KING COAL 
 
 A Novel of the 
 Colorado Coal Country 
 
 By UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 "King Goal" made a tremendous sen- 
 sation in Great Britain, The London 
 "Nation" described it as "a prosecution 
 conducted with fore , skill, feeling and 
 eloquence* * * A powerful and sombre 
 record of greed." The London "Times" 
 called it "a terrible indictment." The 
 "Daily Express" said, "American fietlonists 
 have a gift denied to their English brothers 
 of turning the business of life into the stuff 
 of a novel. A clever American writer 
 can make the operations of a trust as fas- 
 cinating as a romance of the High Toby," 
 
 sssssrsszss 
 

KING COAL 
 
BOOKS by 
 
 UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 Now published and for sale by the author 
 
 THE BRASS CHECK: A Study of American Journalism. 
 100%: The Story of a Patriot. 
 
 THE JUNGLE: A Novel of the Chicago Stockyards. 
 KING COAL: A Novel of the Colorado Coal Country. 
 THE PROFITS OF RELIGION: A Study of Supernaturalism 
 
 as a Source of Income and a Shield to Privilege. 
 
 (The above, paper bound, 60c per copy; cloth bound, 
 $1.20 per copy, postpaid.) 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS: A Story of the American Socialist Move- 
 ment in War Time. 
 
 SYLVIA: A Novel of the Far South. 
 
 SYLVIA'S MARRIAGE: A Sequel. 
 
 DAMAGED GOODS: A Novel from the play by Brieux. 
 (The above in cloth only, $1.20 postpaid.) 
 
 THE CRY FOR JUSTICE: An Anthology of the Literature of 
 Social Protest. 
 (Paper, $1.00; cloth, $1.50 postpaid.) 
 
 It is planned to reprint a number of other books which 
 are now out of print and unobtainable. Orders may be listed, 
 to be filled when the books are available. 
 
 THE MONEYCHANGERS: A Novel of the Panic of 1907. 
 
 THE METROPOLIS: A Novel of New York "Society." 
 
 THE INDUSTRIAL REPUBLIC: A Study of American Social- 
 ism. 
 
 THE FASTING CURE. 
 
 MANASSAS: A Novel of the Civil War. 
 
 SAMUEL THE SEEKER: A Socialist Novel. 
 
 THE JOURNAL OF ARTHUR STIRLING. 
 
 LOVE'S PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 PLAYS OF PROTEST. 
 
 THE OVERMAN. 
 
 A CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY, etc. 
 
 (The price of the above books will be uniform, 60c paper, 
 
 $1.20 cloth, postpaid.) 
 
 UPTON SINCLAIR, Pasadena, California 
 
KING COAL 
 
 A NOVEL 
 
 , BY 
 
 UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 DR. GEORG BRANDES 
 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 UPTON SINCLAIR // 
 1921 
 
COPYEIGHT 1917 
 
 BY UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1917 
 
 BY--MISHA APPELBAUM 
 
 COPYKIGHT 1917 
 
 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1917. 
 Reprinted September, twice, 1917. Reprinted March, 1921 
 
3 I -2 ' 
 Bancroft 
 
 TO 
 MARY CRAIG KIMBROUGH 
 
 To whose persistence in the perilous task of 
 tearing her husband's manuscript to pieces, 
 the reader is indebted for the absence 
 of most of the faults from this book 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 BOOK ONE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL . 1 
 
 BOOK TWO 
 THE SERFS OF KING COAL 91 
 
 BOOK THKEE 
 THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL ...... 203 
 
 BOOK FOUE 
 THE WILL OF KING COAL , , 285 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 UPTON SINCLAIR is one of the not too many writers who 
 have consecrated their lives to the agitation for social jus- 
 tice, and who have also enrolled their art in the service of a 
 set purpose. A great and non-temporizing enthusiast, he 
 never flinched from making sacrifices. Now and then he 
 attained great material successes as a writer, but invariably 
 he invested and lost his earnings in enterprises by which he 
 had hoped to ward off injustice and to further human hap- 
 piness. Though disappointed time after time, he never 
 lost faith nor courage to start again. 
 
 As a convinced socialist and eager advocate of unpopular 
 doctrines, as an exposer of social conditions that would 
 otherwise be screened away from the public eye, the most 
 influential journals of his country were as a rule arraigned 
 against him. Though always a poor man, though never 
 willing to grant to publishers the concessions essential for 
 many editions and general popularity, he was maliciously 
 represented to be a carpet knight of radicalism and a socialist 
 millionaire. He has several times been obliged to change his 
 publisher, which goes to prove that he is no seeker of ma,- 
 terial gain. 
 
 Upton Sinclair is one of the writers of the present time 
 most deserving of a sympathetic interest. He shows his 
 patriotism as an American, not by joining in hymns to the 
 very conditional kind of liberty peculiar to the United States, 
 but by agitating for infusing it with the'elixir of real liberty, 
 the liberty of humanity. He does not limit himself to a dis- 
 passionate and entertaining description of things as they are. 
 But in his appeals to the honour and good-fellowship of his 
 
 ix 
 
x INTRODUCTION 
 
 compatriots, he opens their eyes to the appalling conditions 
 under which wage-earning slaves are living by the hundreds 
 of thousands. His object is to better these unnatural -con- 
 ditions, to obtain for the very poorest a glimpse of light and 
 happiness, to make even them realise the sensation of cosy 
 well-being and the comfort of knowing that justice is to be 
 found also for them. 
 
 This time Upton Sinclair has absorbed himself in the study 
 of the miner's life in the lonesome pits of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, and his sensitive and enthusiastic mind has brought to 
 the world an American parallel to GERMINAL, Emile Zola's 
 technical masterpiece. 
 
 .The conditions described in the two boo}vs are, however, 
 essentially different. While Zola's working-men are all 
 natives of France, one meets in Sinclair's book a motley 
 variety of European emigrants, speaking a Babel of languages 
 and therefore debarred from forming some sort of association 
 to protect themselves against being exploited by the anony- 
 mous limited Company. Notwithstanding this natural bar 
 Against united action on the part of the wage-earning slaves, 
 the Company feels far from at ease and jealously guards its 
 interests against any attempt of organising the men. 
 
 A young American of the upper class, with great sympathy 
 for the downtrodden and an honest desire to get a first-hand 
 knowledge of their conditions in order to help them, decides 
 to take employment in a mine under a fictitious name and 
 dressed like a working-man. His 1 unusual way of r trying to 
 obtain work arouses suspicion. He is believed to be a pro- 
 fessional strike-leader sent out to organise the miners against 
 their ""exploiters, and he is not only refused work, but thrashed 
 mercilessly. When finally he succeeds in getting inside, he 
 discovers with gro\ying indignation the shameless and in- 
 human way in which those who unearth the black coal are 
 being exploited. 
 
 These are the fundamental ideas of the book, but they 
 give but a faint notion of the author Ypoetic attitude. Most 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 beautifully is this shown in Hal's relation" to a young Irish 
 girl, Red Mary. She is poor, and her daily life harsh and 
 joyless, but nevertheless her wonderful grace is one of the 
 outstanding 'features of the book. The first impression of 
 Mary is that of a Celtic Madonna with a tender heart for 
 little children. She develops into a Valkiire of the working- 
 class, always ready to fight for the worker's right. 
 
 The last chapters of the book give a description of the 
 miners' revolt against the Company. They insist upon 
 their right to choose a deputy to control the weighing-in 
 of the coal, and upon having the mines sprinkled regularly 
 to prevent explosion. They will also be free to buy their 
 food and utensils wherever they like, even in shops not 
 belonging to the Company. 
 
 In a postscript Sinclair explains the fundamental facts 
 on which his work of art has been built up. Even without 
 the postscript one could not help feeling convinced that the 
 social conditions he describes are true to life. The main 
 point is that Sinclair has not allowed himself to become 
 inspired by hackneyed phrases that bondage and injustice 
 and the other evils and crimes of Kingdoms have been 
 banished from Republics, but that he i? earnestly point- 
 ing to the honeycombed ground on which the greatest 
 modern money-power has been built. The fundament 
 of this power is not granite, but mines. It lives and breathes 
 in the light, because it has thousands of unfortunates toiling 
 in the darkness. It lives and has its being in proud liberty 
 because thousands are slaving for it, whose thraldom is the 
 price of this liberty. 
 
 This is the impression given to the reader of this exciting 
 novel. 
 
 GEORG BRANDES. 
 
BOOK ONE 
 \ 
 
 THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 
 
KING GOAL 
 
 1. The town of Pedro stood on the edge of the moun- 
 tain country; a straggling assemblage of stores and saloons 
 from which a number of branch railroads ran up into 
 the canyons, feeding the coal-camps. Through the week 
 it slept peacefully; but on Saturday nights, when the 
 miners came trooping down, and the ranchmen came in on 
 horseback and in automobiles, it wakened to a seething 
 life. 
 
 At the railroad station, one day late in June, a young 
 man alighted -from a train. He was about twenty-one 
 years of age, with sensitive features, and brown hair hav- 
 ing a tendency to waviness. Pie wore a frayed and faded 
 suit of clothes, purchased in a quarter of his home city 
 where the Hebrew merchants stand on the sidewalks to 
 offer their wares; also a soiled blue shirt without a tie, 
 and a pair of heavy boots which had seen much service. 
 Strapped on his back was a change of clothing and a 
 blanket, and in his pockets a comb ; a toothbrush, and a 
 small pocket mirror. 
 
 Sitting in the smoking-car of the train, the young man 
 had listened to the talk of the coaUcamps;, seeking to cor- 
 rect his accent. When he got off the train he proceeded 
 down the track and washed his hands with cinders, and 
 lightly powdered some over his face. After studying the 
 effect of this in his mirror, he strolled down the main 
 street of Pedro, and, selecting a little tobacco-shop, went 
 in. In as surly a voice as he could muster, he inquired 
 of the proprietress, " Can you tell me how to get to the 
 Pin Creek mine ? " 
 
4 KING COAL 
 
 The woman looked at him with no suspicion in her 
 glance. She gave the desired information, and he took a 
 trolley and got off at the foot of the Pine Creek canyon, up 
 which he had a thirteen-mile trudge. It was a sunshiny 
 day, with the sky crystal clear, and the mountain air 
 invigourating. The young man seemed to be happy, and 
 as he strode on his way, he sang a song with many verses : 
 
 " Old King Coal was a mrrry old soul, 
 
 And a merry old soul was he; 
 He made him a. college all full of knowledge 
 Hurrah for you and me! 
 
 " Oh, Liza-Ann, come out with me, 
 The moon is a-Buinin' in the monkey-puzzle tree; 
 Oh, Liza- Ann, I have began 
 To sing you the song of Harrigan! 
 
 " He keeps them a-roll, this merry old soul 
 
 The wheels of industree; 
 A-roll and a-roll, for his pipe and his bowl 
 And his college facultee! 
 
 " Oh, Mary- Jane, come out in the lane, 
 
 The moon is a-shinin' in the old pecan; 
 Oh, Mary- Jane, don't you hear me a-sayin' 
 I'll sing you the song of Harrigan! 
 
 " So hurrah for King Coal, and his fat pay-roll, 
 
 And his wheels of industree! 
 Hurrah for his pipe; and hurrah for his bowl 
 And hurrah for you and me! 
 
 "Oh, Liza- Ann, come out with me, 
 The moon is a-shinin' " 
 
 And so on and on as long as the moon was a-shiniri' 
 on a college campus. It was a mixture of happy non- 
 sense and that questioning with which modern youth has 
 1 'begun to trouble its elders. As a marching tune, the song 
 was a trifle swift for the grades of a mountain canyon; 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 5 
 
 but Hal Warner could stop and shout to the canyon-walls, 
 and listen to their answer, and then march on again. He 
 had youth in his heart, and love and curiosity; also he 
 had some change in his trousers' pocket, and a ten dollar 
 bill, for extreme emergencies, sewed up in his belt. If a 
 photographer for Peter Harrigan's General Fuel Com- 
 pany could have got a snap-shot of him that morning, it 
 might have served as a " portrait of a coal-miner " in any 
 " prosperity " publication. 
 
 But the climb was a stiff one, and before the end the 
 traveller became aware of the weight of his boots, and sang 
 no more. Just as the sun was sinking up the canyon, he 
 came upon his destination - a gate across the road, with a 
 sign upon it: 
 
 PINE CREEK COAL CO. 
 
 PRIVATE PROPERTY 
 TRESPASSING- FORBIDDEN 
 
 Hal approached the gate, which was of iron. bars, and 
 padlocked. After standing for a moment to get ready his 
 surly voice, he kicked upon the gate and a man came out 
 of a shack inside. 
 
 " What do you want ? " said he. 
 
 " I want to get in. I'm looking for a job." 
 
 " Where do you come from \ " 
 
 'IFrom Pedro." 
 
 " Where you been working ? " 
 
 " I never worked in a mine before." 
 
 "Where did you work?" 
 
 " In a grocery-store." 
 
 " What grocery-store ? " 
 
 " Peterson & Co., in Western City." 
 
 The guard came closer to the gate and studied him 
 through the bars. 
 
 " Hey, Bill ! " he called, ,and another man came out from 
 
G KING COAL 
 
 the cabin.. " Here's a- guy says he worked in a grocery, 
 and lie's Ipokiir for a job." 
 
 " Where's your papers? " demanded, Bill. 
 , Every one had told Hal that labour was scarce in the 
 mines, and that the companies were ravenous for men ; he 
 had supposed that a workingman would only have to knock, 
 and it would be. opened unto him. " They didn't give me 
 no papers/' he said, and added, hastily, " I got drunk and 
 they fired me." He felt quite sure that getting drunk 
 would not bar one from a coal camp. 
 
 But the two made no move to open the gate. The sec- 
 ond man studied him deliberately from top to toe, and 
 Hal, was uneasily aware of possible sources of suspicion. 
 " I'm all right," he declared. " Let me. in, .and I'll show 
 you." 
 
 Still the two made no move. They looked at each other, 
 and then Bill answered, " We don't need no hands." 
 
 " But," exclaimed Hal, " I saw a sign down the can- 
 yon". 
 ." That's an old sign," said Bill. 
 
 " But I walked all the way up here! " 
 
 " You'll find it easier walkin' back." . 
 
 " But it's night ! " 
 
 " Scared of the dark, kid? " inquired Bill, facetiously. 
 
 " Oh, say ! " replied Hal. " Give a fellow a chance ! 
 Ain't there some way I can pay for my keep or at least 
 for a bunk to-night ? " 
 
 " There's nothin' for you," said Bill, and turned and 
 went into the cabin. 
 
 The other man waited and watched, with a decidedly 
 hostile look. Hal strove to plead with him, but thrice he 
 repeated, " Down the canyon with you." So at last Hal 
 gave up, and moved down the road a piece and sat down 
 to reflect. 
 
 It really seemed an absurdly illogical proceeding, to 
 post a notice, " Hands Wanted/' in conspicuous places on 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 7 
 
 the roadside, causing a man to climb thirteen miles up a 
 mountain canyon, only to be turned off without explana- 
 tion. Hal was convinced that there must be jobs inside 
 the stockade, and that if only he could get at the bosses he 
 could persuade them. He got up and walked down the 
 road a quarter of a mile, to where the railroad-track crossed 
 it, winding up the canyon. A train of " empties " was 
 passing, bound into the camp, the cars rattling and bump- 
 ing as the engine toiled up the grade. This suggested a 
 solution of the difficulty. 
 
 It was already growing dark. Crouching slightly, Hal 
 approached the cars, and when he was in the shadows,, 
 made a leap and swung onto one of them. It took but a 
 second to clamber in, and he lay flat and waited, his heart 
 thumping. 
 
 Before a minute had passed ; he heard a shout, and look- 
 ing over, he saw the Cerberus of the gate running 4own a 
 path to the track, his companion, Bill, just behind him. 
 " Hey! come out of there! " they yelled; and Bill leaped, 
 and caught the car in which Hal was riding. 
 
 The. latter saw that the game was up, and .sprang to the 
 ground on the other side of the track and started out of the 
 camp. Bill fallowed him, and as the train passe.d, the 
 other man ran down the track to join him. Hal was walk- 
 ing rapidly^ without a word ; but the Cerberus of the gate 
 had many words, most of them unprintable, and. lie seized 
 Hal by the collar, and shoving him violently, planted a 
 kick upon that portion of his anatomy which nature has 
 constructed for the reception of kicks. Hal recovered his 
 balance, and, as the man was still pursuing him, he turned 
 and aimed a blow, striking him on the chest and making 
 him reel. 
 
 Hal's big brother had seen to it that he knew how to use 
 his fists ; he now squared off, prepared to receive the second 
 of his assailants. But in coal-camps matters are not set- 
 tled in that primitive way, it appeared. ,The man halted, 
 
8 KING COAL 
 
 and the muzzle of. a revolver came suddenly under Hal's 
 nose. " Stick r eni up ! ".said llie man. 
 
 This was a slang which Hal had never heard, but the 
 meaning was inescapable ; he " stuck 'em up." At the 
 same moment his first assailant rushed at him, and dealt 
 him a blow over the eye which sent him sprawling back- 
 ward upon the stones. 
 
 2. When Hal came to himself again he was in dark- 
 ness, and was conscious of agony from head to toe. He 
 was lying on a stone floor, and he rolled over, but soon 
 rolled back again, because there was no part of his back 
 which was not sore. Later on, when he was able to study 
 himself, he counted over a score of marks of the heavy 
 boots of his assailants. 
 
 He lay for an hour or two, making up his mind that 
 he was in a lock-up, because he could see the starlight 
 through iron bars. He could hear somebody snoring, and 
 he called half a dozen times, in a louder and louder voice, 
 until at last, hearing a growl, he' inquired, " Can you 
 give me a drink of water ? " 
 
 " I'll give you hell if you wake me up again," said the 
 voice ; after which Hal lay in 'silence until morning. 
 
 A couple of hours after daylight, a man entered his cell. 
 " Get up," said he, and added a prod with his foot. Hal 
 had thought he could not do it, but he got up. 
 
 " No funny business now," said his jailer, and grasping 
 him by the sleeve of his coat, marched him out of the ceil 
 and down a little corridor into a sort of office, where sat a 
 red-faced personage with a silver shield upon the lapel of 
 his coat. Hal's two assailants of the night before stood 
 nearby. 
 
 " Well, kid ? " said the personage in the chair. " Had 
 a little time to think it over ? " 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 9 
 
 " Yes," said Hal, briefly. 
 
 "What's the charge?" inquired the personage, of the 
 two watchmen. 
 
 " Trespassing and resisting arrest." 
 
 " How much money you got, young fellow ? " was the 
 next question. 
 
 Hal hesitated. 
 
 " Speak up there ! " said the man. 
 
 " Two dollars and sixty-seven cents," said Hal " as 
 well as I can remember." 
 
 " Go on ! " said the other. " What you givin' us ? " 
 And then, to the two watchmen, " Search him." 
 
 " Take off your coat and pants," said Bill, promptly, 
 " and your boots." 
 
 " Oh, I say ! " protested Hal. 
 
 " Take 'em off ! " said the man, and clenched his fists. 
 Hal took 'em off, and they proceeded to go through the 
 pockets, producing a purse with the amount stated, also a 
 cheap watch, a strong pocket knife, the tooth-brush, comb 
 and mirror, and two white handkerchiefs, which they 
 looked at contemptuously and tossed to the spittle-drenched 
 floor. 
 
 They unrolled the pack, and threw the clean clothing 
 about. Then, opening the pocket-knife, they proceeded 
 to pry about the soles and heels of the boots, and to cut 
 open the lining of. the clothing. So they found the ten 
 dollars in the belt, which they tossed onto the table with 
 the other belongings. Then the personage with the shield 
 announced, " I fine you twelve dollars and sixty-seven 
 cents, and your watch and knife." He added, with a 
 grin, " You can keep your snot-rags." 
 
 " Now see here ! " said Hal, angrily. " This is pretty 
 raw!" 
 
 " You get your duds on, young fellow, and get out of 
 here as quick as you can, or you'll go in your shirt-t'iil." 
 
 But Hal was angry enough to have been willing to go 
 
10 KING COAL 
 
 in his skin. "You tell me who you are, 'and your au- 
 thority for this procedure?" 
 
 " I'm marshal of the camp/ 7 said tfye man. 
 
 "You,. mean you're an employe of the General Fuel 
 Company? And you propose to rob '-me" 
 
 " Put him out. Bill/' said the marshal. And Hal saw 
 Bill's fists clench. 
 
 "All right," he said/ swallowing his indignation. 
 "Wait 1 till I get my clothes 'on." And he proceeded to 
 dress as quickly as possible; he rolled up his blanket and 
 spare clothing, and started for the door. 
 
 " Remember," said the marshal, "straight down the 
 canyon with you, and if you show your face round here 
 again, you'll get a bullet through you." 
 
 So Hal went out into the sunshine, with a guard on 
 each side of him as an escort. He was on the same moun- 
 tain road, but in the rhidst of the company-village. In 
 the distance he saw the great building of the breaker, 
 and heard the incessant roar of machinery and. falling 
 coal. lie marched past a double l,ane of company houses 
 arid shanties, where slattern women in doorways and dirty 
 children digging in the dust of the roadside paused and 
 grinned at him for he limped as he walked, and it was 
 evident enough what had happened to him. 
 
 Hal had come with love and curiosity. The love was 
 greatly diminished evidently this was not the force 
 which kept the wheels of industry 'a-roll. But the curi- 
 osity was greater than ever. What was there so care- 
 fully hidden inside this coal-camp stockade? 
 
 Hal turned and looked at Bill, who had showed signs 
 of humour the day before. " See here," said he, " you 
 fellows have got niy money, and you've blacked my eye 
 and kicked me blue, so you ought to be satisfied. Before 
 I go, tell me about it, won't you ? " 
 
 " Tell you what ? " growled Bill. 
 
 "Why did I get this?" 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 11 
 
 "Because you're too gay, kid. Didn't you know you 
 had no business trying to sneak in here?" 
 
 " Yes/ 7 said Hal; " but that's not what I mean. Why 
 didn't you let me in at first ? " 
 
 " If you wanted a job in a mine/' demanded the man, 
 " why didn't you go at it in the regular way ? " 
 
 "I didn't know the regular way. 77 % 
 
 "That's just it. And we wasn't takin' chances with 
 you. You didn't look straight. 77 
 
 " But- what did you think I was? What are you 
 afraid of'? " 
 
 " Go on ! 77 said the man. " You can't work me! 77 
 
 Hal walked a few steps in silence, ^pondering how to 
 break through. " I see you're suspicious of me/' he 
 said. " Flf tell you the truth, if you'll let inc." Then, 
 as the other did not forbid him, " I'm a college boy, and 
 I wanted to see life and shift for myself a while. I 
 thought it would be a lark to come here." 
 
 "Well/ 7 said Bill, "this ain't no foot-ball field. : It's 
 a coal-mine." 
 
 Hal saw that his story had been accepted. " Tell me 
 straight/' he said, "what did you think I was?" 
 
 " Well, I don't mind telling," growled Bill. " There's 
 union agitators trying to organise these here camps, and 
 we ain't taking no chances with 'cm; This company gets 
 its men through agencies, and if you'd went ancl satisfied 
 them, you'd V been passed 'in the regular way. Or if 
 you'd went to the office down in Pedro and got a pass, 
 you'd V been all right. But when a guy turns up at the 
 gate, and looks like a dude and talks like a college per- 
 fessor, he don't get by, see ? " 
 
 " I see," said 1 Hal And then, " If you'll give me the 
 price of a breakfast out of my money, I'll be obliged." 
 
 "Breakfast is over," -said Bill. "You sit round till 
 the piny on s gets ripe." He laughed; but then, mellowed 
 by his own joke, he took a quarter from his pocket and 
 
12 KING COAL 
 
 
 
 passed it to Hal. He opened the padlock on the gate and 
 saw him out with a grin; and so ended Hal's first turn 
 011 the wheels of industry. 
 
 3. Hal Warner started to drag himself down the 
 road, but was unable to make it. He got as far as a 
 brooklet . that came down the mountain-side, from which 
 he might drink without fear of typhoid; there he lay the 
 whole day, fasting. Towards evening a thunder-storm 
 came up, and he crawled under the shelter of a rock, which 
 was no shelter at all. His single blanket was soon soaked 
 through, and he, passed a night almost as miserable as 
 the previous one. He could not sleep, but he could think, 
 and he thought about what had happened to him. " Bill " 
 had said that a coal mine was not a foot-ball field, but, it 
 Deemed to Hal that the net impress pf. the two was very 
 much the same. He congratulated himself that his pro- 
 fession was not that of a union organiser. 
 
 At* dawn he dragged himself up, and continued his 
 journey, weak, from cold and unaccustomed lack of food. 
 In the course of the day he reached .a power-station near 
 the foot of the canyon. He did not have the price of a 
 meal, and was afraid to beg; but in one of the group of 
 buildings by the roadside was a store, and he entered and 
 inquired concerning prunes, which were twenty-five cents 
 a pound. The price was high, but so was the altitude, 
 and as Hal found in the course of time, they explained 
 the one by the other not explaining, however, why the 
 altitude of the price was always. greater than the altitude 
 of the store. Over the counter he saw a sign : " We buy 
 scrip at ten per cent discount. 7 ' He had. heard rumours 
 of a state law forbidding payment of wages in " scrip "; 
 but he asked no questions, and carried off his 'very light 
 pound of prunes, and sat down by the roadside and 
 munched them. , 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 13 
 
 Just beyond the' power-house, down on the railroad 
 track, stood a little cabin with a garden behind it. lie 
 made his way there, and found a one-legged old watchman. 
 He asked permission to spend the night on the floor of the 
 cabin ; and seeing the old fellow look at his black eye, he 
 explained, " I tried to get a job at the mine, and they 
 thought I was a union organiser. 7 ' 
 
 " Well/ 7 said the man, " I don't want no Union organ- 
 isers round here." 
 
 "But I'm not one," pleaded Hal. 
 
 " How do I know what you are ? Maybe you're a com- 
 pany spy." 
 
 "All I want is a dry place to sleep," said Hal. 
 " Surely it won't be any harm for you to give me that." 
 
 " I'm not so sure," the other answered. " However, 
 you can spread your blanket in the corner. But don't 
 you talk no union business to me." 
 
 Hal had no desire to talk. He rolled himself in his 
 blanket and slept like a man untroubled by either love or 
 curiosity. In the morning the old fellow gave him a 
 slice of corn bread and some young onions out of his 
 garden, which had a more delicious taste than any break- 
 fast that had ever been served him. When Hal thanked 
 his host in parting, the latter remarked : " All right, 
 young fellow, there's one thing you can do to pay me, and 
 that is, say nothing about it. ' When a -man has grey 
 hair on his head and only one leg, he might as well be 
 drowned in the creek as lose his job." 
 
 Hal promised/ and went his way. His bruises pained 
 him less, and he was able to walk. There were ranch- 
 houses in sight it was like coming back suddenly to 
 America ! 
 
 4. Hal had now before him a week's adventures as 
 a hobo: a genuine hobo, with no ten dollar bill inside his 
 belt to take the reality out 'of his experiences. He took 
 
14 KING COAL 
 
 stock of his worldly goods and wondered if he still looked 
 like a dude. lie recalled that he had. a smile which had 
 fascinated the ladies; would it work in combination with 
 a black eye ? Haying no other means of support, he tried 
 it on susceptible looking housewives, .and found it so suc- 
 cessful that he was tempted to doubt the wisdom of honest 
 labour. He sang the Harrigan song no more, but instead 
 the .words of a hobo-song he had once heard: 
 
 u Oh, what's the use of workin' when there's women 
 in the land?" 
 
 The second day he made the acquaintance of two other 
 gentlemen of the road, who sat by the railroad-track toast- 
 ing some bacon :over a fire. They welcomed himj and 
 after they had heard his story, adopted him into the fra- 
 ternity and instructed him in its ways of life. Pretty 
 soon he made the acquaintance of one who had been a 
 miner, and was able to give him the information he 
 needed before climbing another canyon. 
 
 " Dutch Mike " was the name this person, bore; for 
 reasons he did not explain. He was a black-eyed and dan- 
 gerous-looking rascal, and when the subject of. mines and 
 mining was broached, he opened .up the ilood-gates of an 
 amazing reservoir of profanity. He was through with 
 that game- Hal or any. other God-damned fool might 
 have his job for .the asking. " It was only because there 
 were so many natural-born God-damne^ fools in the world 
 that the game could.be kept going. " Dutch Mike " went 
 on to relate dreadful tales of mine-life,, and to summon 
 before him the ghosts of one pit-boss after another, con- 
 signing them .to the fires of eternal perdition. 
 
 " I wanted to work while I was young," said he, " but 
 now I'm cured, an' fer good." The world had come to 
 seem to him a place especially constructed for the purpose 
 of making him work, and every faculty he possessed was 
 devoted to foiling this plot. Sitting by a camp-fire near 
 the stream which ran down the valley, Hal had a merry 
 
THE DOMAIN OF-. KING COAL 15 
 
 time pointing out to " Dutch Mike " how he worked harder 
 at dodging work than other men worked at working. The 
 hobo did. pot. .seem to mind that, however it was a, mat- 
 ter of principle with him, and he was willing to make 
 sacrifices for his convictions. Even when they had sent 
 him to the work-house, he had refused to work; he had 
 been' shut in a dungeon, and had nearly died on a diet 
 of bread and water, rather than work. If everybody 
 would do the same, he said, they would soon " bus.t things." 
 
 Hal took a fancy to x this spontaneous revolutionist, and 
 travelled with him for a couple of days, in the course of 
 which he pumped him as to details of the life of a, miner, 
 Most of the companies used regular employment agencies, 
 as the guard had mentioned; but the trouble was, these 
 agencies got something from your pay for a long time 
 the bosses were " in cahoots " with them. When Hal won- 
 dered if this were not against the law, " Cut it .out, Bo! " 
 said his companion. " When you've had a job for a while, 
 you'll know that the law in a coal-camp is what your boss 
 tells you." The hobo went on to register his conviction 
 that when one man has the. giving of jobs, and other men 
 have, to scramble for them, the law would never have much 
 to say in the deal. Hal judged this a profound observa- 
 tion, and wished that it might be conimunicated to the 
 professor of political economy at Harrigan. 
 
 On the second night of his acquaintance with " Dutch 
 Mike," their " jungle " was raided by a constable with 
 half a dozen deputies; for a determined effort was being 
 made just then to drive vagrants from the neighbourhood 
 or to get them to work in the mines. Hal's friend, who 
 slept with one eye open, made a break in the darkness, and 
 Hal followed him, getting under the guard of the raiders 
 by a foot-ball trick. They left their food and blankets 
 behind them, but " Dutch Mike " made light of this, and 
 lifted a chicken from a roost to keep them cheerful through 
 the night hours, and stole a change of underclothing off a 
 
16 KING OAL 
 
 clothes-line the next day. Hal ate the chicken, and wore 
 the underclothing, thus beginning his career in crime. 
 
 Parting from " Dutch Mike," he went back to Pedro. 
 The hobo had told him that saloon-keepers nearly always 
 had friends in the coal-camps, and could help a fellow to 
 a job. So Hal began enquiring, and the second one re- 
 plied, Yes, he would give him a letter to a man at North 
 Valley, and if he got the job, the friend would deduct a 
 dollar a month from his pay. Hal agreed, and set out 
 upon another tramp up another canyon, upon the strength 
 of a sandwich " bummed " from a ranch-house at the en- 
 trance to the valley. At another stockaded gate of the 
 General Fuel Company he presented his letter, addressed 
 to a person named O'Callahan, who turned out also to be 
 a saloon-keeper. 
 
 .The guard did not even open the letter, but passed Hal 
 in at sight of it, and lie sought out his man and applied 
 for work. The man said he would help him, but would 
 have .to deduct a dollar a month for himself, as well as a 
 dollar for his friend in Pedro. Hal kicked at this, and 
 they bartered back and forth ; finally, when Hall turned 
 away and threatened to appeal directly to the " super," 
 the saloon-keeper compromised on a dollar and a half. 
 
 " You know mine-work ? " he asked. 
 
 " Brought up at it," said Hal, made wise, now, in the 
 ways of the world. 
 
 " Where did you work ? " 
 
 Hal named several mines, concerning which he had 
 learned something from the hoboes. He was going by the 
 name of " Joe Smith," which he judged likely to be found 
 on the payroll of any mine. He had more than a week's 
 growth of beard to disguise him, and had picked up some 
 profanity as well. 
 
 The saloon-keeper took him to interview Mr. Alee Stone, 
 pit-boss in Number Two mine, who inquired promptly: 
 " You know anything about mules ? " 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 17 
 
 " I worked in a stable," said Hal, " I know about 
 horses." 
 
 " Well, mules is different," said the man. " One of my 
 stable-men got the colic the other day, and I don't know if 
 he'll ever be any good again." 
 
 " Give me a chance," said Hal. " I'll manage them." 
 
 The boss looked him over, u You look like a bright 
 chap," said he. " I'll pay you forty-live a month, and if 
 you make good I'll make it fifty." 
 
 " All right, sir. When do I start in 2 " 
 
 " You can't start too quick to suit me. Where's your 
 duds ? " 
 
 " This is all I've got," said Hal, pointing to the bundle 
 of stolen underwear in his hand. 
 
 " 'Well, chuck it there in the corner," said the man; 
 then suddenly he stopped, and looked at Hal, frowning. 
 " You belong to any union ? " 
 
 " Lord, no ! " 
 
 " Did you ever belong to any union ? " 
 
 " No, sir. Never." 
 
 The man's gaze seemed to imply .that Hal was lying, 
 and that his secret soul was about to be read. " You have 
 to swear to that, you know, before you can work here." 
 
 " All right," said Hal, " I'm willing." 
 
 " I'll see you about it to-morrow," said the other. " I 
 ain't got the paper w r ith me. By the way, what's your 
 religion ? " 
 
 "Seventh Day A.dventist." 
 
 "Holy Christ! What's that?" 
 
 " It don't hurt/' said Hal. " I ain't supposed to work 
 on Saturdays, but I do." 
 
 " Well, don't you go preachin' it round here. We got 
 our own preacher you chip in fifty cents a month for 
 him out of your wages. Come ahead now, and I'll take 
 you down." And so it was that Hal got his start in 
 life. 
 
18 KIXG COAL 
 
 5. The mule is notoriously a profane and godless 
 creature; a blind alley of Nature, so to speak, a mistake 
 of which she is ashamed, and which she does not permit 
 to reproduce itself. The thirty mules under Hal's charge 
 had been brought, up in an environment calculated to fos- 
 ter the worst tendencies of their natures. He soon made 
 the discovery that the " colic " of his predecessor had been 
 caused by a mule's hind foot in the stomach; and he re 1 
 alised that he must not let his mind 'Wander for an instant, 
 if he were to avoid this dangerous disease. 
 
