reach out over the tracks, a T-shaped addition to the elevator. The river-house was no higher than was necessary for the spouts that would drop the grain through the hatchways of the big lake steamers twenty thousand bushels an hour. It reached between sixty and seventy feet above the water. The marine tower that was to be built, twenty-four feet square up through the center of the house, would be more than twice as high. A careful examination convinced Bannon that the pile foundations would prove strong enough to support this heavier structure, and that the only changes necessary would be in the frame of the spouting-house. On the same day that the plans arrived, work on the towers commenced. Peterson had about got to the point where startling developments no longer alarmed him. He had seen the telegram the day before, but his first information that a marine tower was actually underway came when Bannon called off a group of laborers late in the afternoon to rig the trolley for carrying lumber across the track. What are you going to do, Charlie? He called. Got to slide them timbers back again? Some of them, Bannon replied. Don't you think we could carry them over? said Peterson. If we was quiet about it, they needn't be any trouble. Bannon shook his head. We're not taking any more chances on this railroad. We haven't time. Once more the heavy timbers went swinging through the air high over the tracks, but this time back to the wharf. More long the section boss of the CNSC appeared, and though he soon went away, one of his men remained, launching about the tracks, keeping a close eye on the sagging ropes and the timbers. Bannon, when he met Peterson a few minutes later, pointed out the man. What I tell you, Pete, they're watching us like cats. If you want to know what the CNSC thinks about us, you just drop one timber and you'll find out. But nothing dropped, and when Peterson, who had then on hand all the latter part of the afternoon, took cold at seven o'clock, the first timbers of the tower had been set in place, somewhere down inside the rough shed of a spotting house, and more would go in during the night, and during other days and nights until the narrow framework should go reaching high into the air. Another thing was recognized by the men at work on that night shift, even by the laborers who carried timbers, and grunted and swore in strange tongues. This was that the night shift men had suddenly begun to feel a more restless energy crowding them on, and they worked nearly as well as Bannon's day shifts. For Peterson's spirits had risen with a leap once the misunderstanding that had been weighing on him had been removed, and now he was working as he had never worked before. The directions he gave showed that his head was clearer, and there was confidence in his manner. Hilda was so serious all day after her talk with Bannon that once in the afternoon when he came into the office for a glance at the new pile of blueprints, he smiled and asked if she were laying out a campaign. It was the first work of the kind that she had ever undertaken, and she was a little worried over the need for tact and delicacy. After she had closed her desk at supper time, she saw Bannon come into the circle of the electric light in front of the office, and asking Max to wait, she went to meet him. Well, he said, are you loaded up to fight the power of the Union? She smiled and then said, with a trace of nervousness, I don't believe I am quite so sure about it as I was this morning. It won't bother you much. When you've made him see that we're square and greedy isn't, you've done the whole business. We won't pay fancy damages, that's all. Yes, she said, I think I know. What I wanted to see you about was Max and I are going over right after supper, and she stopped abruptly and Bannon, looking down at her, saw a look of embarrassment come into her face, and then she blushed, and lowering her eyes fumbled with her glove. Bannon was a little puzzled. His eyes rested on her for a moment, and then, without understanding why, he suddenly knew that she had meant to ask him to see her after the visit, and that the new personal something in their acquaintance had flashed a warning. He spoke quickly as if he were the first to think of it. If you don't mind, I'll come around to night and hear the report of the Committee of Adjusters. That's you, you know. Something might come up that I ought to know right away. Yes, she replied rapidly, without looking up, perhaps that would be the best thing to do. He walked along with her toward the office where Max was waiting, but she did not say anything, and he turned in with, I won't say good night then, good luck to you. It was soon after eight that Bannon went to the boarding house where Hilda and Max lived, and sat down to wait in the parlor. When a quarter of an hour had gone, and they had not returned, he buttoned up his coat and went out, walking slowly along the uneven sidewalk toward the river. The night was clear, and he could see across the flats and over the tracks, where tiny signal lanterns were waving and circling, and freight trains were bumping and rumbling, the glow of the arc lamps on the elevator, and its square outline against the sky. Now and then, when the noise of the switching trains let down, he could hear the hoisting engines. He stopped and looked eastward at the clouds of illuminated smoke above the factories and at the red blast of the rolling mill. He went nearly to the river and had to turn back and walk slowly. Finally he heard Max's laugh, and then he saw them coming down a side street. Well, he said, you don't sound like bad news. I don't believe we are very bad, replied Hilda. Should say not, put in Max. It's finer and silk. Hilda said, Max, in a low voice, but he went on. The best thing, Mr. Bannon, was when I told him it was Hilda that had been sending things around, he thought it was you, you see, and Grady told him it was all a part of the game to bamboozle him out of the money that was rightfully his. It's funny to hear him sling that Grady talk around. I don't think he, more than half, knows what it means. I had promised not to tell, you know, but I just saw that there wasn't no use trying to make him understand things without talking pretty plain. There ain't a thing he wouldn't do for Hilda now. Max, said Hilda again, please don't. When they reached the house, Max at once started in. Hilda hesitated and then said, I'll come in a minute, Max. Oh, he replied, all right, but he waited a moment longer, evidently puzzled. Well, said Bannon, was it so hard? No, not hard, exactly. I didn't know he was so poor. Somehow you don't think about it that way when you see them working. I don't know that I ever thought about it at all before. You think he won't give us any trouble? I'm sure he won't. I had to promise to go again pretty soon. Maybe you'll let me go along. Why, yes, of course. She had been hesitating, looking down and picking at the splinters on the gate post. Neither was Bannon quick to speak. He did not want to question her about the visit, for he saw that it was hard for her to talk about it. Finally she straightened up and looked at him. I want to tell you, she said, I haven't understood exactly until tonight what they said about the accident and the way you've talked about it. Well, some people think you don't think very much about the men, and that if anybody's hurt or anything happens, you don't care as long as the work goes on. She was looking straight at him. I thought so too, and tonight I found out some things you've been doing for him, how you've been giving him tobacco, and the things he likes best that I'd never have thought of. And I knew it was you that did it, and not the company, and I beg your pardon. Bannon did not know what to reply. They stood for a moment without speaking, and then she smiled and said, good night, and ran up the steps without looking around. End of Chapter 12. CHAPTER XIII It was the night of the 10th of December. Three of the four stories of the cupola were building, and the upright posts were reaching toward the fourth. It still appeared to be a confused network of timbers, with only the beginnings of walls, but as the cupola walls are nothing but a shell of light boards to withstand the wind, the work was further along than might have been supposed. Down on the working-story the machinery was nearly all in, and up here in the cupola the scales and garners were going into place as rapidly as the completing of the supporting framework permitted. The cupola floors were not all laid. If you had stood on the distributing floor over the tops of the bins, you might have looked not only down through a score of openings between plank areas and piles of timbers, but into black pits sixteen feet square by seventy deep, but upward through a grill of girders and joists to the clear sky. Everywhere men swarmed over the work and the buzz of the electric lights and the sounds of hundreds of hammers blended into a confused hum. If you had walked to the east end of the building, here and there balancing along a plank or dodging through gangs of laborers and around moving timbers, you would have seen stretching from off a point halfway through to the ground the annex bins rising so steadily that it was a matter only of a few weeks before they would be ready to receive grain. Now another walk, this time across the building to the north side, would show you the river house, but there on the wharf and the marine tower rising up through the middle with a single arc lamp on the topmost girder throwing a modelled checkered shadow on the wharf in the water below. At a little after eight o'clock, Peterson, who had been looking at the stairway, now nearly completed, came out on the distributing floor. He was in good spirits for everything was going well, and Bannon had frankly credited him, of late, with the improvement in the work of the night shifts. He stood looking up through the upper floors of the cupola, and he did not see Max until the time-keeper stood beside him. Hello, Max, he said. We'll have the roof on here in another ten days. Max followed Peterson's glance upward. I guess that's right. It begins to look as if things were coming round all right. I just come up from the office. Mr. Bannon's there. He'll be up before long, he says. I was a-wondering if maybe I hadn't ought to go back and tell him about Grady. He's around, you know. Who? Grady? Yes, him and another fellow was standing down by one of the cribbing piles. I was around there on the way up. What was they doing? Nothing, just looking on. Peterson turned to shout at some laborers, then he pushed back his hat and scratched his head. I don't know but what you ought to have told Charlie right off, that man Grady don't mean us no good. I know it, but I wasn't just sure. Well, I'll tell you. Before Peterson could finish, Max broke in. That's him. Where? That fellow over there walking along slow. He's the one that was with Grady. I'd like to know what he thinks he's doing here. Peterson started forward, adding, I guess I know what to say to him. Hold on, Pete, said Max, catching his arm. Maybe we'd better speak to