 These mules lived their lives in the darkness of the 
 earth's interior ; only when they fell sick were they taken 
 up to see the sunlight and to roll about in green pastures. 
 There was one of them called "Dago Charlie," who had 
 learned to chew tobacco, and to runlmage in the pockets 
 of the miners and their " buddies.." Not' knowing how to 
 spit out the juice, he would make 'himself ill, and then 
 he would swear off from indulgence. But the drivers and 
 the pit-boys knew his failing, and would tempt "Dago 
 Charlie " until he fell from grace. Hal soon discovered 
 this moral tragedy, and carried the pain of it in his soul 
 as he went about his all-day drudgery. 
 
 He went down the shaft with the first cage, which was 
 very early in the morning. He fed and watered his 
 charges, and helped to harness them. Then, when the 
 last four hoofs had clattered away, he cleaned out the 
 stalls, and mended harness, and obeyed the. orders of any 
 person older than himself who happened to be about. 
 
 Next to the mules, his torment; was the '" trapper-boys," 
 and other youngsters with whom he came into contact. 
 He was a newcomer, and so they hazed him; moreover, he 
 had an inferior job there scorned to their minds to be, 
 something humiliating and comic about the task of tend- 
 ing mules. .These urchins came from a score of nations 
 of Southern Europe and Asia;- there were flat-faced Tar- 
 tars and swarthy Greeks and shrewd-eyed little Japanese. 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 10 
 
 They spoke a compromise language, consisting mainly of 
 English curse words and obscenities * the filthiness which 
 their minds had spawned was incredible to one born and 
 raised in the sunlight. They alleged obscenities of their 
 mothers and their grandmothers ; also of. the Virgin Mary, 
 the one mythological character they had heard of. Poor 
 little creatures of the dark, their souls grimed and smut- 
 ted even more quickly and irrevocably than their faces ! 
 
 Hal had been advised' by his boss to inquire for board 
 at " Rerninitsky's." He came up in the last car, at twi- 
 light,, and was directed to a dimly lighted building of 
 corrugated iron, where upon inquiry he was met by a 
 stout Russian, who told him he could be taken care of for 
 twenty-seven dollars a month, this including a cot in a 
 room with eight other single men. After deducting a 
 dollar and a half a month for his saloon-keepers, fifty 
 cents for the company clergyman and a dollar for the com- 
 pany doctor, fifty cents a month for wash-house privileges 
 and fifty cents for a sick and accident benefit fund, he had 
 fourteen dollars a month with which to clothe himself, 
 to found a family, to provide himself with beer and to- 
 bacco, and to patronise the libraries and colleges endowed 
 by the philanthropic owners of coal mines. 
 
 Supper was nearly over at Ixeminitsky's when he ar- 
 rived ; -the floor -looked like the scene 6f a cannibal picnic, 
 and what food was left was cold. It was always to be 
 this way with him, he found, and he had to make' the best 
 of it. The dining-room of this boarding-house, owned and 
 managed by the G. F. C., brought to his mind the state 
 prison, which he had once visited with its rows of nieii 
 sitting in silence, eating 1 starch and grease out of tin-plates. 
 The plates here were of crockery 'half an inch thick, but 
 the starch and grease never failed; 'the formula of Kcm- 
 i nit sky's cook seemed to be, When in doubt add grease, 
 and boil it in. Even ravenous as Hal was after his long 
 tramp and his labour below ground, he could hardly swal- 
 
20 KING COAL 
 
 low this food. On Sundays, the only time he ate by day- 
 light?, the flies swarmed over everything, and he .remem- 
 bered having heard a physician say that an enlightened 
 man should be more afraid of a fly than of a Bengal tiger. 
 The boarding-house provided him with a cot and a 
 supply of vermin, but with.no blanket, which was a neces- 
 sity in the mountain regions. So after supper he had to 
 seek out his boss, and arrange to get credit at the company- 
 store* They were 'willing to give a certain amount of 
 credit, he found, as this would enable the camp-marshal to 
 keep him from straying. There was no law to hold a man 
 for debt but Hal knew by this time how much a camp- 
 rnarshal cared for law. 
 
 6, For three days Hal toiled in the bowels of the 
 mine, and ate and pursued vermin at Reminitsky's. 
 Then came a blessed Sunday, and he had a couple of free 
 hours to see the sunlight and to get a look at the North 
 Valley camp. It was a village straggling along .more 
 than a mile of the mountain canyon. In the centre were 
 the great breaker- build ings, the shaft-house, and the power- 
 house with its tall chimneys ; nearby were the company- 
 store and a couple of saloons. There were several board- 
 ing-houses like Reminitsky's, and long rows of board cabins 
 containing from two to four rooms, each, some of them 
 occupied by several families. A little way up a slope 
 stood a school-house* and another small one-room building 
 which served as a church ; the clergyman belonging to the 
 General Fuel Company denomination. He was given the 
 use of the building, by way of start over the saloons, which 
 had to pay a heavy rental to the company; it seemed a 
 proof of tlae innate perversity of human nature that even 
 in spite of this advantage, heaven was losing out in the 
 struggle against hell in the coal-camp. 
 
 As one walked through this village, the first impression 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 21 
 
 was of desolation. , The mountains towered, barren and 
 lonely, scarred with the w.ounds of geologic ages. In these 
 canyons the sun set early in the afternoon, the snow came 
 early in the if all; everywhere Nature's hand seemed against 
 man, and, man had succumbed to her power." Inside the 
 .camps one felt a still more cruel desolation that of 
 sordidness and animalism. There were a few pitiful at- 
 tempts at vegetable-gardens, but. the cinders and smoke 
 killed everything, and the prevailing colour was of grime. 
 The landscape was . strewn with ash-hea.pS) old wire and 
 tomato-cans, and smudged and smutty children .playing. 
 
 .There was a part of the camp called ." shanty-town," 
 where, amid miniature mountains of slag, some of the 
 lowest of the newly-arrived foreigners had been permitted 
 to. build themselves shacks out of old boards, tin, and 
 sheets of tar-paper. These homes were beneath th^'; dig- 
 nity of chicken-houses, yet in some of them a dozen people 
 were crowded, men and women skeping on old rags and 
 blankets on a cinder floor. Here the babies swarmed like 
 maggots. They wore for the most part a single ragged 
 srnock, and their bare buttocks were shamelessly upturned 
 to the heavens. It was so the children of the cave-men 
 must have played, thought Hal; and waves of repulsion 
 swept over him. He had come with love and curiosity, 
 but both motives failed here. How could a man of sensi- 
 tive nerves, aware of the refinements and graces of life, 
 learn to love these people, who were an affront to his every 
 sense a stench to his nostrils, a jabbering to his ear, 
 a procession of deformities to his eye ? What had civili- 
 sation done for them? What cpuld it do? After all, 
 what were they fit for, but the dirty work they were penned 
 up to do? So spoke the haughty race-consciousness of the 
 Anglo-Saxon, contemplating these Mediterranean hordes, 
 the very shape of whose heads was objectionable. 
 
 But Hah stuck it Out; and little by little new vision 
 came to him. First of all, it was the fascination of the 
 
 3 Mch.21 
 
22 KING COAL 
 
 mines. They were old mines veritable' cities tunnelled 
 out beneath the mountains, the main passages running- for 
 miles. One day Hal stole otf from his job, and took a 
 trip with a " rope-rider," and got through his physical 
 senses a realisation of the vastness and strangeness and 
 loneliness of this labyrinth of night. In Number Two 
 mine the vein ran up at a slope of perhaps five degrees; 
 in part of it the empty cars were hauled in long trains by 
 an endless rope, but coming back loaded, they came of 
 their own gravity. This involved much work for the 
 " spraggers," or boys who did the braking ; it sometimes 
 meant run-away cars, and fresh perils added to the every- 
 day perils of coal-mining. 
 
 The vein varied from four to five feet in thickness; a 
 cruelty of nature which made it necessary that the men 
 at the " working' face " the place where new coal was 
 being' cut should learn to 'shorten their stature. After 
 !Hal had squatted for a' while and watched them at their 
 tasks, he understood why the^ walked with head and shoul- 
 ders bent over and arms hanging down," 'so that, seeing 
 them coming out of the shaft in the gloaming, one thought 
 of a file of baboons. The method of getting out the Coal 
 was to " undercut " it with a pick, and then blow it loose 
 with a charge of powder. This meant that the miner had 
 to lie on his side while working, and accounted for other 
 physical peculiarities. 
 
 Thus, as always, when one understood the lives of men, 
 one came to pity instead of despising: ' Here was a sepa- 
 rate race of creatures, subterranean gnomes, pent up by so- 
 ciety for purposes of its- own:-' Outside in the sunshine- 
 flooded canyon, long lines ; of~cars rolled down with their 
 freight of soft-coal ; coal which would go to the ends of the 
 earth, to places the miner never heard of, turning the 
 wheels of industry whose products the miner would never 
 see. It would make precious silks for fine ladies, it would 
 cut precious jewels for their adornment; it w 7 ould carry 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 23 
 
 long" trains of softly upholstered cars across- deserts : and 
 over mountains ; it would drive palatial steanlships out of 
 wintry tempests into gleaming tropic seas. And the 1 fine 
 ladies in" their precious silks and jewels would eat ; and 
 sleep and laugh and lie at ease- and would know no more 
 of the stunted creatures of 'the dark than the stunted crea- 
 tures knew of them. Hal reflected upon this, and sub- 
 dued his Anglo-Saxon pride, finding forgiveness for \what 
 was repulsive in these people their barbarous, jabbering 
 
 speech, their vermin-ridden homes, their bare-bottomed 
 
 i5, . > ? 
 
 babies. 
 
 7'. It chanced before many days that Hal got a holi- 
 day, relieving the monotony of his labours as stableman: 
 an -accidental holiday, not?' -provided for in his bargain 
 with the pit-boss. Something went^wrong with the ven- 
 tilating-course in Number Two, and he began to notice a 
 headache, and heard the men grumbling that their lamps 
 were Burning low. Then, as matters began to get serious^ 
 orders came to get the mules to the surface. 
 
 Which meant an amusing adventure. The delight of 
 Hal's pets at seeing the sunlight was irresistibly comic. 
 They could 1 not be kept from lying down and rolling on 
 their backs in the cinder-strewn street; and when they 
 Were corralled fei a distant part of the camp where actual 
 grass grew, they abandoned themselves to rapture like a 
 horde of school children at a picnic* , 
 
 So Hal had a few free hours; and being still young and 
 not cured of idle curiosities, he climbed the caliyon wall to 
 see the mountains. As he was sliding down again, toward 
 evening, a vivid spot of colour was painted, 'into his picture 
 of mine-life ; he found himself in somebody's back yard, 
 and being observed by somebody's daughter, who was tak- 
 ing in the family wash. It was a splendid figure of a lass, 
 tall and vigorous, with the ; sort of hair -that in polite 
 
24 KING COAL 
 
 circles is called auburn, and that flaming colour in the 
 cheeks which is Nature's recompense to people who live 
 where it rains all, the time. She was the first beautiful 
 sight Hal had seen since he had come up the canyon, and 
 it was only natural that he should be interested. It seemed 
 to him that, so long as the girl stared, he had a right to 
 stare back. It did not occur to him that he too was a 
 pleasing sight - that the mountain air had given colour 
 to his cheeks and a shine to his gay brown eyes, while 
 the mountain winds had blown his wavy brown hair. 
 
 " Hello," said she, at last, in a warm voice, unmis- 
 takably Irish. 
 
 " Hello yourself," said Hal, in the accepted dialect ; 
 then he added, with more elegance, " Pardon me for tres- 
 passing on your wash." 
 
 Her grey eyes opened wider. " Go on! " she said. 
 . " I'd rather stay," said Hal. " It's a beautiful sun- 
 set." 
 
 " I'll move, so ye can see it better." ; She carried her 
 armful of clothes over and dropped them into the basket. 
 
 " No," said Hal, " it's not so fine now. The colours 
 have faded." 
 
 She turned and gazed at him again. " Go on wid 
 ye! I been teased about my hair since before I could 
 talk," 
 
 " 'Tis envy," said Hal, dropping into her way of speech ; 
 and he came a few steps nearer, so that he could inspect 
 the hair more closely. It lay above her brow in undula- 
 tions which were agreeable to the decorative instinct, and 
 a tight heavy braid of it fell over her shoulders and swung 
 to her waist-line. He observed the shoulders, which were 
 sturdy, obviously accustomed to hard labour ; not conform- 
 ing to accepted romantic standards of femininity, yet 
 having an "athletic grace of their own. They were cov- 
 ered with a faded blue calico dress, unfortunately riot 
 entirely clean; also, the young man noticed, there was 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 25 
 
 a rent in one shoulder through which a patch of skin was 
 visible. The girl's eyes, which had been following his, 
 became defiant; she tossed a piece of her washing over 
 the shoulder, where it stayed through the balance o-f the 
 interview. 
 
 " Who are ye ? " she demanded, suddenly. 
 
 " My name's Joe Smith. I'm a stableman in Number 
 Two." 
 
 " And what were ye doin' up there, if a body might 
 ask?" She lifted her grey eyes to the bare mountain- 
 side, down which he had come sliding in a shower of loose 
 stones and dirt. 
 
 " I've been surveying my empire," said he. 
 
 "Your what?" 
 
 " My empire. The land belongs to the company, but 
 the landscape belongs to him who cares for it." 
 
 She tossed her head a little. " Where did ye learn to 
 talk like ye do?" 
 
 " In another life," said he- " before I became a stable- 
 man. Not in entire forgetfulness, but trailing clouds of 
 glory did I come." 
 
 For a moment she wrestled with this. Then a smile 
 broke upon her face. " Sure, 'tis like a poetry-book ! 
 Say some more ! " 
 
 " 0, singe fort, so suess und fein ! " quoted Hal and 
 saw her look puzzled. 
 
 " Aren't you American ? " she inquired ; and he laughed. 
 To speak a foreign language in North Valley was not a 
 mark of culture ! 
 
 " I've been listening to the crowd at Remiititsky's," he 
 said, apologetically. 
 
 "Oh! You eat there ?" 
 
 " I go there three times a day. I can't say I eat very 
 much. Could you live on greasy beans? " 
 
 " Sure," laughed the girl, " the good old pertaties is 
 good enough for me." 
 
26 KING COAL 
 
 9 
 
 " I should have said you lived on rose leaves! " be. ob- 
 served. 
 
 " Go on wid ye ! 'Tis the blaruev-stone ye been 
 kisshr!" 
 
 " 'Tis no stone I'd be wastin' my kisses on." 
 
 "Ye're gettin' bold, Mister Smith. I'll not listen to 
 ye." And she turned away, and began industriously tak- 
 ing her clothes from the line. But Hal did not want to 
 be dismissed. -He came a step closer. 
 
 a Coming down the mountain-side^ 7 he said, "I found 
 something wonderful. -It's bare and grim, up there, but 
 I came on a sheltered corner where the sun, shone, ^iid 
 there was a wild rose. Only one! I thought to myself, 
 ' So roses grow, even in the loneliest parts of the world ! ' 
 
 " Sure, 'tis a; poetry-book again ! ""she cried. " Why 
 didn't ye bring the rose ? " 
 
 " There is a poetry-book that tells us : to ' leave the wild- 
 rose on its stalk.' It will go on blooming there; but if 
 one were to pluck it, it would wither in a few hours," 
 
 He ha,d meant nothing more by this than to keep the 
 conversation going. But her answer turned the tide of 
 their acquaintance. 
 
 " Ye can never >be sure, lad. Perhaps tonight a storm 
 may come and blow it to pieces. Perhaps if ye'd pulled 
 it and been happy, 'twould V been what the rose was 
 for." 
 
 Whatever of unconscious patronage there had been in 
 the poet's attitude : was lost now in -the. eternal -mystery. 
 Whether the girl knew it or cared she had won the 
 woman's' first victory; She had caught the man's mind 
 and pinned it with curiosity. W T hat did this wild rose 
 of the mining camps mean ? 
 
 The wild rose, apparently unconscious that she had 
 said anything epoch-making, was busy with the wash ; and 
 meantime Hal Warner stiidiecl.ber features and pondered 
 her words. From a lady of sophistication they would 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 27 
 
 have meant only one thing, an invitation; but in this girl's 
 clear grey eyes was nothing of wantonness, only pain. 
 But what was : this pain in the face and words of one so 
 young, so eager arid alive?.' Was it the melancholy of 
 her race, the thing one got in old folksongs? Or was it 
 a new and special 'kind of melancholy, engendered in min- 
 ing-camps in the far West of America ? 
 
 The girl's countenance was as intriguing as her words. 
 Her grey eyes were set under sharply defined dark brows, 
 which did not match her hair. Her lipsialso were sharply 
 defined, and straight, almost without ; curves, so that it 
 seemed as if her mouth had been painted in carmine upon 
 her face. These features gave her, when she stared at 
 you, an aspect vivid and startling, bold, with a touch of 
 defiance. But when she smiled, the red lips wpul<\ curve 
 into gentler lines,' and the grey eyes would become wist- 
 ful, and seemingly darker in colour. Winsome indeed, 
 but not simple, was this Irish lass ! 
 
 * 8. Hal asked the name of his new acquaintance, and 
 she told him it was Alary Burke. " Ye've not been here 
 long, I take it," she said, "or ye'd have heard of ' Red 
 Mary.' 'Tis along of this hair." 
 
 "I've not been here long," he answered, "but I shall 
 hope to stay now along of this, hair! May I come to 
 see you some time, Miss Burke ? " 
 
 She did not reply, but glanced at the house where she 
 lived. It was an unpainted, three room cabin, more 
 dilapidated than the average, with bare dirt and cinders 
 about it, and what had once been a picket-fence, now fall- 
 ing apart and being used for stove-wood. The windows 
 were cracked and broken, and upon the roof were signs of 
 leaks that had been crudely patched. 
 
 " May I come ? " he made haste to ask again so that 
 he would not seem to look too critically at her home. 
 
28 KING GOAL 
 
 " Perhaps ye may," said the girl, as she picked up the 
 clothes basket. He stepped forward, -offering to carry it, 
 but she did not give it up. Holding it tight, and looking 
 him defiantly in the face, she said, ; " Ye may come, but 
 ye'll not find it a happy place to visit, Mr. Smith. Ye'll 
 hear soon enough from the neighbours." 
 
 " I don't think I know any of your neighbours," said lie. 
 
 There was sympathy in his voice ; but her look was no 
 less defiant. " Ye'll hear about it, Mr. Smith; but ye'll 
 hear also that I hold me head up. And 'tis not so easy 
 to do that in North Valley." 
 
 " You don't like the place ? " he asked ; and he was 
 amazed by the effect of this question, which was merely 
 polite. It was as if a storm cloud had swept over the 
 girl's face. ; " I hate it ! ? Tis a place of fear and devils ! " 
 
 He hesitated a moment ; then, " Will you tell me what 
 you mean by 'that when I come ? " 
 
 But " Red Mary " was winsome again. " When ye 
 come, Mr. Smith, I'll not be entertaining ye with troubles. 
 I'll put on me company manner, and we'll go put for a 
 nice walk, if ye please." 
 
 All the way as he walked back to Reminitsky's to sup- 
 per, Hal thought about this girl ; not merely her pleasant- 
 ness to the eye, so unexpected in this place of desolation, 
 but her personality, which baffled him - the pain that 
 seemed always just beneath the surface of her thoughts, 
 the fierce pride which flashed out at the slightest sugges- 
 tion of sympathy, the way she had of brightening when 
 he spoke the language of metaphor, however trite. How 
 had she come to know about poetry-books ? He wanted 
 to know more about this miracle of Nature this wild 
 rose blooming on a bare mountain-side! 
 
 0. There was one of Mary Burke's remarks upon 
 which Hal soon got light her statement that North 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 29 
 
 Valley was a place of fear. He listened to the tales of 
 these underworld men, until it carne so that he shuddered 
 with dread each time that he went down in- the cage. 
 
 There was a wire-haired and almond eyed. Korean, 
 named Cho, a " rope-rider " in Hal's part of the mine. 
 He was one of those who had charge of the long trains 
 of ears, called " trips/' which were hauled through die 
 main passage-ways; the name " rope-rider " came froml 
 the fact that ho sat 011 the heavy iron ,1'ing to which the; 
 rope was attached. He invited Hal to a seat with hiiUj 
 and Hal accepted, at peril of his job as well as of his 
 limbs.. Cho had picked up what he fondly thought was 
 English, .and now and then one could understand a word., 
 He pointed upon the ground, and shouted above the rattle 
 of the cars:; >" Big dust!" Hal saw that the ground 
 was covered with six inches of coal-dust, while on the old 
 disused walls one could write his name in it. " Much 
 blow-up 1" said the rope-rider; and when the last empty 
 cars had been shunted off into the working-rooms, and he 
 was waiting to make up a return ." trip," he laboured 
 with gestures to explain what he meant. " Load cars. 
 Bang! Bust like hell!" 
 
 Hal knew that the mountain air in this region was fa- 
 mous for its . dryness; he learned now that the quality 
 which meant life to invalids from every part of the world 
 meant death .to those who toiled to keep the invalids warm. 
 J )riveii through the mines by great fans, this air took out 
 every particle of moisture, and left coal dust so thick and 
 dry that there were fatal explosions from the mere friction 
 of loading-shovels. So it happened that these mines were 
 killing several times as many men as other mines through 1 
 out the country. 
 
 Was there no remedy for this, Hal asked, talking with 
 one of his mule-drivers, Tim Rafferty, the evening after 
 his ride with Cho. There was a remedy, said Tim the 
 law required sprinkling the mines with " adobe-dust " ; 
 
30 KING COAL 
 
 and once in Tim's life, lie remembered this law's being 
 obeyed. There had come some " big fellows " inspecting 
 things, and previous to their visit there had been an elabo- 
 rate campaign of sprinkling. But that had been several 
 years ago, and now the apparatus was stored away, nobody 
 knew where, and one heard nothing about sprinkling. 
 
 -It was the same with precautions against gas. The 
 North Valley mines were 'especially " gassy/ 7 it appeared. 
 In these old rambling passages one smelt a stink as of all 
 the rotten eggs in all the barn-yards of the world ; and this 
 sulphuretted hydrogen was the least dangerous of the gases 
 against which a miner had to contend. There was the 
 dreaded, "choke-damp," which was odourless, and heavier 
 than air. Striking into soft, greasy coal, one would open 
 a pocket of this gas, a deposit laid up for 'countless ages, 
 awaiting its predestined victim. A man might sink to 
 sleep as he lay at work, and if his " buddy/ 7 or helper, 
 happened to be out of sight, and to delay a minute too 
 long, it would be all over with the man. And there was 
 the still more dreaded " fire-damp," which might wreck a 
 whole mine, and kill scores and even hundreds of men. 
 
 Against these dangers there was a " fire-boss," whose 
 duty was to go through the mine, testing for gas, and mak- 
 ing sure that the ventilating-course was in order, and the 
 fans working properly. The " fire-boss " was supposed 
 to make his rounds in the early morning, and the law 
 specified that no one should go to work till he had certi- 
 fied that. all was safe. But what if the " fire-boss " over- 
 slept himself, or happened to be drunk? It was too much 
 to expect thousands of dollars to be lost for such a reason. 
 So sometimes one saw men ordered to their work, and 
 .sent down grumbling and cursing. Before many hours 
 some of them would be prostrated with headache, and 
 begging to be taken out; and perhaps the superintendent 
 wo'uld not let them out, because if a few came, the rest 
 would get scared arid want to come also. 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 31 
 
 Once, only last year, there had been an accident of that 
 sort. A young mule-driver, a Croatian, told Hal about 
 it while they sat munching the contents of their dinner- 
 pails. The first cage load of men had gone down into the 
 mine, sullenly protesting; and soon afterwards some one 
 had taken down a naked light, and there had been an 
 explosion which had sounded like the blowing up of the 
 inside of the world. Eight men had been killed, the force 
 of the explosion being so great that some of the bodies 
 had been wedged between the shaft wall and the cage, and 
 it had been necessary to cut them to pieces to get them 
 out. It was them Japs that were to blame, vowed Hal's 
 informant. They hadn't ought to turn them loose in coal 
 mines, for the devil himself 'couldn't keep a Jap from 
 sneaking off to get a smoke. 
 
 So Hal understood how North Valley was a place .of 
 fear. What tales the old chambers of these mines could 
 have told, if they had had voices! Hal watched the 
 throngs pouring in to their labours, and reflected that 
 according to the statisticians of the government eight or 
 nine of every thousand of them were destined to die violent 
 "deaths before a year was out, and some thirty more would 
 be badly injured. And they knew this, they knew it bet- 
 ter than all the statisticians of the government ; yet they 
 went to their tasks! Reflecting upon 'this, Hal was full 
 of wonder. What was the force that kept men at such 
 a task? 'Was it a sense of duty? Did they understand 
 that society had to have coal and that some one had to do 
 the " dirty work " of providing it ? Did they have a vision 
 of a future, great and wonderful, which was to grow out 
 of their ill-requited toil? Of were they simply fool's or 
 cowards, submitting blindly, because they had not the wit 
 nor the will to do otherwise ? Curiosity held him, he 
 wanted to understand the inner souls of these silent 'and 
 patient armies which through the ages have surrendered 
 their lives to other men's control. 
 
32 KING COAL 
 
 10. Hal was coming to know these people ; to see 
 them no longer as a mass, to be despised or pitied in bulk, 
 but as individuals, with individual temperaments and 
 problems, exactly like people in the world of the sunlight. 
 Mary Burke and Tim Kaft'erty, Cho the Korean and 
 Madvik the Croatian one by one these individualities 
 etched themselves into the foreground of Hal's picture, 
 making it a thing of life, moving him to sympathy and 
 fellowship. Some of these people, to be sure, were 
 stunted and dulled to a sordid ugliness of soul and body 
 but on the other hand, some of them were young, and had 
 the light of hope in their hearts, and the spark of re- 
 bellion. 
 
 There was "Andy," a boy of Greek parentage; Aii- 
 drokulos was his right name - but it was too much to 
 expect any one to get that straight in a coal-camp/ Hal 
 noticed him at the store, and was struck by his beautiful 
 features, and the mournful look in his big black eyes. 
 They got to talking, and Andy made the discovery that 
 Hal had not spent all his time in coal-camps, but had seen 
 the great w r orld. It was pitiful, the excitement that came 
 into his voice; he was yearning for life, with its joys and^ 
 adventures and it was his destiny to sit. ten hours a 
 day by the side of a chute, with the rattle of coal in his 
 ears and the dust of coal in his nostrils, picking out slate 
 with his fingers. lie was one of many scores of " breaker-' 
 boys." 
 
 " Why don't you go away ? " asked Hal. 
 
 " Christ ! How I get away ? Got mother, two sisters." 
 
 "And your father? " So Hal made the discovery that 
 Andy's father had been one of those men whose bodies 
 had had to be cut to pieces to get them out of the shaft. 
 Now the son was chained to the father's place, until his 
 time too^should come ! 
 
 " Don't want to be miner ! " cried the boy. " Don't 
 want to get kil-lid ! " 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 33 
 
 He began to ask, timidly, what Hal thought he could do 
 if he were to run away from his family and try his luck 
 in the world outside. Hal, striving to remember where 
 he had seen olive-skinned Greeks with big black eyes in 
 this beautiful land of the free, could hold out no better 
 prospect than a shoe-shining parlour, or the wiping out of 
 wash-bowls in a hotel-lavatory, handing over the tips to 
 a fat padrone. 
 
 Andy had been to school, and had learned to read Eng- 
 lish, and the teacher had loaned him books and magazines 
 with wonderful pictures in them; now he wanted more 
 than pictures, he wanted the things which they portrayed. 
 So Hal came face to face with one of the difficulties of 
 mine-operators. They gathered a population of humble 
 serfs, selected from twenty or thirty races of hereditary 
 bondsmen; but owing to the absurd American custom of 
 having public-schools, the children of this population 
 learned to speak English, and even to read it. So they 
 became too good for their lot in life ; and then a wander- 
 ing agitator .would get in, and all of a sudden there would 
 be hell. Therefore in every coal-camp had to be another 
 kind of " fire-boss," whose duty it was to guard against 
 another kind of explosions not of carbon monoxide, but 
 of the human soul. 
 
 The immediate duties of this office in North Valley de- 
 volved upon Jeff Cotton, the camp-marshal. He was not 
 at all what one would have expected from a person of his 
 trade lean and rather distinguished-looking, a man who 
 in evening clothes might have passed for a diplomat. But 
 his mouth would become ugly when he was displeased, and 
 he carried a gun with six notches upon it ; also he wore 
 a deputy-sherifFs badge, to give him immunity for other 
 notches he might wish to add. When Jeff Cotton came 
 near, any man who was explosive went off to be explosive 
 by himself. So there was " order " in North Valley, and 
 it was only on Saturday and Sunday nights, when the 
 
34 KING. COAL 
 
 drunks had to be suppressed, or on Monday mornings when 
 they had to be haled forth and kicked to their work, that 
 one realised upon wnai basis this " order " rested. 
 
 Besides Jeff Cotton, and his assistant, "'Bud" Adams, 
 who wore badges, and were known, there were other as- 
 sistants who wore no badges, and were not supposed to 
 be known. Coming up in the cage one evening, Hal made 
 some remark to the Croatian mule-driver, Madvik, about 
 the high price of company-store merchandise, and was sur- 
 prised to get a sharp kick 011 the ankle. Afterwards, as 
 they were on their way to supper, Madvik gave him the 
 reason. " Red-faced feller, Qua. Look out for him 
 company spotter.". 
 
 " Is that so ? " said Hal, with interest. " How do you 
 know?" 
 
 " I know. Everybody know." 
 
 " He don't look like he had much sense," said Hal - 
 who had got his idea of detectives from Sherlock Holmes. 
 
 " ISTo take much sense. Go pit-boss, say, i Joe feller 
 talk too much. Say store rob him.' Any damn fool do 
 that. Hey?" 
 
 " To be sure," admitted Hal. " And the coihpany pays 
 him for it ? " 
 
 "Pit-boss pay him. Maybe give him drink, maybe two 
 bits. Then pit-boss come to you : ' You shoot your 
 mouth off too much, feller. Grit the hell out of here!' 
 See ? " 
 
 Hal saw. 
 
 " So you go down canyon. Then maybe you go 'nother 
 mine. Boss say, i Where you work?' You say "North 
 Valley.' He say, ' What your name ? ' You say, ' ( Joe 
 Smith.' He say, 'Wait.' He go in, look at paper; he 
 come out/ say, ' No job!' You say, ' Why not?' He 
 say, Shoot off your mouth too much, feller. Git the hell 
 out of here!' /See?" 
 
 " You mean a black-list," said Hal. 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 35 
 
 "Sure, black-list. Maybe telephone, find out all -about 
 you. You do anything bad, like talk union " Madvik 
 had dropped his voice and whispered the word " union " 
 " they send your picture don't get job nowhere in state. 
 How you like that ?" 
 
 11. Before long Hal had a chance to see this sys- 
 tem of espionage at work, and he began to understand 
 something of the force which kept these silent and patient 
 armies at their tasks. On a Sunday morning he was 
 strolling with his mule-driver friend Tim Rafferty, a 
 kindly lad with a .pair of dreamy blue eyes in his coal- 
 smutted face. They came to Tim's home, and he invited 
 Hal to come iri and meet his family. The father was a 
 bowed and toil-worn man, but with tremendous strength 
 in his solid frame, the product of many generations of 
 labour in coal-mines. He was known as " Old Rafferty," 
 despite the fact that he was well under- fifty. JETe had 
 been a pit-boy at the age of nine, and he showed Hal ,a 
 faded leather album with pictures of his ancestors in the 
 " oul' country ? ' men'With sad, deeply lined faces, sitting 
 very stiff and solemn to have their presentments made 
 permanent for posterity. ' 
 
 The .mother of the family was a gaunt, grey-haired 
 woman, with no teeth, but with a warm heart. Hal took 
 to her, because her home was clean; he sat on the family 
 door-step, - amid a crowd of little Rafferties with newly- 
 washed Sunday faoeSj and fascinated them with tales of 
 adventures cribbed from Clark Russell and Captain Mayne 
 Reid. As a reward he was invited/to stay for dinner, and 
 had a clean knife and fork, and a clean plate of steaming 
 hot potatoes, with two slices of salt pork on the side. 
 It was so wonderful that he forthwith inquired., if he might 
 forsake his company boarding-house and come and board 
 with them. 
 
36 KING COAL 
 
 'Mrs, Rafferty opened wide her eyes. "Sure/' ex- 
 claimed she, " do you think you'd be let? " 
 
 "Why not?" asked Hal. 
 
 " Sure, 't would be a bad example for the others/' 
 
 " Do you mean I have to board at Reminitsky's ? " 
 
 " There be six company boardin'-houses," said the 
 woman. 
 
 "And what would they do if I came to you? " 
 
 "First you'd get a hint, and then you'd go down the 
 canyon, and maybe us after ye." 
 
 "But there's lots of people have boarders in shanty- 
 town," objected Hal. 
 
 " Oh ! Them wops ! Nobody counts them they live 
 any way they happen to fall. But you started at Rem- 
 initsky's, and 't would not be healthy for them that took 
 ye away." 
 
 "I see," laughed Hal. "There seem to be a lot of 
 unhealthy' things hereabouts." 
 
 " Sure there* be ! They sent down Nick Ammons be- 
 cause his wife bought milk down the canyon. They had 
 a sick baby, and it's not much you get in this thin stuff 
 at the store. They put chalk in it, I think ; any way, you 
 can see somethin' white in the- bottom." 
 
 " So you have to trade at the store, too ! " 
 
 " I thought ye said ye'd worked in coal-mines," put in 
 Old Rafferty, who had been a silent listener. 
 
 "So I have," said Hal. " But it wasn't quite that 
 bad. 
 
 "Sure," said Mrs. Rafferty, " I'd-like to know where 
 'twas then in this country. Me and me old man spent 
 weary years a-liuntin'." 
 
 Thus far the: conversation had proceeded naturally ; but 
 
 suddenly it was as if a shadow passed over it a shadow 
 
 of fear. Hal saw Old Rafferty ; look at his wife, and frown 
 
 : and make signs to her. After all, what did they know. 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 37 
 
 about this handsome young stranger, who talked so glibly, 
 and had been in so many parts of the world ? 
 
 " 'Tis not complainin' we'd be/' said the old man. 
 
 And his wife made haste to add,-" If they let peddlers 
 and the like of them come in, 'twould be no end to it, I 
 suppose. We find they treat us here as well as any- 
 where." 
 
 " 'Tis no joke, the life of workin' men, wherever ye try 
 it," added the other; and when young Tim started to 
 express an opinion, they shut him up with such evident 
 anxiety that Hal's heart ached for them, and he made 
 haste to change the subject. 
 
 12. On the evening of the same Sunday Hal went 
 to pay his promised call upon Mary Burke". She opened 
 the front door of the cabin to let him in,' and even by the 
 dim rays of the little kerosene lamp, there came to him 
 an impression of cheerfulness. "Hello," she said just 
 as she had said it when he had slid down the mountain 
 into the family wash. He followed her into the room, and 
 saw that the impression he had got of cheerfulness came 
 from Mary herself. How bright and fresh she looked ! 
 The old blue calico, which had not been entirely clean, 
 was newly laundered now, and on the shoulder where the 
 rent had been was a neat patch of unf aded blue. 
 
 There being only three rooms in Mary's home, two of 
 these necessarily bed-rooms, she entertained her company 
 in the kitchen. The room was bare, Hal saw there was 
 not even so much as a clock by way of ornament. The 
 only .charm the girl had been able to give to it, in prepa- 
 ration for company, was that of cleanness. The board 
 floor had been newly sanded and scrubbed ; the kitchen 
 table also had been scrubbed, and the kettle on the stove, 
 and the cracked tea-pot and bowls on the shelf. Mary's 
 
38 KING COAL 
 
 little brother and sister were in the room: Jennie^ ; a 
 dark-eyed, dark-haired little girl,, frail, with a sad, rather 
 frightened face; and Tommie, a round headed youngster, 
 like a thousand other round headed and freckle-faced boys. 
 Both of them were now sitting very straight in their 
 chairs, staring at the visitor with a certain resentment, he 
 thought. He suspected that they had been included in 
 the general scrubbing. Inasmuch *as it had been uncer- 
 tain just when the visitor would come, they must have 
 been required to do this every night, and he could imagine 
 family disturbances, with arguments possibly not alto- 
 gether complimentary to Mary's new " feller." 
 
 There seemed to be a certain uneasiness in the place. 
 Mary did not invite her company to a seat, but stood irreso- 
 lute; and after Hal had ventured a couple of friendly 
 remarks to the children, she said, abruptly, " Shall we 
 be takin 7 that walk that we spoke of, Mr; Smith ? " 
 
 " Delighted ! " said Hal ; and while she pinned on her 
 hat before the broken mirror on the shelf, he smiled at the 
 children and quoted two lines from his Harrigan song 
 
 " Oh, Mary-Jane, come out in the lane, 
 The moon is a-shinin' in the old pecan! " 
 
 Tommie and Jennie were too shy to answer, but Mary 
 exclaimed, " 'Tis in a tin-can ye see it shmin' here ! " , 
 
 They went out. In the soft summer night it was pleas- 
 ant to stroll under the moon especially when they had 
 come to the remoter parts of the village, where there were 
 not so many weary people on door-steps and children play- 
 ing noisily. There were .other young couples walking 
 here, under the same moon ; the hardest day's toil could 
 not so sap their, energies that they did not feel the spell 
 of this soft summer night. 
 
 Hal, being tired, was content to stroll ; and enjoy the 
 stillness; but Mary Burke sought information about the 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 39 
 
 mysterious young man she was with. " Ye've not worked 
 long in coal-mines, Mr. Smith ? " she remarked. 
 
 Hal was a trifle disconcerted. " How did you find that 
 out?" 
 
 " Ye don't look it ye .don't talk it. Ye're not like 
 anybody or anything around here. I don't know how to 
 say it, but ye make me think more of the poetry-books." 
 
 Flattered as Hal was by this naive confession, he -did 
 not want to talk of the mystery of himself. He took 
 refuge in a question about the " poetry-books." "I've 
 read some," said the girl; "niore than ye'd have thought, 
 perhaps." This with a flash of her. defiance. 
 
 He asked more questions, and learned that. she, like the 
 Greek boy, ." Andy," had come under the influence of that 
 disturbing American institution, the public-school; she 
 had learned to read, and the pretty young teacher had 
 helped her, lending her books and magazines. Thus she 
 had been given a key to a treasure-house, a magic carpet 
 on which to travel over the world. These similes Mary 
 herself used for the Arabian Nights had been one of 
 the books that were loaned to her. On rainy days she 
 would hide behind the sofa, reading at a spot where the 
 light crept in so that she might be sa.fe from small 
 brothers and sisters! 
 
 Joe Smith had read these same books, it appeared ; and 
 this seemed remarkable to Mary, for books cost money 
 and were hard to get. She explained how she had searched 
 the camp for new magic carpets, finding a " poetry-book " 
 by Longfellow, and a book of American history,: and a 
 story called "David Copperfield," and last and strangest 
 of all, another story called "Pride and Prejudice." A 
 curious freak of fortune the . prim and sentimentally 
 quivering Jane Austen in a coal-camp in. a far Western 
 wilderness ! An adventure for Jane, as well as for Mary ! 
 
 What had Mary made of it, Hal wondered. Had, she 
 revelled, shop-girl fashion, in scenes of pallid ease? He 
 
40 KING COAL 
 
 learned that what she had made of it was despair. This 
 world outside, with its freedom and cleanness, its people 
 living gracious and worth-while lives, was not for her ; she 
 was chained to a scrub-pail in a coal-camp. Things had 
 got so much worse since the death of her mother, she said. 
 Her voice had become dull and hard Hal thought that 
 he had never heard a young voice express such hopelessness. 
 
 " You've never been anywhere but here ? " he asked. 
 
 " I been in two other camps," she said " first the 
 Gordon, and then East Run. But they're all alike." 
 
 " But you've been down to the towns ? " 
 
 " Only for a day, once or twice a year. Once I was in 
 Sheridan, and in a church I heard a lady sing." 
 
 She stopped for a moment, lost in this memory. Then 
 suddenly her voice changed and he could imagine in 
 the darkness that she had tossed her head defiantly. " I'll 
 not be entertainin' company with my tr6ubles ! Ye know 
 how tiresome that is when ye hear it from somebody else 
 like my next-door neighbour, Mrs. Zamboni. D' ye 
 know her ? " 
 
 "No," said Hal. 
 
 " The poor old lady has troubles enough, God knows. 
 Her man's not much good he's troubled with the drink ; 
 and she's got eleven childer, and that's too many for one 
 woman. Don't ye think so ? " 
 
 . She asked this with a naivete which made Hal laugh. 
 '" Yes," he said, " I do." 
 
 " Well, I think people'd help her more if she'd not 
 complain so ! And half of it in the Slavish language, that 
 a body can' t understand! " So Mary began to tell funny 
 things about Mrs. Zamboni and her other polyglot neigh- 
 bours, imitating their murdering of the Irish dialect. 
 Hal thought her humour was naive and delightful, and 
 he led her on to more cheerful gossip during the remainder 
 of their walk. 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 41 
 
 13. But then, as they were on their way home, 
 tragedy fell upon them. Hearing a step behind them, 
 Mary turned and looked ; then catching Hal by the arm, 
 she drew him into the shadows at the side, whispering to 
 him to be silent. The ^ent figure of a man went past 
 them, lurching from side to side. 
 
 When, he had turned and gone into the house, Mary 
 said, " Ira my father. He's ugly when he's like that." 
 And Hal could hear her quick breathing in the darkness. 
 
 So that was Mary's trouble the difficulty in her home 
 life to which she had referred at their first meeting! 
 Hal understood many things in a flash why her home 
 was bare of ornament, and why she did not invite her 
 company to sit down. He stood silent, not knowing what 
 to say. Before he could find the word, Mary burst out, 
 " Oh, how I hate O'Callahan, that sells the 'stuff to my 
 'father! His home with plenty to eat in it, and his wife 
 dressin' in silk and goin' down to mass every Sunday, 
 and thinkin' herself too good for a common miner's daugh- 
 ter! Sometimes I think I'd like to kill them both.' 7 
 
 " That wouldn't help much," Hal ventured. 
 
 " No, I know thcre'd only be some other one in his 
 place. Ye got to do more than that, to change things 
 here. Ye got to get after them that make money out of 
 O'Callahan." 
 
 So Mary's mind was groping for causes! Hal had 
 thought her excitement was due to humiliation, or to fear 
 of a scene of violence when she reached home ; but she was 
 thinking of the deeper aspects of this terrible drink prob- 
 lem. There was still enough unconscious snobbery in Hal 
 Warner for him to be surprised at this phenomenon in a 
 common miner's daughter ; and so, as at their first meeting, 
 his pity was turned to intellectual interest. 
 
 " They'll stop the drink business altogether some day," 
 ho said. He had not known that he was a Prohibitionist; 
 he had become one suddenly! 
 
42 KING COAL 
 
 
 
 " Well," she answered, " they'd best stop it soon, if they 
 don't want to be too late. 'Tis a sight to make your heart 
 sick to see the young lads comin' home staggering too 
 drunk even to fight." 
 
 Hal had not had time to se& much of this aspect of 
 North Valley. " They sell to boys ? " he asked. 
 
 " Sure/ who's 16 care? A boy's money's as good as a 
 man's." . 
 
 " But I should think the company " 
 
 "The company lets the saloon-buildm' that's all the 
 company cares." 
 
 " But they must care something about the efficiency of 
 their hands ! " 
 
 " Sure, there's plenty more where they come from. 
 When ye can't work, they fire ye, arid that's all there is 
 to it." 
 
 " And is it so easy to get skilled men ?" 
 
 " It don't take much skill to get out coal. The skill is 
 in keepin' your bones whole and if you can stand 
 breakin* 'em, the company can stand it." 
 
 They had come to the* little cabin. Mary stood for a 
 moment in silence. " I'm talkin' bitter again ! :? ' she ex- 
 claimed suddenly. "And I promised ye me company 
 manner ! But things keep happening to set me off." And 
 she turned abruptly and ran into the house. Hal stood 
 for a moment wondering if she would : return ; then, de- 
 ciding that she had meant that as good night, he went 
 slowly up the street. 
 
 He fought against a mood of real depression, the first 
 he had known since his coming to North Valley. He had 
 managed so far to keep a certain degree of aloofness, that 
 he might see this industrial world without prejudice. But 
 to-night his pity for Mary had involved hiin more deeply. 
 To be sure, he might be able to help her, to find her work 
 in some less crushing environment ; but his mind went on 
 to the question how many girls might there be in miri- 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 43 
 
 ing-camps, young and eager, hungering for life, but 
 crushed by poverty, and by the burden of the drink 
 problem ? 
 
 A man walked past Hal, greeting him in the semi-dark- 
 ness with a nod, and a motion of the hand. ' It was the 
 Kevereud Spragg, the gentleman who was officially com- 
 missioned to combat the demon rum in North Valley. 
 Hal had been to the little white church the Sunday before, 
 and heard the Reverend Spragg preach a doctrinal sermon, 
 in which the blood of the lamb was liberally sprinkled, 
 and the congregation heard where and how they were to 
 receive compensation for the distresses they endured in 
 this vale of tears. 
 
 What a mockery it seemed ! Once, indubitably, people 
 had believed such doctrines ; they had been willing to go 
 to the stake for them. But now nobody went to- the .stake 
 for them on the contrary, the company compelled every 
 worker to contribute out of- his scanty earnings towards 
 the preaching of them. How could the most ignorant of 
 zealots confront such an arrangement without suspicion of 
 his own piety ? Somewhere at the head of the great divi- 
 dend-paying machine that was called . the General Fuel 
 Company must be some devilish intelligence that had 
 worked it all out, that had given the orders to its ecclesi- 
 astical staff: " We want the present we leave you the 
 future ! We want the bodies we leave you the souls ! 
 Teach, them what you will about heaven so long as you 
 let us plunder them on ea,rth ! ". 
 
 In 'accordance with this devil's program, the Reverend 
 Spragg might denounce the demon rum, but he said noth- 
 ing about dividends based on the renting of rum-shops, 
 nor about local politicians maintained by company con- 
 tributions, plus the profits of wholesale liquor. He said 
 nothing about the conclusions of modern hygiene, concern- 
 ing over-work as a cause of the craving for alcohol ; the 
 phrase " industrial drinking/' it seemed, was not known 
 
4-i KING COAL 
 
 in General Fuel Company theology! In fact, when you 
 listened to such a sermon, you would never have guessed 
 that the hearers of it had physical bodies at all ; certainly 
 you would never have guessed that the preacher had a 
 body, which was nourished by 'food produced by the over- 
 worked and under-nourished wage-slaves whom he taught ! 
 
 14. For the most part the victims of this system 
 were cowed and spoke of their wrongs only in whispers; 
 but there was one place in the camp, Hal found, where 
 they could not keep silence, where their sense of outrage 
 battle3 with their fear. This" place was the solar plexus 
 of the mine-organism, the centre of its nervous energies; 
 to change the simile, it was the judgment-seat, where the 
 miner had sentence passed upon him sentence either to 
 plenty, or to starvation and despair. f 
 
 This place was the " tipple," where the coal that came 
 out of the mine was weighed and recorded. Every digger, 
 as he came from the cagej made for this spot. There was 
 a bulletin-board, and on it his number, and the record of 
 the weights of the cars he had sent out that day. And 
 every man, no matter how ignorant, had learned enough 
 English to read those figures. 
 
 Hal had gradually come to realise that here was the 
 place of drama. Most of the men would look, and then, 
 without a sound or glance about, would slouch off with 
 drooping shoulders. Others would mumble to themselves 
 -or, what amounted to the same thing, would imnnble to 
 one another in barbarous dialects. But about one in five 
 could speak English ; arid scarcely an evening -passed that 
 some man did not break loose, shaking his list at the sky, 
 Or at the weigh-boss behind the latter's back. He might 
 gather a knot of fellow-grumblers about him; it was 
 to be noted that the camp-marshal had the habit of being 
 on hand at this hour. 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING C(5AL 45 
 
 It was on one of these occasions that Hal first noticed 
 Mike Sikoria, a grizzle-haired old Slovak, who had spent 
 twenty years in the mines of these regions. All the bit- 
 terness of all the wrongs of all these years welled up in 
 Old Mike, as he shouted his score aloud: " Nineteen, 
 twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty ! Is that my weight, 
 Mister ? You want me to believe that's my weight ? " 
 
 " That's your weight," said the weigh-boss, coldly. 
 
 "Well, by Judas, your scale is off, Mister! Look at 
 them cars them cars is big ! You measure them cars, 
 Mister seven feet long, three and a -half feet high, four 
 feet wide. And you tell me them don't go but twenty ? " 
 
 ^ You don't load them right/' said the boss. 
 
 " Don't load them right ? " echoed the old miner ; he 
 became suddenly plaintive, as if more hurt than angered 
 by such an insinuation. ." You know all the years I work, 
 and you tell me I don't know a load ? When I load a car, 
 I load him like a miner, I don't load him like a Jap, that 
 don't know about a mine ! I put it up I chunk it up 
 like a stack of hay. I load him square like that." 
 With gestures the old fellow was illustrating what he 
 meant. " See there ! There's a ton on the top, and a ton 
 and a half on the bottom and you tell me I get only 
 nineteen, twenty ! " 
 
 " That 's your weight," said the boss, implacably. 
 
 " But, Mister, your scale is wrong ! I tell you I used 
 to get my weight. I used to get forty-five, forty-six on 
 them cars. Here's my buddy ask him if it ain't so. 
 What is it, Bo ? " 
 
 " Um m m-mum," said Bo, who was a negro though 
 one could hardly be sure of this for the coal-dust on him. 
 
 " I can't make a living, no more ! " exclaimed the old 
 Slovak, his voice trembling and his wizened dark eyes full 
 of pleading. " What you think I make ? For fifteen 
 days, fifty cents ! I pay board, and so help me God, 
 Mister and I stand right here I swear for God I 
 
46 KING COAL 
 
 make fifty cents. I dig tlie coal and I ain't got no weight, 
 I ain't got nothing ! Your scale is wrong ! " 
 
 " Get out ! " said the weigh-boss, turning away. 
 
 " But, Mister ! ' ' cried Old Mike, following behind him, 
 and pouring his whole soul into his words. " What is 
 this life, Mister? You work like a burro, and you don't 
 get nothing for it! You burn your own powder half 
 ti dollar a day powder what you think of that ? Cross- 
 cut and you get nothing! Take the skip and a pillar, 
 and you get nothing ! Brush and you get nothing ! 
 Here, 'by Judas, a poor man, going and working his body 
 1o the last point, and blood is run out! You starve me to 
 death, I say! I have got to have something to eat, 
 haven't I ? "' 
 
 And suddenly the boss whirled upon him. " Get the 
 hell out of here ! " he shouted. " If you don't like it, get 
 your time and quit. Shut your face, or I'll shut it for 
 
 you " 
 
 The old man quailed and fell silent. He stood for a 
 moment more, biting his whiskered lips nervously ; then 
 Id's shoulders sank together, and he turned and slunk oS, 
 followed by his negro helper. 
 
 15. Old Mike boarded at Remiriitsky's, and after 
 supper was over, Hal sought him out He was easy to 
 know, and proved .an interesting acquaintance. With the 
 help of his eloquence Hal wandered through a score of 
 camps in the district. The old fellow had a temper that 
 he could not manage, and so lie was always on the move; 
 but all places were alike, he said there was always some 
 trick by which a miner was cheated of his earnings. A 
 miner was a little business man, a contractor, who took a 
 certain job, with its expenses and its chance of profit or 
 loss. A " place " was assigned to him by the boss - and 
 he undertook to get out the coal from it, being paid at the 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 47 
 
 rate of fifty-five cents a ton for each ton of clean coal. In 
 some ." places " a: man could earn good money, and in 
 others he would work for weeks, and not be able to keep up 
 with his store-account-. 
 
 It all depended upon the amount of rock and slate that 
 was found with the coal. If the vein was low, the man 
 had one or two feet of rock tor Cake off the ceiling, and this 
 had to. be loaded on separate. cars and taken away. This 
 work was called " brushing/ 7 and for it:the miner received 
 no pay. Or perhaps it was -necessary to cut through a new 
 passage, and clean out the rock ; or ,perhaps to " grade the 
 bottom," and lay the ties and rails over which the cars 
 were brought in to be loaded; or perhaps the vein ran into 
 a." fault," a broken place where there was rock instead of 
 ec/al and ,this rock must be hewed away before the 
 miner could get at, the coah All such work was called 
 "dead-work," and it was the cause of unceasing war. In 
 the -old -days the company had paid extra for it; now, since 
 they had got the upper hand of the men, they were refusing 
 to pay. And so it was important to the miner to have a 
 ^ place " assigned- him where there was not so much of this 
 dead work. And the " place " a man got depended upon 
 the boss; so here, at the very outset, was endless oppor- 
 tunity for favouritism and graft, for quarrelling, or 
 "keeping in" with the boss. What chance did a man 
 stand who was poor and old and ugly, and could not speak 
 English good? inquired old Mike, with bitterness. The 
 boss stole his cars and gave them to other people ; he took 
 the weight off the cars, and gave them to fellows who 
 boarded with him, "or treated" him to drinks, or otherwise 
 curried favour; with him. 
 
 a I work five days in the Southeastern,'? said Mike, 
 " and when I work them five days, so help- me God, brother, 
 if I don't get up out of this chair, fifteen cents I was still 
 in the hole yet. ' Fourteen inches of rock! And the Mr. 
 Bishop T that is the superintendent I says, ' Do you 
 
48 KING COAL 
 
 pay something for that rock ? ' * Huh ? ' says he. ' Well, 1 
 I says, ' if you don't pay nothing for the rock, I don't go 
 ahead with it. I ain't got no place to put that rock.' 
 * Get the hell out of here,' says he, and when I started to 
 fight he pull gun on me. And then I go to Cedar Moun- 
 tain, and the super give me work there, and he says, ' You 
 go Number Four,' and he says, ' Rail is in Number Three, 
 and the ties.' And he says, ' I pay you for it when you 
 put it in.' So I take it away and I put it in, and I work 
 till twelve o'clock. Carried the three pair of rails and the 
 ties, and I pulled all the spikes " 
 
 " Pulled the spikes ? " asked Hal. 
 
 " Got no good spikes. Got to use old spikes, what you 
 pull out of them old ties. So then I says, * What is my 
 half day, what you promise me ? ' Says he, ' You ain't 
 dug no coal yet ! ' * But, mister,' says I, ' you promise 
 me pay to pull them spikes and put in them ties ! ' Says 
 he, i Company pay nothin' for dead work you know 
 that,' says he, and that is all the satisfaction I get." 
 
 " And you didn't get your half day's pay ? " 
 
 " Sure I get nothin'. Boss do just as he please in coal 
 mine ! " 
 
 16. There was another way, Old Mike explained, in 
 which the miner was at the mercy of others ; this was the 
 matter of stealing cars. Each miner had brass checks 
 with his number on them, and when he sent up a loaded 
 car, he hung one of these checks on a hook inside. In 
 the course of the long journey to the tipple, some one would 
 change the check, and the car was gone. In some mines, 
 the number was put on the car with chalk ; and how easy 
 it was for some one to rub it out and change it ! It ap- 
 peared to Hal that it would have been a simple matter to 
 put a number padlock on the car, instead of a check ; but 
 such an equipment would have cost the company one or 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 49 
 
 two hundred dollars, he was told, and so the stealing went 
 on year after year. 
 
 " You think it's the bosses steal these cars ? " asked Hal. 
 
 " Sometime* bosses, sometimes bosses' friend some- 
 times company himself steal them from miners." In 
 North Valley it was the company, the old Slovak insisted. 
 It was no use sending up more than six cars in one day, 
 he declared ; you could never get credit for more than six. 
 Nor was it worth while loading more than a ton on a car ; 
 they did not really weigh the cars, the boss just ran them 
 quickly over the scales, and had orders not to go above 
 a certain average. Mike told of an Italian who had loaded 
 a car for a test, so high that he could barely pass it under 
 the roof of the entry, , and went up on the tipple and saw 
 it weighed himself, and it was sixty-five hundred pounds. 
 They gave him thirty-five hundred, and when he started to 
 fight, they arrested him. Mike had not seen him arrested, 
 but when he had come out of the mine, the man was gone, 
 and nobody ever saw him again. After that they put a 
 door onto the weigh-room, so that no one could see the 
 scales. 
 
 The more Hal listened to the men and reflected upon 
 these things, the more he came to see that the miner was a 
 contractor who had no opportunity to determine the size 
 of the contract before he took it on, nor afterwards to 
 determine how much work he had done. More than that, 
 he was obliged to use supplies, over the price and measure- 
 ments of which he had no control. He used powder, and 
 would find himself docked at the end of the month for a 
 certain quantity, and if the quantity was wrong, he would 
 have no redress. He was charged a certain sum for 
 " black-smithing " the keeping of his tools in order ; and 
 he would find a dollar or two deducted from his account 
 each month, even though he had not been near the black- 
 smith shop.* 
 
 Let any business-man in the world consider the propo- 
 
50 KING COAL 
 
 sitiori, thought- Hal, and say if he would take a contract 
 upon such terms! Would a man undertake to build a 
 dam, for example, with no chance to measure the ground 
 in advance, nor any way of determining how many cubic 
 yards of concrete he had to put in ? Would a grocer' sell 
 to a customer who proposed to come into the store and do 
 his own weighing and meantime locking the grocer 'out- 
 side ? Merely -to put such questions 'was to show the pre- 
 posterousness of the thing ; yet in this district were fifteen 
 thousand men working on precisely such terms. 
 
 Under the state law, the miner had a right to demand 
 a check-weighman to protect his interest at the scales, 
 paying this check-weighman ? s wages out of his own earn- 
 ings. Whenever there was any public criticism about con- 
 ditions in the coal-mines, this law would be triumphantly 
 cited by the operators ; and one had to have actual experi- 
 ence in order to realise what a bitter mockery this was 
 to the miner. 
 
 In the dining-room Hal sat next to a fair-haired Swedish 
 giant named Johannsoiij who loaded timbers ten 'hours a 
 day. This fellow was one who indulged in the luxury of 
 speaking his mind, because he had youth and huge mus- 
 cles, and no family to tie him down. He was what is 
 called a " blanket-stiff/' -wandering from mine 'to harvest^ 
 field and from harvest-field to lumber-camp. Some one 
 broached the subject of check-weighmen to him, and the 
 whole table heard his scornful laligh. Let any man ask 
 for a check-weighman ! 
 
 " You mean they would fire him ? " asked Hal. 
 
 " Maybe ! " was the answer. " Maybe they make him 
 fire himself." 
 
 " How do you mean ? " 
 
 " They make his life one damn misery till he go." 
 
 So -it was with check-weighman as with scrip, and 
 with company stores, and with all the provisions of the 
 law to protect the miner against accidents. You might 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 51 
 
 demand your legal rights, but if you did, it was a matter 
 of the boss's temper. He might make your life one damn 
 misery till you went of your own accord. Or you might 
 get a string of curses and an order, " JJown the canyon ! " 
 and likely as not the toe of a boot in your trouser-seat, 
 or the muzzle of a revolver under your nose. 
 
 17. uch conditions 'made the coal-district a place 
 of despair. Yet there were men who managed to get along 
 somehow, and to raise families and keep decent homes. 
 If one had the luck to escape accident, if he did not marry 
 too young, or did not have too many children ; if he could 
 manage to escape the temptations of liquor, to ;which over- 
 work and monotony drove so many ; if, above "all, he could 
 keep on the right side of his boss why then he might 
 have a home, and even a little money on deposit with the 
 company. 
 
 Such a one was Jerry Minetti, who became one of Hal's 
 best friends. He was a Milanese, and his name was 
 Gerolamo, which had become Jerry in the " melting-pot." 
 He was about twenty-five years of age, and what is un- 
 usual with the Italians, was of good stature. Their meet- 
 ing took place as did most of Hal's social experiences 
 on a Sunday. Jerry had just had a sleep and a wash, 
 and had put on a pair of new blue overalls, so that he pre- 
 sented a cheering aspect in the sunlight. He Walked with 
 his head up and his shoulders square, and one could see 
 that he had few cares in the world. 
 
 But what caught Hal's attention was not so much Jerry 
 as what followed at Jerry's heels; a perfect reproduction 
 of him, quarter-size, also with a newly-washed face and a 
 pair of new blue overalls. He too had his head up, and 
 his shoulders square, and he was an irresistible object, 
 throwing out his heels and trying his best to keep step. 
 Since the longest strides he could take left him behind, 
 
52 KIXG COAL 
 
 lie would break into a run, and getting close under liis 
 father's heels, would begin keeping step once more. 
 
 Hal was going in the same direction, and it affected him 
 like the music of a military band ; he too wanted to throw 
 his head up and square his shoulders and keep step. And 
 then other people, seeing the grin on his face, would turn 
 and watch, and grin also. But Jerry walked on gravely, 
 unaware of this circus in the rear. 
 
 They went into a house ; and Hal, having nothing to do 
 but enjoy life, stood waiting for them to come out. They 
 returned in the same procession, only now the man had a 
 sack of something on his shoulder, while the little chap had 
 a smaller load poised in imitation. So Hal grinned again, 
 and when they were opposite him, he said, " Hello." 
 
 " Hello," said Jerry, and stopped. Then, seeing Hal's 
 grin, he grinned back; and Hal looked at the little chap 
 and grinned, and the little chap grinned back. Jerry, 
 seeing what Hal was grinning at, grinned more than ever ; 
 so there stood all three in the middle of the road, grinning 
 at one another for no apparent reason. 
 
 " Gee; but that's a great kid!" said Hal. 
 
 " Gee, you bet ! " said Jerry; and he set down his sack. 
 If some one desired to admire the kid, he was willing to 
 stop any length of time. 
 
 " Yours ? " asked Hal. 
 
 " You bet ! " said Jerry, again. 
 
 " Hello, Buster ! " said Hal. 
 
 " Hello yourself ! " said the kid. One could see in a 
 moment that he had been in the " rnelt ing-pot." 
 ." What's your name ? " asked Hal. 
 
 " Jerry," was the reply. 
 
 " And what's his name ? " Hal nodded towards the man. 
 
 * Big Jerry." 
 
 ".Got any more like you at home ? " 
 
 " One more," said Big Jerry. " Baby." 
 
 " He ain't like me," said Little Jerry. " He's little." 
 
' THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 53 
 
 " And you're big? " said Hal. 
 
 "Ho can't walk I" 
 
 " .Neither can you walk ! " laughed Hal, and caught him 
 up and slung him onto his shoulder. " Come on, we'll 
 ,ride!" 
 
 So Big Jerry took up his sack again, and they started 
 oft'; only this time it .was. Hal who fell behind and kept 
 step, squaring his shoulders and flinging out, his heels. 
 Little Jerry caught onto the joke, and giggled and kicked 
 his sturdy legs with delight. Big Jerry would look round, 
 not knowing what the joke was, but enjoying it just the 
 same. 
 
 They came to the three-room cabin which was Both 
 Jerrys' home; and Mrs. Jerry came to t^e door, a black- 
 eyed Sicilian girl, who did not look old enough to have 
 even one baby. They had another bout of grinning, at 
 the end of which Big Jerry said, " You come in \ " 
 
 " Sure," said Hal. 
 
 " You stay supper," added the other. " Got spaghetti." 
 
 " Gee ! " said Hal. " All right, let me stay, and pay 
 for it." 
 
 ".Hell, no ! " said Jerry. " You no pay ! " 
 
 " No ! No pay ! " cried Mrs. Jerry, shaking her pretty 
 head energetically. 
 
 "All right," said Hal 4 , quickly, seeing that he might 
 hurt their feelings. " I'll stay if you're sure you have 
 enough." 
 
 " Sure, plenty ! " said Jerry. " Hey, Rosa I " 
 
 " Sure, plenty ! " said Mrs. Jerry. 
 
 " Then I'll stay," said Hal. ' " You like spaghetti, 
 Kid?" 
 
 " Jesus ! " cried Little Jerry. 
 
 Hal looked about him at this Dago home. It was a 
 
 home in keeping with its pretty occupant. There were 
 
 lace curtains in the windows, even shinier and whiter than 
 
 at the Rafferties; there was an incredibly bright-coloured 
 
54 KING COAL 
 
 rug on the floor, and bright coloured pictures of Mount 
 Vesuvius and of Garibaldi on the walls. Also there was 
 a cabinet with many interesting treasures to look at a 
 bit of coral and a conch-shell, a shark's tooth and an Indian 
 arrow-head, and a stuffed linnet with a glass cover over 
 him. A while back Hal would not have thought of such 
 things, as especially stimulating to the imagination ; but 
 that was before he had begun to spend five-sixths of his 
 waking hours in the bowels of the earth. 
 
 He ate supper, a real Dago supper ; the, spaghetti proved 
 to be real Dago spaghetti, smoking hot, with tomato sauce 
 and a rich flavour of meat-juice. And -all through the 
 meal Hal smacked his lips and grinned at Little Jerry, 
 who' smacked his lips and grinned back. It was all so 
 different from feeding at Reminitsky's pig-trough, that 
 Hal thought he had never had such a good supper in his 
 life before. As for Mr. and Mrs. Jerry, they were so 
 proud of their wonderful kid, who could swear in English 
 as good as a real American, that they were in the seventh 
 heaven. 
 
 When the meal was over, Hal leaned back and exclaimed, 
 just as he had at the Rafferties', " Lord, how I wish I could 
 board here! " 
 
 He saw nis host look at his wife. " All right," said he. 
 " You come here. I board you. Hey, Rosa ? " 
 
 " Sure," said Rosa. 
 
 Hal looked at them, astonished. " You're sure they'll 
 let you ? " he asked. 
 
 "Let me? Who stop me? " 
 
 "I don't know. Maybe Reminitsky. You might get 
 into trouble." 
 
 Jerry grinned. " I no fraid," said he. " Got friends 
 here. Carmino my cousin. You know Carmino ? " 
 
 " No," said Hal'. 
 
 "Pit-boss in Number One. He stand by me. Old 
 Reminitsky go hang! * You come here, I give you bunk in 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 55 
 
 that room, give you good grub. What you pay Reminit- 
 sky?" 
 
 " Twenty-seven a month.' 7 
 
 " All right, you pay me twenty-seven, you get every- 
 thing good. Can't get much stuff here, but Rosa good 
 cook, she fix it." 
 
 Hal's new friend besides being a favourite of the 
 boss was a " shot-firer " ; it was his duty to go about 
 the mine at night, setting off the charges of powder which 
 the miners had got ready by day. This was dangerous 
 work, calling for a skilled man, and it paid pretty well; 
 sOx Jerry got on in the world and was not afraid to speak 
 his mind, within certain limits. He ignored the possi- 
 bility that Hal might be a company spy, and astonished 
 him by rebellious talk of the different kinds of graft in 
 North Valley, and at other places he, had worked since 
 coming to America as a boy. Minetti was a Socialist, 
 Hal learned; he took an Italian Socialist paper, and the 
 clerk at the post-office knew what sort of paper it was, and 
 would " josh " him about it. What was. more remark- 
 able, Mrs. Minetti was a Socialist also ; that meant a great 
 deal to a man, as Jerry explained, because she was not 
 under the domination of a priest. 
 
 18. Hal made the move at once, sacrificing part of 
 a month's board, which Reminitsky would charge against 
 his account with the company. But he was willing to pay 
 for the privilege of a clean home and clean food. To his 
 amusement he found that in the eyes of his Irish friends 
 he was losing caste by going to live with the Minettis. 
 There were most. rigid social lines in North Valley, it 
 appeared. The Americans and English and Scotch looked 
 down upon the Welsh and Irish ; the Welsh and Irish 
 looked down upon the Dagoes and Frenchies ; the Dagoes 
 and Frenchies looked down upon Polacks and Hunkies, 
 
56 KING- COAL 
 
 these in turn upon Greeks, Bulgarians and " Monty- 
 negroes," and so on through a score of races of Eastern 
 Europe, Lithuanians, Slovaks, and Croatians, Armenians, 
 Roumanians, Rumelians, Ruthenians ending up with 
 Greasers, niggers, and last and lowest, Japs. 
 
 It was when Hal went to pay another call upon the 
 Raiferties that he made this discovery. Mary Burke hap- 
 pened to be there, and when she caught sight of him, her 
 grey eyes beamed with mischief. " How do ye do, Mr. 
 Minetti 3 " she cried. 
 
 " How do ye do,. Miss Rc-setti? " he countered. 
 
 " You lika da spagett ? " 
 
 " You no lika da spagett ? " 
 
 " I told ye once," laughed the girl L " the good old per- 
 taties is good enough for me! " 
 
 "And you remember/' said he, " .what I answered'f" 
 
 Yes, she remembered! Her cheeks took on the colour 
 of. the rose-leaves he had specified as her probable diet. 
 
 And then the Rafferty children, who had , got to know 
 Hal well, joined in the teasing, " Mister 'Minetti ! Lika 
 da spagetti ! " Hal, when he had grasped j the situation, 
 was tempted to retaliate by reminding them that he had 
 offered ' to board with the Irish, and been turned down ; 
 but he feared that the elder Rafferty might not appreciate 
 this joke, so instead he pretended to have supposed all 
 along that the Raff erties were Italians. He addressed the 
 elder Rafferty gravely, pronouncing the .name with the 
 accent on the second syllable ; -" Signor Raff e*rti " ; and 
 this So amused the , old man that he chuckled over it at in- 
 tervals for an hour. His heart warmed to this lively 
 young fellow ; he forgot some of his suspicions, and after 
 the youngsters had been sent away to bed, he talked more 
 or less frankly about his life as a coal-miner. 
 