Mr. Bannon. I'll go down and tell him and you keep an eye on this fellow. Bannon reluctantly assented and Max walked slowly away, now and then pausing to look around at the men. But when he had nearly reached the stairway where he could slip behind the scaffolding about the only scale hopper that had reached a man's height above the floor, he moved more rapidly. He met Bannon on the stairway and told him what he had seen. Bannon leaned against the wall of the stairway bin and looked thoughtful. So his come has he, was his only comment. You might speak to Pete, Max, and bring him here. I'll wait. Max and Peterson found him looking over the work of the carpenters. I may not be around much tonight, he said with a wink. But I'd like to see both of you tomorrow afternoon sometime. Can you get around about four o'clock, Pete? Sure, the night boss replied. We've got some thinking to do about the work if we're going to put it through. I'll look for you at four o'clock then in the office. He started down the stairs. I'm going home now. Why, said Peterson, you only just come. Bannon paused and looked back over his shoulder. The light came from directly overhead and the upper part of his face was in the shadow of his hat brim, but Max, looking closely at him, thought that he winked again. I wanted to tell you, the foreman went on. Grady's come around, you know, and another fellow. Yes, Max told me. I guess they won't hurt you. Good night. As he went on down, he passed a group of laborers who were bringing stairway material to the carpenters. I don't know, but what you was talking pretty loud, said Max to Peterson in a low voice. Here's some of them now. They didn't hear nothing, Peterson replied, and the two went back to the distributing floor. They stood in a shadow by the scale hopper, waiting for the reappearance of Grady's companion. He had evidently gone on to the upper floors where he could not be distinguished from the many other moving figures, but in a few minutes he had come back, walking deliberately toward the stairs. He looked at Peterson and Max, but passed by without a second glance and descended. Peterson stood looking after him. Now I'd like to know what Charlie meant by going home, he said. Max had been thinking hard. Finally he said, Say, Pete, we're blind. Why? Did you think he was going home? Peterson looked at him, but did not reply. Because he ain't. Well, you heard what he said. What does that go for? He was winking when he said it. He wasn't going to stand there until the laborer is all about it like we was trying to do. I'll bet he ain't very far off. I ain't got a word to say, said Peterson. If he wants to leave Grady to me, I guess I can take care of him. Max had come to the elevator for a short visit. He liked to watch the work at night, but now he settled down to stay, keeping about the hopper where he could see Grady if his head should appear at the top of the stairs. Something told him that Bannon saw deeper into Grady's maneuvers than either Peterson or himself, and while he could not understand, yet he was beginning to think that Grady would appear before long and that Bannon knew it. Sure enough only a few minutes had gone when Max turned back from a glance at the Marine Tower and saw the little delegate standing on the top step, looking about the distributing floor and up through the girders overhead with quick keen eyes. Then Max understood what it all meant. Grady had chosen a time when Bannon was least likely to be on the job and had sent the other men ahead to reconnoiter. It meant mischief. Max could see that, and he felt a boy's nervousness at the prospect of excitement. He stepped farther back into the shadow. Grady was looking about for Peterson. When he saw his burly figure outlined against a light at the farther end of the building, he walked directly toward him, not pausing this time to talk to the laborers or to look at them. Max, moving off a little to one side, followed and reached Peterson's side just as Grady, his hat pushed back on his head and his feet apart, was beginning to talk. I had a little conversation with you the other day, Mr. Peterson. I called to see you in the interests of the men, the men that are working for you, working like galley slaves they are, every man of them. It's shameful to a man that's seen how they've been treated by the nigger-drivers that stand over them day and night. He was speaking in a loud voice with the fluency of a man who is carefully prepared. There was none of the bitterness or the ugliness in his manner that had slipped out in his last talk with Bannon, for he knew that a score of laborers were within hearing and that his words would travel, as if by wire, from mouth to mouth about the building and the grounds below. I stand here, Mr. Peterson, the man chosen by these slaves of yours, to look after their rights. I do not ask you to treat them with kindness. I do not ask that you treat them as gentlemen. What do I ask? I demand what's accorded to them by the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence that says even a nigger has more rights than you've given to these men, the men that are putting money into your pocket and Mr. Bannon's pocket and the corporation's pocket by the sweat of their brows. Look at them. Will you look at them? He waved his arm toward the nearest group, who had stopped working and were listening, and then placing a cigar in his mouth and tilting it upward, he struck a match and sheltered it in his hands, looking over it for a moment at Peterson. The night boss saw by this time that Grady meant business, that his speech was preliminary to something more emphatic, and he knew that he ought to stop it before the laborers should be demoralized. You can't do that here, mister, said Max over Peterson's shoulder, indicating the cigar. Grady still held the match and looked impudently across the tip of his cigar. Peterson took it up at once. You'll have to drop that, he said. There's no smoking on this job. The match had gone out, and Grady lighted another. So that's one of your rules, too, he said in the same loud voice. It's a wonder you let a man eat. Peterson was growing angry, his voice rose as he talked. I ain't got time to talk with you, he said. The insurance company says there can't be no smoking here, if you want to know why you'd better go ask them. Grady blew out the match and returned the cigar to his pocket with an air of satisfaction that Peterson could not make out. That's all right, Mr. Peterson. I didn't come here to make trouble. I come here as a representative of these companies. He waved again toward the laborers. And I say right here that if you'd treat them right in the first place, I wouldn't be here at all. I've wanted you to have a fair show. I've put up with your mean tricks and threats and insults ever since you begun. And why? Because I wouldn't delay you and hurt the work. It's the industries of today, the elevators and railroads, and the work of strong men like these that's the bulwark of America's greatness. I'm a gentleman and talk to you. I treat you as a gentleman. I overlook what you've showed yourself to be. And how do you return it? By talking like the black guard you are. You knock an innocent cigar. Your time's up, said Pete, drawing a step nearer. Come to business or clear out. That's all I've got to say to you. All right, Mr. Peterson. All right. I'll put up with your insults. I can afford to forget myself when I look about me at the heavier timber. Look at that. Look at it. And then try to talk to me. He pointed back toward the stairs where a gang of eight laborers were carrying a heavy timber across the shadowy floor. Well, what about it? Said Pete with half-controlled rage. What about it? But never mind. I'm a busy man myself. I've got no more time to waste on the likes of you. Take a good look at that and then listen to me. That's the last stick of timber that goes across this floor until you put it down. That's the last thing. And every stick that leaves the runway has got to go on a dolly. Mark my words now. I'm talking plain. My men don't lift another pound of timber on this house. Everything goes on rollers. I've tried to be a patient man, but you've run against the limit. You've broke the last back you'll have a chance at. He put his hand to his mouth as if to shout at the gang, but dropped it and faced around. No, I won't stop them. Watch. I'll give you one hour from now. At ten o'clock, if you're a runway and the dollies ain't working, the men go out. And the next time I see you, I won't be so easy. He turned away, waved to the laborers with an, all right boys, go ahead, and walked grandly toward the stairway. Max whistled. I'd like to know where Charlie is, said Peterson. He ain't far. I'll find him. And Max hurried away. Bannon was sitting in the office chair with his feet on the drafting table, figuring on the back of a blotter. The light from the lamp was indistinct, and Bannon had to bend his head forward to see the figures. He did not look up when the door opened and Max came to the railing gate. Grady's been up on the distributing floor, said Max breathlessly, for he had been running. What did he want? He's going to call the men off at ten o'clock if we don't put in a runway and dollies on the distributing floor. Bannon looked at his watch. Is that all he wants? Max, in his excitement, did not catch the sarcasm in the question. That's all he said, but it's enough. We can't do it. Bannon closed his watch with a snap. No, he said, and we won't throw away any good time trying. You better round up the committee that's supposed to run this lodge and send them here. That young Murphy is one of them. He can put you straight. Bring Pete back with you and the new man, James. Max lingered with a look of awe and admiration. Are you going to stand out, Mr. Bannon? He asked. Bannon dropped his feet to the floor and turned toward the table. Yes, he said, we're going to stand out. Since Bannon's talk with President Carver, a little drama had been going on in the local lodge, a drama that neither Bannon, Max nor Peterson knew about. James had been selected by Carver for this work because of proved ability and shrewdness. He had no sooner attached himself to the lodge and made himself known as an active member than his personality, without any noticeable effect on his part, began to make itself felt. Up to this time, Grady had had full swing, for there had been no one among the laborers with force enough to oppose him. The first collision took place at an early meeting after Grady's last talk with Bannon. The delegate, in the course of the meeting, bitterly attacked Bannon, accusing him at the climax of his oration of an attempt to buy off the honest representative of the working classes for five thousand dollars. This had a tremendous effect on the excitable minds before him. He finished his speech with an impassioned tirade against the corporate influences of the money-power and was mopping his flushed face, listening with elation to the hum of anger that resulted, confident that he had made his point. When James arose, the new man was as familiar with the tone of the meetings as laborers as Grady himself. At the beginning he had no wish further than to get at the truth. Grady had not stated his case well. It had convinced the laborers, but to James it had weak points. He asked Grady a few pointed questions that, had the delegate felt the truth behind them, 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, and 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 members of the meeting. In the end of the meeting, the decision by well-planned talk with individual laborers. This went on, largely without James's 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 anyone else to resist. And so he had come on the job this time, 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 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 cuts, 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 for the night. Grady had evolved a neat little campaign, and he was proud of himself. Bannon did not have to wait long. Soon there was a sound of feet outside the door, and after a little hesitation, six laborers entered, five of them awkwardly intimately wondering what was to come. Peterson followed, then Max and closed the door. The members of the committee stood in a straggling row at the railing, looking at each other and at the floor and ceiling, all sternly taking them in. James stepped to one side. Is this all the committee? Bannon presently asked. The men hesitated and Murphy, who was in the center, answered, Yes, sir. You are the governing members of your lodge? There was an air of cool authority about Bannon that disturbed the men. They had been led to believe that his power reached only the work on the elevator, and that an attempt of high handed tyranny to be resisted to the death, Grady's words. But these men, standing before their boss and in his own office, were not the same men that thrilled with righteous wrath under Grady's eloquence in the meetings over Barry's saloon. So they looked at the floor and ceiling again until Murphy at last answered. Yes, sir. Bannon waited again, knowing that every added moment of silence gave him the firmer control. He said, speaking slowly and coldly, I have brought you here to ask you this question. Have you voted to strike? The silence was deep. Peterson, leaning against the closed door, held his breath. Max, sitting on the railing with his elbow thrown over the desk, leaned slightly forward. The eyes of the laborers wandering restlessly about the room. They were disturbed, taken off their guard. They needed to stand and figure of the new man, James, standing behind them. Murphy's first impulse was to lie. Perhaps if James had not been there, he would have lied. As it was, he glanced up two or three times in his lips as many times framed themselves without words that did not come. Finally, he said, mumbling the words, No, we ain't voted for no strike. There has been no such decision made by your organization. I turn to Peterson. Mr. Peterson, will you please find Mr. Grady and bring him here? Max and Peterson hurried out together. Bannon drew up the chair and turned his back on the committee, going on with his figuring. Not a word was said. The men hardly moved and the minutes went slowly by. Then there was a stir outside in the sound of low voices. The door flew open, admitting Grady who stalked to the railing, choking with anger. Max, who immediately ran around a spot of dust on Grady's shoulder and on his torn collar in disarranged tie. Peterson came in last and carefully closed the door. His eyes were blazing and one sleeve was rolled up over his bare forearm. Neither of them spoke. If anything in the nature of an assault had seemed necessary in dragging the delegate to the office, there had been no witnesses. And he had entered the room with his own accord. Grady's face read his little eyes darting about the room he took it all in. The members of the committee, the boss figuring at the table with an air of exasperating coolness about his lean back and last of all James standing in the shadow. It was the sight of the new man that checked the storm of words that was pressing on Grady's tongue. But he finally gathered himself and stepped forward pushing aside one of the committee. Then Bannon turned. He faced about in his chair in the delegate. Grady began to talk at the same time. But though his voice was the louder no one seemed to hear him. The men were looking at Bannon. Grady hesitated started again and then bound by his own rage and his sense of defeat let his words die away and stood casting about for an opening. This man Grady threatened a good while ago that I would have a strike on my hands. He finally came to me and offered to protect me if I would pay him five thousand dollars. He finally shouted the delegate. He came to me. Bannon had hardly paused. He drew a typewritten copy of Grady's letter from his pocket and read it aloud then handed it over to Murphy. That's the way he came at me. I want you to read it. The man took it awkwardly, glanced at it and passed it on. Tonight he's ordered a strike. He calls himself your representative but he has acted on his own responsibility. I do it. I propose to treat you men fair and square. If you think you ain't treated right you send an honest man to this office and I'll talk with him but I'm through with Grady. I won't have him here at all. If you send him around again I'll throw him off the job. The men were a little startled. They looked at one another and the man on Murphy's left whispered something. Bannon sat still watching them. I demand to know what this means. I demand to know if there is a law in this land is an honest man the representative of the hand of labor to be attacked by hired ruffians? Is he to be slandered by the tyrant who drives you at the point of the pistol? And you not men enough to defend your rights the rights held by every American the rights granted by the Constitution but it ain't for myself I would talk. It ain't my own injuries that I suffer for. Your liberty your balance this man has dared to interfere in the integrity of your lodge have you know words? Bannon arose caught Grady's arm and whirled him around. Grady he said shut up. The delegate tried to jerk away but he could not shake off that grip. He looked toward the committee men but they were silent. He looked everywhere but up into the eyes that were you said Bannon to the committee men I want you to elect a new delegate don't talk about interference I don't care how you elect him or who he is if he comes to me squarely. Grady was wriggling again this means a strike he shouted this means the biggest strike the west has ever seen you won't get men for love or money Bannon gave the armor wrench and broke in I'm sick of this I laid this matter before President Carver sent this man after he's been proved a blackmailer your lodge can be dropped from the Federation if you try to strike you won't hurt anybody but yourselves that's all you can go wait Grady began but they filed out without looking at him James as he followed them nodded and said good night Mr. Bannon then for the last time Bannon let Grady away Peterson started forward between the lumber piles to the point where the path crossed the Belt Line tracks now Mr. Grady he said this is where our ground stops the other sides of the roads there and the river and the last piles of curbing at the other end I'm telling you now so you will know where you don't belong now get out End of Chapter 13 Chapter 14 of Calumet K The effect of the victory was felt everywhere not only were Max and Pete and Hilda jubilant over it but the under foremen the timekeepers even the laborers attacked their work with a fresher energy it was like the first whiff of salt air to an army marching to the sea since the day when the cribbing came down from ledgered the work had gone forward with almost incredible imminent but now that the big shadow of the little delegate was dispelled it was easier to see that the huge warehouse was almost finished there was still much to do and the handful of days that remained seemed absurdly inadequate but it needed only a glance at what Charlie Bannon's tireless driving energy had already accomplished to make the rest look easy we're sure of it now with his time book next morning he said it to every man he met and they all believed him Peterson the same man and not the same man either who had once vowed that there wouldn't be any night work on Calumet K who had bend a pair of most unwilling shoulders to the work Bannon had put upon them who had once spent long sulky afternoons in the victory before eleven o'clock he was sludging down a tottering timber at the summit of the marine tower a hundred and forty feet sheer above the wharf just before noon he came into the office and found Hilda there alone he had stopped outside the door to put on his coat but had not buttoned it his shirt wet as though he had been in the lake clung to him and revealed the outline of every muscle in his great trunk he flung his hat and his yellow hair seemed crisper and curlier than ever before well it looks as though we was all right he said Hilda nodded emphatically you think we'll get through in time don't you Mr. Peterson think he exclaimed I don't have to stop to think here comes Max just ask him Max slammed the door behind him brought down the timekeeper's book on Hilda's desk with a slap that made her jump and vaulted on the railing well I guess it's a case of hurrah for us ain't it Pete your sister asked me if I thought we'd get done on time I was just saying it's a sure thing I don't know said Max laughing I guess an earthquake could stop us but why ain't you a bed Pete what do I want to be a bed for I ain't going to sleep any more this year unless we like to miss any of it Charlie Bannon may have hustled before but I guess this breaks his record where is he now Max down in the cellar putting in the running gear for the cross the house conveyors he has his nerve with him he's putting in three drives entirely different from the way they are in the plans he told me just now that there wasn't a man in the office who could design a drive that wouldn't say when he sees that he's changed the plans if McBride has good sense he'll pass anything that Charlie puts up said Pete he was going to say more but just then Bannon strode into the office and over to the drafting table he tossed Pete's hat to one side and began studying a detail of the machinery plans Max he spoke without looking up I wish you'd find a water boy and send him a bottle of coffee well that's a nice way to celebrate I must say Pete commented celebrate what why last night throwing Grady down you ought to take a day off on the strength of that what's Grady got to do with it he ain't in the specifications no said Pete slowly but where would we have been if he'd got the man off Bannon retorted turning away from the table that's got nothing to do with it I haven't felt less like taking a day off since I came on the job we may get through on time and we may not if we get tangled up in the plans like this very often I don't know how we'll come out but the surest way to get left is to begin now telling ourselves that this is easy and it's a cinch that kind of talk makes me tired