 V Old Rafferty " had once, been on the way to high sta- 
 tion. He had been made tipple-boss at the San Jose mine, 
 but had given up his job because he had thought that his 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 57 
 
 religion did not permit him to do what he was ordered to 
 do. It had been a crude proposition of keeping the men's 
 score at a certain level, no matter how much coal they 
 might send up ; and when Raff'erty had quit rather than 
 obey such orders, he had had to leave the mine altogether; 
 for of course everybody knew why he had quit, and Ms 
 mere presence had the effect of keeping discontent alive. 
 
 " You think there are : no honest companies at alii" 
 Hal asked. 
 
 The old man answered, "There be some, but 'tis not so 
 easy as ye might think to be honest. They have to meet 
 each other's prices, and when On short-weights, the others 
 have to. 'Tis a way of cuttin' wages without the nien 
 findin' it out; and there be people that do not like to fall 
 behind with their profits." Hal found himself thinking 
 of old Peter Harrigan, who controlled the General Fuel 
 Company, and had made the- remark: "I am a great 
 clarnourer for dividends !'" 
 
 " The trouble with the miner," continued Old Rafferty, 
 "is that he has no one to speak for him. He stands 
 alone " 
 
 During this discourse, Hal had glanced at " Red Mary," 
 and noticed that? she sat with her arms oil the table, her 
 sturdy shoulders bowed in a fashion which told of a hard 
 day's toil. But here she broke into the conversation ; her 
 voice came suddenly, alive with scorn : " The trouble 
 with the miner is that he's a slave I " 
 
 " Ah, now " put in the old man, protestingly. 
 
 "He has the whole world against him, and he hasn't 
 got the sense to get together to form a union, and stand 
 by it!" 
 
 There fell a sudden silence in the Rafferty home. Even 
 Hal was startled for this was the first time during his 
 stay in the camp that he had heard the dread word 
 " union " spoken above a whisper. 
 
 "I know! " said Mary, her grey eyes full of defiance. 
 
58 KING COAL 
 
 " Ye'll not have the word spoken! But some will speak 
 it in spite of ye ! " . 
 
 ' 'Tis all very well/' said the old man. " When ye're 
 young, and a woman too " 
 
 " A woman ! Is it only the "women , that can have 
 courage ? " 
 
 " Sure," said he, with a wry smile, " 'tis the women 
 that have the tongues, and that can't, be stopped from usin' 
 them. Even the boss must know that." 
 
 " Maybe so," replied Mary. "And maybe 'tis the 
 women have the most to suffer in a coal-camp ; and maybe 
 the boss knows that/' The girl's cheeks were red. 
 
 " Mebbe so," said Rafferty; and after that there was 
 silence, while he sat puffing his pipe. It was evident that 
 he did not care to go on, that he did not want union speeches 
 made in his home. After a while Mrs. Rafferty made a 
 timid effort to change the course of the talk, by asking 
 after Mary's sister, who had not been well ; and after they 
 had discussed remedies for the ailments of children, Mary 
 rose, saying, " I'll be goin' along." 
 
 Hal rose also. " I'll walk with you, if I may," he said. 
 
 " Sure," said she; and it seemed that the cheerfulness 
 of the Rafferty family was restored by the sight of a bit 
 of gallantry. 
 
 19. They strolled down the street, and Hal remarked, 
 " That's the first word I've heard here about a union." 
 
 Mary looked about her nervously. " Hush ! " she whis- 
 pered. 
 
 " But I thought you said you were talking about it ! " 
 
 She answered, " 'Tis one thing, talkin' in a friend's 
 house, and another outside. What's the good of throwin' 
 away your job? " 
 
 He lowered his voice. " Would you seriously like to 
 have a union here ? " 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 59 
 
 " Seriously ? " said she. " Didn't ye see Mr. Rafferty 
 
 what a coward he is ? That's the way they are ! No, 
 'twas just a burst of my temper. I'm a bit crazy to-night 
 
 something happened to set me off." 
 
 He thought she was" going on, but apparently she changed 
 her mind. Finally he asked, " What happened ?" 
 
 " Oh, 'twould do no good to talk," she answered; and 
 they walked a bit farther in silence. 
 
 " Tell me about it, won't you? " he said; and the kind- 
 ness in his tone made its impression. 
 
 " 'Tis not much ye know of a coal-camp, Joe Smith," 
 she said. " Can't ye imagine what it's like - bein' a 
 woman in a place like this ?. And a woman they think 
 good-lookin' ! " 
 
 " Oh, so it's that / " 'said he, and was silent again. 
 " Some one' been troubling you ? " he ventured after a 
 while. 
 
 "Sure! Some one's always troublin' us women! Al- 
 ways! Never a day but we hear it. Winks and nudges 
 
 everywhere ye turn." 
 " Who is it ? " 
 
 " The bosses, the clerks anybody that has a chance to 
 wear a stiff collar, and thinks he can offer money to a 
 girl. It begins before she's out of short skirts, and there's 
 never any peace afterwards." 
 
 " And you can't make them understand? " 
 
 " I've made them understand me a bit ; now they go 
 after my old man." 
 
 "What?." 
 
 " Sure ! D'ye suppose they'd not try that ? Him that's 
 so crazy for liquor, and can never get enough of it! " 
 
 " And your father ? " But Hal stopped. She would 
 not want that question asked ! 
 
 She had seen his hesitation, however.- "He was a de- 
 cent man once," she declared. "'Tis the life here, that 
 turns a man into a coward. 'Tis everything ye need, 
 
60 KING- COAL 
 
 everywhere ye turn ye have to ask favours from some 
 boss. The room ye work in, the dead work they pile on 
 ye; or maybe ''tis more credit ye need at the store, or 
 maybe the doctor to come when ye're sick. Just now 'tis 
 our roof that leaks so bad we can't find a dry place to 
 sleep when it rains." 
 
 " I see," said Hal. " Who owns the house ? " 
 
 " Sure, there's none ^but company houses here." 
 
 " Who's supposed to fix it ? " 
 
 " Mr. Kosegi, the house-agent. But we gave him up 
 long ago- if he does anything, he raises the rent. To- 
 day my father went to Mr. Cotton. He's supposed to look 
 out for the health of the place; and it seems hardly healthy 
 to keep people wet in their beds." 
 
 " And what did Cotton say?" asked Hal, when she 
 stopped again. 
 
 " Well, don't ye know Jeff Cotton : can't ye guess what 
 he'd say ? t That's a fine girl ye got, Burke ! Why don't 
 ye make her listen to reason ? ' And then he laughed, and 
 told me old father he'd better learn to take a hint. 'Twas 
 bad for an old man to sleep in the rain -he might get 
 carried off by pneumonia." 
 
 Hal could no longer keep back the question, " What did 
 your father do ? " 
 
 " I'd not have ye think hard of my old father," she 
 said, quickly. " He used to be a fightin' man, in the days 
 before O'Callahan had his way with him. But now he 
 knows what a camp-marshal can do to a miner ! " 
 
 20. Mary Burke had said that the company could 
 stand breaking the bones of its men ; and not long after 
 Number Two started up again, Hal had a chance to note 
 the truth of this assertion. 
 
 A miner's life depended upon the proper timbering of 
 the room where he worked. The company undertook to 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 61 
 
 furnish the timbers,, but when the miner needed thern^ he 
 would find none a.t hand, and would have to make the mile- 
 long trip to the surface. He would select timbers of the 
 proper length/ and would mark them : the understanding 
 being that they were to be delivered to his room by some 
 of the labourers. But then some one else would carry 
 them off here was more graft and favouritism, and the 
 miner might ,lose a day or two of work, while. meantime 
 his account was piling up at the store, and his children 
 might have no shoes to go to sqhool. Sometim0s he would 
 give up waiting for timbers, and go on taking out coal; so 
 there would be a fall of rock and the coroner's jury 
 would bring in a verdict of " negligence," and the coal- 
 operators would talk solemnly about the impossibility of 
 teaching caution to miners. Not so very long agp Hal 
 had read an interview which the president of the General 
 
 , Fuel Company had given to a newspaper, in which he set 
 forth the idea that the more experience a miner had the 
 more dangerous it was to employ him, because he thought 
 he knew it allj and would not heed the wise regulations 
 which the company laid down for his safety! 
 
 In Number Two mine there were some places being 
 operated by the " room and j pillar " method ; the coal 
 being taken out as from a series of rooms, the portion 
 corresponding to the walls of the rooms being left to uphold 
 the roof. These walls are the " pillars " ; and when the 
 end of the vein is reached, the miner begins to work back- 
 wards, " pulling the pillars/' and letting the roof collapse 
 behind him. This is a dangerous task ; as he works, the 
 roan has to listen to the drumming sounds of the rock abo^e 
 his head, and has to judge just when to make his escape. 
 Sometimes he is too anxious to save a tool ; or sometimes 
 
 :. the collapse comes without warning. In that case the -vic- 
 tim is seldom dug out; for it must be admitted that a man 
 buried under a mountain is as well buried as a company 
 could be expected to arrange it. 
 
62 KING COAL 
 
 In Number Two mine a man was caught in this way. 
 He stumbled as he rail, and the lower half of his body was 
 pinned fast ; the doctor had to come and pump opiates into 
 him, while the rescue crew was digging him loose. The 
 first Hal knew of the accident was when he saw the body 
 stretched out on a plank, with a couple of old sacks to cover 
 it. He noticed that nobody stopped for a second glance. 
 Going up from work, he asked his friend Madvik, the 
 mule driver, who answered, " Lithuanian feller got 
 'mash." And that was all. Nobody knew him, and no- 
 body cared about him. 
 
 It happened that Mike Sikoria had been working 
 nearby, and was one of those who helped to get the victim 
 out. Mike's negro " buddy " had been in too great haste 
 to get some of the rock out of the way, and had got his 
 hand crushed, and would not be able to work for a month 
 or so. Mike told Hal about it, in his broken English. It 
 was a terrible thing to see a man trapped like that, gasping, 
 his eyes almost popping out of his head. Fortunately he 
 was a young fellow, and had no family. 
 
 Hal asked what they would do with the body ; the answer 
 'was they would bury him in the morning. The company 
 had a piece of ground up the canyon. 
 
 " But won't they have an inquest ? " he inquired. 
 
 " Inques' " repeated the other. " What's he? " 
 
 " Doesn't the coroner see the body ? " 
 
 The old Slovak shrugged his bowed shoulders; if there 
 was a coroner in this part of the world, he had never heard 
 of it; and he had worked in a good many mines, and seen 
 a good many men put under the ground. " Put hirn in a 
 box and dig a hole," was the way he described the pro- 
 cedure. 
 
 " And doesn't the priest come ? " 
 
 " Priest too far away." 
 
 Afterwards Hal made inquiry among the English-speak- 
 ing men, and learned that the coroner did sometimes come 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 63 
 
 to the camp. He would empanel a jury consisting of Jeff 
 Cotton, the marshal, and Predovich, the Galician Jew who 
 worked in the company store, and a clerk or two from the 
 company's office, and a couple of Mexican labourers who 
 had no idea w r hat it was all about. This jury would view 
 the corpse, and ask a couple of men what had happened, 
 and then bring in a verdict : " We find that the deceased 
 met his death from a fall of rock caused by his own fault." 
 (In one case they had added the picturesque detail: " No 
 relatives, and damned few friends ! " ) 
 
 For this service the coroner got a fee, and the company 
 got an official verdict, which would be final in case some 
 foreign consul should threaten a damage suit. So well 
 did they have matters in hand that nobody in North Val- 
 'ley had ever got anything for death or injury ; in fact, as 
 Hal found later, there had not been a damage suit filed 
 against any coal-operator in that county for twenty-three 
 years ! 
 
 This particular accident was of consequence to Hal, be- 
 cause it got him a chance to see the real work of mining. 
 Old Mike was without a helper, and made the proposition 
 that Hal should take the job. It 'was better than a stable- 
 man's, for it paid two dollars a~day. 
 
 '* But will the boss let me change ? " asked Hal. 
 
 " You give him ten dollar, he change you," said Mike. 
 
 " Sorry," said Hal, " I haven't got ten dollars." 
 
 " You give him ten dollar credit," said the other. 
 
 And Hal laughed. " They take scrip for graft, do 
 they?*' 
 
 " Sure they take him," said Mike. 
 
 " Suppose I treat my mules bad ? " continued the other. 
 " So I can make him change me for nothing ! " 
 
 " He. change you to hell ! " replied Mike. " You get 
 him cross, he put us in bad room, cost us ten dollar a week. 
 No, sir you give him drink, say fine feller, make him 
 feel good. You talk American give him jolly ! " 
 
64 KING COAL 
 
 21. ...Hal was glad of tkis opportunity to get better 
 acquainted with his pit-boss. Alec Stone was six feet 
 high, and built in proportion, with arias like hams, -< soft 
 with fat, yet possessed', of enormous strength, He had 
 learned his manner of handling men, on a sugar-plantation 
 in Louisiana a fact which,, whenjlal heard it, explained 
 much. Like a stage-manager who does not heed the real 
 names of his actors, but calls them by their character- 
 Barnes, Stone had the habit of addressing his men by their 
 nationalities-: " You, Polack) get that rock into the car ! 
 Hey r Jap, bring them tools over here! Shut your mouth, 
 now, Dago, and get to work, or I'll kick the breeches oil' 
 you, .sure as you're alive ! " 
 
 Hal had witnessed one occasion when there was a dis- 
 pute as to whose duty it was to move timbers. There was 
 a great two-handled cross-cut saw .lying on the ground, arid 
 Stone seized it and began to wave it, like a mighty broad- 
 sword, in the face of a little Bohemian miner. "Load 
 them timbers, Hunkie, or I'll carve you into bits ! " And 
 as the terrified man shrunk back, he followed, until his 
 victim was flat against a wall, the weapon swinging to and 
 fro un<Jer his nose after the fashion of " The Fit and the 
 Pendulum." " Carve you into pieces, Ilunkie ! Carve 
 you into stew-meat ! " When at last the boss stepped back, 
 the little Bohemian leaped to load the timbers. 
 
 The curious part about it to IJal was that Stone seemed 
 to be reasonably good-natured about such proceedings. 
 Hardly one time in a thousand did he carry out his blood- 
 thirsty threats, and like as not he would laugh when he 
 had finished his tirade, and the object of it would grin in 
 turn but without slackening' his frightened efforts. 
 After the broad-Sword waving episode, seeing that Hal had 
 been watching, the boss remarked, "That's the way you 
 have to manage them wops." Hal took this remark as a 
 tribute to his American blood, and was duly flatti-ml. 
 
 He sought out the boss that evening, and found him 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 65 
 
 with his feet upon the railing of his home. " Mr. Stone," 
 said he, " I've something I'd like to ask you." 
 
 " Fire away, kid,"' said the other. 
 
 " Won't you come up to the saloon and have a drink ? " 
 
 " Want to get something out of me, hey ? You can't 
 work me, kid! " But nevertheless he slung down his feet 
 from the railing, and knocked the ashes out of his pipe and 
 strolled up the street with Hal. 
 
 " Mr. Stone," said Hal, " I want to make a change." 
 
 " What's that ? Got a grouch on them mules ? " 
 
 " No, sir, hut I got a better job in sight. Mike Sikoria's 
 buddy is laid up, and I'd like' to take his- place, if you're 
 willing." 
 
 "Why, that's a nigger's place, kid. Ain't you scared 
 to take a nigger's place? " 
 
 " Why, ; sir?" 
 
 " Don't: you know about lidodoos ? " 
 
 "'What I want," said Hal,'" is the nigger's pay." 
 
 "No," 'said the boss, abruptly, "you stick by them 
 mules. Tgot a good stableman, and I don't want to spoil 
 him. You stick, and by and by I'll give you a raise. You 
 go into them pits, the first thing you know you'll get a fall 
 of rock on your head, and the nigger's pay won't . be no 
 good to you." 
 
 They came to the saloon and entered. Hal noted that a 
 silence fell within, and every one nodded and watched. 
 It was pleasant to be seen going out with one's boss. 
 
 O'Callahan, the proprietor, came forward with his best 
 society smile and joined them,. and at Hal's invitation they 
 ordered whiskies. " No, you stick to your job," continued 
 the pit-boss. " You stay by 'it, and when you've learned 
 to manage mules, I'll' make a boss out of you, and let you 
 manage men." 
 
 Some of the bystanders tittered. The pit-boss poured 
 down his whiskey, and set .the glass' on the bar. "That's 
 no joke," said he, in a tone that every one could Heat. " I 
 
66 KING COAL 
 
 learned that long ago about niggers. They'd say to me, 
 ' For God's sake, don't talk to our niggers like that. Some 
 night you'll have your house set afire.' But I said, i Pet a 
 nigger, and you've got a spoiled nigger.' I'd say, 'Nigger, 
 don't you give me any of your imp, or I'll kick the breeches 
 off you.' And they knew I was a gentleman, and they 
 stepped lively." 
 
 " Have another drink," said Hal. 
 
 The pit-boss drank, and becoming more sociable, told 
 nigger stories. On the sugar-plantations there was a rush 
 season, when the rule was twenty hours' work a day ; when 
 some of the niggers tried to shirk it, they would arrest 
 them for swearing or crap-shooting, and work them as con- 
 victs, without pay. The pit-boss told how one " buck " 
 had been brought before the justice of the peace, and the 
 charge read, " being cross-eyed " ; for which offence he 
 had been sentenced to sixty days' hard labour. This anec- 
 dote was enjoyed by the men in the saloon whose race- 
 feelings seemed to be stronger than their class-feelings. 
 
 When the pair went out again, it was late, and the boss 
 was cordial. "Mr. Stone," began Hal, "I don't want to 
 bother you, but I'd like first rate to get more pay. If you 
 could see your way to let me have that buddy's job, I'd be 
 more than glad to divide with you." 
 
 " Divide with me? " said Stone. " How, d'ye mean ? " 
 Hal waited with some apprehension - for if Mike had not 
 assured him so positively, he would have expected a swing 
 from the pit-boss's mighty arm. 
 
 " It's worth about fifteen a month more to me. I 
 haven't any cash, but if you'd be willing to charge off ten 
 dollars from my store-account, it would be well worth my 
 while." . . 
 
 They walked for a short way in silence. " Well, I'll 
 tell you," said the boss, at last; "that old Slovak is a 
 kicker- one of these fellows that thinks he could run the 
 mine if he had a chance. And if you get to listenin' to 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 67 
 
 
 
 him, and think you can come to me and grumble, by 
 God " 
 
 "That's- nil right, sir/' put in Hal, quickly. "I'll 
 manage that for you I'll shut him up. If you'd like, 
 me to, I'll see what fellows lie talks with, and if any of 
 them are trying to make trouble, I'll tip you off." 
 
 " Now that's the talk," said the boss, promptly. " You 
 do that, and I'll keep my eye on you and give you a chance. 
 Not that I'm afraid of the old fellow I told him last 
 time that if I heard from him again, I'd kick the breeches: 
 off him. But when you got half a thousand of this foreign 
 scum, some of them Anarchists, and some of them Bulgars' 
 and Montynegroes that's been fightin' each other at 
 home - " 
 
 " I understand," said Hal.. "You have to watch 'em." 
 
 " That's it," said the pit-boss. " And by the way, when 
 you tell the store-clerk about that fifteen dollars, just say 
 you lost it at poker." 
 
 "I said ten dollars," put in Hal, quickly. 
 
 " "^es, I know," responded the other. " But I said fif- 
 teen!"' 
 
 22. Hal told himself with satisfaction that he was 
 now to do the real work of coal-mining. His imagination 
 had been occupied with it for, a long time; but as so often 
 happens in the life of man, the first contact with reality 
 killed the results of many years' imagining. It killed all 
 imagining, in fact; Hal found that his. entire stock of 
 energy, both mental and physical, was consumed in en- 
 during torment. If any one bad told him the horror of 
 attempting to work in a room five feet high, he would not 
 have believed it. It was like some of the dreadful devices 
 of torture which one saw in European castles, the "iron 
 maiden " and the " spiked collar." Hal's back burned as 
 if hot irons werei being run up and down it ; every separate 
 
68 KING COAL 
 
 
 
 joint and muscle cried aloud. It seemed as if he could 
 never learn the lesson of the jagged ceiling above his head 
 
 he bumped it and continued to bump it, until his scalp 
 was a mass of cuts arid bruises, and his head ached till he 
 was nearly blind, and he would have to throw himself flat 
 on the ground. 
 
 Then old Mike Sikoria would grin. " I know. Like 
 green mule ! Some day get tough ! " 
 
 Hal recalled the great thick callouses on the flanks of 
 his former charges, where the harness rubbed against them. 
 "Yes, I'm a * green mule/ all right! " 
 
 It was amazing how many ways there were to bruise and 
 tear one's fingers, loading lumps of coal into a car. He 
 put on a pair of gloves, but these wore through in a day. 
 And then the gas, and the smoke of powder, stifling one; 
 and the terrible burning of the eyes, from the dust and. the 
 feeble light. There was no way to rub these burning 
 eyes, because everything about one was equally dusty. 
 Could anybody have imagined the torment of that j any 
 of those ladies 'who rode in softly upholstered parlour-cars, 
 or reclined upon the decks of steam-ships in gleaming 
 tropic seas? 
 
 Old Mike was good to his new " buddy." Mike's spine 
 wa& bent and his hands were hardened by forty years of 
 this sort of toil^ so he could do the work of two men, and 
 entertain his friend with comments into the bargain. The 
 old fellow had the habit of talking all the time, like a 
 dtld ; he would talk to his helper, to himself, to his tools. 
 He would call these tools by obscene and terrifying names 
 
 but with entire friendliness and good humour. " Get 
 in there, you son-of-a-gun -! " he would say to his pick. 
 " Come along here, you wop-! " he would say to his car. 
 " In with you, now, you old buster! " he would say to a 
 lump of coal. And he would lecture' Hal on the details 
 of mining. He would tell- stories of successful days^ or 
 of terrible mishaps. Above .all he would tell about ras- 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 69 
 
 cality cursing the " G. F. C.," its foremen and super- 
 intendents, its officials, directors and stock-holders, and 
 the world which permitted such a criminal institution to 
 exist. 
 
 Noon-time would come, and Hal would lie upon his 
 back, too worn to eat. Old 'Mike would sit munching; his 
 abundant whiskers came to a point on his chin, and as his 
 jaws moved, he looked for all the world like an aged billy 1 
 goat. He was a kind-hearted and anxious old billy-goat, 
 and sought to tempt his buddy with a bit of cheese or a swig 
 of cold coffee. He believed in eating -no man could 
 keep up steam if he did not stoke the furnace. Failing in 
 this, he would try to divert Hal's mind, telling stories of 
 mining-life in America arid Russia. He was most proud 
 to have an " American feller " for a buddy, and tried to 
 make the work as easy -as possible, for fear lest Hal might 
 quit. 
 
 Hal did not quit ; but he would drag himself out towards 
 night, so exhausted that he would fall asleep in the cage. 
 He would fall asleep at supper, and go in and sink down 
 on his cot and sleep like a log. And oh, the torture of 
 being routed out before daybreak! Having to shake the 
 sleep out of his head, and move his creaking joints, and 
 become aware of the burning in his eyes, and the blisters 
 and sores on his hands! 
 
 It was a week before he had a moment that was not 
 pain; and he never got fully used to the labour. It was 
 impossible for any one to work so hard and keep his men- 
 tal alertness, his eagerness and sensitiveness; it was impos- 
 sible to work so hard and be an adventurer to be any- 
 thing, in fact, but a machine. Hal had heard that pfcrase 
 of contempt, "the inertia of the masses," and had won- : 
 dered about it. He no loiiger wondered, he knew. Could 
 a man be brave enough to protest to a pit-boss when his 
 body was numb with weariness? Could he think. out a 
 definite conclusion as to his rights and wrongs, arid back 
 
7.0 KING COAL 
 
 his conclusion with effective action,* when, his mental facul- 
 ties were paralysed by such weariness of body ? 
 
 Hal had come here, as one goes : upon the deck of a ship 
 in mid-ocean, to see the storm. In this ocean of social 
 misery, , of ignorance and despair, one 'saw upturned, . tor- 
 tured faces, writhing limbs and clutching hands; in one's 
 ears was a storm of lamentation, upon one's cheek a spray , 
 of blood and tears. Hal found himself so deep in this 
 ocean that he could no longer find consolation in the 
 thought that he could escape whenever he wanted to: that 
 he .-could say to himself, It is sad, it is terrible but thank 
 God, I :can get out of it when I choose! I can go back 
 into the warm and well-lighted saloon and tell the other 
 passengers how, picturesque it is, what an interesting ex- 
 perience they are missing ! 
 
 23, ; During these days of torment, Hal did not go 
 to see "Bed Mary"; but then, one evening, the Minettis' 
 baby ; having been sick, she came in to ask about it, bring- 
 ing what she called " a bit of a custard " in a bowl. Hal 
 was suspicious enough of the ways of men r especially of 
 business-men ; : but when it came to women he was, without 
 insight it did not occur to him as singular that an Irish 
 girl with many troubles at home should come out to nurse 
 a. Dago woman's baby. He did not reflect that there were 
 plenty of sick Irish babies in the camp, to whom Mary 
 might have taken her " bit of a custard." And when he 
 saw the surprise of Rosa, who had never met Mary before, 
 he took it to be the touching gratitude of the poor! 
 
 There are, in truth, many kinds of women, with many 
 arts, and no man has time to learn them all. Hal had ob- 
 served the shop-girl type, who dress themselves with many 
 frills, and cast side-long glances, and indulge in fits of 
 giggles to attract the attention of the male ; he was familiar 
 with the society-girl type, who achieve the same end with 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 71 
 
 more subtle and alluring means. But could there be a 
 type who hold little Dago babies in their laps, and call 
 them pretty Irish names, and feed them custard out of a 
 spoon I Hal had never heard of that kind, and he thought 
 that " Eed Mary " made a charming picture L a Celtic 
 madonna with a Sicilian infant in her arms. 
 
 He noticed that she was wearing the :same faded blue 
 calico-dress with a patch on the shoulder. Man though he 
 was, he realised that dress is an important consideration 
 in the lives of women. He was tempted to suspect that 
 this blue calico might be the only dress that Mary owned; 
 but seeing it newly laundered every time, he concluded 
 that she must have at least one other. At any rate, here 
 she was, crisp and fresh-looking ; and with the new shining 
 costume, she had put on the long promised " company 
 manner " : high spirits and badinage, precisely like any 
 belle of the world of luxury, who powders and bedecks 
 herself for a ball. She had been grim and complaining in 
 former meetings with- this interesting young man ; she had 
 frightened him away, apparently; perhaps she could win 
 him back by womanliness and good humour. 
 
 She rallied him upon his battered scalp and his creaking 
 back, telling him he looked ten years older which he was 
 fully prepared to believe. Also she had fun with him for 
 working under a Slovak another loss of caste, it ap- 
 peared! This was a joke the Minettis could share in 
 especially Little Jerry, who liked jokes. He told Mary 
 how Joe Smith had had to pay fifteen dollars for his new 
 job, besides several drinks at O'Callahan's. Also he told 
 how Mike Sikoria had called Joe his " green mule." Lit- 
 tle Jerry complained about the turn of events, for in the 
 old days Joe had taught him a lot of fine new games 
 and now he was sore, and would not play them. Also, in 
 the old days he had sung a lot of jolly songs, full of the 
 most j fascinating rhymes. There was a song about a 
 " monkey puzzle tree " ! Had Mary ever seen that kind of 
 
72 KHSTG COAL 
 
 treel' Little Jerry never got tired of trying to imagine 
 what it might look like. 
 
 The Dago urchin stood and watched gravely while Mary 
 fed the custard to the baby; and when two or three spoon- 
 fuls were held out to him, he opened his mouth wide, and 
 afterwards licked his lips. Gee, that was good stufi! 
 
 When the last. taste was gone, he stood gazing at Mary's 
 shining 1 coronet. " Say/ 7 said he, " was your hair always 
 like that?" 
 
 Hal and Mary burst into laughter, while Rosa cried 
 " Hush I " She was never sure what this youngster would 
 say next. 
 
 " Sure, did ye think I painted it? " asked Mary. 
 
 " I didn't know," said Little Jerry. " It looks so nice 
 and new." And he turned to Hal. " Ain't it ? " 
 
 " You bet," said Hal, and added, " Go on and tell her 
 about it. Girls like compliments." 
 
 " Compliments ? " echoed Little Jerry. " What's 
 that?" 
 
 "Why," said Hal, "that's when you say that her hair 
 is like the sunrise, and he* eyes are like twilight, or that 
 she's a wild rose on a mountain-side." ' 
 
 "Oh," said the Dago urchin, somewhat doubtfully. 
 "Anyhow," he added, " she make nice custard ! " 
 
 24. The time came for Mary to take her departure, 
 and Hal got up, wincing with pain, to escort her home. 
 She Regarded him gravely, having not realised before how 
 seriously he was suffering. As they walked along she 
 asked, " Why do ye do such work, when ye don't have 
 to?;" 
 
 " But, I do have to! I have to earn a living! " 
 
 " Ye don't have to earn .it .that way ! \ A bright young 
 fellow like ypu -* an American ! " 
 
 " Well," said Hal, "I thought it would be interesting 
 to( see coal mining." 
 

 THE DOMAIN OE KING C6AL 73 
 
 " Now ye've seen it," said the girl " now quit! " 
 " But it won't do me any harm to go on for a while ! " 
 " Won't it ! t How can ye know? When any day they 
 may carry you out on a plank ! " 
 
 Her " company manner " was gone; her voice was full 
 of bitterness, as it always was when she spoke of North 
 Valley. " I know what I'mtellin 3 ye, Joe Smith. Didn't 
 1 lose two brothers in it as fine lads as ye'd find any- 
 
 where in the world! And many another lad I've seen go 
 in laughin', and come out a corpse or what is worse, for 
 workin' people, a cripple. Sometimes I'd like to go and 
 stand at the pitrinouth in the mornin' and cry to them, * Go 
 back, go back! Go down the canyon this .day! Starve, 
 if ye have to, beg if ye have to, only find some other work 
 
 ..but coal-minin' ! ' 
 
 Her voice had risen to a passion of protest; when she 
 went on, a new note carne into it a note of personal 
 
 terror. " It's worse now* since you came, Joe ! To see 
 ye settin' out on the life of a miner you, that are young 
 and strong and different. Oh, go away, Joe, go away 
 while ye can ! " 
 
 He was - astonished at her intensity. "Don't worry 
 about me, Mary,"- he said. " Nothing will happen to me. 
 I'll go away after a while." 
 
 The path was irregular, and he had been holding her 
 arm as they walked. He felt her trembling, and went 
 on again, quickly, ." It's not I that should go a way, Mary. 
 It's yourself. You hate the place it's terrible for you 
 to have to live here. Have you never thought of going 
 away ? " 
 
 She did not answer at once, and when she did the ex- 
 .' citement was gone from her voice ; it was flat and dull with 
 despair. , a Tis no use to think of me. There's nothin' 
 I can do there's nothin 7 any girl can do when she's poor. 
 I've tried but 'tis like bein' up against a stone wall. I 
 can't even save the money to get on a train with! I've 
 
74 KING COAL 
 
 tried it I been savin' for two years and how much 
 d'ye think I got, Joe ? Seven dollars ! Seven dollars in 
 two years ! No ye can't save money in a place where 
 there's so many things that wring the heart. Ye may 
 hate them for being cowards but ye must help when ye 
 see a man killed, and his family turned out without a roof 
 to cover them in the winter-time ! " 
 
 " You're too tender-hearted, Mary." M 
 
 " No, 'tis not that ! Should I go off and leave me own 
 brother and sister, that need me ? " 
 
 " But you could earn money and send it to them." 
 
 " I earn a little here I do cleanin' and nursin' for 
 some that need me." 
 
 " But outside couldn't, you earn more ? " 
 
 " I could get a job in a restaurant for seven or eight a 
 week, but I'd have to spend more, and what I sent home 
 would not go so far, with me away. Or I could get a job 
 in some other woman's home, and work fourteen hours a 
 day for it. But, Joe, 'tis not more ' drudgery I want, 'tis 
 somethin' fair to look upon somethin' of my own ! " 
 She flung out her arms suddenly like one being stifled. 
 " Oh, I want somethin' that's fair and clean! " 
 
 Again he felt her trembling. Again the path was 
 rough, and having an impulse of sympathy, 'he put his arm 
 about her. In the world of leisure, one might indulge in 
 such consider ateness, and he assumed it would not be dif- 
 ferent with a miner's daughter. But then, when she was 
 close to him, he felt, rather than heard, a sob. 
 
 "Mary!" he whispered; and they stopped; Almost 
 without realising it, he put his other arm about her, and in 
 a moment more he felt her warm breath on his cheek, and 
 she was trembling and shaking in his embrace. " Joe! 
 Joe!" she whispered- "" You take me away!" 
 
 She was a rose in a mining-camp, and Hal was deeply 
 moved. The primrose path of dalliance stretched fair 
 before him, here in the soft summer night, with a moon 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 75 
 
 overhead which bore the same message as it bore in the 
 Italian gardens of the leisure-class. But not many min- 
 utes passed before a cold fear began to steal over 'Hal. 
 There was a girl at home, waiting for him ; and also there 
 was the resolve which had, been growing in him since his 
 coming to this place - a resolve to find some way of com- 
 pensation to the poor, to repay them for the freedom and 
 culture he had taken; not to 1 prey upon them, upon any 
 individual among them. There were the Jeff Cottons for 
 that ! 
 
 "Mary," he pleaded, " we mustn't do this." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Because I'm not free. There is some one else."' 
 
 He felt her start, but she did not draw away. 
 " Where ? " she asked, in a low voice. . * 
 
 " At home, waiting for me." 
 
 " And why didn't ye tell me ? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 Hal realised in a moment that the girl had ground 
 of complaint against him. According to the simple co'de 
 of her world, he had gone some distance with her ; he had 
 been seen to walk out with her, he had been accounted 
 her " fellow." He had led her to talk to him of herself v 
 he had insisted upon having her confidences. And these 
 people who were poor did not have subtleties, there was no 
 room in their lives for intellectual curiosities,, for Platonic 
 friendships or philandenngs. "Forgive me, Mary! " he 
 said. 
 
 She made no answer; but a sob escaped her, and she 
 drew back from his arms - slowly. Hd struggled with 
 an impulse to clasp her again. She was beautiful, warm 
 'with life and so much in need of happiness! 
 
 But he held himself in check, and for a minute or two 
 they stood apart. Then he asked, humbly, " We can still 
 be friends, Mary, can't we? You must know I'm so 
 sorry ! " 
 
7.6 KING COAL 
 
 But she could not endure being pitied. " 'Tis nothin'," 
 she said. " Only I thought I was going to get away ! 
 That's* what ye mean to me," 
 
 25. Hal had promised Alec Stone to keep a look-out 
 for trouble-makers ; and one evening the boss stopped him 
 on the street, and asked him if he had anything to report. 
 Hal took the occasion to indulge his sense of humour. 
 