in an explanatory sentence and another and then very uncomfortable went out Bannon did not look up he went on studying the blueprint measuring here and there with his three-sided ruler and jotting down incomprehensible operations in arithmetic on a scrap of paper Max was figuring tables in his time book Hilda pouring over the cash account for half an hour no one spoke his ears and went out and there were ten minutes more of silence then Bannon began talking he's still busy to fingers with the blueprint and Hilda after discovering that he was talking to himself rather than to her went on with her work but nevertheless she heard in a fragmentary way what he was saying take a day off schoolboy trick enough to make a man tired might as well do it though the office ought to do a little work once in a while just to see what it's like they think a man can do anything I'd like to know why I ain't entitled to a night's sleep as well as McBride but he don't think so after he'd worked me 24 hours a day up to Duluth and I lost 32 pounds up there he sends me down to a mess like this with a lot of drawings that look as though they were made by a college boy where does he expect them to pile up that was the vein of it though the monologue ran on much longer but at last he swung impatiently around and addressed Hilda I'm ready to throw up my hands I think I'll go back to Minneapolis and tell McBride I've had enough he can come down here and finish the house himself do you think you would get it done in time Hilda's eyes were laughing at him but she kept them on her work oh yes somehow you couldn't stump McBride with anything that's why he makes it so warm for us do you think she asked very demurely indeed that if Mr. McBride had been here he could have built it any faster than then we have so far I don't believe it said Bannon unwearly her smile told him that he had been trapped I see he arose and trapped unleasely about the little shanty oh of course we'll get it done just because we have to there ain't anything else we can do but just the same I am sick of the business I want to quit she said nothing and after a moment he wheeled and facing her demanded abruptly what's the matter with me you're the doctor I'll take whatever medicine you say you didn't take Mr. Peterson's suggestion very well about taking a holiday I mean I don't know whether I dare prescribe for you or not I don't think you need a day off I think that next to a good long vacation the best thing for you no I mean it you're tired out of course but if you have enough to occupy your mind you don't know it the trouble today is that everything is going too smoothly you weren't a bit afraid yesterday that the elevator wouldn't be done on time that was because you thought there was going to be a strike and if just now the elevator should catch on fire or anything you'd feel a little while he turned her words over in his mind well he said with a short laugh if the only medicine I need is excitement I'll be the healthiest man you ever saw in a little while I guess I'll find Pete I must have made him feel pretty sore Pete he said coming upon him in the marine tower a little later I've got over my stomach ache is it that the gallery Charlie ain't at time we was putting it up I'm getting sort of nervous about it there ain't three days work in it the way we're going said bannon thoughtfully his eyes on the CNSC right of way that lay between him and the main house but I guess you're right we'll get to it to Pete building the gallery was a more serious business he had not bannon's years of experience at bridge repairing it had happened that he had never been called upon to put up a belt gallery before and this idea of building a wooden box 150 feet long and holding it up 30 feet in air on three trestles was formidable bannon's posts planted in a line at right angles to the direction of the gallery they were to be held together at the top by a corbel no one gave rush orders anymore on Calumet K for the reason that no one ever thought of doing anything else if bannon sent for a man he came on the run so in an incredibly short time the fences were down in a open down the track a hundred yards each way from the line of the gallery bannon had stationed men to give warning of the approach of trains now said bannon we'll get this part of the job done before anyone has time to kick and they won't be very likely to try to pull him up by the roots once we work had begun the picket line up the track signaled that something was coming there was no sound of bell or whistle but presently bannon saw a hand car spinning down the track as fast as six big sweating men could pump the levers the section boss had little to say simply that they were to get out of there but he the section boss had better be careful not to exceed his instructions but the section boss had spoken his whole mind already he was not of the sort that talk just for the pleasure of hearing their own voices and he had categorical instructions that made partly unnecessary he would not even tell from whom he had the orders so the posts were lugged out of the way and the fence was put up a little over bannon's discomforture bannon's next move was to write to Minneapolis for information and instructions but McBride who seemed to have all the information there was happened to be into Luth and Brown's instructions were consequently foggy so after waiting a few days for something more definite bannon disappeared one afternoon and was gone more than an hour when he strode into the office and his work had just begun Hilda looked up and smiled a little Pete was tilted back in the chair staring glumly out of the window he did not turn until bannon slapped him jovially on the shoulders and told him to cheer up those railroad chaps are laying for us sure enough he said I've been talking to McBride himself over at the telephone exchange he ain't in town and he said that Porter he is the vice president he told him when he was in Chicago that they wouldn't object at all to their building the gallery over their tracks but that's all we've got to go by not a word on paper oh they mean to give us a panic and no mistake with that Bannon called up the general offices of the CNSC and asked for Mr. Porter there was some little delay in getting the connection and then three or four minutes fencing while the young man asked for Mr. Porter let alone to talk with him and Bannon steadily ignoring his questions continued blandly requesting him to call Mr. Porter to the telephone Hilda was listening with interest for Bannon's manner was different from anything she had ever seen in him before it lacked nothing of his customary assurance but its breeziness gave place to the most ever however without accomplishing anything for the young man finally told him that Mr. Porter had gone out for the afternoon so next morning Bannon tried again he learned that Porter was in and all seemed to be going well until if he'd mentioned McBride and company after which Mr. Porter became very elusive three or four attempts to pin him down or at least to learn his whereabouts it was nearly night before he came back and as before he found Pete sitting gloomily in the office waiting his return well exclaimed the night boss looking at him eagerly I thought you was never coming back we've most had a fit here wondering how you'd come out I don't have to ask you though I can see by your looks that we're all right Bannon laughed and glanced over at Hilda I don't think so she said I think you've had a pretty hard time they're both good guesses he said pulling a paper out of his pocket and handing it to Hilda read that it was a formal permit for building the gallery signed by Porter himself and bearing the okay of the general manager nice isn't it Bannon commented now read the post script slowly McBride and company are not however allowed to erect trestles or temporary scaffolding in the sea and sea right of way nor to remove any property of the company such as fences nor do anything which may in the opinion of the local authorities hinder the movement of trains Pete's face went blank a lot of money nodded that's what it's supposed to mean he said that's just the point you see it's like this he went on that man Porter would make the finest material for a ring oiling dust-proof nonflammable bearings that I ever saw he's just about the hardest smoothest shiniest coolest little piece of metal that ever came my way I told him how we went ahead just banking on his verbal consent and how his railroad had jumped on us and I said I was sure it was just a misunderstanding but I wanted it cleared up because we was in a hurry he grinned a little over that and I went on talking said we'd bother him as little as possible of course we had to put up the trussels in their property because we couldn't hold the thing up in a single span and I said yes but it would take too long we only had a few days well he says Mr. Bannon I'll give you a permit and that's what he gave me I bet he's grinning yet I wonder if he'll grin so much about three days from now do you mean that you can build it anyway? Hilda demanded breathlessly he nodded and turning to Pete while the trick was to be done won't you please tell me too Hilda asked appealingly sure he said he sat down beside her at the desk and began drawing on a piece of paper Pete came and looked over his shoulder Bannon began his explanation here's the spouting-house and here's the elevator now suppose they were only 15 feet apart then if we had a bolt that came down between them the whole weight of the thing would be passed along to the foundation that the ends of the timbers rest on but you see it's got to be 150 feet long and to build it that way would take two 100 foot timbers and we haven't got them that long but we've got plenty of sticks that are 20 feet long and plenty of bolts and this is the way we arrange four then we let a bolt O down through the upper end of it and through the floor of the gallery now the next timber Y we put up it just the same angle as the first with the foot of it bearing down on the lower end of the bolt that second stick pushes two ways a straight down push and a sideways push the bolt resists the down push and transmits it to the first stick now the sideways push is against the butt of the first timber of the floor and that's passed on same way to the still well that's the whole trick you begin at both ends at once and just keep right on going when the things done it looks this way you see where the two sections meet in the middle it's just the same as the little 15 foot gallery that we made a picture of up here I understand that all right said Pete but I don't see yet going to do it without some kind of scaffolding easy I ain't going to use a balloon but I've got something that's better it'll be out here this afternoon come and help me get things ready there was not much to do for the timber was already cut to the right sizes but Bannon was not content till everything was piled so that when work did begin on the gallery it could go without a hitch figuring it as fine as Bannon was doing in those last days even one day as a serious matter he could do nothing more