 " There's no harm in Mike Sikoria, said he. " He 
 likes to shoot off his head, but if he's got somebody to 
 listen, that's all he wants. He's just old and grouchy. 
 But there's another fellow that I think would bear watch- 
 
 ing." 
 
 " Who's that ? "-asked the boss. 
 
 " I don't know his last name. They call him Gus and 
 he's a ' eager.' Fellow with a red face." 
 
 " I know," said Stone " Gus Durking." 
 
 " Well, he tried his best to get me to talk about unions. 
 He keeps bringing it; up, and I think he's some kind of 
 trouble.-maker." 
 
 " I see," said the boss. ." I'll get : after him." 
 
 " You won't say I told you," said Hal, anxiously. 
 
 " Oh, no sure not." And Hal caught the trace of a 
 smile on the pit-boss's face. 
 
 He went away, smiling in his turn. The " red-faced 
 feller, Gus," was the person Madvik htid named as being 
 a " spotter " for the company ! 
 
 There were ins and outs to this matter of " spotting," 
 and sometimes it was not easy to know what to think. One 
 Sunday morning Hal went for a walk up the canyon, and 
 on the way he met a young -chap who got to talking with 
 him, and after /a while brought up the -question of work- 
 ing-conditions in iNorth Valley. He had only been there 
 a week, he said, but everybody he had met seemed to be 
 grumbling about short weight. He himself had a job as 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING .COAL 77 
 
 an "outside man,"" so it made no difference to him, but 
 he was interested, and' wondered what Hal had found. 
 
 Straightway came the question, was this really a wbrk- 
 ingman, or had Alec Stone set some one to spying upon 
 his spy. This was an intelligent fellow, an American 
 which in itself was suspicions, for most of the new men the r 
 company got in were from " somewhere East of Suez." 
 
 Hal decided to spar for a while. He did not know, he 
 said, that conditions were any worse here than elsewhere. 
 You heard complaints, no matter what sort of job you took. 
 
 Yes, said the stranger, but matters seemed to be espe- 
 cially bad in the coal-camps. Probably it was because 
 they were so remote, and the companies owned eterything 
 in sight, 
 
 " Where have you been? " asked Hal, thinking that this 
 might trap him. 
 
 But the other answered straight; he had evidently 
 worked in half a, doen qf the camps. In Mateo he had 
 paid a dollar a month for wash-house privileges, and there 
 had never been any water after the first three men had 
 washed. There had been a common wash-tub for all the- 
 men, an unthinkably filthy arrangement. At Pine Creek 
 Hal found the very naming of the place made his heart 
 stand still at Pine Creek he had boarded with his boss, 
 but the roof, of the building leaked, and everything he 
 owned was ruined ; the boss would do nothing yet when 
 the boarder moved, he lost his job. At East Ridge-, this 
 man and a couple of other fellows had rented a two room 
 cabin and started to board themselves, in spite of the fact 1 
 that they had to pay a dollar-fifty a sack for potatoes and 
 eleven cents a pound for sugar at the company store. 
 They had continued until they made the discovery that the 
 water supply had run short, and that the water for which 
 they were paying the company a dollar a month was being 
 pumped from the bottom of the mine, where the filth of 
 mules and men was plentiful! 
 
7S KING COAL 
 
 Hal forced himself to remain non-committal; he shook 
 his head and said it was too bad,, but the workers always 
 got it' in the .neck, and he didn't see what they could do 
 about it. So they strolled back to the camp, the stranger 
 evidently baffled, and, Hal, for his part, feeling like the 
 reader of a detective story at the end of the first chapter. 
 Was. this young man the murderer, or was he the hero? 
 One would have to read on in the book to find out ! 
 
 26. Hal kept his eye upon his new acquaintance, and 
 perceived that he .was talking with others. Before long 
 the man tackled Old Mike; and Mike of course could not 
 refuse an invitation to grumble, though it came from the 
 devil .himself. Hal decided that something must be done 
 about it. 
 
 He consulted his friend Jerry, who, being a radical, 
 might have some touch-stone by which to test the stranger, 
 Jerry sought him out at noon-time, and came back and 
 reported that he was as much in the dark as Hal. Either 
 the man was an agitator, seeking to " start something," 
 or else he was a detective sent in by the company. There 
 was only one way to find out which was for some one 
 to talk freely with him, and see what happened to that 
 person ! 
 
 After some hesitation, Hal decided that he would be 
 the victim. It rewakened his love, of adventure, which 
 digging in a coal-mine had subdued in him. The mys- 
 terious stranger was a new sort of. miner, digging into the 
 souls of men; Hal would countermine him, and perhaps 
 blow him up. He could afford the experiment better than 
 some others better, for example, than little Mrs. David, 
 who had already taken the stranger into her home, and 
 revealed to him the fact that her husband had been a 
 member of the most revolutionary of all miners' organisa- 
 tions, the South Wales Federation. 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL . 78 
 
 So next Sunday Hal invited the stranger for another 
 walk. The man showed reluctance until Hal said that 
 he wanted to talk to him. As they walked up the canyon, 
 Hal began, " I've been thinking about what you said of 
 conditions in these camps, and I've, concluded it would 
 be a good thing if we had a little shaking up here in North 
 Valley." 
 
 " Is that so ? " said the other. 
 
 " When I first came here, I used to think the men were 
 grouchy. But now I've had a chance to see for myself, 
 and I don't believe anybody gets a square deal. For one 
 thing, nobody gets full weight in these mines at least 
 not unless he's some favourite of the boss. I'm sure of it, 
 for I've tried all sorts of experiments with my partner. 
 We've loaded a car extra light, and got eighteen hundred- 
 weight, and then we've loaded one high and solid, so that 
 we'd know it had twice as much in it but all we ever 
 got was twenty-two and twenty-three. There's just no 
 way you can get over that though everybody knows 
 those big cars can be made to hold two or three tons." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose they might," said the other. 
 
 " And' (if you get the smallest piece of rock in, you get 
 a ' double-O,' sure as fate ; and sometimes they say you got 
 rock in when you didn't. There's no law to make them 
 prove it." 
 
 " No, I suppose not." 
 
 " What it comes to is simply this they make you 
 think they are paying fifty-five a ton, but they've secretly 
 cut you down to thirty-five. And yesterday at the com- 
 pany-store I paid a dollar and a half for a pair of blue 
 overalls that I'd priced in Pedro for sixty cents." 
 
 " Well," said the other, " the company has to haul them 
 up here, you know ! " 
 
 So, gradually, Hal /made the discovery that the tables 
 were turned the mysterious personage was now occu- 
 ied in holding him at arm's length ! For some reason, 
 
 p 
 
80 KDTO COAL 
 
 Hal's sudden interest in industrial justice had failed to 
 make an impression. 
 
 So his career as a detective came to an inglorious end. 
 "Say, -man!*' -he exclaimed "What's your game, any- 
 how?" 
 
 "Game?" said the other, 'quietly. " How do you 
 mean ? " 
 
 " I mean, what are you here for ? " 
 
 " I'm here for two dollars a 'day the same as you, I 
 guess. " 
 
 Hal began to laugh. " You and I are like a couple of 
 submarines, trying to find each other under water. I 
 think we'd better, come to the surface to do our fighting." 
 
 The other considered the simile, and seemed to like it. 
 " You come first,-' 7 said he. But he did not smile. His 
 quiet blue eyes were fixeol on Hal with deadly serious- 
 ness. 
 
 "All right," said Hal; "my story isn't very thrilling. 
 I'm- not an escaped convict, I'm not a company spy, as you/ 
 may be thinking. Nor am I a ' natural born ' coal-miner. 
 I happen to have a brother and some friends at home who 
 think they know about the coal-industry, and it got on 
 my nerves, and I came to see for myself. . That's all, ex- 
 cept that I've found things interesting, and want to stay 
 on a while, so I hope you aren't a 'dick ? ! " 
 
 The other walked in silence, weighing Hal's words. 
 "That's mot* exactly what you'd call a usual story," he 
 remarked, at last. 
 
 "I know," replied Hal. " The best I can say for it 
 is that it's true." 
 
 " Well," said the stranger, "I'll take a chance on it. 
 I; have to trust somebody, if I'm ever to get anywhere. I 
 picked you out because I liked your face." He gave Hal 
 another- 'Searching look as he walked. "Your s'milc isn't 
 that of a -cheat. But you're young so let 'me remind 
 yon of the importance of secrecy in this place." 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 81 
 
 
 
 v " I'll keep mum,' 7 said Hal; and the stranger opened a 
 flap inside his shirt, and drew out a letter which certified 
 him to be Thomas Olson, an organiser for the United 
 Mine- Workers, the great national union of the coal-miners ! 
 
 27. Hal was so startled by this discovery that he 
 stopped in his tracks and gazed at the man. He had 
 heard a lot about " trouble-makers " in the camps, but so 
 far the only kind he had seen were those hired by the coni- 
 -pany to make trouble for the men. But now, here was a 
 ?union organiser ! Jerry had suggested the possibility, but 
 'Hal had not thought of it seriously; an organiser was a 
 mythological creature, whispered about by the .miners, 
 leursed by the company and its servants, and ; by Hal's 
 .;friends at home. An incendiary, a fire-brand, a loud- 
 - mouthed, irresponsible person, stirring up blind and dan- 
 gerous passions! Having heard such things all his life, 
 Hal's first impulse was of distrust. He felt like the one- 
 pegged old switchman who had given him a place to sleep, 
 'after his beating at Pine Creek, and who had said, " Don't 
 you talk no union business to me ! " 
 
 Seeing Hal's emotion, the organiser gave 1 an uneasy 
 laugh. "While you're hoping I'm not a ' dick,' I trust 
 you understand I'm hoping you're not one." 
 
 Hal's answer was to the point. " I was taken for an 
 organiser once," he said, and his hands sought the seat of 
 his ancient bruises. 
 
 The 1 - other laughed. " You got off with a beating? You 
 were lucky. Down in Alabama, not so long ago, they 
 tarred and feathered one of us." 
 
 Dismay came upon Hal's face; but after a moment he 
 too began to laugh. "I was just thinking about my 
 'brother and iris friends what they'd have said if I'd 
 come home Irom Pine Creek in a coat of tar and feath- 
 ers!" 
 
82 KING COAL 
 
 % 
 
 " Possibly," ventured the other, " they'd have said you 
 got what you deserved." 
 
 " Yes, that seems to be their attitude. That's the rule 
 they apply to all. the world if anything goes wrong with 
 you, it must be your own fault. It's a land of equal 
 opportunity." 
 
 u And you'll notice," said the organiser, " that the more 
 privileges people have had, the more boldly they talk that 
 way." 
 
 Hal began to feel a sense of comradeship with this 
 stranger, who was able to understand one's family trou- 
 bles ! It had been a long time since Hal had talked with 
 any one from the outside world, and he found it a relief 
 to his mind. He remembered how, after he had got his 
 beating, he had lain out in the rain and congratulated 
 himself that he was not what the guards had taken him 
 for. Now he was curious about the psychology of an or- 
 ganiser. A man must have strong convictions to follow 
 that occupation ! 
 
 He made the remark, and the other answered, " You 
 can have my pay any time you'll do my work. .But let 
 me tell you, too, it isn't being beaten and kicked out of 
 camp that bothers one most ; it isn't the camp-marshal and 
 the spy and the blacklist. Your worst troubles are in- 
 side the heads of the fellows you're trying to help! 
 Have you ever thought what it would mean to try to 
 explain things to men who speak twenty different lan- 
 guages ? " 
 
 " Yes, of course," said Hal. " I wonder how you ever 
 get a start." 
 
 " Well, you look for an interpreter and maybe he's 
 a company spy. ' Or maybe the first man you try to con- 
 vert reports you to the boss. For, of course, some of the 
 men are cowards, and some of them are crooks; they'll sell 
 out the next fellow for a better ' place 7t maybe for a 
 glass of beer." 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL S3 
 
 " That must have a tendency to weaken your coiivic- 
 tions," said Hal. 
 
 " No/' said the other, in a matter of fact tone. " It's 
 hard, but one can't blame the poor devils. They're ig- 
 norant kept so deliberately. The bosses bring them 
 here, and have a regular system to keep them from getting 
 together. And of course these* European peoples have 
 their old prejudices national prejudices, religious 
 prejudices, that keep them apart. You see two fellows, 
 one you think is exactly a*s miserable as the other but 
 you find him despising the other, because back home he 
 'was the other's superior. So they play into the bosses' 
 hands." 
 
 28. They had come to a remote place in the canyon, 
 and found themselves seats on a flat rock, where they 
 could talk in comfort. 
 
 " Put yourself in their place," said the organiser. 
 " They're in a strange country, and one person tells them 
 one thing, and another tells them something else. The 
 masters and their agents say: 'Don't trust the union 
 agitators. They're a lot of grafters, they live -easy and 
 don't have to work. They take your money and call you 
 out on strike, and you lose your jobs and your home; they 
 sell you out, maybe, and go on to some other place to 
 repeat the same trick.' And the workers think maybe 
 that's true'; they haven't the wit to see that if this Union 
 leaders are corrupt, it must be because the bosses are buy- 
 ing them. So you see, they're completely bedevilled'; they 
 don't know which way to turn;" 
 
 The man was speaking quietly, but there was a little 
 
 'low of excitement in his face. " The company is forever 
 
 repeating that these people are satisfied -^ that it's we 
 
 who are stirring them up. But are they satisfied? 
 
 You've been here long enough to know ! " 
 
84 .--KING COAL 
 
 " There's no need to discuss that/ 7 Hal answered. " Of 
 course they're not satisfied ! They've seemed to me like a 
 lot of children crying in the . dark not knowing what's 
 the matter with them, or who's to blame, or where to turn 
 for help." 
 
 Hal found himself losing his distrust of this man. He 
 did not correspond in any way to Hal's imaginary picture 
 of a union organiser; he was a blue-eyed, clean-looking 
 ypung American, and instead of being wild and loud- 
 mouthed, he seemed rather wistful. He had indignation, 
 .of course, but it did iiot take the form of ranting or florid 
 eloquence ; and this repression was making its, appeal to 
 Hal, who, in spite of his democratic impulses, had the 
 habits of thought of a class which shrinks from noisiness 
 and over-emphasis. 
 
 Also Hal was interested in his attitude towards the 
 weaknesses of working-people. The " inertia " of the 
 poor, which caused so many people to despair for them 
 their cowardice and instability these were things about 
 which Hal had heard all his life. " You can't help them," 
 people would say. "They're dirty and lazy, they drink 
 and shirk, they betray each other. They've always been 
 ; like that." The idea would be summed up in a formula: 
 .." You can't change human nature! " Even Mary Burke, 
 herself one of the working-c,lass, spoke of the workers in 
 this angry and scornful way. But Olson had faith in 
 their manhood, and went ahead to awaken and teach them. 
 
 To his mind the path was clear and straight. "They 
 must be taught the lesson of solidarity. As individuals, 
 they're helpless in the power of the great corporations ; 
 but if they stand together, if they sell their labour as a 
 unit then they really count for something." He paused, 
 and looked at the other inquiringly. " flow do you feel 
 about unions ? " 
 
 Hal answered, "They're one of the things I want to 
 find out about. You hear this and that there's so much 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 85 
 
 prejudice -on each side. I want to help the under dog, 
 but I want to be sure of the right way." 
 
 " What other way is there?" And Olson ^ paused. 
 " To appeal to the tender hearts of the owners ? " 
 
 " Not exactly ; but mightn't one appeal to the world 
 in general to public opinion ? I was brought up a-n 
 American, and learned to believe in my country. I can't 
 think but there's some way to get justice. Maybe if the 
 men were to go into politics " 
 
 " Politics ? " cried Olson. " My God ! How long have 
 you been in this place \ " 
 
 " Only a couple of months." 
 
 "Well, stay till November, and see wihat they do with 
 the ballot-boxes in these camps! " 
 
 " I can imagine, of course " 
 
 " No, you can't. Any more than you could imagine 
 the graft and the misery ! " 
 
 " But if the men should take to voting together " 
 
 " How can they take to voting together when any one 
 who mentions the idea goes down the canyon? Why, you 
 can't even get naturalisation papers, unless you're a com- 
 pany man ; they won't register you, unless the boss gives 
 you an O. K. How are you going to make a start, unless 
 you 'have a union ? " 
 
 It sounded reasonable, Hal had to admit ; but he thought 
 of the stories he had heard about " walking delegates," all 
 the dreadful consequences of " union domination." He 
 had not meant to go in for unionism ! 
 
 Olson was continuing. " We've had laws passed, a 
 whole raft of laws about coal-mining the eight-hour 
 law, the anti-scrip law, the company-store law, the mine- 
 sprinkling law, the check-weighman law. What differ- 
 ence has it made in North Valley that there are such laws 
 on the statute-books? Would you ever even know about 
 them ? " 
 
 " Ah, now ! " said Hal. a If you put it that way 
 
86 KING COAL 
 
 if your movement is to have the law enforced I'm with 
 you ! " 
 
 "But how will you get the law enforced, except by a 
 union? ' No individual man can do it it's ' down the 
 canyon ''with him if he mentions the law. . In Western 
 City our union people go to the state officials,. -hut. they 
 never, do anything - and why ? They know we haven't 
 got the : men behind us! It's the same with the politicians 
 as it is with the bosses the union is the thing that 
 counts ! " 
 
 Hal found this an entirely new argument. " People 
 don't realise that idea that men have to bo organised to 
 get their legal rights.' 7 
 
 And the other threw up his hands with a corni'cal ges- 
 ture. "My God! If you want to make a list of the 
 things that people don't realise about us miners ! " 
 
 29. Olson was eager to win Hal, land went : on to tell 
 all the secrets of his work. He sought men who believed 
 in unions, and were willing to take the risk of trying to 
 convert others. In each place he visited he would get a 
 group together, and would arrange sonie way to communi- 
 cate with them after he left, smuggling in, propaganda 
 literature fqr distribution. So there would be-; the nucleus 
 of an organisation. In a year or two they would have 
 such a nucleus in every cainp, and thqn, thqy would be 
 ; ready to come into the open, calling .meetings in. the towns, 
 and in places in the .canyons to which the miners would 
 flock. So the flame of , revolt Would leap up ;. men: would 
 join the movement faster than the companies could get 
 rid of them, and they would make a demand for their 
 rights, backed with the threat of a strike throughout the 
 entire district. 
 
 " You understand," added Olson, " we have a legal, right 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 87 
 
 to organise even though the bosses disapprove. You 
 need not stand back on that Score." 
 
 " Yes/ 7 said Hal ; " but it occurs to me that as a matter 
 of tactics, it would be better here in North Valley if you 
 chose some issue there's less controversy about; if, for 
 instance, you'd concentrate on getting a check-weighman." 
 
 The other smiled. " We'd have to have a union to back 
 the demand ; so what's the difference ? " 
 
 "Well," argued Hal, "there are prejudices to be reck- 
 oned with. Some people don't like the idea of a union 
 they think it means tyranny and violence " 
 
 The organiser laughed. " You aren't convinced but 
 that it does yourself, are you ! Well, all I can tell you is, 
 if you want to tackle the job of getting a check-weighman 
 in North Valley, I'll not stand in your way ! " 
 
 Here was an idea a real idea! Life had grown dull 
 for Hal since he had become a buddy, working in a place 
 five feet high. This would promise livelier times ! 
 
 But was it a thing he wanted to do? So far he had 
 been an observer of conditions in this coal-camp. He had 
 convinced himself that conditions were cruel, and he 
 had pretty well convinced himself that the cruelty was 
 needless and deliberate. But when it came to a question 
 of an action to be taken then he hesitated, and old 
 prejudices and fears made themselves heard. He had been 
 told that labour was ". turbulent " and " lazy," that it had 
 to be " ruled with a strong hand " ; now, was he willing 
 to weaken the strong hand, to ally himself with those who 
 " fomented labour troubles " ? 
 
 But this would not be the same thing, he told himself. 
 This suggestion of Olson's was different from trade union- 
 ism, which might be a demoralising force, leading the 
 workers from one demand to another, until they were 
 seeking to " dominate industry." This would be merely 
 an appeal to the law, a test of that honesty and fair dealing 
 to which the company everywhere laid claim. If, as the 
 
88 KING COAL 
 
 bosses proclaimed, the workers were fully protected ty the 
 check-weighman law; if, as all the world was made to be- 
 lieve, the reason there was no check-weighman was simply 
 .because the men did not ask for one ?- why, then there 
 would l?e no harm done. If on the other hand a demand 
 for a right that was not merely a legal right, but a moral 
 right as well if that were taken by the bosses as an act 
 of rebellion against the company well, Hal would un- 
 derstand a little more about the " turbulence " of labour! 
 If, as Old Mike and Johannson and the rest maintained, 
 the bosses would " make your life one damn misery " till 
 you left then he would be ready to make .a few damn 
 miseries for the bosses in return ! 
 
 "It would be an adventure," said Hal, suddenly. 
 
 And the other laughed. "It would that! " 
 
 " You're thinking I'll have another Pine Creek experi- 
 ence," Hal added. " Well, maybe so but I have to try 
 things out for myself. You see, I've got a brother at 
 home, and when I think about going in for revolution, I 
 have imaginary arguments with him. I want to be able 
 to say/ I didn't swallow anybody's theories; I tried it for 
 myself, and this is what happened. 7 3 
 
 " Well," replied the organiser, " that's all right. But 
 while you're seeking education for yourself and your 
 .brother, don't forget that I've already got my education. 
 I know what happens to men who ask for a check-weigh- 
 man, and I can't afford to sacrifice myself proving it 
 again." 
 
 " I never asked you to," laughed Hal. " If I won't 
 join your movement, I can't expect you to join mine! 
 But if I can find a few men who are willing to take the 
 risk of making a demand for a check-weighman that 
 won't hurt your work, will it ? " 
 
 " Sure not ! " said the other. " Just the opposite 
 it'll give me an. object lesson to point to. There are men 
 here who don't even know they've -a legal right to a check- 
 
THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL 89 
 
 weighman. There are others who know they don't get 
 their weights, but aren't sure its the company that's cheat- 
 ing them. If the bosses should refuse to let any one in- 
 spect the weights, if they should go further and fire the 
 men who ask it well, there'll be plenty of recruits for 
 my union local ! " 
 
 '"All right," said Hal. "I'm not setting out to re- 
 cruit your union local, but if the company wants to recruit 
 it, that's the company's affair! " And on this bargain the 
 two shook hands. 
 
BOOK TWO 
 THE SERFS OF KINO COAL 
 
1. Hal was now started upon a new career, more 
 full of excitements than that of stableman or buddy, with 
 perils greater than those of falling rock or the hind feet 
 of mules in the stomach". The inertia which overwork 
 produces had not had time to become a disease with him; 
 youth was on his side, with its zest for more and yet more 
 experience. He found it thrilling to be a conspirator, to 
 carry about -with him secrets as dark and mysterious as the 
 passages of the mine in which he worked. 
 
 But Jerry Minetti, the first person he told of Tom 
 Olson's purpose in North Valley, was older in such thrills. 
 The care-free look which Jerry was accustomed to wear 
 vanished abruptly, and fear came into his eyes. " I know 
 it come some day/' he exclaimed " trouble for me and 
 Rosa ! " 
 
 " How do you mean ? " 
 
 " We get into it get in sure. I say Rosa, * Call your- 
 self Socialist what good that do ? No help any. No 
 'use to vote here they don't count no Socialist vote, only 
 for joke! ' I say, t Got to have union. Got to strike! ' 
 But Rosa say, i Wait little bit. Save little bit money, 
 let children grow up. Then we help, no care if we no 
 got any home/ J 
 
 " But we're not going to start a union now! " objected 
 Hal. "I have another plan for the present." 
 
 Jerry, however, was not to. be put at ease. " No can 
 wait ! " he declared. " Men no stand it ! I say, l It come 
 some day quick like blow-up in mine I Somebody start 
 fight, everybody fight.' ' And Jerry looked at Rosa, who 
 sat with her black eyes fixed anxiously upon her husband. 
 " We get into it," he said ; and Hal saw their eyes turn 
 to the room where Little Jerry and the baby were sleeping. 
 
 93 
 
94 KING COAL 
 
 Hal said nothing he was beginning to understand 
 the meaning of rebellion to such people. He watched 
 with curiosity and pity the struggle that went on ; a strug- 
 gle as old as the soul of man between the voice of self- 
 interest, of comfort ; and prudence, and the call of duty, of 
 the ideal. No trumjpet sounded for this 'conflict, only the 
 still small voice within. 
 
 After a while Jerry asked what it was Hal and Olson 
 had planned; and Hal explained that he wanted to make 
 a test of the company's attitude toward the check-weigh- 
 man law. -Hal thought it a fine schem'e; what did Jerry 
 think ? 
 
 Jerry smiled sadly. " Yes, fine scheme for young fel- 
 ler no : got family ! " 
 
 " That's all right," said Hal, " I'll take the job I'll 
 be the check-weighman. 
 
 " Got to have committee," said Jerry >" committee go 
 see boss." 
 
 " All right, but we'll get young fellows for that too 
 men who have no families. Some of the fellows who live 
 in the chicken-coops in shanty-town. They won't care 
 what -happens to them." 
 
 But Jerry would not share Hal's smile. " No got sense 
 'riough, them fellers. Take sense to stick together." He 
 explained that they u would need a group of men to stand 
 back of the committee; such a group would have to be 
 organised, to hold meetings in secret it would be prac- 
 tically the same thing as a union, would be so regarded by 
 the bosses and their spotters. And no organisation of any 
 sort was permitted in the camps. There had been some 
 Serbians who had wanted to belong to a fraternal order 
 back in their home country, but even that had been for- 
 bidden. If you wanted to insure your life or your health, 
 the company would attend to it and get the profit from 
 it. For -that matter, you could not even buy a post-office 
 money-order, to send funds back to the old country ; the 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 95 
 
 post-office clerk, who was at the same time a clerk in the 
 company-store, would sell you some sort of a store-draft. 
 
 So Hal was facing the very difficulties about which Olson 
 had warned him. The first of them was Jerry's fear. 
 Yet Hal knew that Jerry was no " coward " ; if any man 
 had a contempt for Jerry's attitude, it was because he 
 had never been in Jerry's place ! 
 
 " All I'll ask of you now is advice," said Hal. " Give 
 me the names of some young fellows who are trustworthy, 
 and I'll get their -help without anybody suspecting you." 
 
 " t You my boarder ! " was Jerry's reply to this. 
 
 So again Hal was " up against it." " You mean that 
 would get you into trouble?" 
 
 " Sure! They know we talk. They know I talk So- 
 cialism, anyhow. They fire me sure! " 
 
 " But how about your cousin, the pit-boss hi Number 
 One?" 
 
 " He no help. May be get fired himself. Say damn 
 fool board check-weighman ! " 
 
 " All right," said Hal. " Then I'll move away now, 
 before it's too late. You can say I was a trouble-maker, 
 and you turned me oft'." 
 
 The Minettis sat gazing at each other a mournful 
 pair. They hated to lose their boarder, who was such 
 good company, and paid them such good money. As for 
 Hal, he felt nearly as bad, for he liked Jerry and his girl- 
 wife, and Little Jerry even the black-eyed baby, who 
 made so much noise and interrupted conversation! 
 
 "No!" said Jerry. "I no run away! I do my 
 share ! " 
 
 " That's all. right," replied Hal. " You do your share 
 but not just yet. You stay on in the camp and help 
 Olson after I'm fired. We don't want the best men put 
 out at once." 
 
 So, after further argument, it was decided, and Hal 
 saw little Rosa sink back in her chair and draw a deep 
 
96 KING COAL 
 
 breath of relief. The time for martyrdom was put off; 
 her little three-roomed cabin, her furniture and her shin- 
 ing pans and her pretty white lace , curtains, might be 
 hers for a few weeks longer ! 
 
 2. Hal went back to Eeminitsky's boarding-house ; 
 a heavy sacrifice, but not without its compensations, be- 
 cause it gave him more chance to talk with the men. 
 
 He aud Jerry made up a list of those who could be 
 trusted with tjie secret: the list beginning with the name 
 of Mike Sikoria. To be put on a committee, and sent 
 to interview a boss, would appeal to Old Mike as the pur- 
 pose for which he had been put upon earth! Bi\t they 
 would not tell him about it until the last minute, for fear 
 lest in his excitement he might shout out the announcement 
 the next time he lost one of his cars. 
 
 There was a young Bulgarian miner named Wresmak 
 who worked near Hal. The road into this man's room ran 
 up an incline, and he had hardly been able to push his 
 " empties " up the grade. While he was sweating and 
 straining at the task, Alec Stone had come along, and 
 having a giant's contempt for physical weakness, began 
 to cuff him. The man raised his arm whether in of- 
 fence or to ward off the blow, no one could be sure; but 
 Stone fell upon him and kicked him all the way down the 
 passage, pouring out upon him furious curses. Now the 
 man was in another room, where he had taken out over 
 forty r car--loads of rock, and been allowed only three dol- 
 lars for it. No one who watched his face when the pit- 
 boss passed would doubt that this man would be ready to 
 take his chances in a movement of protest. 
 
 Then there was a man whom Jerry knew, who had just 
 come out of the hospital, after contact with the butt-end 
 of the canip-rnarshal's revolver. This was a Pole, who 
 unfortunately did not know a word of English; but Olson, 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 97 
 
 the organiser, had got into touch with another Pole, who 
 spoke a little English, and would pass the word on to his 
 fellow-countryman. Also there was a young Italian, Ro- 
 vetta, whom Jerry knew and whose loyalty he could vouch 
 for. 
 
 There was another person Hal thought of Mary 
 Burke. He had been deliberately avoiding her of late; 
 it seemed the one safe thing to do although it seemed 
 also a cruel thing, and left his mind ill at ease. He went 
 over and over what had happened. How had the trouble 
 got started ? It is a man's duty in such cases to take the 
 blame upon himself ; but a man does not like to take blame 
 upon himself, and he tries to make it as light as possible. 
 Should Hal say that it was because he had been too offi- 
 cious that night in helping Mary where the path was 
 rough? She had not actually needed such help, she was 
 quite as capable on her feet as he! But he had really 
 gone farther than that he had had a definite senti- 
 mental impulse; and he had been a cad- he should have 
 known all along that all this girl's discontent, all the long- 
 ing of her starved soul, would become centred upon him, 
 who was so "different," who had had opportunity, who 
 made her think of the " poetry-books " ! 
 
 But here suddenly seemed a solution of the difficulty; 
 here was a new interest for Mary, a safe channel in which 
 her emotions could run. A woman could not serve on a 
 miners' committee, but she would be a good adviser, and 
 her sharp tongue would be a weapon to drive others into 
 line. Being aflame with this enterprise, Hal became im- 
 personal, man-fashion and so fell into .another senti- 
 mental trap ! He did not stop to think that Mary's inter- 
 .est in the check-weighman movement might be condi- 
 tioned in part by a desire to see more of him ; still less 
 did it occur to him x that he might be glad for a pretext *to 
 see Mary. 
 
 No, he was picturing her in a new role, an activity more 
 
98 KING COAL 
 
 inspiriting than cooking and nursing. His " poetry- 
 book " imagination took fire; he gave -her a hope and a 
 purpose, a pathway with a goal at the end. Had there 
 not been women leaders in every great proletarian move- 
 ment? 
 
 He went to call on her, and met her at the door of her 
 cabin. " 7 Tis a cheerin' sight to see ye, Joe Smith!" 
 she said. And she looked him in the eye and smiled. 
 
 ," The same to you, Mary Burke! " he answered. 
 
 She was game, he saw ; she was going to be a " good 
 sport." But he noticed that she was paler than when he 
 had seen her last. Could it be that these gorgeous Irish 
 complexions ever faded ? He thought that she was thin- 
 ner too ; the old blue calico seemed less tight upon her. 
 
 Hal plunged into his theme. "Mary, I had a vision 
 of you to-day ! " 
 
 "Of me, lad? Whafsthat?" 
 
 He laughed. " I saw you with a glory in your face, and 
 your hair shining like a crown of gold. You were 
 mounted on a snow-white horse, and wore a robe of white, 
 
 soft and lustrous like Joan of Arc, or a leader in a 
 
 suffrage parade. t You were riding at the head of a host 
 I've still got the music in, my ears, Mary! " 
 
 " Go tin with ye, lad what's all this about ? " 
 
 " Come in and I'll tell you," he said. 
 
 So they went into the bare kitchen, and sat in bare 
 wooden chairs Mary folding her hands in her lap like 
 a child who has been promised a fairy-story. "Now 
 hurry," said she. " I want to know about this new dress 
 ye're givin' me. Are, ye tired of me old calico? " 
 
 He joined in her smile. "This is a dress you will 
 weave for yourself, Mary, out of the finest threads of your 
 own nature out of courage and devotion and self-sacri- 
 
 " Sure, 'tis the poetry-book again ! But what is it ye're 
 really meanin' ? " 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL -99 
 
 He looked' about him. " Is anybody here ? " 
 
 " Nobody," 
 
 But instinctive!^ he lowered his voice as he told his 
 story. There was an organiser of the " big union " in the 
 camp, and he was going to rouse the slaves to protest. 
 
 The laughter went out ' of Mary's face. "Oh! It's 
 that! " she said, in a flat tone. The vision : of the snow- 
 white horse and tHe soft and lustrous robe was gone. " Ye 
 can never do anything of that sort here! " 
 
 '"Why not?" 
 
 " 'Tis the men in this place. Don't ye remember what 
 I told ye at Mr. Rafferty's ? They're cowards ! " 
 
 " Ah, Mary, it's easy to say that. But: it's not so pleas- 
 ant being turned out of your home -" 
 
 " Do ye have to tell me that ? " she cried, with sudden 
 passion/ " Haven't I seen that ? " 
 
 " Yes, Mary ; but I want to do something " 
 
 " Yes, and haven't -I wanted to do something ? Sure, 
 I've wanted to bite off the noses of the bosses ! " 
 
 "Well," "he laughed, "we'll make that a part of our 
 programme." But Mary was not to be lured into 'cheer- 
 fulness; her niood was-iso full of pain and bewilderment 
 that he -had an impulse to reach out and take her hand 
 again. But he checked that ; he had come to divert her 
 energies into a safe channel! 
 
 " We must waken these men to resistance, Mary ! " 
 
 " Ye can't do it, Joe not the English-speakin' men. 
 The Greeks and the Bulgars, maybe they're fightin' at 
 home, and they might fight here. But the Irish never- 
 never! Them that had any backbone went out long ago. 
 Them that stayed has been made into boot-licks. I know 
 them, every man of them. TKey grumble, and -curse the 
 boss, but then they think of the blacklist, and they go back 
 and cringe at his feet." 
 
 " What such men want " 
 
 " 'Tis booze they want, and carousin' with the rotten 
 
100 KING COAL 
 
 women in the coal-towns, and sittin' up all night winnin' 
 each other's money with a greasy pack of cards 1 They 
 take their pleasure where they find it, and His nothiii' 
 better they want." 
 
 " Then, Mary, if that's so, don't you see it's all the more 
 reason for trying to teach them 3 If not 'for their own 
 sakes, for the sake of their children! The children 
 mustn't grow up like that! They are learning English, 
 at least " 
 
 Mary gave a scornful laugh. " Have ye been up to 
 that school?" 
 
 He answered no; and she told him there were a hundred 
 and twenty children packed in one room, three in a seat, 
 and solid all round the wall. She went on, with swift 
 anger the school was supposed to be paid for out of 
 taxes, but as nobody owned any property but the com- 
 pany, it was all in the company's hands. The school- 
 board consisted of Mr. Cartwright, the mine-superin- 
 tendent, and; Jake Predovich, a clerk in the store, and the 
 preacher, the Reverend Spraggs. Old Spraggs would 
 bump his nose on the floor if the " super " told him to. 
 
 " Now, now ! " said Hal, laughing. " You're down on 
 him because his grandfather .was an Orangeman! " 
 
 3. Mary Burke had been suckled upon despair, and 
 the poison of it was deep in her blood. Hal began to re- 
 alise that it would be as hard to give her a hope as to 
 rouse the workers whom she despised. She was brave 
 enough, no doubt, but how could he persuade her to be 
 brave for men who had no courage for themselves? 
 
 " Mary," he said, " in your heart you don't really hate 
 these people. You know how they suffer, you pity them 
 for it. You give their children your last cent when they 
 need it " 
 
 " Ah, lad! " she cried, and he saw tears suddenly spring 
 into her eyes. " 'Tis because I love them so that I hate 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 101 
 
 them! Sometimes 'tis the bosses I would murder, some- 
 times 'tis the men. Wnat is itj ye're wantin' me to do I " 
 
 And then, even before he could answer, she began to 
 run over the list of her acquaintances in the camp. Yes, 
 there was one man Hal ought to talk to ; he would be too 
 old to join them, but his advice would be invaluable, and 
 they could be sure he would never betray them. That 
 was old John Edstrom, a Swede from Minnesota, who 
 had worked in this district from the time the mines had 
 first started up. He had been active in the great strike 
 eight years 'ago, and had been black-listed, his four sons 
 with him. The sons were scattered now to the four parts 
 of the world, but the father had stayed nearby, working as 
 a ranch-hand and railroad labourer, until a couple of years 
 ago, during a rush season, he had got a chance to come 
 back into the mines. 
 
 He was old, old, declared Mary must be sixty. And 
 when Hal remarked that that did not sound so frightfully 
 aged, she answered that one seldom heard of a man being 
 able to work in a coal-mine at that age ' r in fact, there were 
 not many who managed to live to that age. Edstrom's 
 wife was dying now, and he was having a hard time. 
 
 " 'Twould not be fair to let such an old gentleman lose 
 his job," said Mary. " But at least he could give ye 
 good advice." 
 
 So that evening the two of them wen? to call on John 
 Edstrom, in a tiny unpainted cabin in "shanty-town," 
 with a bare earth floor, and a half partition of rough 
 boards to hide his dying wife from his callers. The 
 woman's trouble was cancer, and this made calling a try- 
 ing matter, for there was a fearful odour in the place. 
 For some time it was impossible for Hal to force himself 
 to think about anything else ; but finally he overcame this 
 weakness, telling himself that this wae a war, and that 
 a man must be ready for the hospital as well as for the 
 parade-ground. 
 
102 KING COAL 
 
 He looked & bout, and saw-that the cracks of Edstrom ? S 
 cabin' were stopped with, yags, ! and' the broken window- 
 panes -mended with browii paper. 'The old man: had evi- 
 dently made an effort ;to keep the place ndat, and Hal no- 
 ticed a row of bodks o4i a shelf. Because it was cold in 
 these- mountain regions at night, -even in September, the 
 old man had a/ fire in the little cast-iron stove, and sat 
 huddled 1 by it. :; There were only a few hairs left on his 
 head, and- his scrubby beard was as white as anything 1 ' 
 could be in a coal^earnp. ; The first impression of his face 
 was'of its pallor, and then of tHe : benevolence in the faded 
 dark. eyes; also his voice was gentle, like a' caress*. : H0 
 rose tb greet his ; visitors, and -put out to Hal a trembling 
 hand, which resembled the ; paw of some animal, horny and 
 ntesha ( pen. He made <a movb to draw' up a bench, and 
 apologised for his unskillful house-keeping. It occurred] 
 to Hal -that a -man inight;:be able to work in a coal-mine 
 at sixty, and -not 'be able to work in it 'at sixty-one. 
 
 Hal had requested Mary to say nothing about his pur- 
 pose> until -after he had a; chance to -judge: for .himself. 
 So now the girl inquired' about Mrs; Edstrom. There was 
 no news, the -man answered; she was lying in a' stupor, as 
 usual. > -Dr. Barrett had come again, but -all he eould"do 
 was io give "her -morphine. iNo one coiild 'do any more, 
 the doctor declared. 
 
 " Sure,- iie'd^ nit know it if -they could! " sniflied Mary. 
 He's not s"tich a : bad oh-e, \vhen h^e's sober,'' said Ed- 
 strom, patiently. 
 
 '^Aiid Ifibw eften is that ?/' sniffed Mary again. She 
 added, by 'way* bf explanation to ;Hfll, u He's a couain of 
 the 8tiper. ? '' 
 
 Things -we're better here than in some places, said Ed- 
 Strdm. At Harvey ' Run, where he had worked, a man 
 had ; got 'hiSiete hurt, and' bad' ilcM^it through the doctor's 
 instrument 'slipping; broken arms and legs had been set 
 wrong, and either the men had to go through life as crip- 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 103 
 
 pies, or go elsewhere' and have the bones re-broken and reset. 
 It was like everything else the doctor was a part of the 
 company machine, and if you had too much to say about 
 him, it was down the canyon with you. You not only had 
 a dollar a month taken out of your pay, but if you were 
 injured, and he came to attend you, he would charge what- 
 ever extra he pleased. 
 
 " And you have to pay ? " asked Hal. 
 
 "They 'take it off your account," said the old man. 
 
 ; " Sometimes they take it when he's done nothiii' at 
 all/ 7 added Mary. " They charged Mrs. Zamboni twenty- 
 five dollars for her last baby and Dr. Barrett never set 
 foot across her door till three hours after the baby was 
 in my arms ! " 
 
 4. The talk went on. Wishing to draw the 6ld man 
 out, Hal spoke of various troubles of the miners, and at 
 last he suggested that the remedy might be found in a 
 union. Edstrom's dark eyes studied him, and then turned 
 to Mary. " Joe's all right/' said the girl, quickly. "'You 
 can trust him." 
 
 Edstrom made no direct answer to this, but remarked 
 that he had once been in a strike. He was a marked man, 
 now, and could only stay in the camp so long as he at- 
 tended strictly to his own affairs. The part he had played 
 in the big strike had never been forgotten ; the bosses had 
 let him work again, partly because they had needed him 
 at a rush time, and partly because the pit-boss happened 
 to be a personal 1 friend. 
 
 "Tell him about the big strike," said Mary. "He's 
 new in this district." 
 
 The old man had apparently accepted Mary's word for 
 Hal's good faith, for he began to narrate those terrible 
 events which were a whispered tradition of the camps. 
 There had been a mighty effort of ten thousand slaves for 
 
104 KING COAL 
 
 freedom ; and it had been crushed with utter ruthleasness. 
 Ever since these mines had been started, the operators had 
 controlled the local powers of government, and now, in the 
 emergency, they had brought in the state militia as well, 
 and used it frankly to drive the strikers back to work. 
 They had seised the leaders and active men, and thrown 
 them into jail without trial or charges; when the jails 
 would hold no more, they kept some two hundred in an 
 open stockade, called a " bull-pen," and finally they loaded 
 them into freight-cars, took them at night out of the state, 
 and dumped them off in the midst of the desert without 
 food or water. 
 
 John Edstrom had been one of these men. He told 
 how one of his sons had been beaten and severely injured 
 in jail, and how another had been kept for weeks in a 
 damp cellar, so that he had come out crippled with rheuma- 
 tism for life. The officers of the state militia had done 
 these things ; and when some of the local authorities were 
 moved to protest, the militia had arrested them even the 
 judges of the civil courts had been forbidden to sit, under 
 threat of imprisonment. " To hell with the constitution ! " 
 had been the word of the general in command ; his subor- 
 dinate had made famous the saying, " No habeas corpus; 
 we'll give them post-mortems! " 
 
 Tom Olson had impressed Hal with his self-control, 
 but this old man made an even deeper impression upon 
 him. As he listened, he became humble, touched with 
 awe. Incredible as it might seem, when John Edstrom 
 talked about his cruel experiences, it was without bitter- 
 ness in his voice, and apparently without any in his heart. 
 Here, in the midst of want and desolation, with his fam- 
 ily broken and scattered, and the wolf of starvation at his 
 door, he could look back upon the past without hatred of 
 those who had ruined him. Nor was this because he was 
 old and feeble, and had lost the spirit of revolt; it was 
 because he had studied economics, and convinced himself 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 105 
 
 that it was an evil system which blinded men's eyes and 
 poisoned their souls. A better day was coming, he said, 
 when this evil system would be changed, and it would be 
 possible for men to be merciful to one another. 
 
 At tliis point in the conversation, Mary Burke gave 
 voice once more to her corroding despair. How could 
 things ever be changed? 'The bosses were mean-hearted, 
 and the men were cowards and traitors. That left nobody 
 but God to do the changing and God had left things as 
 they were for such a long time ! 
 
 Hal was interested to hear how Edstrom dealt with this 
 attitude. " Mary," he said, " did you ever read about 
 ants in Africa '( " 
 
 " No," said she. 
 
 " They travel in long columns, millions and millions of 
 them. And when they come to a ditch, the front ones fall 
 in, and more and more of them on top, till they fill up 
 the di'tch, and the rest cross over. We are ants, Mary." 
 
 " No matter how many go in," cried the girl, "none 
 will ever get across. There's no bottom to the ditch! " 
 
 He answered : " That's more than any ant can know. 
 Mary. All they know is to go in. They cling to each 
 other's bodies, even in death ; they make a bridge, and 
 the rest go over." 
 
 "I'll step one side! " she declared, fiercely. " I'll not 
 throw meself away." 
 
 " You may s*ep one side," answered the other " but 
 you'll step back into line again. I know you better than 
 you know yourself, Mary." 
 
 There was silence in the little cabin. The winds of an 
 early fall shrilled outside, and life suddenly seemed to 
 Hal a stern and merciless thing. He had, thought in his 
 youthful fervour it would be thrilling to be a revolution- 
 ist ; but to be an ant, one of millions and millions, to perish 
 in a bottomless ditch that was something a man could 
 hardly bring himself to face 1 He looked at the bowed fig- 
 
,lft6 KING COAL 
 
 ,ure of this, white haired toiler, vague in the feeble lamp- 
 light, and found himself thinking of Rembrandt's paint- 
 ing, the Visit of Emmaus : the ill-lighted room in the dirty 
 tavern, and the two ragged men, struck dumb by the glow 
 of light about the forehead of their table-companion. It 
 was not fantastic to imagine a glow of light about the fore- 
 head of this soft-voiced old man ! 
 
 " I never hafi any hope it would come in my time/* the 
 old man was saying gently. <: I did use to hope my boys 
 might see it but now I'm not sure even of that. But 
 in all my life I never doubted that some day the working- 
 people will cross over to the promised land. They'll no 
 longer be slaves, and what they make w r on't be wasted by 
 idlers. And take it from one who knows, Mary for a 
 workingman or woman not to have that faith, is to have 
 lost the reason for living." 
 
 Hal decided that it would be safe to trust this man, and 
 told him of his check-weighman plan. " We only want 
 your advice," he explained, remembering Mary's warn- 
 ing. "Your sick wife" 
 
 But the old man answered, sadly, " She's almost gone, 
 and I'll soon be following. What little strength I have 
 left might as well be used for the cause." 
 
 5. This business of conspiracy was grimly real to 
 men whose living came out of coal ; but jlal, even at the 
 most serious moments, continued to find Jn it, the thrill 
 of romance. He had read stories of revolutionists, and 
 of the police who hunted them. That such excitements 
 were to be had in Russia, he knew; but if any one had told 
 him they could be had in his own free America, within 
 a few hours' journey of , his home city and his college-town, 
 he could not have credited the statement. 
 
 The evening after his visit to Edstrom, Hal was stopped 
 on the street by his boss. Encountering him suddenly, 
 
THE SEEF8 -QE.-KING COAL 107 
 
 Ha]- started, like a -pick-pocket, who runs into a policeman. 
 
 k ' Hello, -kid," said the pit-fross. 
 
 " Hello, Mr.. Stonei," was the reply. 
 
 " I want to talk: to you/' said the boss. 
 
 " All right, sir." And then, under his breath, " He's 
 got me! " ,;joal . : 
 
 " Come up to my house/' :Said Stone ; and Hal followed, 
 feeling as s if hand-cuffs were already on his wrists. 
 
 I " Say/' said, the man', as" they . \valjved, " I thought you 
 were going to tell me if you'd hear,d ar*y talk." 
 
 " I haven't heard any, sir." 
 
 "Well," continued ,'Stpi}e,," you t Want to get busy; 
 there's sure to be kickers in every coal-caiap.'' And deep 
 within, Hal drew a sigh of relief. It was : a ;false alarm! 
 
 They came, to the boss's, house, .and, he took a chair on 
 the piazza and motioned Hal 'to tflke anothqr. .They sat 
 in semi-darkness, and .Stoiie droppGd' : his ; voice as he be- 
 gan. "What I \Yant.to talk to you about ,now js some- 
 thing else this election." 
 
 "Election, sir?" 
 
 " Dicln't you know there, , was ojic ? Jhe Congressman 
 in. this district died,; aud there's a special election three 
 weeks from next Tuesday." 
 
 " I see, sir." And Hal chuckled, inwardly.; ,,116 would 
 get the information which Tqin Olson had ^Qcommended 
 to him ! 
 
 " You ain't heard any talk about it ? " inquired the pit- 
 boss. . j 
 
 " Jfothing at all, sir. I never pay much attention to 
 politics -it ain't ; ip my, line." 
 
 " Well, that's the. way I like to hear. a. miner talk ! " said 
 the pit-bo^ with heartiness. .," If they all h$d. sense 
 cuougli to leave politics to the politicians^ they'd be a sight 
 better off. What they; need is, to, tend to their own jobs." 
 
 " Yes, sir," agreed Hal, meekly-^" like I had to tei^d 
 to them mules, ; ,if I didn't want to get- the colic/" 
 
108 KING COAL 
 
 The boss smiled appreciatively. "You've got more 
 sense than most of 'em. If you'll stand by me, there'll 
 be a chance for you to move up in the world." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Stone," said Hal. " Give me a 
 chance." 
 
 " Well now, here's this election. Every year they send 
 us a bunch of campaign money to handle. A bit of it 
 might come your way." 
 
 " I could use it, I reckon," said Hal, brightening vis- 
 ibly. " What is it you want ? " 
 
 There was a pause, while Stone puffed on his pipe. He 
 went on, in a business-like manner. " WTiat I want is 
 somebody to feel things out a bit, arid let me know the 
 situation. I thought it better not to use the men that 
 generally work for me, but somebody that wouldn't be 
 suspected. Down in Sheridan and Pedro they say the 
 Democrats are making- a big stir, and the company's wor- 
 ried. I suppose you know the ' G. F. C. ? is Republi- 
 can." 
 
 " I've heard so." 
 
 " You might think a congressman don't have much to 
 do with ITS, way off in Washington ; but it has a bad effect 
 to have him campaigning, telling the men the company's 
 abusing them. So I'd like you just to kind o' circulate 
 a bit, and start the men on politics, and see if any of them 
 have been listening to this MacDougall talk. (Mac- 
 Dougall's this here Democrat, you know.) And I want 
 to find out whether they've been sending in literature to 
 this camp, or have any agents here. You see, they claim 
 the right to come in and make speeches, and all that sort 
 of thing. North Valley's an incorporated town, so they've 
 got the law on their side, in a way, and if we shut ? em out, 
 they make a howl in the papers, and it looks bad. So we 
 have to get ahead of them in quiet ways. Fortunately 
 there ain't any hall in the camp for them to meet in, and 
 we've made a local ordinance against meetings on the 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 109 
 
 street. If they try to bring in circulars, something has 
 to happen to them before they get distributed. See \ " 
 
 " J see," said Hal ; he thought of Tom Olson's propa- 
 ganda literature! 
 
 " We'W pass the word out, it's the Republican the 
 company wants elected ; and you be on the lookout and see 
 how they take it in the camp." 
 
 " That sounds easy enough/' said Hal. " But tell me, 
 Mr. Stone, why do you bother? Do so many of these 
 wops have votes ? " 
 
 " It ain't the wops so much. We get them naturalised 
 on purpose they vote our way for a glass of beer. But 
 the English-speaking men, or the foreigners that's been 
 here too long, and got too big for their breeches they're 
 the ones we got to watch.- If, they get to talking politics, 
 they don't stop there; the first thing you- know y they're 
 listening to union agitators, and wanting to run the camp." 
 
 " Oh yes, I see ! " said Hal, and wondered if his voice 
 sounded right. 
 
 But the pit-boss was concerned with his own troubles. 
 " As I told Si Adams the other day, what I'm looking for 
 is fellows that talk some new lingo one that nobody will 
 ever understand! But I suppose that would be too easy. 
 There's no way to keep them from learning some Eng- 
 lish!" 
 
 Hal decided to make use of this opportunity to perfect 
 his education. " Surely, Mr. Stone," he remarked, "you 
 don't have to count any votes if you don't want to ! " 
 
 "Well, I'll tell you," replied' Stone ; "it's a question 
 of the easiest way to manage things. When I was super- 
 intendent over to Happy Gulch, we didn't waste no time 
 on politics. The company was Democratic at that time, 
 and when election night come, we wrote down four hun- 
 dred votes for the Democratic candidates. But the first 
 thing we knew, a bunch of fellers was taken into town and 
 got to swear they'd voted the Republican ticket in our 
 
110 KING COAL 
 
 camp. The Republican papers were full of it, Sand some 
 fool judge ordered? a recount, and we had to get busy over 
 night, and mark up a new lot of ballots. It gave us a lot 
 of bother ! " 
 
 The pit-boss laughed, and Hal joined him discreetly. 
 
 " So you;;see, you have to learn: to manage. If there's 
 votes for the wrong candidate in your amp, the fact gets 
 out, and if the returns is too one-sided, there's a lot' of 
 grumbling. There's plenty of bosses -that doirt care, but 
 I learned my lesson that time, and I got my own' method 
 - that is &ot to let 1 any opposition start. See " 
 
 n Yes, I see." 
 
 "Maybe a mine^boss has got i no right to meddle in 
 politics ^but there's- one 'thing he's got the say about, 
 and that is 'who wo^ks in his mine. It's the easiest-thing 
 to wee r d out '^- weed out "' : Hal never 1 forgot the motion 
 of beefy-- hands* with 'which - Alec Stone illustrated these 
 words. 'As he went onpthe tones' of his Voice did not seem 
 so good-natured as usual. " The fellows that don't want 
 to vote my way dan go somewhere : else to do their ' voting. 
 That's all I 'got to say on politics ! : " 
 
 There Ws a brief pause, ^hile Stone puffed on his pipe. 
 Then it -may have occurred to f him th'at it was not neces- 
 sary' to go into 'So much detail in breaking in ( a political 
 recruit. When he resumed, it was in a good-natured 
 tone' of ^dismissal. "That's what you do, kid. To-mor- 
 row you get a sprained wrist, so YOU can't work for a few 
 days, and that'll give you a -chance to bum round and hear 
 what the men<are Saying. 'Meantime, I'll see you get your 
 wages. 
 
 " That sounds all right," said" Hal ; but showing only 
 a small part of his satisfaction !. 
 
 The pit-boss rose from his chair '-and knocked the ashes 
 
THE SEKFS OF KING COAL 111 
 
 " Yes," 'said Hal, and grinned cheerfully. "I'll not 
 fail to bear that in mind." 
 
 6. The first thing HaL did was to seek out Tom 
 Olson and narrate this experience. The two of them had 
 'a merry time over it. " I'm the favourite of a boss now ! " 
 laughed HaL 
 
 But the organiser became suddenly serious. " Be care- 
 ful what you do for that fellow." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "He might use. it' on you later on. One of the things 
 they try to do if you make any trouble for them, is to 
 prove that you took money from them, or tried to." 
 
 " But he won't have .any proofs." 
 
 " That's my point don't give him any. If Stone 
 says you've been playing the political game for him, then 
 some fellow might remember that you did ask him, about 
 politics. So don't have any marked money on you." 
 
 Hal laughed. " Money doesn't stay on me very long 
 these days. But what shall I say if he asks me for a re- 
 port?" 
 
 " You'd better put your job right through, Joe so that 
 he won't have time to ask for any report." 
 
 "All right," was the reply. "But just the, same, I'm 
 going to get all the fun there is, being the favourite of a 
 boss ! " 
 
 And so, early, the next morning when Hal went to his 
 work he proceeded to " sprain his wrist." He walked 
 about in pain, to the great concern of Old Mike ; and when 
 finally he decided fchat he would have to lay off, Mike fol- 
 lowed him half way to the shaft, giving him advice about 
 hot and cold cloths. Leaving the old Slovak to struggle 
 along as best he could alone, Hal went out to bask in the 
 wonderful sunshine of the upper world, and the still more, 
 wonderful sunshine of a ! boss's favour. 
 
112 KING COAL 
 
 First he weiit to his room at Reminitsky's, and tied a 
 strip of old shirt 'about his wrist, and a clean handkerchief 
 on top of that ; by this symbol he was entitled to the free- 
 dom of the camp and the sympathy of all men, and so he 
 sallied forth. 
 
 Strolling towards the tipple of Number One, he encoun- 
 tered a wiry, quick-moving little man, with restless black 
 eyes and a lean, intelligent face. He wore a pair of com- 
 mon miner's " jumpers/ 7 but even so, he was not to be 
 taken for a workingman. Everything about him spoke 
 of authority; 
 
 " Morning, Mr. Cartwright," said Hal. 
 
 " Good morning," replied the superintendent ; then, with 
 a glance at Hal's bandage, " You hurt ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir. Just a bit of sprain, but I thought I'd bet- 
 ter lay off." 
 
 " Been to the doctor ? " 
 
 " No, sir. I don't think it's that bad." 
 
 " You'd better go. You never know how bad a sprain 
 is." 
 
 " Right, sir," said Hal. Then, as the superintendent 
 was passing, " Do you think, Mr. Cartwright, that Mac- 
 Dougall stands any chance of being elected \ " 
 
 " I d6n't know," replied the other, surprised. " I hope 
 not. You aren't going to vote for him, are you ? " 
 
 " Oh, no. I'm a Republican born that way.. But I 
 wondered if you'd heard any MacDougall talk." 
 
 " Well, I'm hardly the one that would hear it. You 
 take an interest in politics ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir in a way. In fact, that's how I came to 
 get this wrist." 
 
 "How's that? In a fight?" 
 
 " No, sir ; but you see, Mr. Stone wanted me to feel out 
 sentiment in the camp, and he told me I'd better sprain my 
 wrist and lay off." 
 
 The " super," after staring at Hal, could not keep from 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 113 
 
 laughing. Then he looked about him. " You want to be 
 careful, talking about such things." 
 
 " I thought I could surely trust the. superintendent," 
 said Hal, drily. 
 
 The other measured him with his keen eyes ; and Hal, 
 who was getting the spirit of political democracy, took the 
 liberty of returning the gaze. " You're a wide-awake 
 young fellow," said Cartwright, at last. " Learn the ropes 
 here, and make yourself useful, and I'll see you're not 
 passed over." 
 
 " All right, sir : thank you." 
 
 " Maybe you'll be made an election-clerk this time. 
 That's worth three dollars a day, you know." 
 
 "Very good, sir." And Hal put on his smile again. 
 " They tell me you're the mayor of North Valley." 
 
 "lam." 
 
 " And the justice of the peace is a clerk in -your store. 
 Well, Mr. Cartwright, if you need a president of the board 
 of health or a dog catcher, I'm your man as soon, that 
 is, as my wrist gets well." 
 
 And so Hal went on his way. Such "joshing" on the 
 part of a " buddy " was of course absurdly presumptuous ; 
 the superintendent stood looking after him with a puzzled 
 frown upon his face. 
 
 7. -Hal .did not look back, but turned into the com- 
 pany-store. " North Valley Trading Company " read the 
 sign over the door ; within was a Serbian woman pointing 
 out what she wanted to buy, and two little Lithuanian 
 girls watching the weighing of a pound of sugar. Hal 
 strolled up to the person wjio was doing the weighing, a 
 middle-aged man with a yellow moustache stained with 
 tobacco-juice. " Morning, Judge," 
 
 " Huh ! " was the reply from Silas Adams, justice of 
 the peace in the town of North Valley. 
 
114 KING GOAL 
 
 " Judge," said Hal, " what do you think about the elec- 
 tion ? " 
 
 ".I don't think about -it,"- said the other. "Busy 
 weighin' sugar." 
 
 " Anybody round here going to Vote for MacDougall ? " 
 
 " They better not tell me if they are ! " 
 
 "What?" smiled Hal. "In. this free American re- 
 public?" 
 
 "In this part of the free American republic a man is 
 free to dig coal, but not to vote for a skunk like Mac- 
 Dougall." Then, having tied up the sugar, the " J. P." 
 whittled .off a -fresh chew from his plug, and turned to 
 Hal. " What -II you have ?" 
 
 Hal purchased half a pound of dried peaches, so that 
 he might have an excuse to loiter, and be able to keep time 
 with the jaws of the Judge. While the order .was being 
 filled, he seated himself upon the counter. " You know," 
 said he, "I used to work in a grocery." 
 
 "That so? Whereat?" 
 
 "Peterson & Co., in American City." Hal had told 
 this so often that he had begun to believe it. 
 
 " Pay pretty good up there ? " 
 
 " Yes, pretty fair." Then, realising that he had no 
 idea what would constitute good pay in a grocery, Hal 
 added, quickly, " Got a bad wrist here ! " 
 
 "That so?" said the other. 
 
 He did not show much sociability; but Hal persisted, 
 refusing to believe that any one in a country store would 
 miss an opening to discuss politics, even with a miner's 
 helper. " Tell me," said he, "just what is the matter 
 with MacDougall 2 " 
 
 " The matter with him," s#id the Judge, "is that the 
 company's against him." He looked hard at the young 
 miner. " You meddlin' in politics ? " he growled. But 
 the young miner's gay brown eyes showed only appreci- 
 ation of the earlier response ; so the " J. P." was tempted 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 115 
 
 into specifying the would-be congressman's vices. Thus 
 conversation started ; and pretty soon the others in the 
 store joined in " Bob " Johnson, bookkeeper ,. and 
 post-master,, and " Jake " Bredovich, the Galieian Jew 
 (who was a member of the local school-board, and knew the 
 words for staple groceries in fifteen languages. 
 - Hal listened to an exposition of the crimes of the. politi- 
 cal opposition in Pedro Oounty* Their, candidate, Mac- 
 Dougall, had come to the state as a " tinrhorn gambler," 
 yet now he'was going around making speeches in churches, 
 and talking about the moral sentiment of the community. 
 " And him with a district chairman keeping three; families 
 in Pedro! " declared Si. Adams. 
 
 " Well/ 7 ventured Hal, " if what 1 hear is true, the 
 Republican ch airmail isn't a. plaster saint*. They say he 
 was drunk at the convention " 
 
 "Maybe so," said the " J. P." ;"But we .ain't playiu' 
 
 for the prohibition vote; and we ain't playin' for the 
 
 -.-labour: vote r tryin.' to stir up the riff-raft in these coal- 
 
 carnps, , . prooaisin' i 'era high wages an', short hours. Don't 
 
 he know he can't get it,. for 'eih .?. . But he.figgers he'll go 
 
 off to Washington and leave us here to deal with the mess 
 
 'he's stirred -up! " 
 
 " Don't you fret," put in Bob Johnson " he ain't goiii' 
 . to no Washin'ton." 
 
 The other two agreed, and. -Hal ventured ..again, , " He 
 i says you stuff the ballot-boxes.-'' . 
 
 " What do yoii'su])pos l e his c-rowd is iloln' in |he cities ? 
 We got to meet 'em some way 1 ,, ain't, .we ?; " 
 
 "Oh, I see,"' said) Hal, naively. "You. stuff them 
 worse ! " 
 
 " Sometimes we stuff the boxes, and- sometimes: we stuff 
 
 the votei^s." ; There was an appreciative, titter from the 
 
 others, 'and the " J. I*," was ; moved to reminiscence. 
 
 " Two years ago T was election clerk, .over to Sheridan, 
 
 and we found we'd let ..'em get.iatyead of. us they had 
 
116 KINO COAL 
 
 carried the whole state. ' By God, 7 said All 
 i we'll show 'em a trick from the coal-counties I And 
 there won't be no recount business either ! ' So we held 
 back our returns till the rest had come in, and when we 
 seen how many votes we needed, we wrote 'em down. And 
 that settled it." 
 
 " That seems a simple method," remarked Hal. 
 " They'll have to get up early to beat All" 
 
 " You bet you ! " said Si, with the complacency of one 
 of the gang. " They call this county the * Empire of 
 Raymond.' ' 
 
 " It must be a cinch," said Hal " being the sheriff, 
 and having the naming of so many deputies as they need 
 in these coal-camps ! " 
 
 " Yes," agreed the other. " And there's his wholesale 
 liquor business, too. If you want a license in Pedro 
 county, you not only vote for Alf, but you pay your bills 
 on time ! " 
 
 " Must be a fortune in that ! " remarked Hal ; and the 
 Judge, the Post-master and the School-commissioner ap- 
 peared like children listening to a story of a feast. " You 
 bet you ! " 
 
 " I suppose it takes money to run politics in this county," 
 Hal added. 
 
 " Well, Alf don't put none of it up, you can bet ! 
 That's the company's job." 
 
 This from the Judge; and the School-commissioner 
 added, "JDe coin in dese camps is beer." 
 
 " Oh, I see ! " laughed Hal. " The companies buy 
 Alf s beer, and use it to get him votes ! " 
 
 " Sure thing ! " said the Post-master. 
 
 At this moment he happened to reach into his pocket 
 for a cigaT, and Hal observed a silver shield on the breast 
 of his waistcoat. "That a deputy's badge?" he in- 
 quired, and then turned to examine the School-commis- 
 sioner's costume. " Where's yours ? " 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 117 
 
 " I git mine ven election comes," said Jake, with a grin. 
 
 "And yours, Judge ? " 
 
 "I'm a justice of the peace, young feller," said Silas, 
 with dignity. , 
 
 Leaning round, and observing a bulge on the right hip 
 of the School'-cojnmissioner, Hal put out his hand towards 
 it. Instinctively the other moved his hand to the spot. 
 
 Hal turned to the Post-master. " Yours? " he asked. 
 
 " Mine's under the counter," grinned Bob. 
 
 '* And yours, Judge ? " 
 
 "Mine's in the desk," said. the Judge. 
 . Hal drew a breath. " Gee ! " said he. " It's .like a 
 steel trap;! " He managed to keep the laugh on his face, 
 but within he was conscious of other feelings than those 
 of amusement. He was losing that "first fine careless 
 rapture " with which he had set 'out to run with the hare 
 and the hounds in North Valley ! 
 
 8. Two days after this beginning of Hal's political 
 career, it was arranged that the workers who were to make 
 a demand for a check- weighman should meet in the home 
 of Mrs. David. When Mike Sikoria came up from the 
 pit that day, Hal took him, aside and told him of the gath- 
 ering. A look of delight came upon the old Slovak's face 
 as he listened; he grabbed his buddy by the shoulders, 
 crying, " You mean it ? " 
 
 "Sure meant it," said Hal. ".You want to be on the 
 committee to go and see the boss? " 
 
 " Plulia liedna!" cried Mike which is something 
 dreadful in his own language. , "By Judas, I pack up my 
 old box again! " 
 
 Hal felt a guilty pang. Should he let this old man into 
 the thing? " You think . you'll have to move out of 
 camp? " he asked. 
 
 " Move out of state this time! Move back to old coun- 
 
118 KIXG COAL 
 
 trv, maybe!" Aiid Hal realised that he could not stop 
 him now, even if he wanted to. The old fellow was so 
 much excited that he hardly ate any supper, and his buddy 
 was afraid to leave him alone, for fear he might blurt out 
 the news. 
 
 It had been agreed that those- who attended the meeting 
 should come one by one, and by different routes. Hal was 
 one of the first to arrive, and he saw that the shades of 
 the house had been drawn, and the lamps turned low. He 
 entered by the back door, where "Big Jack" David stood 
 on guard. " Big Jack," who had been a member of the 
 South Wales Federation at home, made sure of Hal's 
 identity, and then passed him in without a word. 
 
 Inside was Mike the first on hand. Mrs, David, a 
 little black-eyed woman with a never-ceasing tongue, was 
 bustling about, putting things in order; she was so nervous 
 that she could not sit still. This couple had come from 
 their birth-place only a year or so ago, and had brought 
 all their wedding presents to their new home; pictures 
 and bric-a-brac and linen. It was the prettiest home Hal 
 had so far been in, and Mrs. David was risking it delib- 
 erately, because of her indignation that her husband had 
 had to foreswear his union in order to get work in America. 
 
 The young Italian, Kevetta, came, then old John 
 Edstrom. There being not chairs enough in the house, 
 Mrs. David had set some boxes against the wall, covering 
 them with cloth ; and Hal noticed that each person took 
 one of these boxes, leaving the chairs for the later comers. 
 Each one as he came in would nod to the others, and then 
 silence would fall again. 
 
 When Mary Burke entered, Hal divined from her aspect 
 and manner that she had sunk back into her old mood of 
 pessimism. He felt a momentary resentment. He was 
 so thrilled with this adventure; he wanted everybody else 
 to be thrilled especially Mary! Like every one who 
 has not suffered much, he was repelled by a condition of 
 
THE SEKFS OF KING COAL 119 
 
 perpetual suffering in another. Of course Mary had good 
 reasons for her black moods but she herself considered 
 it necessary to apologise for what she called her " com- 
 plainin' " ! She knew that he wanted her to help en- 
 courage the others ; but here she was, putting herself in a 
 corner and watching this wonderful proceeding, as if she 
 had said : " I'm an ant, and I stay in line but I'll 
 not pretend I have any hope in it! " 
 
 Rosa and Jerry had insisted on coming, in spite of 
 Hal's offer to spare them. After them came the Bul- 
 garian, Wresmak ; then the -Polacks, Klowoski and Zamie- 
 rowski. Hal found these difficult names to remember, but 
 the Polacks were not at all sensitive about this; they would 
 grin good-naturedly while he practised, nor would they 
 mind if he gave it up and called them Tony and Pete. 
 They were humble men, accustomed all their lives to being 
 driven about. Hal looked from one to another of their 
 bowed forms ,and toil-worn faces, appearing more than 
 ever sombre and mournful in the dim light; he wondered 
 if the cruel persecution which had driven them to protest 
 would suffice to hold them in line. 
 