at the belt gallery until his substitute for a scaffold should arrive it did not come that afternoon or evening the next morning when he came on the job it still had not been heard from there was enough to occupy every moment of his time and every shred of his thought without bothering about the gallery had to do but wait for it but when well along in the afternoon a water boy found him up on the weighing floor and told him there was something for him at the office he made astonishing time getting down here's your package said Max as Bannon burst into the little shanty it was a little round paste board box if Bannon had had the office to himself he would in his disappointment have cursed the thing he stood speechless a moment and then turned to go out again aren't you going to open it now you're here asked Max Bannon after hesitating acted on the suggestion and when he saw what it was he laughed no Brown had not forgotten the hat Max gazed at it in unfeigned awe it was shiny as a mirror black as a hearse tall in his eyes for this was his first near view of one as the seat of a dining room chair put it on he said to Bannon let's see how it looks on you not much wouldn't I look silly in a thing like that though I'd rather wear an ordinary length of stove pipe that'd be durable anyway I wonder what Brown sent it for I thought he knew a joke when he saw one just then one of the under foreman came in oh Mr. Bannon he said I've been looking for you all aboard that they said was for you I told them I thought it was a mistake it was all one movement Bannon's jamming that hat the silk hat down on his head and diving through the door he shouted orders as he ran and a number of men Pete among them got to the wharf as soon as he did now boys this is all the false work we can have we're going to hang it up across the tracks and hang our gallery up on it we've got just 48 hours to do the whole trick catch hold now lively it was a simple scheme of Bannon's the floor of the gallery was to be built in two sections one in the main house one in the spouting house as fast as the timbers were bolted together the halves of the floor were shoved out over the tracks each free end being supported by a rope which ran up over a pulley the pulley was held by an iron ring at the cable but perfectly free to slide along it and thus accompanying the end of the floor as it was moved outward Bannon explained it to Pete in a few quick words while the men were hustling the big cable off the tug of course he was concluding a thingal wobble a good deal especially if it's as windy as this and it won't be easy to work on but it won't fall if we make everything fast Pete had listened and noticed that his attention seemed to be wandering to a point a few inches above Bannon's head he was about to ask what was the matter when he found out it was windier on that particular wharf than anywhere else in the Calumet flats and the hat he had on was not built for that sort of weather it was perfectly rigid and not at all accommodated to the shape of Bannon's head so very naturally it blew off roll around into the river between the wharf and the tug Bannon was on the spouting house helping make fast the cable end when a workman brought the hat back to him somebody on the tug had fished it out with a trolling line but the hat was well past resuscitation it had been thoroughly drowned and it seemed to know it take that to the office said Bannon have Vogel wrap it up just as for all Bannon's foresight they're threatened to be a hitch in the work on the gallery the day shift was on again and 24 of Bannon's 48 hours were spent when he happened to say to a man never mind that now but be sure you fix it tomorrow tomorrow the man repeated we ain't going to work tomorrow are we Bannon sure he said why not there was some dissatisfied grumbling among them which he was quite at a loss to understand until he caught the word Christmas Christmas he exclaimed in perfectly honest astonishment is tomorrow Christmas he ran his hand through a stubby hair boys he said I'm sorry to have to ask it of you but can't we put it off a week look here we need this day tomorrow I'll give every man on the job a Christmas dinner you'll never forget all you can eat and as much again and you bring your friends if we work tomorrow and we have her full of wheat a week from today does that go it went with a ripping cheer to boot a cheer that was repeated here and there all over the place as Bannon's offer was passed along so for another 24 hours they strained it was nothing else above the railroad tracks there was a northeast gale raging down off the lake with squalls of rain and sleet mixed in it and it took the crazy swaying box in its teeth and shook it and tossed it up in the air in its eagerness to strip it off the cable but somewhere there was an unconquerable tenacity that held fast and in the teeth of the wind the long box grew rigid as the trusses were pounded into place by men who were spent with fatigue that one might say it was sheer goodwill that drove the hammers at four o'clock Christmas afternoon the last bolt was drawn taut the gallery was done Bannon had been on the work since midnight sixteen consecutive hours he had eaten nothing except two sandwiches that he had stowed in his pockets his only pause had been about nine o'clock that morning when he had put his head in the office door for a very Christmas when the evening shift came on that was just after four one of the under-forman tried to get him to talking but Bannon was too tired to talk get your tracks and rollers in, he said take down the cable don't you want to stay and see if she'll hold when the cables come down? called the foreman after him as he started away she'll hold said Bannon end of chapter fourteen Chapter fifteen of Calumet K. by Merwin Webster this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter fifteen before December was half gone and while the mild autumn weather serenely held in spite of weather predictions and of storm signs about the sun and days of blue haze and motionless trees the newspaper reading public knew all the outside facts about the fight in wheat and they knew it to be the biggest fight since the days of old hutch and the two-dollar bushel record indeed there were men who predicted that the two-dollar mark would be reached before Christmas for the click of speculators who held the floor were buying, buying, buying millions upon millions of dollars were slipping through their ready hands and still there was no hesitation no weakening until the small fry had dropped out the deal had been confused it was too big there were too many interests involved to make possible a clear understanding but now it was settling down into a grim fight between the biggest men on the board the click were buying wheat paging company were selling it to them if it should come out on the 31st of December that paging company had sold more than they could deliver the click would be winners but if it should have been delivered to the last bushel the corner would be broken and the click would drop from sight as many reckless men had dropped before the readers of every great newspaper in the country were watching paging company the general opinion was that they could not do it that such an enormous quantity of grain could not be delivered and registered in time even if it were to be had but the public overlooked indeed it had no means of knowing one important fact the members of the click were new men in the public eye they presented apparently unlimited capital but they were young, eager, overstrung flushed with the prospect of success they were talking for publication they believed they knew of every bushel in the country that was to be had and they allowed themselves to say that they had already bought more than this if this were true page was beaten but it was not true the young men of the click had forgotten that page had trained agents in the part of the world that he had alliances with great railroad and steamer lines that he had a weather bureau and a system of crop reports that outdid those of the United States government that he could command more money than two such clicks and most important of all that he did not talk for publication the young speculators were matching their wits against a great machine page had the wheat he was making the effort of his career he had no idea of losing already millions of bushels had been rushed into Chicago it was here that the fight took on its spectacular features for the grain must be weighed and inspected before it could be accepted by the board of trade and this could be done only in regular warehouses the struggle had been to get control of these warehouses it was here that the click had done their shrewdest work and they had supposed that page was finally outwitted so they discovered that he had coolly set about building a million bushel annex to his new house Calumet K and so it was that the newspapers learned that on the chance of completing Calumet K before the 31st of December hung the whole question of winning and losing that if Bannon should fail page would be short two million bushels and then came reporters and newspaper illustrators who hung about the office and badgered Hilda or perched on timber piles and sketched until Bannon or Peterson or Max could get at them and drive them out young men with snapshot cameras way-laid Bannon on his way to luncheon and published with his picture elaborate stories of his skill in averting a strike stories that were not at all true far out in Minnesota and Montana in South Dakota farmers were driving their wheat-laden wagons to the hundreds of local receiving houses that dotted the railroad lines Bucks cars were waiting for the red grain to roll it away to Minneapolis and Duluth day and night the long trains were puffing eastward everywhere the order was rush railroad presidents and managers knew that page was in a hurry and they knew what pages hurries meant not only to the thousands of men who depended on him for their daily bread but to the many great industries of the Northwest whose credit and integrity were inextricably interwoven with his division superintendents knew that page was in a hurry and they snapped out orders and discharged half competent men and sent quick words along the hot wires that were translated by dispatchers and operators and yard masters into profane driving commands conductors knew it breakmen and switchmen knew it they made flying switches and defiance of companies orders they ran where they used to walk they slung their lunch pails on their arms and ate when and where they could gazing over their cold tea at some portrait of page or of a member of the clique or of Bannon in the morning's paper elevator men at Minneapolis knew that page was in a hurry and they worked day and night at shovel and scale steamboat masters up at Duluth knew it and mates and deckhands and stevedores and dock wallopers more than one steamer scraped her paint in the haste to get under the long spouts that waited to pour out grain by the hundred thousand bushels trains came down from Minneapolis boats came down from Duluth warehouse after warehouse at