 Once a newcomer, having misunderstood the orders, 
 came to the front door and knocked; and Hal noted that 
 every one started, and some rose to their feet in alarm. 
 Again he recognised the atmosphere of novels of Russian 
 revolutionary life. He had to remind himself that these 
 men and women, gathered here like criminals, were merely 
 planning to ask for a right guaranteed them by the law ! 
 
 The last to come was an Austrian miner named Huszar, 
 with whom Olson had got into touch. Then, it being time 
 to begin, everybody looked uneasily at everybody else. 
 Few of them had conspired before, and they did not know 
 quite how to set "about it. Olson, the one who would natu- 
 rally have been their leader, had deliberately stayed away. 
 They must run this check-weighman affair for themselves ! 
 
 "Somebody talk," said Mrs. David at last; and then, 
 
120 KING COAL 
 
 as the. silence continued, she turned .to Hal. " You're 
 going to be the eheck-weighman. You talk." 
 
 " I'm the youngest man here/' said Hal, with a smile. 
 " Some older fellow -talk." 
 
 But nobody else smiled. " Go on !" exclaimed old 
 Mike; and so at last Hal stood up. It was something he 
 was to experience many times in the future; because he 
 was an American, and educated, he was forced into a posi- 
 tion of leadership. 
 
 " As^I understand it, you people want a check-weigh- 
 man. QSTow, they tell me the pay for a che.ck-weighnuin 
 should be three dollars a day, but we've got only seven 
 miners, among us, and that's not enough. I will offer. to 
 take ithe job for twenty-five cents a day from each man, 
 which will make a 'dollar-seventy-five, less than what I'm 
 getting now as a buddy. If we get thirty men to come in, 
 then I'll take ten cents a day from each, and make the 
 full three dollars. Does that ^seem fair?" 
 
 "'Sure!'" said Mike; and the others added their assent 
 by word or nod. 
 
 "All right. Now, there's nobody that works in this 
 mine but knows the men don't get their weight. It would 
 cost the company several hundred dollars a day to give us 
 our weight, and nobody should be so foolish as to imagine 
 they'll do it without a struggle. We've got to make up 
 our minds to stand together." 
 
 "-Sure, stand together!" cried Mike. 
 
 "No 'get eheck-weighman!" exclaimed Jerry, pessimis- 
 tically, i 
 -" Not unless we try;, Jerry," said Hal. 
 
 And Mike thumped his knee. "Sure try! And get 
 him too! " 
 
 " Right ! " cried" Big Jack." But his little wife was 
 not satisfied with the response of the others. She gave 
 Hal his first lesson in the drilling of these polyglot masses. 
 " Talk to them. Make them understand >you ! " And she 
 
THE* SERFS OF KING COAL 121 
 
 pointed them out one by. one' with her finger: " You! 
 You! Wresmak, here, and you, Klowoski, and you, Zam 
 you other Polish :fello\v.'> Want check-weighman. 
 Want ' to get all weight. Get all our money. Under- 
 stand? 77 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " 
 
 " Get committee, go see super ! Want check-weighman. 
 Understand? Got to have check-weighman! No back 
 down, no spare. 77 
 
 " No no scare ! " Klowoski, who understood some 
 English, explained rapidly to Zamieroweki; and Zarnie- 
 rowski, whose head was still plastered where -J-eif Cotton's 
 revolver had hit it, nodded eagerly in assent. In spite- 
 of his bruises, he would stand by the others, and face the 
 
 This suggested another question. :i Who's going to do 
 the talking to the boss ? " 
 
 " You do that, 77 said Mrs. David, to Hal. 
 
 " But I 7 m the one that's > to be paid. ' It's not for me 
 to talk. 77 
 
 " No one else can do it right, 77 declared the woman. 
 
 " Sure got to be American feller ! '* said M ike. 
 
 But Hal insisted. If he did the talking, it would look 
 as if the eheck-weighman had been the source of the move- 
 ment, and was engaged in making a good paying job for 
 himself. 
 
 There was discussion back and forth, until finally John 
 Edstrom spoke up. ." Put me on the committee.' 7 
 
 " You ?.' 7 'sidd Hal. " But you'll be thrown out ! And 
 what will your wife do? 7; 
 
 "I think my wife is going to die to-night, 77 said Ed- 
 strom, simply. 
 
 He sat with his lips set tightly, looking straight before 
 him. After a pause he went on : " If it isn't to-night, it 
 will be to-morrow, tile- doctor 'says; and after that, nothing 
 will matter. I shall have to* go down to Pedro to bury 
 
122 KING COAL 
 
 her, and if I have to stay, it will make little difference to 
 me, so I might as well do what I can for the rest of you. 
 I've been a miner all my life, and Mr. Cartwright knows 
 it ; that might have some weight with him. Let Joe Smith 
 and Sikoria and myself be the ones to go and see him, and 
 the rest of you wait, and don't give up your jobs unless 
 vou have to." 
 
 9. Having settled the matter of the committee, Hal 
 told the assembly how Alec Stone had asked him to spy 
 upon the men. He thought they should know about it; 
 the bosses might try to use it against him, as Olson had 
 warned. " They may tell you I'm a traitor," he said. 
 " You must trust me." 
 
 " We trust you!" exclaimed Mike, with fervour; and 
 the others nodded their agreement. 
 
 " All right," Hal answered. " You can rest sure of 
 this one thing if I get onto that tipple, you're going to 
 get your weights ! " 
 
 " Hear, hear! "cried "Big Jack," in English fashion. 
 And a murmur ran about the room. They did not dare 
 make much noise, but they made clear that that was what 
 they wanted. 
 
 Hal sat down, and began to unroll the bandage from 
 his wrist. " I guess I'm through with this," he said, and 
 explained how he had come to wear it. 
 
 " What ? " cried Old Mike. " You fool me like that? " 
 And he caught the wrist, and when he had made sure there 
 was no sign of swelling upon it, he shook it so that he 
 almost sprained it really, laughing until the tears ran 
 down his cheeks. " You old son-of-a-gun ! " he exclaimed. 
 Meantime Klowoski was telling the story to Zamierowski, 
 and Jerry Minetti was explaining it to Wresmak, in the 
 sort of pidgin-English which does duty in the camps. Hal 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 123 
 
 had never seen such real laughter since coming to North 
 Valley. 
 
 But conspirators cannot lend themselves long to merri- 
 ment. They came back to business again. It was agreed 
 that the hour for the committee's visit .to the superintend- 
 ent should be quitting-time on the morrow. And then 
 John Edstrom spoke, suggesting that they should agree 
 upon their course of action in case they were offered vio- 
 lence. 
 
 " You think there's much chance of that ? " said some 
 one. 
 
 " Sure there be! " cried Mike Sikoria. " One time in 
 Cedar Mountain we go see boss, say air-course blocked. 
 What you think he do them fellers? He hit them one 
 lick in nose, he kick them three times in behind, he run 
 them out ! " 
 
 " Well," said Hal, " if there's going to be anything like 
 that, we must be ready." 
 
 " What you do? " demanded Jerry. 
 
 It was time for Hal's leadership. " If he hits me one 
 lick in the nose," he declared, " I'll hit him one lick in 
 the nose, that's all," 
 
 There was a bit of applause at this. That was the way 
 to talk ! Hal tasted the joys of his leadership. 'But then 
 his fine self-confidence met with a sudden check a "lick 
 in the nose " of his pride, so to speak. There came a 
 woman's voice from the corner, low and grim : " Yes ! 
 And get j^e'self killed for all your! trouble ! " 
 
 He looked towards Mary Burke, and saw her vivid face, 
 flushed and" frowning. " What do you mean? " he asked. 
 " Would you have us turn and run away ? " 
 
 "I would that!" said she. "Rather than have ye 
 killed, I would ! What'll ye do if he pullg his gun on 
 ye.? " 
 
 " Would he pull his gun on a committee? " 
 
 Old Mike broke in again. "One time in Barela 
 
124 KING GOAL 
 
 ain't I told you how.' I lose my cars? I tell weigh-boss 
 somebody steal my cars, and he pull gun on me, and he 
 say, 'Get the hell oft' that tipple, you old billy-goat, 1 
 shoot you full of holes !'" 
 
 Among, .his class-mates at college, Hal had been wont to 
 argue that the proper way to handle a burglar was to call 
 out to him, saying, " Go ahead, old chap, and help your- 
 self; there's nothing here I'm willing to get shot' for." 
 What was the value of anything a burglar could steal, in 
 comparison with a man's own life? And surely, one 
 would have thought, this was a good time to apply -the 
 plausible theory. But for some reason Hal failed even to 
 remember it. He was going ahead, precisely as if a ton 
 of coal per day was the one thing of consequence in life! 
 
 " What shall we dp?-" he asked. "We -donH want to 
 back out.' 7 
 
 But even while he asked the question,* Hal was realising 
 that Mary was right. His was the attitude of the leisure- 
 class person, used to having his own way; but Mary, 
 though she had a temper too, was pointing the lesson of 
 self-control. It was the second time to-night that she had 
 injured his pride. But now he forgave her in his ad- 
 miration ; he had always known that Mary had a mind 
 and, could help him! His admiration was increased by 
 what John Edstrom was saying they must do nothing 
 that would injure the cause of the " big union,' 7 and so 
 they must resolve to offer n'o physical resistance, no matter 
 what might be done to them. 
 
 . There was vehement argument on the other side. " We 
 fight! We fight! 77 declared Old Mike, and cried out sud- 
 denly, as if in anticipation of the pain in his injured 
 nose.- ' " You say me stand that? 77 
 
 44 If you fight back, 77 said Edstrom, "we'll all get the 
 worst of it. The company will say we started the trouble, 
 and put us in the wrong. We've got to make up our mind 
 to rely on moral force. 77 
 
THE SERFS OF KOTO COAL 125 
 
 So, after more discussion, it was agreed; every man 
 would keep his temper that is, if he could! So they 
 shook hands all round, pledging themselves to stand firm. 
 But, when the meeting was declared adjourned, and they 
 stole out one by one into the night, they were a very sober 
 and anxious lot of conspirators. 
 
 10. Hal slept hut little that night. Amid the 
 sounds of the snoring of eight of Reminitsky's other board- 
 ers, he lay going over in his mind various things which 
 might happen on the morrow. Some of them were far 
 from pleasant things; he tried to picture himself with a 
 broken nose, or with :tar and feathers on him. He re- 
 called his theory as to the handling of burglars. The 
 " G. F. C." was a burglar of gigantic and terrible propor- 
 tions ; surely this was a time to call out, " Help yourself ! " 
 But instead of doing it, Hal thought about Edstrom's 
 ants, and wondered at the power which made them stay 
 in line. 
 
 When morning came, he went up into the mountains, 
 where a man may wander and renew his moral force. 
 When the sun had descended behind the mountain-tops, 
 he descended also, and met Edstrom and Sikoria in front 
 of the company office. 
 
 They nodded a greeting, and Edstrom told Hal that 
 his wife had died during the day. There being no under- 
 taker in North Valley, he had arranged for a woman 
 ..friend to take the body down, to .Pedro, so that he might 
 be free for the interview with Cartwright. Hal put his 
 'hand on the old man's shoulder, but attempted no word of 
 'condolence ; he saw that Edstrom had faced the trouble 
 and was ready for duty. 
 
 " Come ahead," said the old man, and the three went 
 into the office. v ' While a clerk took their message to the 
 
126 KING COAL 
 
 inner office, .they stood for a couple of minutes, shifting 
 uneasily from one foot to the other, arid turning their 
 caps in their hands in the familiar manner of the lowly. 
 
 At last Mr. Cartwright appeared in the doorway, his 
 small sparely-built figure eloquent of sharp authority. 
 " Well, what's this ? " he inquired. 
 
 " If you please/' said Edstrom, " we'd like to speak to 
 you. We've decided, sir, that we want to have a check- 
 weighman." 
 
 : ' What ? '' The word came like the snap of a whip. 
 i " We^d like to have a check-weighirian, sir." 
 
 There was a moment's silence. " Come in here." 
 They filed into the inner office, and he shut the door. 
 
 " Now. What's this ? " 
 1 Edstrom repeated his words again. 
 
 " What put that notion into your heads ? " 
 
 "Nothing, sir; only we thought we'd be better satis- 
 fied." 
 
 " You think you're not getting your weight ? " 
 
 " Well, sir, you see some of the men we think it 
 would be better if we had the check-weighman. We're 
 willing 'to pay for him." 
 
 "Who's this check-weighmaii to be? " 
 
 " Joe Smith, here." 
 
 Hal braced himself to meet the other's stare. "Oh! 
 So it's you!" Then,, after a moment, "So that's why 
 you were feeling so gay ! " 
 
 Hal was not feeling in the least gay at the moment ; but 
 he forebore to say so. There was a silence. 
 
 " Now, why do you fellows want to throw away your 
 money ? " The superintendent started to argue with them, 
 showing' the absurdity of the notion that they could gain 
 anything by such a course. The mine had been running 
 for years on its present system, and there had never been 
 any complaint. The idea that a company as big and as 
 responsible as the " G. F. C." would stoop to cheat its 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 127 
 
 workers out of a few tons of coal ! And so on, for several 
 minutes. 
 
 " Mr. Cart wright," said Edstrom, when the other had 
 finished, " you know I've worked all my life in mines, and 
 most of it in this district. I am telling you something I 
 know when I say there is general dissatisfaction through- 
 out these camps because the men feel they are not getting 
 their weight. You say there has been no public com- 
 .plaint ; you understand the reason for this " 
 
 " What is the reason ? " 
 
 "Well," said Edstrom, gently, "maybe you don't 1 - know 
 the reason but anyway we've decided that we want a 
 check-weighman." 
 
 It was evident that the superintendent had been taken 
 by surprise, and was uncertain how to meet the issue. 
 " You can imagine," he said, at last, " the company 
 doesn't relish hearing that its" men believe it's cheating 
 them " 
 
 "We don't say the company knows anything about it, 
 Mr. Cartwright. It's possible that some people mav be 
 taking advantage of us, without either the company or 
 yourself having anything to do with it. It's for your 
 protection as well as ours that a check-weighman is 
 needed." 
 
 " Thank you," said the other, drily. His tone revealed 
 that he was holding himself in by an effort. " Very well," 
 he added, at last. "That's enough about the matter, if 
 your minds are made up. I'll give you my decision later." 
 
 This was & dismissal, and Mike Sikoria turned humbly, 
 and started to the door. But Edstrom was one of the 
 ants that did not readily " step one side " ; and Mike took 
 a glance at him, and then stepped back into line in a 
 hurry, as if hoping his delinquency had not been noted. 
 
 " If you please, Mr. Cartwright," said Edstrom, " we'd 
 like your decision, so as to have the check-weighman start 
 in the morning." 
 
128 KING COAL' 
 
 " What t You're in such a hurry 'I " 
 
 " There's no reason for delay, sir. . We've selected our 
 man, and we're ready to pay him." 
 
 " Who are the men who are ready to pay him? Just 
 you two 2 . " 
 
 " I am not at liberty' to name the other men, sir." 
 
 " Oh ! u So it's a secret movement! " 
 
 " In a -way yes, sir." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said the superintendent, ominously. " iAnd 
 you don't care what the company thinks about it ! " 
 
 ."It's not that, Mr.'Cartwrjght,. hut we don't see any- 
 thing for the company to object to. It's a simple business 
 arrangement " 
 
 " Well, if it seems simple to you, it doesn't ,to me," 
 snapped the other. And then, getting .himself in 'hand, 
 " Understand -me, the company would not have the least 
 objection to the nien making sure of their weights, if they 
 really think it's necessary. The company has always.;been 
 willing to do the right thing. .But it's not a matter that 
 can be settled off hand. J. will let you know later." 
 
 Again they were .dismissed, and again Old Mike turned, 
 and Edstrom also. But now, another ant sprang into the 
 ditch. " Just when will you-be prepared to let the check- 
 weighman begin work, Mr. Cartwright?" asked Hal. 
 
 'The superintendent gave him a sharp look, and -again 
 it could be seen that he made a strong effort to keep his 
 temper. "I'm .not prepared to say," he replied. "I 
 will let you know, as aoon !as convenient to me. That's 
 all now." And as he spoke he opened the door, putting 
 something, into the, action that was a command. 
 
 "Mr. Cartwrighit," jsaixl Hal, "there's no law , against 
 our having a check-weighman,, is there ? " . 
 
 The look which these words drew from the superin- 
 tendent showed that he knew full well what; -the law. was. 
 Hal accepted this look as an answer, and" continued, " I 
 have been selected by a committee of the men to act as 
 
THE SERFS OF 'KING COAL 129 
 
 their check-weighman, and this committee has duly noti- 
 fied the company. That makes me a check- we ighman, I 
 believe, Mr. Cart-wright, arid so-all I have to do is to as- 
 sume my duties. 7 ' Without waiting for th superintend- 
 ent's, answer, he walked to the door, followed by his some- 
 what i shocked companions. 
 
 11. At the meeting on the night before it had been 
 agreed -to spread the news of the check-weighman move- 
 ment, or the sake of its propaganda value. So now when..- 
 the three men came out from the office, there was a crowd 
 waiting to know what had happened ; men clamoured ques- 
 tions, and each one who got the story would be surrounded 
 by others eager to hear. Hal made his way to the board- 
 ing-house, and when he had finished his supper, he set out 
 from place to place in the camp, telling the men about the 
 check-weighman plan and explaining that it was a legal 
 right they were demanding. All this while Old Mike 
 stayed on one side of him, and Edstrom on thepther; for 
 Tom- Olson had insisted strenuously that Hal should not 
 be left alone for a moment. Evidently the bosses had 
 given the same order ; for when Hal- came out from Eemi- 
 nitsky's, there was " Jake " Predovich, the store-clerk, on 
 the 'fringe of the crowd, and he followed wherever Hal 
 went, doubtless making note of every one he spoke to. 
 
 They consulted as to where they were to spend the night. 
 Old Mike was nervous; taking the activities of the spy to 
 mean that they were to be thugged in the darkness. He 
 told horrible stories of that sort of thing. What could be 
 an easier way for the company to settle the matter ? They 
 would fix up some story; the world outside would believe 
 they had been killed in a drunken row, perhaps over some 
 woman.. This last suggestion especially troubled Hal; lie 
 thought 1 ' of the people at home. No, he must riot sleep in 
 the village! And on the .other: hand he could not go down 
 
130 KING COAL 
 
 the canyon, for if lie once passed the gate, he might not 
 be allowed to repass it. 
 
 An idea occurred to him. Why not go up the canyon ? 
 There was no stockade at the upper end of the village 
 nothing but wilderness and rocks, without even a road. 
 
 " But where we sleep ? " demanded Old Mike, aghast. 
 
 " Outdoors," said Hal. 
 
 " Pluha biedna! And get the night air into my 
 bones ? " 
 
 " You think you keep the day air in your bones when 
 you sleep inside ? " laughed Hal. 
 
 " Why don't I, when I shut them windows tight, and 
 cover up my bones ? " 
 
 " Well, risk the night air once," said Hal. " It's bet- 
 ter than having somebody let it into you with a knife." 
 
 " But that fellow Predovich he follow us up canyon 
 too!" 
 
 " Yes, but he's only one man, and we don't have to fear 
 him. If he went back for others, he'd never be able to 
 find us in the darkness." 
 
 Edstrom, whose notions of anatomy were hot so crude 
 as Mike's, gave his support to this suggestion ; so they got 
 their blankets and stumbled up the canyon in the still, 
 star-lit night. For a while they heard the spy behind 
 them, but finally his footsteps died away, and after they 
 had moved on for some distance, they believed they were 
 safe till daylight. Hal had slept out many a night as a 
 hunter, but it was a new adventure to sleep out as the 
 game! 
 
 At dawn they rose, and shook the dew from their blan- 
 kets, and wiped it from their eyes. Hal was young, and 
 saw the glory of the morning, while poor Mike Sikoria 
 groaned and grumbled over his stiff and aged joints. He 
 thought he had ruined himself forever, but he took courage 
 at Edstrom's mention of coffee, and they hurried down to 
 breakfast at their boarding-house. 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 131 
 
 Now came a critical time, when Hal had to be left by 
 himself. Edstrom was obliged to go down -to see to his 
 wife's funeral ; and it was obvious that if Mike Sikoria 
 were to lay off work, he would be providing the boss with 
 an excuse for firing him. The law which provided. for a 
 check-weighman had failed to provide for a check-weigh- 
 man's body-guard ! 
 
 Hal had announced his programme in that flash of de- 
 fiance in Cartwright's office. As soon as work started up, 
 he went to the tipple. " Mr. Peters," he said, to the tip- 
 ple-boss, " I've come to act as check-weighmaii." 
 
 The tipple-boss was a man with a big black moustache, 
 which made him look like the pictures of Nietzsche. He 
 stared at Hal, frankly dumbfounded. " What the devil 2 " 
 said he. 
 
 " Some of the men-' -have chosen me check-weighman," 
 explained Hal, in a business-like manner. " When their 
 cars come up, I'll see to their weights," 
 
 " You keep off this tipple, young fellow! " said Peters. 
 His manner was equally business-like. 
 
 So the would-be check-wei^liman came out and sat on 
 the steps to wait. The tipple was a fairly public place, 
 and he judged he was as safe there as anywhere. Some 
 of the men grinned and winked at him as they went about 
 their work; several found a chance to whisper words of 
 encouragement. And all morning he sat, like a protestant 
 at the palace-gates of a mandarin in China. It was tedi- 
 ous work, but he believed that he would be able to stand 
 it longer than the company. 
 
 12. In the middle of the^ morning a man came up to 
 him " Bud " Adams, a younger brother of the " J. P.," 
 and Jeff Cotton's assistant. Bud was stocky, red-faced, 
 and reputed to be handy with his fists. So Hal rose .up 
 warily when he saw him. 
 
KING COAL - 
 
 ."Hey, you," ' said Bud. " There's a telegram, at the 
 office for you." 
 
 " For me ? " 
 
 " Your name's Joe Smith, ain't it ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, that's what it says." 
 
 Hal considered for a moment. There was no one to be 
 telegraphing Joe Smith. It was > only a ruse to get him 
 away. 
 
 " What's in the 'telegram '? " he asked. 
 
 " How do 1 know ? " said Bud: 
 
 "Where is it from?" 
 
 " I dunno that/" 
 
 " Well," said' Hal, " you might bring it to me here." 
 
 The other's eyes flew open. This was not a revolt, it 
 was a revolution! "Who the hell's messenger boy do 
 you think I am?-" he demanded. 
 
 "Don't the company deliver telegrams? " countered 
 Hal, politely. And Bud stood struggling with his human 
 impulses, while Hal watched him cautiously. But appar- 
 ently those who had sent the messenger 'had given him pre- 
 cise instructions; for he controlled his wrath, and turned 
 and strode away. 
 
 Hal continued his vigil; He had his lunch with him; 
 and was prepared to eat alone understanding the risk 
 that a man would be running who showed sympathy with 
 him. He was surprised, therefore, when Johannsoiij the 
 giant Swede, came and snt down by his side. There also 
 came a young Mexican labourer, and a Greek miner. The 
 revolution was spreading! 
 
 Hal felt sure the company would not let this go on. 
 And sure enough, towards the middle of the afternoon, the 
 tipple-boss came out and beckoned : to him. " Come here, 
 you ! " And Hal went in. 
 
 The " weigh-room " was a fairly open place ; but at one 
 
THE SERFS OF KI'NG COAL 133 
 
 side was a door into an office. " This way," said the man. 
 
 But Hal stopped where he was. 
 
 " This is where the check-weighman belongs, Mr. 
 Peters.-' 
 
 " But I want to talk to you." 
 
 " I can hear you, sir." Hal was in sight of the men, 
 ami he knew that was his only protection^ 
 
 The tipple-boss went back into the office; and a minute 
 later Hal saw what' had been intended. The door opened 
 and Alec Stone came out. 
 
 He stood for a moment looking at his political hench- 
 man. Then he came up. ." Kid," he said, in a low voice, 
 " you're overdoing this. I didn't intend you to go'so far." 
 
 " This is not what you intended, Mr. Stone," answered 
 Hal. 
 
 The pit-boss came closer yet. " What you looking for, 
 kid ? What you expect to get out of this \ " 
 
 Hal's gaze was unwavering. " Experience," he replied. 1 
 
 " You're feeling smart, sonny* But' you'd better stop 
 and realise what you're up against. You ain't going to 
 get away with it, you know ; get that through your head 
 you ain't going to get away with-it. You'd better come in 
 and have a talk with me." 
 
 There was a silence. 
 
 "Don't you know how it'll be, Smith? These little 
 fires start up but we put 'em out. We know how to do 
 it, we've got the machinery. It'll all be forgotten in a 
 week- 'or two, and then where'll you be, at? Can't you 
 see ? " 
 
 As Hal still made no reply, the other's voice dropped 1 
 lower. "T understand your position. Just give me a 
 nod, and it'll be all right. You tell the men that you've' 
 watched the weights, and that they're all right. They'll 
 Be satisfied; and you and me can fix it up later:" 
 
 "Mr. Stone," 'said Hal, with intense gravity, " am I 
 
 10 
 
1,34 KING COAL 
 
 correct in the' ira.pressi on that you are offering me a 
 bribe ? " 
 
 In a flash, the man's self-control vanished. He thrust 
 his huge fist within an inch of Hal's nose, and uttered a 
 foul oath. But Hal did not remove his nose from the 
 danger-zone, and over the fist a pair of angry brown eyes 
 gazed at the pit-boss. "Mr. Stone, you had better realise 
 this situation. I am in dead earnest about this matter, 
 and I don't think it will be safe for you to offer me vio- 
 lence.'' 
 
 For a moment or two the man continued, to glare at Hal ; 
 but it appeared that he, like -Bud Adams, had been given 
 instructions. He turned abruptly and strode back into 
 the office.. 
 
 Hal stood for a bit, until he had made sure of his com- 
 posure. After which he strolled over towards the scales. 
 A difficulty had occurred to him for the first time that 
 he did not know anything about the working pf coakscales. 
 
 But h^e was given ; no time to learn. The tipple-boss re- 
 appeared. " Get out of here, fellow! ' f said he. 
 
 " But you invited me in," remarked Hal, mildly. 
 
 " Well, now I invite .you out again.' 7 
 
 And so the protestant resumed his vigil at the man- 
 darin's palace-gates. 
 
 3 3. When the quitting- whistle blew, Mike Sikoria 
 came quickly to join Hal and hear what had liappened. 
 Mike was exultant, for several new men had come up to 
 him and offered to join the check-weighman movement. 
 The old fellow was not sure whether this was owing to his 
 own eloquence as a propagandist, or to the fine young' 
 American .buddy he had; but in either case he was equally 
 proud. He: gave Hal a note which had been slipped into, 
 his. hand, and which Hal recognised as coming from Tom 
 Olson. The organiser reported that every one in the camp 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 135 
 
 was' talking cbeck-weighman, and so from a propaganda 
 standpoint they could count their move a success, no mat' 
 ter what the bosses might do. He added that Hal should 
 hate a number of men stay with him that night, so as to 
 have witnesses if the company tried to " pull off any- 
 thing." "And be careful of the new men," he added; 
 " one or two of them are stife to be spies." 
 
 Hal and Mike discussed their programme for the sec- 
 ond night. Neither of them were keen for sleeping out 
 again the old Slovak because of his bones, and Hal be- 
 cause he saw there were now several spies following them 
 about. At Reminitsky's, he spoke to some of those who 
 had offered their support, and asked them if they would 
 be willing to spend the night with him in Edstrom's cabin. 
 Not one shrank from this test of sincerity; they all 
 got their blankets, and repaired to the place, where Hal 
 lighted the lamp and held an impromptu check-weighman 
 meeting and incidentally entertained himself with a 
 spy-hunt ! 
 
 One of the new-comers was a Pole named Wojecicowski ; 
 this, on top of Zamierowski, caused Hal to give up all 
 effort to call the Poles by their names. <f Woji " was an 
 earnest little man, with a pathetic, tired face. He ex- 
 plained Ms presence by the statement that he was sick of 
 being robbed; he would pay his share for a check-weigh- 
 man, and if they fired him, all right, he would move' on, 
 and to hell with them. After which declaration he rolled 
 up in a blanket and went to snoring on the floor of the 
 cabin. That did not seem to be exactly the conduct of a 
 spy. 
 
 , Another was an Italian, named Farenzena ; a dark- 
 browed and sinister-looking fellow, who might have served ; 
 as a villain in any melodrama. He sat against the wall 
 and talked in guttural tones, and Hal regarded him with 
 deep suspicion. It Was not easy to understand his Eng- 
 lish, but finally Hal managed to make out the story he was 
 
136 KING COAL 
 
 tolling that he-was in love with a." fanciulla," and that 
 the " fane in lla " was playing with, him. lie had about 
 made up his mind that she was a coquette, and not \ worth 
 bothering with, so he did not care any curses if they sent 
 him down the canyon. " Don't tight for faneiulla;, .light 
 for check-wjeiglim.au ! ." he concluded, with a growl. ' 
 
 Another volunteer was a Greek labourer, a talkati-vc 
 young chap who had sat witixHal at lunch-time, and had 
 given his name as Apostolikas. He entered into' fluent 
 conversation with Hal, explaining how much interested he 
 was in the check-weighinan plan; he wanted to, know just 
 what they were going to do, what chance of success they 
 thought they had, who had started the movement and who 
 was'in it. Hal's replies took the form, of little sermons on 
 working-class solidarity. Each time the man would start 
 to u pump " him, Hal would explain the importance of 
 the present issue to the miners,, how they must stand by 
 one "another --and niaket sacrifices for the good of all.- After 
 he had" talked abstract theories for half an hour,, Apos- 
 tolikas gave up and moved on to Mike Sikpria; who, hav- 
 ing been given a ,wink by Hal, talked about; " scabs, 77 , and 
 the dreadful things that honest .workingmon' would do to 
 them. When finally the Greek grew tired. again, and. lay 
 down on the floor, Hal moved over to Old Mike and whis- 
 pered that the first name of Apostolikas must -be Judas! 
 
 14. Old Mike went to sleep quickly; but Hal had 
 not worked for several days, and had exciting thoughts to 
 keep him awake. He had been lying quiet for a couple 
 of -hours, when he became aware that some one was moving 
 in the room. There was a lamp burning -dimly, and 
 through half-closed eyes he made put one of the men. lift-, 
 ing, himself; to a sitting position. At first he could not be 
 sure which one it was, but finally he recognised the Greek. 
 
 Hal lay motionless, and after a minute or so he stole- 
 
THE SERFS -OF KING COAL 137 
 
 Another' look and saw the'inan cl-ouching and listen ing, his 
 hands still on the floor* Through half opened eye-lids 
 Mai continued to steal glimpses^ -while' the- other rose and 
 tiptoed towards him, stepping carefully over the sleeping 
 forms. 
 
 Hal did his best to simulate the breathing of sleep: no 
 easy matter, with the man stooping over him, and a knife- 
 thrust as one of the possibilities of the -situation. He took 
 the chance, however; and after what seemed' an age, he felt 
 the man's fingers lightly touch' his side. They moved 
 down to his coat-pocket. 
 
 " Going to search me! " thought -Hal; and waited, ex- 
 pecting the hand to travel to other pockets. But -after 
 what seemed an interminable period, he 1 realised -that Apos- 
 tolikas had risen again, and was stepping back to liis .'place. 
 In a minute more he had lain down,- and all was still in the 
 cabin. 
 
 Haiyiiand moved to the pocket, and his fingers slid in- 
 side.- They touched 'something) which he recognised in- 
 'stantly as a roll of bills. 
 
 " I see t"- thought he, - " A . frame-up! " And he 
 "'laughed to himself, his mind going back to early boyhood 
 - to a dilapidated trunk 'in the attic of his home, con- 
 taining story-books that his father had owned. He could 
 see them now, with their worn brown covers and crude 
 pictures: " The Luck ' and Pluck &e>ries : ," by- Horatio 
 Alger; "Live or Die," "Rough. and' Heady," etc. HOY/ 
 'he had thrilled over- the story of the country-boy who comes 
 to the city, and meets the villain 5 who robs his . employer's 
 cash-drawer and drops the key of it into the hero's pocket ! 
 Evidently some one connected with die-General' Fuel 'Com- 
 pany hadi-ead Horatio Alger-'! 
 
 
 Hal realised that he could not be ; too 'quick about get- 
 ting those bills out of his pocket. He thought of return- 
 ing them .to " Judas," but decided that he would save 1 them 
 for Edstrom, who was likely to need money before long. 
 
138 KING COAL 
 
 He gave the Greek half an hour to go to sleep, then with 
 his pocket-knife he gently picked out a hole in. the cinders 
 of the floor and buried the money as best he could. After 
 which he wormed his way to another place, and lay think- 
 ing. 
 
 15. Would they wait until morning, or would they 
 come soon? He was inclined to the latter guess, so he 
 was only slightly startled when, an hour or two later, he 
 heard the knob of the cabin-door turned. A moment later 
 came a -crash and the door was burst open, with the shoul- 
 der of a heavy man behind it. 
 
 The room was in confusion in a second. Men sprang 
 "to their feet, crying out; others sat up bewildered, still 
 half asleep. The room was bright from an electric torch 
 in the hands of one of the invaders. " There's the fel- 
 low ! " cried a voice, which Hal instantly recognised as 
 belonging to Jeff Cotton, the camp-marshal. " Stick 'em 
 up, there! You, Joe Smith! " Hal did not wait to see 
 the glint of the marshal's revolver. 
 
 There followed a silence. As this drama was being 
 staged for the benefit of the other men, it was necessary to 
 give them time to get thoroughly awake, and to get .their 
 eyes used to the light. Meantime Hal stood, his hands 
 in the air. Behind the torch he, could make out the faces 
 of the marshal, Bud Adams, Alec Stone, Jake Predovich, 
 and two or three others. 
 
 " Now, men," said Cotton, at last, " you are some of 
 the fellows that want a clieck-weighman. And this is the 
 man you chose. Is that right ? " 
 . There was no answer. 
 
 " I'm going to show you the kind of fellow he is. He 
 came to Mr. Stone here and offered to sell you out." 
 
 "It's a lie, men," said Hal, quietly. 
 
 " He took some money from Mr, :Stone to sell you out ! " 
 insisted the marshal. 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 139 
 
 "It's -a lie," said Hal, again. 
 
 " He's got that money now ! " cried the other. 
 
 And Hal cried, in turn,, "They are trying -to frame 
 something on me, boys! Don't let them fool you! " 
 
 " Shut up/' commanded the marshal ; then, to the men, 
 " I'll show you. I think he's got that money on him now. 
 Jake, search him." 
 