Chicago was filled and over strained nerves neared the breaking point as the short December days flew by some said the clique would win some said page would win in the wheat pit men were fighting like tigers everyone who knew the facts was watching Charlie Bannon the storm came on the 18th of the month it was predicted two days ahead and ship masters were warned at all the lake ports it was a northwest blizzard driven down from the Canadian Rockies at 60 miles an hour leaving two feet of snow behind it over a belt hundreds of miles wide but pages steamers were not stopping for blizzards they headed out of Duluth regardless of what was to come and there were a bad few days with tales of wreck on lake and railroad days of wind and snow and bitter cold and of risks run that supplied round house and tug office yarn spinners with stories that were not yet worn out down on the job the snow brought the work to a pause but Bannon within a half hour was out of bed and on the ground and there was no question of changing shifts until after 24 hours the snow had passed and elevator annex and marine tower were clear of snow men worked until they could not stagger they snatched a few hours sleep where they could word was passed that those who wished might observe the regular hours but not a dozen men took the opportunity for now they were in the public eye and they felt a soldier's feel when after long months of drill and discipline they are led to the charge then came two days of biting weather when ears were nipped and fingers stiffened and carpenters who earned $3 a day envied the laborers whose work kept their blood moving and after this a thaw with sleet and rain James the new delegate came to Bannon and pointed out that men who are continually drenched to the skin are not the best workmen the boss met the delegate fairly he ordered an oil skin coat for every man on the job and in another day they swarmed over the building looking at a distance like glistening yellow beetles but if Chicago was thawing Duluth was not the harbor at the western end of Lake Superior was ice bound and it finally reached a point where the tugs could not break open the channel this was on the 23rd and 24th the wires were hot but Page's agents succeeded in covering the facts until Christmas day it was just at dusk after leaving the men to take down the cable to the office a news boy had been on the grounds with a special edition of a cheap afternoon paper Hilda had taken one and when Bannon entered the office he found her reading leaning forward on the desk, her chin on her hands and paper spread out over the ledger hello he said, throwing off his dripping oil skin and coming into the enclosure I'm pretty near ready to sit down and think about the Christmas tree that we ain't going to have she looked up and he saw that she was a little excited her eyes always told him during the last week she had been carrying the whole responsibility of the work on her shoulders have you seen this she asked haven't read a paper this week he leaned over the desk beside her and read the article in Duluth harbor and at St. Mary's Straits a channel through the ice had been blasted out with dynamite and the last laden steamer was now going down Lake Michigan already one steamer was lying at the wharf by the marine tower waiting for the machinery to start the others lay behind her farther down the river long strings of box cars filled the belt line sidings ready to roll into the elevator at the word Bannon seated himself on the railing and caught his toes between the supports I'll tell you one thing he said those fellows have got to get up early in the morning if they're going to beat old page she looked at him and then slowly folded the paper and turned toward the window it was nearly dark outside the rain driving from the northeast tapped steadily on the glass the arc lamp on the pole near the tool house was a blurred circle of light she was thinking that they would have to get up pretty early to beat Charlie Bannon they were silent for a time silences were not so hard as they had been a few weeks before both looking out at the storm and both thinking that this was Christmas night on the afternoon before he had asked her to take a holiday and she had shaken her head I couldn't I'd be here before noon was what she had said and she laughed a little at her own confession and hurried away with Max she turned and said is it done the belt gallery he nodded all done well she smiled and he nodded again the CNSC man the fellow that was around the other day and measured to see if it was high enough he's out there looking up with his mouth open he hasn't got much to say you didn't have to touch the tracks at all not once ran her out and bolted her together and there she was I'm about ready for my month off we'll have the wheat coming on tomorrow and then it's just walking downhill tomorrow she asked can you do it got to five or six days aren't any too much if it was an old house and the machinery was working well I'd undertake to do it in two or three but if we get through without ripping up the gallery or pounding the leg through the bottom of a steamer it'll be the kind of luck I don't have he paused and looked at the window where the rain was streaking the glass I've been thinking about my vacation I've about decided to go up to the St. Lawrence maybe there are places I'd like better but when a fellow hasn't had a month off in five years he doesn't feel like experiments it was the personal tone again coming into their talk in spite of the excitement of the day and the many things that might have been said Hilda looked down at the ledger and fingered the pages Bannon smiled if I were you, he said I'd shut that up and fire it under the table this light isn't good enough to work by anyway she slowly closed the book saying I never worked before on Christmas it's a mistake, I don't believe in it but somehow it's when my hardest work always comes one Christmas when I was on the grand trunk there was a big wreck at a junction about 60 miles down the road she saw the memory coming into his eyes and she leaned back against the desk playing with her pen and now and then looking up I was chief wrecker and I had an old scotch engineer that you couldn't move with a jack we'd rub up together three or four times before I'd had him a month and I was getting tired of it we'd got about halfway to the junction that night and I felt the brakes go on hard and before I could get through the train and over the tender we'd stopped dead the scotchman was down by the drivers fussing around with a lantern I hollered out what's the matter? she's a bit odd, said he you'd have thought he was running a huckleberry train from the time he took I ordered him into the cab and he just waved his hand and said, wait a bit, wait a bit she'll be cooled directly Bannon chuckled at the recollection what did you do? Hilda asked jumped for the lever and hollered for him to get aboard did he come? no, he couldn't think that fast he just stood still looking at me while I threw her open and you could see his lantern for a mile back he never moved he had a good six mile walk back to the last station there was a long silence Bannon got up and walked slowly up and down the enclosure with his hands deep in his pockets I wish this would let up, he said after a time pausing in his walk and looking again at the window it's a wonder we're getting things done at all Hilda's eyes roaming over the folded newspaper fell on the weather forecast fair tomorrow, she said, and cold her that doesn't stand for much they said the same thing yesterday it's a worse gamble than wheat Bannon took to walking again and Hilda stepped down and stood by the window spelling out the word Calumet with her finger on the misty glass at each turn Bannon paused and looked at her finally he stood still not realizing that he was staring until she looked around flushed and dropped her eyes then he felt awkward and he began turning over the blueprints on the table I'll tell you what I'll have to do, he said I'd rather think now I'll start on the third from Montreal I'm telling you a secret, you know I'm not going to let Brown or McBride know where I'll be and if I can pick up some good pictures of the river I'll send them to you I'll get one of the Montmorency Falls if I can they're great in winter why, why thank you, she said I'd like to have them I ain't much at writing letters, he went on but I'll send you the pictures and you write and tell me how things are going she laughed softly and followed the zigzag course of the raindrop from her finger I wouldn't have very much to say, she said speaking with a little hesitation looking around, Max and I never do much oh, you can tell me how your work goes and what you do nights we don't do much of anything Max studies some at night a man he used to work for gave him a book of civil engineering what do you do? I read some and then I like to learn things about oh, about business and how things are done Benon could not take his eyes from her he was looking at her hair and at the curved outline of one cheek all that he could see of her face they both stood still listening to the patter of the rain and to the steady drip from the other end of the office where there was a leak in the roof once she cleared her throat as if to speak but no words came there was a stamping outside and she slipped back to the ledger as the door flew open Benon turned to the blueprints Max entered, pausing to knock his cap against the door and ring it out you ought to have stayed out, Mr. Benon, he said it's the greatest thing you ever saw doesn't sag an inch and say, I wish you could hear the boys talk they'd lie down and let you walk on them if you wanted to Max's eyes were bright and his face red with exercise and excitement he came to the gate and stood wiping his feet and looking from one to the other for several moments before he felt the awkwardness that had come over him his long rubber coat was thrown back and little streams of water ran down his back and formed a pool on the floor behind him you'd better come out, he said it's the prettiest thing I ever saw a clean straight span from the main house to the tower Benon stood watching him quizzically then he turned to Hilda she too had been looking at Max but she turned at the same moment in their eyes met do you want to go, he said she nodded eagerly I'd like to ever so much then Benon thought of the rain but she saw his thought as he glanced toward the window and spoke quickly I don't mind, really Max will let me take his coat sure, said Max, and he grinned she slipped into it and it enveloped her hanging in folds and falling on the floor I'll have to hold it up, she said do we have much climbing? no, said Max, it ain't high and the stairs are done, you know Hilda lifted the coat a little with both hands and put out one small toe Benon looked at it and shook his head you'll get your feet wet, he said she looked up and met Benon's eyes again with an expression that puzzled Max I don't care, it's almost time to go home anyway so they went out and closed the door and Max, who had been told to stay behind and keep house looked after them, and then at the door and an odd expression of slow understanding came into his face it was not in what they had said but there was plainly a new feeling between them for the first time in his life Max felt that another knew Hilda better than he did the way Benon had looked at her and she at him, the mutual understanding that left everything unsaid and something, Max did not know what it was he knew it and felt it and it disturbed him he sat on the table and swung his feet while one expression chased another over his face when he finally got himself together he went to the door and opening it looked out at the black dim shape of the elevator that stood big and square only a little way before him shutting out whatever he might else have seen or of rushing sky or dim lighted riffer or of the railroads and the steam boats and the factories and rolling mills beyond as if this elevator were his fate looming before him and shutting out the forward view in whatever thoughts he had had of the future and whatever plans and they were few which he had revolved in his head there had always been a place for Hilda he did not see just what he was to do just what he was to become without her he stood there for a long time leaning against the door-jam with his hands in his pockets and the sharper gusts of rain whirled around the end of the little building and beat on him and then, well, it was Charlie Bannon and Max knew that he was glad it was no one else the narrow windows in the belt gallery had no glass and the rain came driving through them into the shadows each drop catching the white shine of the electric lights outside the floor was trampled with mud and littered with scraps of lumber, toolboxes empty nail kegs and shavings the long, gloomy gallery was empty when Bannon and Hilda stepped into it accepting a group of men at the Farther End installing the rollers for the belt conveyor and they could be seen indistinctly against a light in the river-house the wind came roaring around the building and the gallery trembled and shook Hilda caught her breath and stopped short it's all right, said Bannon she's bound to move some I know she laughed I wasn't expecting it, it startled me a little watch where you step he took her arm and guided her slowly between the heaps of rubbish at one of the windows she paused and stood full in the rain looking out at the C and SC tracks and their twinkling red and green lights all blurred and seeming far off in the storm isn't this pretty wet, he said, standing beside her I don't care she shook the folds of the rubber coat and glanced down at it I like it they looked out for a long time two millwrights came through the gallery and glanced at them, but they did not turn she stepped forward and let the rain beat on her face he stood behind, looking at her a light showed far down the train and they heard a faint whistle a train, he said, and she nodded the headlight grew and the car lights appeared behind it and then the black outline of the engine there was a rush and a roar and it passed under them doesn't it make you want to jump down? she said softly, when the roar had dwindled away he nodded with a half-smile say, he said a little later I don't know about your writing I don't believe we'd better he got the words out more rapidly I'll tell you what you do you come along with me and we won't have to write come where? up to the St. Lawrence we can start on the third just the same she did not answer and he stopped then after a moment she slowly turned and looked at him why? she said, I don't think I... I've just been thinking about it I guess I can't do anything else I mean, I don't want to go anywhere alone I guess that's pretty plain isn't it, what I mean? she leaned back against the wall and looked at him it was as if she could not take her eyes from his face perhaps I oughtn't to expect you to say anything now, he went on I just thought if you felt anything like I did you'd know pretty well by this time whether it was yes or no she was still looking at him he had said it all and now he waited his fists nodded tightly and a peculiar expression on his face almost as if he were smiling but it came from a part of his nature that had never before got to the surface finally she said I think we'd better go back he did not seem to understand that she turned away and started off alone in a moment he was at her side he guided her back as they came and neither spoke until they had reached the stairway then he said in a low tone that the carpenters could not hear you don't mean that... that you can't do it she shook her head and hurried to the office end of Chapter 15 CHAPTER 16 Bannon stood looking after her until she disappeared in the shadow of an arc lamp and after that he continued a long time staring into the blot of darkness where the office was at last the window became faintly luminous as someone lighted the wall lamp then as if it were a signal he had been waiting for Bannon turned away an hour before when he had seen the last bolt of the belt gallery drawn taut he had become aware that he was quite exhausted the fact was so obvious that he had not tried to evade it but had admitted to himself in so many words that he was at the end of his rope but when he turned from gazing at the dimly lighted window it was not toward his boarding-house where he knew he ought to be but back into the elevator that his feet led him for once his presence accomplished nothing he went about without thinking where he passed men without seeing who they were or what they were doing when he walked through the belt gallery he saw the foremen of the big gang of men at work there was handling them clumsily so that they interfered with each other but it did not occur to him to give the orders that would set things right then as if his wire-drawn muscles had not done work enough he climbed laboriously to the very top of the marine tower he was leaning against a window casing, not looking out for he saw nothing but with his face turned to the fleet of barges lying in the river when someone spoke to him I guess you're thinking about that Christmas dinner, ain't you, Mr. Bannon? what's that? he demanded wheeling about then rallying his scattered faculties he recognized one of the carpenters oh yes, he said, laughing tartly yes, the postponed Christmas dinner you think I'm in for it, do you? you know it's no good unless this house is full of wheat clear to the roof I know it, said the man but I guess we're going to stick you for it don't you think we are? I guess that's right I come up here, said the carpenter well pleased at the chance for a talk with the boss to have a look at this marine leg, do you call it? I haven't been to work on it and I never saw one before I wanted to find out how it works just like any other leg over in the main house head pulley up here another one down in the boot endless belt running over them with steel cups riveted on it to scoop up the grain only difference is that instead of being stationary and set up in a tank this one's hung up we let the whole business right down into the boat pull it up and down with that steam winch the man shook his head what if it got away from you? that's happened, said Bannon I've seen a leg most as big as this smashed through two decks thought it was going right on through the bottom of the boat but that wasn't a leg that McBride had hung up this one won't fall Bannon answered one or two more questions rather at random then suddenly came back to earth what are you doing here anyway? he demanded seems to me this is a pretty easy way to earn thirty cents an hour I... I was just going to see if there wasn't something I could do the man answered a good deal embarrassed then before Bannon could do more than echo something to do added I don't get my time checked till midnight I ain't on this shift I just come around to see how things were going we're going to see you through Mr. Bannon Bannon never had a finer tribute to the mat not even what Young Page said when the race was over and it could not have come at a moment when he needed it more he did not think much in set terms about what it meant but when the man had gone and he had turned back to the window he took a long breath of the night air and he saw what lay beneath his eyes he saw the line of ships in the river down nearer the lake another of Page's elevators was drinking up the red wheat out of the hold of a snubbed-nosed barge across the river in the dark they were backing another string of wheat-laden cars over the belt-line switches as he looked out and listened his imagination took fire again as it had taken fire that day in the waiting room at Blake City when he had learned that the little one-track GNM was trying to hinder the torrent of the northern wheat well the wheat had come down it had beaten a blizzard it had churned and wedged and crushed its way through floating ice and in the trough of mauling seas belated passenger trains had waited on lonely sidings while it thundered by and big rotary plows had bitten away for it to cross the drifted prairies now it was here and Charlie Bannon was keeping it waiting he stood there looking only a moment then before the carpenter's footsteps were well out of hearing he followed him down the stairway to the Belt Gallery before he had passed half its length you could have seen the difference in the next two hours every man on the elevator saw him learned a quicker way to splice a rope or align a shaft and heard before the boss went away some word of commendation that set his hands to working the faster and made the work seem easy the work had gone on without interruption for weeks and never slowly but there were times when it went with a lilt and a laugh when laborers heaved at a hoisting tackle with a yo-ho like privateers men who have just sighted a sail when with all they could do results came too slowly and the hours flew too fast and so it was that Christmas night Charlie Bannon was back on the job about ten o'clock he encountered Pete bearing off to the shanty a quart bottle of cold coffee and a dozen big thick sandwiches come on Charlie he called Max is coming too but I guess we've got enough to spare you a little so the three of them sat down to supper around the drafting table in between bites Bannon talked a little about everything but principally and with much corroborative detail for the story seemed to strain even Pete's easy credulity of how up at Yager he had been run on the independent ticket for superintendent of the Sunday School and had been barely defeated by two votes when the sandwiches were put away and all but three drinks of the coffee Bannon held the bottle high in the air here's to the house he said we'll have weed in her tomorrow night they drank the toast standing then as if ashamed of such a sentimental demonstration they filed sheepishly out of the office they walked fifty paces in silence then Pete checked suddenly and turned to Bannon hold on Charlie where are you going going to look over those cross the house conveyor drives down cellar no you ain't either you're going to bed Bannon only laughed and started on toward the elevator how long is it since you had any sleep Pete demanded I don't know I guess I must have slept part of the time while we was putting up that gallery I don't remember much about it don't be in such a hurry said Pete and as he said it he reached out his left hand and caught him by the shoulder it was more by way of gesture than otherwise but Bannon had to step back a pace to keep his feet I mean business Pete went on though laughing a little when we begin to turn over the machinery you won't want to go away so this is your last chance to get any sleep I can't make things jump like you can but I can keep them going tonight somehow hadn't you better wrap me up in a cotton flannel and feed me some warm milk with a spoon let go of me and quit your fooling you delay the game I ain't fooling I'm boss here at night and I fire you till morning that goes if I have to carry you all the way to your boarding house and tie you down to the bed Pete meant it as if again for illustration he picked Bannon up in his arms the boss was ready for the move this time and he resisted with all his strength but he would have had as much chance against the hug of a grizzly bear he was crumpled up Pete started off with him across the flat all right said Bannon I'll go at seven o'clock next morning Pete began expecting his return at eight he began inquiring of various foremen if they had seen anything of Charlie Bannon by nine he was avowedly worried lest something had gone wrong with him and a little after ten Max set out for the boarding house encountering the landlady in the hall he made the mistake of asking her if she had seen anything of Mr. Bannon that morning she had some elementary notions of strategy derived doubtless from experience and before beginning her reply she blocked the narrow stairway with her broad person then beginning with a discussion of Mr. Bannon's excellent moral character and his most impudent habits and illustrating by anecdotes of various other borders she had had at one time and another she led up to the statement that she had seen nothing of him since the night before and that she had knocked twice at his door without getting any reply Max who had laughed a little at Pete's alarm was now pretty well frightened himself but at that instant they heard the thud of bare feet on the floor just above them that's him now said the landlady thoughtlessly turning sideways and Max bolted past her and up the stairs he knocked the door and called out to know if he could come in the growl he heard in reply meant invitation as much as it meant anything so he went in Bannon already in his shirt and trousers stood with his back to the door his face in the wash bowl as he scoured he sputtered Max could make little out of it for Bannon's face was under water half the time but he caught such phrases as Pete's darn foolishness college boy trick lie a bed all the morning and better get an alarm clock which thing in the need for it Bannon greatly despised and he reached the conclusion that the matter was nothing more serious than that Bannon had over slept but the boss took it seriously enough indeed he seemed deeply humiliated and he marched back to the elevator beside Max without saying a word until just as they were crossing the belt line tracks when the explanation of the phenomenon came to him I know where I get it from he exclaimed as if in some measure relieved by the discovery I must take after my uncle he was the greatest fellow to sleep you ever saw so far his pace was concerned that day was like the others while the men were human it could be no faster with Bannon on the job it could not flag but there was this difference that today the stupidest sweepers knew that they had almost reached the end and there was a rally like that which a runner makes at the beginning of the last hundred yards late in the afternoon they had a broad hint of how near the end was the sweepers dropped their brooms and began carrying fire buckets full of water they placed one or more near every bearing all over the elevator the men who were quickest to understand explained to the slower ones what the precaution meant and every man had his eye on the nearest pulley to see when it would begin to turn but Bannon was not going to begin till he was ready he had inspected the whole job four times since noon but just after six he went all over it again more carefully than before at the end he stepped out of the door at the bottom of the stairway bin and pulled it shut after him it was not yet painted and its blank surface suggested something he drew out his blue pencil and wrote on the upper panel OK CH Bannon then he walked over to the powerhouse it was a one-story brick building with whose construction Bannon had had no concern as Page & Company had placed the contract for it elsewhere every night for the past week lights had been streaming from its windows and day and night men had waited ready at any time for the word to go ahead a dozen of them were lounging about the brick paved space in front of the battery of boilers when Bannon opened the door and they sprung to their feet as they read his errand on his face steam up he said we'll be ready as soon as you are there was the accumulated tension of a week of inactivity behind these men and the effect of Bannon's words was galvanic already low fires were burning under the boilers and now the coal was piled on the drafts roared the smoke thick enough to cut came billowing out of the tall chimney every man in the room even the wretchedest of the dripping stokers had his eyes on the steam gauge but for all that the water boiled and the indicator needles crept slowly round the dials and at last the engineer walked over and pulled the whistle cord hitherto they had marked the divisions of time on the job by the shrill note of the little whistle on the hoisting engine boiler and there was not a man but started at the screaming crescendo of the big siren on top of the powerhouse men in the streets in the straggling boarding houses over across the flats on the wharves along the river men who had been forbidden to come to the elevator till they were needed lest they should be in the way had been waiting days for that signal and they came streaming into the elevator almost before the blast had died away pages superintendent was standing beside bannon and peat by the foot of the main drive well he said we're ready are you bannon nodded and turned to a laborer who stood near go tell the engineer to go ahead the man proud as though he had just been promoted went out on the run now said bannon here's where we go slow all the machinery in the house has got to be thrown in one thing at a time line shafts first then elevators and the rest of it peat you see it done up top I'll look out for it down here see that there's a man to look at each bearing at least once in three minutes and let me know if it gets warm it took a long time to do it but it had to be done for bannon was inflexible but at last everything in elevator annex and spouting house that could turn was turning and it was reported to bannon now he said she's got to run light for 15 minutes no he went on and answered to the superintendent's protest you're lucky I didn't say two hours it's the biggest chance I ever took as it is so while they stared at the second hand of their watches the minutes crept away peat wound his watch up tight in the vain hope of making it go a little faster and at last bannon turned with a nod to the superintendent all right he said you're the boss now and then in a moment the straining hausers were hauling cars up into the house the seals were broken the doors rolled back and the wheat came pouring out the shovelers clambered into the cars and the steam power shovels helped the torrent along it fell through the gratings and into steel tanks and then the tireless metal cups carried it up up up way to the top of the building and then it came tumbling down again down into the garners and down again into the great weighing hoppers and recognized and registered and marketable at last part of the load that was to bury the click that had braved it out of sight of all but their creditors it went streaming down the spouts into the bins the first of the barges in the river was moved down the side of the spouting house her main hatch just opposite the tower and now peat in charge there gave the word and the marine leg gravely deliberately descended there is a magnificent audacity about that sort of performance the leg was 90 feet long, steel booted, framed of great timbers heavy enough to have wrecked the barge like a birch barked canoe if it had got away it went down bodily into the hold and the steel boot was buried in wheat then peat through another lever and in a moment another endless series of cups was carrying the wheat aloft it went over the crosshead and down a spout then stretched out in a golden ribbon along the glistening white belt that ran the length of the gallery then like the wheat from the cars it was carried up again in the cups and shot down through spouts and carried along on belts to the remotest bin in the annex for the first few hours of it the men's nerves were hairsprings but as time went on and the steam kept pouring in without pause the tension relaxed though the watch never slackened men padded the bearings affectionately and still the same report came to ban in all cool late that night as the superintendent was figuring his weighing reports he said to ban in at this rate will have several hours to spare we haven't had our accident yet said ban in shortly it happened within an hour at the marine leg but it was not serious they heard a splintering sound down in the dark somewhere and peat shouting to them to throw out the clutch climbed out and down on the sleet clad girders that framed the leg an agile monkey might have been glad to return alive from such a climb but peat came back presently with a curious a specimen of marine hardware that had in some way got into the wheat and thence into the boot and one of the cups partway up it had got jammed and had ripped up the sheathing of the leg they started the leg again but soon learned that it was leaking badly you'll have to haul up for repairs I guess the captain called up to them haven't time said peat under his breath and with a hammer and nails and a big piece of sacking he went down the leg again playing his neck against a half hours delay as serenely as most men would walk downstairs to dinner starter up boys he called when the job was done and with the leg jolting under his hands as he climbed he came back into the tower that was their only misfortune and all it cost them was a matter of minutes so by noon of the 30th an hour or two after McBride and Young Page arrived from Minneapolis it became clear that they would be through in time at eight o'clock next morning as Bannon and McBride were standing in the superintendent's office he came in and held out his hand she's full Mr. Bannon I congratulate you full A said McBride then he dropped his hand on Bannon's shoulder well he said do you want to go to sleep or will you come and talk business with me for a little while sleep Bannon echoed I've been oversleeping lately end of chapter 16