 The store-clerk advanced. 
 
 " Watch out, boys ! " exclaimed Hal. " They will put 
 something in my pockets." And then.lto Old Mike', "who 
 had parted angrily forward, " It's all- -right, Mike! Let 
 them alone ! " 
 
 " Jake, take off your coat," ordered Cotton. "Roll up 
 your sleeves. Show your hands." 
 
 It was for all the world -like the performance of a 
 prestidigitator. The little Jew took off his coal; and rolled 
 up his sleeves above his elbows. He exhibited his hands 
 to the audience, turning them this !way and that ; then, 
 keep wig them out inifront of him, he came slowly towards 
 Hal, like a hypnotist about to put him to sleep. 
 
 " Watch him !" said Cotton. " He's got that money 
 on him, I know." 
 
 " Look sharp!" cried Hal. "If it isn't there, they'll 
 put it there." 
 
 " Keep your hands up, young fellow," commanded the 
 marshal. "Keep back from him there!" This 'last to 
 Mike Sikoria and the other spectators, who were pressing 
 nearer, peering over one another's shoulders. 
 
 It was all very serious at the time, but afterwards, when 
 Hal recalled the scene, he laughed over the. grotesque figure 
 of Predovich searching his pockets while keeping as far 
 away from him as possible, so that everyone might know- 
 that the money had actually come out of HaJ:'s pocket. 
 The searcher put his hands first in the inside packets, then 
 in the pockets of-Hal's shirt. Time was needed to build 
 up this climax! 
 
140 KING COAL 
 
 "Turn around," commanded Cotton;, and Hal turned, 
 and the Jew went through his trouser-pockets. He took 
 out in turn Hal's watch, his comb and mirror, his hand- 
 kerchief ; Baiter examining them and holding them up, ,he 
 dropped them onto the floor. There was a breathless hush 
 when he came to Hal's purse, and proceeded to open it. 
 Thanks to the greed of the company, there was nothing in 
 the purse but some small change. Predovich closed it and 
 dropped it to the floor. 
 
 " Wait now! He's not through! " cried the master of 
 cei-emoni.es, " He's got that money somewhere, boys! 
 Did you look in his side-pockets, Jake ? " 
 
 " Is r ot yet," said Jake. 
 
 " Look sharp ! " cried the marshal ; and every one craned 
 'forward eagerly, while Predovich stooped down on one 
 knee, and put his hand into one coat pocket and then into 
 the- other. 
 
 He took his. hand out again, and the look of dismay 
 upon his face was so obvious that Hal could hardly keep 
 from laughing. " It ain't dere! " he declared. 
 
 "What? " cried Cotton, and they stared at each other. 
 " By God, he's got rid of it ! " 
 
 " There's no money on me, boys ! " proclaimed Hal. 
 " It's a job they are trying to put over on us." 
 
 " He's hid -"it 1" shouted the marshal. "Find it, 
 Jake! " 
 
 Then Predovich. began to search again, swiftly, and with 
 less circumstance. He was not thinking so much about 
 the spectators now, as about all that good money gone for 
 nothing! He made Hal take off his coat, and ripped -open 
 the lining; he unbuttoned the trousers and felt inside; he 
 thrust his fingers down inside. Hal's' shoes. 
 
 But there was no money, and the searchers were at a 
 standstill. " He took twenty-five dollars from Mr. Stone 
 to sell you out ! " declared the marshal. " He's managed 
 to get rid of it somehow." 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 141 
 
 "Boys// cried 'Hal, "they sent a spy in here, and told 
 him to put money on me." He was looking -at Aposto- 
 likas as he spoke; he saw the man start andishrink back. 
 
 "That's him! He's a scab! " cried Old Mike. " He's 
 got the money on him, I bet ! " And he made a move to- 
 wards the Greek. 
 
 So the camp-marshal realised suddenly that it was time 
 to ring down the curtain on this drama. " That's enough 
 of this foolishness/' he declared. "Bring that fellow 
 along here! " And in a flash a. couple of the- party had 
 seized Hal's wrists, and a third had grabbed him i by the 
 collar of his. shirt. Before the miners had time to realise 
 what was happening, they had rushed their prisoner out 
 of the cabin. 
 
 The quarter of an hour which followed was an -uncom- 
 fortable one for the would-be check-weighman. Outside, 
 in the darkness, the campKmairshal was free to give vent 
 to his ".-rage, and so was Alec Stone. They poured, out 
 curses upon him, and kicked him and cuffed him as they 
 went along. One of the men who held his wrists twisted 
 his arm, ; until he cried out with pain ; then they cursed 
 him harder, and bade him hold his mouth. Down the 
 dark and silent- street they went swiftly, and into : the 
 camp-marshal's.', office, and upstairs to the room which 
 served as the North Valley jail. Hal was glad enough 
 when they left him -here, slamming the iron door behind 
 them. 
 
 
 16. It had been a crude and stupid plot, yet Hal 
 realised that it was adapted to the intelligence of the men 
 for whom it was intended. But for the accident that he 
 had stayed awake, they would have found the money on 
 him, and next morning the whole camp would have, heard 
 that ho had sold out. Of course his immediate friends, the 
 members of th'e committee^ would not have believed it ; but- 
 
142 KING .COAL 
 
 the mass of the workers would have believed it> and so 
 the purpose of Tom Olson's visit to North Valley would 
 have been balked. Throughout the experiences which 
 were to come to him, Hal retained his vivid impression of 
 that adventure; it served to him as a symbol of many 
 things. Just as the bosses had tried to bedevil him, to 
 destroy his influence with his followers, so later on he 
 saw them trying to bedevil the labour-movement, to con- 
 fuse the intelligence of . the Kvhole country. 
 ? Now Hai was in jail. He went to the window arid 
 tried the bars but found that they had been made for 
 such trials. Then he groped his way about in the dark- 
 ness, examining his prison, Which proved to be a steel cage 
 built inside the walls of an ordinary room. In one* corner 
 was a : beao!eh, and in another corner another bench, some- 
 what broader, with a mattress upon it. Hal had read a 
 little about jails -enough to cause him to avoid this mat- 
 tress.: -He sat upion the bare bench, and began to think. 
 
 It is a fact that there is a peculiar psychology inci- 
 dental to being in jail; just as there is a peculiar psyr 
 chology incidental to straining your back and breaking 
 your hands loading coal-cars in a five foot vein; and an- 
 other, and quite different psychology, produced by living 
 at ease off the labours of coal-miners. In a jail, you have 
 first of all the sense of being an animal ; the animal side-, 
 of your being is emphasised, the animal passions of hatred 
 and fear are called into prominence, and if you are to 
 escape being dominated by them, it can only be by intense 
 and concentrated effort of the mind. So, if you are a 
 thinking man, you do a great deal of thinking in a jail; 
 the days are long, and the nights still longer you have' 
 time for all the thoughts you can have. 
 
 The bench was hard, and seemed to grow harder. There' 
 was no position in which it could be made to grow soft. : 
 Hal got up and paced' hbout, then he lay' 'down for a while, 
 then' got up and walked again; 'and' all "the while he 
 
THE SERFS -OF KING COAL 143 
 
 thought, and all the while the jail-psychology was being 
 impressed 'Upon his mind. 
 
 First, he thought about his immediate problem. What 
 were they going to do to him ? The obvious thing would 
 be to put him out of camp, and so be done with him; but 
 would they rest content with that, in their irritation at the 
 trick he had played? Hal had heard vaguely of that 
 native American institution, the " third degree," but had 
 never had occasion to think of it as a possibility in his own 
 life. What a difference it made, to think of it in that' 
 way ! 
 
 Hal had told Tom Olson that he would not pledge him- 
 self to organise a union, but that he would pledge himself 
 to get a check-weighmari ; and Olson had laughed, and 
 seemed quite content - apparently assuming that it would 
 come to the same thing. And now, it rather seemed tha't 
 Olson had known what he was talking about. For Hal 
 found his thoughts no longer troubled with fears of labour 
 union domination and walking delegate tyranny ; on the 
 contrary, he became suddenly willing for the people of 
 North Valley to have a union,*and to be as tyrannical as 
 they knew how! And in this change, though Hal had no 
 idea of it, he was repeating an experience common among 
 reformers ; many of whom begin as mild and benevolent 
 advocates of some obvious bit of justice, and under the 
 operation of the jail-psychology are made into blazing 
 a,nd determined revolutionists. " Eternal spirit of the 
 cjiainless mind," says Byron. " Greatest in dungeons 
 Liberty tliou art ! " 
 
 The poet goes on to add that " When thy sons to fet- 
 ters are confined ' then " ; Freedom's fame finds wings 
 on every wind." And just as it was in Chillon, so it 
 seemed to be in North Valley.- T)aw r n came, and Hal stood 
 at the window of his cell, and heard the whistle blow and 
 saw the workers going to their _ tasks, the toil-bent, pallid 
 faced creatures of the underworld, like a file of baboons 
 
144 KING COAL 
 
 > 
 
 in the half-light. He \Vaved his hand to them, and they: 
 stopped and stared, and then waved back; he realised that 
 every one of those men must be thinking about his im- 
 prisonment, and the reason for it and so the jail-psy/r 
 chology was being communicated to them. If any of thrift 
 cherished distrust of unions, or doubt of the need of or- 
 ganisation 'in North Valley -that distrust and that 1 doubt 
 were being dissipated! 
 
 There was only one thing discouraging about the 
 matter, as Hal thought it oyer, Why should the: bosses. 
 have left him here in plain sight, when they might so 
 easily have put him into an automobile, and \yhisked Mm 
 down to Pedro before daylight ? Was- it a sign of the 
 contempt they felt for their slaves ? Did they count upon 
 tliie sight of the prisoner in the, window to produce fear 
 instead of resentment ?-.. And might it not be that they 
 Understood their workers better than the would-be check- 
 weighman ? He recalled Mary Burke's pessimism about; 
 them, and anxiety gnawed -at his soul;. and .-such is the: 
 operation of the jail-ps.ychology he fought against this> 
 anxiety., He hated j tire, company for its cynicism, he 
 clenched his hands and set his teeth, desirhig to teach the 
 bosses a lesson, to prove -to them that their workers were 
 not slaves, : but men! 
 
 17. Toward the middle of the morning, Hal heard, 
 footsteps in trie corridor outside, and a -man whom he didr 
 not- know opened the barred .door and set down a pitcher 
 of water and a tin plate with a liunk of bread on it. Wheiij 
 he started to leave, Hal spoke: " Just a minute, please." ( 
 , The other frowned at him. 
 
 " Can you give me any idea how long I am to stay in 
 here? 7 ' . ] 
 
 " I cannot," said the man. , 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 145 
 
 "If I'm to be locked up," said Hal, " I've 1 certainly a 
 right to know what is the charge against me." 
 
 " Go to blazes ! " said the other, and slammed the door 
 and went down the corridor. 
 
 Hal went to the window again, and passed the time 
 watching the people who went by. Groups of ragged 
 children gathered, looking up at him, grinning y and making 
 signs L- until some one appeared below 'and ordered them 
 away. 
 
 As time passed, Hal becamd hungry. The taste of 
 bread, eaten alone, becomes speedily monotonous, and the 
 'taste of water does not relieve it ; nevertheless, Hal 
 munched the bread, and drank the water, and wished for 
 more. 
 
 The da^ dragged by; and late in the afternoon the 
 keeper carne again, with another hunk of breuxl and an- 
 other pitcher of water. " Listen a; moment," said Hal, as 
 the man was turning away. 
 
 " I got nothin' to say to you," said the other. 
 
 "I have something to say to you," pleaded Hal. " I 
 'have read in a book I forget where, but it was written 
 by some doctor that white bread does not contain the 
 elements necessary to the sustaining of the human body." 
 
 " Go on ! " growled the jailer. " What yer givin' us * " 
 
 "I mean," explained Hal, "'.a 'diet of bread and water 
 is not what I'd choose to live on." 
 
 " What would yer choose ? " 
 
 The tone suggested that the question was- a rhetorical 
 6ne; but Hal took it in good 'faith. "'If 'I could have 
 some beefsteak and mashed potatoes 
 
 The door of the cell closed '.with a slam whose echoes 
 drowned out the rest of that imaginary menu. And so 
 once more Hal sat on the hard bench, and munched his 
 hunk of bread, and thought jail-thoughts. 
 
 When the quitting-whistle blew, he stood at the -win- 
 dow, and saw the groups of his friends once again, and got 
 
UC KIXG COAL 
 
 their covert signals of encouragement. Then darkness 
 fell, and another long vigil began. 
 
 It was late; Hal had no means of telling how late, save 
 that all the lights in the camps were out. He made 
 up his mind that he was in for the night, and had settled 
 himself on the floor with his arm for a pillow, and had 
 dozed oft to sleep, when suddenly there came a scraping 
 sound against the bars of his window. He sat up with a 
 start, and heard another sound, unmistakably the rustling 
 of paper. He sprang to the window, where by the faint 
 light of the stars lie could make out something dangling. 
 He caught at it; it seemed to be an ordinary note-book, 
 such as stenographers use, tied on the end of a pole. 
 
 Hal looked out, but could see no one. He caught hold 
 of the pole and jerked it, as a signal ; arid then he heard 
 a whisper /which he recognised instantly . as Rovetta's. 
 " Hello ! Listen. Write your name hundred times in 
 book. I come back. Understand ? " 
 
 The command was a sufficiently puzzling one, but Hal 
 realised that this was no time for explanations. He an- 
 swered, " I 7 es," and broke the string and took the note- 
 book. There was a pencil attached, with a piece of cloth 
 wrapped round the point to protect it. 
 
 The pole was withdrawn, and Hal sat on the bench, and 
 began to write, three or four times on a page, " Joe Smith 
 Joe Smith Joe Smith." It is not hard to write 
 " Joe Smith," even in darkness, and so, while his hand 
 moved, Hal's mind was busy with this mystery. It, was 
 fairly to be assumed that his committee did not want his, 
 autograph to distribute for a souvenir; they must want it 
 for some vital purpose, to meet some new move of the 
 bosses. The answer . to this riddle was not slow ; in com- 
 i.ng: having failed in their effort to find money on him,, 
 the bosses had framed up a letter, which they were exhibit- 
 ing as having been written by the would-be check-weigh- 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 147 
 
 linan.- , His friends wanted his signature to disprove the 
 authenticity of the letter. . 
 
 Hal wrote a free and rapid hand, with a generous flour- 
 ish ; he felt sure it would be different from Alec Stone's 
 idea of a working-hoy's scrawl. His pencil flew on and 
 011 " Joe Smith Joe Smith " page after, page, until 
 .die. was sure that he had written a signature for every 
 .miner in the camp, and was beginning on the huddies. 
 Then, hearing a whistle outside, he stopped and sprang to 
 the window. 
 
 " Throw it! " whispered a voice; and Hal threw it. 
 He saw a form vanish up the street, after which all was 
 quiet again. He listened for a while, to see if he had 
 roused his jailer; then he lay down on the bench and 
 thought more jail-thoughts! 
 
 . 18. Morning came, and the mine- whistle blew, and 
 Hal stood, at the window again. This time he noticed : that 
 some of the miners on their way to work had little strips 
 of paper in their hands, which strips they waved con- 
 spicuously for him to see. Old Mike Sikoria came along, 
 having a whole bunch of strips in his hands, which heiwas 
 distributing to all who would take them.. Doubtless he 
 had been warned to proceed secretly, but the excitement of 
 the occasion had been too much for him ; he capered about 
 -like a young spring lamb, and waved the strips at Hal in 
 plain sight of all the world. 
 
 Such indiscreet behaviour met the return -it. invited,. 
 As Hal watched, he saw a stocky figure come striding 
 round the corner, confronting the startled old Slovak. 
 It was Bud Adams, the mine-guard, and his hard fists were 
 clenched, and his whole body gathered for a blow. Mike 
 saw him, and was as if suddenly struck with paralysisj 
 his toil-bent shoulders sunk together, and his hands fell to 
 
KING COAL 
 
 his sides his fingers opening, and Iris' precious -strips :of 
 paper fluttering to the ground. Mike stared at Bu'd like a 
 fascinated rabbit; making no move to protect himself. 
 
 Hal clutched the bars, with an impulse to leap to his 
 friend's, defence. But the expected blow did not fall ; the 
 mine-guard contented himself with glaring ferociously, 
 and giving an order to the old t maiu Mike stooped and 
 picked up the papers the process taking him some time, 
 fas he was unable or unwilling to take his eyes off the 
 mine-guard's. When he got them all in his hands, there 
 came another order, and he. gave them up to Bud. After 
 which he fell back, ;a step, and the other followed, his fists 
 still clenched, and a blow, seeming about to leap from him 
 every moment. Mike receded another step, and then an- 
 other so the two of them backed out of sight around the 
 corner. Men who had been witnesses of this little drama 
 turned and slunk off, and Hal was given no clue as to its 
 outcome. 
 
 A couple of hours afterwards, Hal's jailer came up, this 
 time without any bread and water. He opened the door 
 and commanded the prisoner to " come along." Hal went 
 downstairs, and entered Jeff Cotton's office. 
 
 The camp-marshal sat at his desk with a cigar between 
 his teeth. He was writing, arid he went 011 writing until 
 the jailer had gone out and closed the door. Then he 
 turned his revolving chair and crossed his legs, leaning 
 back and looking at the young miner in his dirty blue 
 overalls, his hair tousled and his face pale from his period 
 of confinement. The camp-marshal's aristocratic face 
 wore a smile. "Well, young fellow," said he, -you've 
 been having a lot of fun in this camp." 
 
 " Pretty fair, thank you," answered Hal. 
 
 "Beat us out all along the line, hey?" Then, after 
 a pause. " Now, tell me, what do you think you're going to 
 'get out of it ? " 
 
 " That's what Alec Stone asked me," replied Hal. " I 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 149 
 
 t 
 
 don't think it would do much good to explain. 1 doubt if 
 you believe in altruism any more than Stone does." 
 
 The camp-marshal took his cigar from his mouth, a>nd 
 flicked oil' the ashes. His face became serious, and there 
 was a silence, while .he studied Hal. " You a union or- 
 ganiser \ " he asked, at last. 
 
 " No," said Hal. 
 
 " You're an educated man ; you're no labourer, that I 
 know. Who's paying you ? " 
 
 " There you are ! You don't believe in altruism." 
 
 The other blew a ring of smoke across the room. "'Just 
 want to put the company in the hole, hey '( Some kind of 
 agitator '{ " 
 
 " I am a Limner who wants to be a check-weighman." 
 
 " Socialist ? " 
 
 " That depends upon developments here." 
 
 " Well," said the marshal, " you're an intelligent chap, 
 that I can see. So I'll lay my hand on the table and you 
 can study it. You're not going to serve as eheck-weigh- 
 man in North Valley, nor any other place that the ' G. F. 
 0.' has anything to do with. Nor are you going to have 
 the satisfaction of putting the company in a hole. We're 
 not even going to beat you up and make a martyr of you. 
 I was tempted to do that the other night, but I changed 
 my mind." 
 
 " You might change the bruises on my arm," suggested 
 Hal, in. a pleasant voice. 
 
 " We're going to offer you the choice of two things," 
 continued the marshal, without heeding this mild sarcasm, 
 " Either you will sign a paper admitting that you took the 
 twenty-five dollars from Alec Stone, in which case we will 
 fire you and call it square; or else we will prove that you" 
 took it, in which case we will send you to the pen for five 
 or ten years. Do you get that ? " 
 
 Now when Hal had applied for the job of check-weigh- 
 man, he had been expecting to be thrown out of the 
 
 11 
 
150 .-KIlsG COAL 
 
 t 
 
 and had intended to go ; "Counting bis education complete. 
 But here, as :he. sa/t ^uid gazed into the marshal's menacing 
 ejies, ho> decided suddenly that he did not want to leave 
 North Valley.- He ^wanted to stay and take the measure 
 of this gigantic ^buigfir// the General Fuel Company. 
 
 " That's a serious threat, Mra (Dotion," he remarked; 
 " Do you often do things like that \ " 
 : ** We'- do them when we. have . to," was the reply. 
 
 :c Well, it's a novel proposition. Tell me more about it. 
 What . will : -the charge be '{ " 
 
 I'm not sure about that ^ we'll put it up to our law- 
 yers. Maybe they'll all it ! Coiaspiraqy, maybe blackmail. 
 They'll make it whatever carries a long enough sentence." 
 
 <f And before-! enter my plea, would you .imind letting 
 me see the letter I'm supposed to have written;" 
 
 "Oh, you've heard about the letter, have you?" said 
 the ca-mp-marshal, lift ing .his. eyebrows in mild surprise. 
 He 1 , took from his desk a sheet of paper and handed it to 
 Hal, 1 who read : 
 
 "."Dere mister Stone,- You; don't need, worry about the 
 check-wayman. Pay .me twenty five dollars^ and I will fix 
 it right. Yours try, Joe Smith." 
 
 Having taken- in the words' of the letter, Hal examined 
 the paper, and -perceived that his enemies had taken the 
 trouble, not merely to forge a letter in his name, but 'to 
 have it photographed, to have a cut made of the photo- 
 graph, and to have it printed. Beyond doubt they had 
 distributed it broadcast in the camp. And all this 'in a 
 few hours! > 'It was as -Olson- had said - a regular .system 
 to keep the men bedevilled. 
 
 19. Hal took a minute ; or so to ponder" the situatio, 
 "Mr. Cotton," he said, at last. "I know how to. spell 
 better than that. Also my handwriting is a bit more 
 fluent." 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 151 
 
 There was a trace of a smile about the marshal's cruel 
 lips. u I know/' he replied. " I've not failed to com- 
 pare them." 
 
 " You have a good secret-service department ! " said 
 Hal. 
 
 u Before you get through, young fellow, you'll discover 
 that our legal department is equally efficient." 
 
 " Well," said Hal, " they'll need to be ; for I don't see 
 how you can get round the fact that I'm a check-weighman, 
 chosen according to the law, and with a group of the men 
 behind me." 
 
 " If that's what you're counting on," retorted Cotton, 
 " you may as well forget it. You've got no group any 
 more." 
 
 " Oh ! Y r ou've got rid of them ? " 
 
 " We've got rid of the ring-leaders." 
 
 " Of whom?" 
 
 " That old billy-goat, Sikoria, for one." 
 
 " You've shipped him? " 
 ^ "We have," 
 
 " I saw the beginning of that. Where have you sent 
 him?" 
 
 " That," smiled the marshal, " is a job for your secret- 
 service department .! " 
 
 a And who else?" 
 
 " John Edstrom has gone down to bury his wife. It's 
 not the first time that dough-faced old preacher has made 
 trouble for us, but it'll be the last. You'll find him in 
 Pedro - probably in the poor-house." 
 
 " No," responded Hal, quickly and there came just a 
 touch of elation in his voice " he won't have to go to the 
 poor-house at once. You see, I've just sent twenty-five 
 dollars to him." 
 
 The camp-marshal frowned. " Really ! " Then, after 
 a pause, " You did have that money on you! I thought 
 that lousy Greek had, got away with it! " 
 
152 KING GOAL 
 
 ".No. Your knave was 'honest; But so was I. I 
 knew Edstrom had been getting short weight for years, so 
 he was the one person with any right to the money/' 
 
 This story was untrue, of course ; the money was still 
 buried in Edstrom's cabin. But Hal meant for the old 
 miner to have it in the end, and meantime he wanted to 
 throw Cotton off the track. 
 
 " A clever trick, young man ! " said the marshal. , " But 
 you'll repent it before you're through. It only makes me 
 more determined to put you where you can't do us any 
 harm." 
 
 " You mean in the pen?" You understand, of course, 
 it will mean a jury trial. You can get a jury to do what 
 you want ? " 
 
 :i They tell me you've been taking an interest in politics 
 in Pedro County. Haven't you looked into our jury- 
 system ? " 
 
 " No, I haven't got that far." 
 
 The marshal began blowing -rings of smoke again. 
 " Well, there are some three hundred men on our jury-l ; jt, 
 and we know them all. You'll find yourself facing a box 
 with Jake Predovich as foreman, three company-clerks, 
 two of Alf Raymond's saloon-keepers, a ranchman with a 
 mortgage held by the company-bank, and five Mexicans 
 who have no idea what it's all about, but would stick a 
 knife into your back for a drink of whiskey. The Dis- 
 trict Attorney is a politician who favours the miners in 
 his speeches, and favours us in his acts; while Judge Den- 
 ton, of the district court, is the law partner of Vagleman, 
 our chief-counsel. Do you get all that ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Hal.- " I've heard of the < Empire bi 
 Raymond ' ; I'm interested to see the machinery. You're 
 quite open about it ! " 
 
 "Well," replied the r marshal, "I want you to know 
 what you're up against. We didn't start this fight, and 
 we're perfectly willing to end it without trouble. All we 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 153 
 
 ask is that you. make amends for the mischief you've done 
 us." 
 
 "By ' making amends, 7 you mean I'm to disgrace my- 
 self -T-, to tell the men I'm a traitor? " , 
 " Precisely," said the marshal. 
 
 "I think I'll have a seat while I -consider the matter," 
 said Hal; and he took a chair, and stretched out his legs, 
 and made himself elaborately comfortable,. " That bench 
 upstaks is frightfully hajrd," said he, and smiled mock- 
 ingly upon the camp-marshal. 
 
 20. When this conversation was continued, it was 
 upon a new and unexpected line. " Cotton," remarked 
 the prisoner, "I perceive that you are a man of educa- 
 tion. It occurs to me that once upon a time you must 
 have been what the world calls a gentleman." 
 
 The blood started into the camp-marshal's face. " You 
 go to hell ! " said. he. 
 
 " I did not intend to ask questions," continued Hal. 
 "I can well understand that you mightn't care to answer 
 them. My point is that, being an ex-gentleman, you may 
 appreciate certain aspects of this case which would be 
 beyond the understanding of a nigger-driver like Stone, 
 or an efficiency expert like Cartwright. One gentleman 
 can recognise another, even in a miner's costume. Isn't 
 that so ? " 
 
 Hal paused, for an answer, and the marshal gave him a 
 wary look. . " I suppose so," he said. 
 
 " Well, to begin with, one gentleman does not smoke 
 without inviting another to join. him." 
 
 The man gave another look. Btal thought he was going 
 to consign him to hades once more ; but instead he took a 
 cigar from his vest-pocket and held it out. 
 
 " No, thank .you," said Hal, quietly. "T do not smoke. 
 But I like, to be invited." 
 
154 KING COAL 
 
 There was a pause, while the two men measured' each 
 other. 
 
 u Now, Cotton," began the prisoner, " you pictured the 
 scene at my trial. Let me carry on the story for you. 
 You have your case all framed up, your hand-picked jury 
 in the box, and your hand-picked judge on the bench, your 
 hand-picked prosecuting-attorney putting through the job ; 
 you are ready to send your victim to prison, for an ex- 
 ample to the rest of your employes. But suppose that, at 
 the climax of the proceedings, you should make the dis- 
 covery that your victim is a person who cannot be sent to 
 prison '< " 
 
 " Cannot be sent to prison ? " repeated the other. His 
 tone was thoughtful. " You'll have to explain." 
 
 " Surely not to a man of your intelligence ! Don't 
 you know, Cotton, there are people who cannot be sent to 
 prison ? " 
 
 The camp-marshal smoked his cigar for. a bit. " There 
 are some in this county," said he. " But I thought I knew 
 them all." 
 
 "Well," said Hal, "has it never occurred to you that 
 there might be some in this state?" 
 
 There followed a long silence. The two men were gaz- 
 ing into each other's eyes; and the more they gazed, the 
 more plainly Hal read uncertainty in the face of the 
 marshal. 
 
 '' Think how embarrassing it would be! " he continued. 
 " You have your drama all staged as you did the night 
 before last only on a larger stage, before a more impor- 
 tant audience; and at the denouement you find that, in- 
 stead of vindicating yourself before the workers in North 
 Valley, you have convicted yourself before the public of 
 the state. You have shown the whole community that you 
 are law-breakers ; worse than that you have shown thai 
 you are jack-asses! " 
 
 This time the camp-marshal gazed so long that his cigar 
 
THE SERFS: OF .'KING COAL 156 
 
 went out. And meantime Hal Kvas ; lounging in his chair, 
 smiling at him strangely. It was as if a transformation 
 was taking place before the marshal's eyes ; the miner's 
 "jumpers " fell away from- Hal's figure, and there was a 
 suit of evening-clothes in their place! 
 
 tk Who the devil are you .? " cried the man. 
 
 "Well -now! " laughed Hal " You boast of the effi- 
 ciency of your secret service department!* Put them at 
 work upon this problem. A young man, age -twenty-one, 
 heigh* "five feet; ten inches, weight one ^hundred an-d fifty- 
 two pounds, eyesribirfewn, hair chestnut, and: rather wavy:, 
 manner 1 genial, a favtiiirite with the ladies.T at least -that's 
 what the. society notes say missing since early in -Juno, 
 -supposed to he hunting mountain-goats in Mexico.' . As 
 you know, Cottony. there's only one. city in the state that 
 has- any * society,' and in that city there- are only twenty- 
 five or thirty families that count For a secret service de- 
 partment like that of the ' G. E.; GV, that .is reall.V too 
 ca-sy." 
 
 Again there was a silence, until Hal broke it. " Your 
 distress is a tribute to your insight The company is lucky 
 irrthe fact that one of its'camp-marskalsrhappe'ns to be an 
 ex-gentleman." 
 
 Again the other flushed. " Well,- by God! " he ; said, 
 half to himself; and "then,; making a last effort to liold'his 
 bluff _ You're kidding me ! " 
 
 " ' Kidding,' as you call-it, is one of the favourite 'occu- 
 pations of society, Cotton. . A, good part of our intercourse 
 consists of it at least among the -younger set." 
 
 Suddenly the marshal rose* " ; Say," h'e" demanded, 
 "would you 'mind goi-ng back upstairs for a ; fow- mii>- 
 utes ? " . 
 
 Hal could not restrain his laughter at this. " I should 
 mind it very much/' he said. " I have been on a bread 
 and water diet for thirty-six 'hours, and I- should like 
 much to get otit and have a breath of fresh air." 
 
156 KING COAL 
 
 "'But," said the other, lamely, " I've got to send you up 
 there." 
 
 ** That's another matter," replied Hal. " If you send 
 me, I'll go, hut it's your look-out. You've kept; -me here 
 without legal authority, with no charge against me, and 
 without giving me an opportunity to see counsel. Un- 
 less I'm. very much mistaken, you. are liable criminally for 
 that, and the company is liable civilly. That is your own 
 affair, of course. I only want to make clear my position 
 when you ask me would I mind stepping upstairs, 1 
 answer that I would mind very much indeed." 
 
 The camp-marshal stood for a bit, chewing nervouslv 
 on his extinct cigar. Then he went to the door. " Hey, 
 Gus ! " he called. Hal's jailer appeared, and Cotton 
 whispered to him, and he went away again. " I'm telling 
 him to get you some food, and you can. sit and eat it here. 
 Will that suit you better ? " 
 
 "It depends," said Hal, making the most of the situa- 
 tion. " Are you inviting me as your prisoner, or as your 
 guest ? " 
 
 " Oh, come off ! " said the other. 
 
 " But I have to know my legal status. It will be of im- 
 portance to my lawyers." 
 
 " Be my guest," said the camp-marshal. 
 
 " But when a guest has eaten, he is free to go out, if he 
 wishes to ! " 
 
 " I will let you know about that before you get through." 
 
 " Well, be quick. I'm a rapid eater." 
 
 " You'll promise you won't go away before that? " 
 
 "If I do," was Hal's laughing reply, " it will be only 
 to my place of business. You can look for me at the 
 tipple, Cotton ! " 
 
 21. The marshal went out, and a few moments later 
 the jailer came back, with a meal which presented a sur- 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 157 
 
 prising contrast to the ones he had previously served. 
 There was a tray containing = cold ham, a couple of soft 
 hoiled eggs, some potato salad, and a cup of cott'ee with 
 rolls and butter. 
 
 " Well, well ! " said Hal, condescendingly. " That's 
 even nicer than beefsteak and rnashed potatoes ! " He sat 
 and watched, not offering to help, while the other made 
 room for the tray on the table in front of him. Then the 
 man stalked out, and Hal began to eat. 
 
 Before he had finished, the camp-marshal returned. He 
 seated himself in his revolving chair/ and appeared to be 
 meditative. Between bites-, Hal would look up and smile 
 at him. 
 
 " Cotton," said he, "you know there is no more certain 
 test of breeding than table-manners. You will observe 
 that I have not tucked my napkin in my neck, as Alec 
 Stone would have done." 
 
 " I'm getting you," replied the marshal. 
 
 Hal set his knife and fork side by side on his plate. 
 " Your man has overlooked the finger-bowl," he remarked. 
 " However, don't bother. You might ring" for him now, 
 and let him take the tray." 
 
 The camp-marshal used his,. voice, for a bell, and the 
 jailer came. " Unfortunately," said Hal, " when your 
 people were searching me, night before last, they dropped 
 my purse, so I have no tip for the waiter." 
 
 The " waiter " glared at Hal as if he would like to bite 
 him ; but the camp-marshal grinned. " Clear out, Gus, 
 and shut the door," said he. 
 
 Then Hal stretched his legs and made himself comfort- 
 able again. " I must say I like being your guest better 
 than being your prisoner ! " 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 " I've been talking it over with Mr. Cartwright," began 
 the marshal. " I've got no way of telling how much of 
 this is bluff that you've been giving me, but it's evident 
 
158 KIN Q COAL 
 
 enough that you're 'no miner.- You may be some new- 
 fangled kind of agitator, but I'm damned ;i I ever saw an 
 agitator that had tea-party manners. I suppose you've 
 been brought up to money; but if that's soywhy you want 
 to do ;this kind: df thing is more than I can imagine." 
 
 . " Tell me. Cotton," said- .Hal, "did you never hear of 
 ennui?.'' 
 
 " Yee^" replied the other, " but aren't you rather young 
 to be troubled with that eomjxlauit? " 
 
 " Suppose I ? ve seen others suffer ing from, it, and wanted 
 to. try a different way. of living from theirs? " 
 
 " I you're what you /say, 'you ought to.be still in col- 
 lege." 
 
 " I go back for: my senior, year thip. fall." 
 ."What college?" 
 
 "You .doubt me still, I see! " .said Hal, and sfiiiled. 
 Then, unexpectedly, with a spirit which only moonlit 
 campuses and .privilege could beget, he chanted: 
 
 " Old Iving Coal was a merry old soul, 
 
 Arid a merry old soul was he ; 
 He made him a college, all full of knowledge - 
 
 Hurrah for you and me! " ' 
 
 " What college is that \ '". asked the marshal. 
 And Hal sang again : 
 
 "Oh, Liza-Aim, come out with me, 
 The moon is a-ahinin'- in tlie monkey-puzzle tree ! 
 Oh, Liza-Ann, I have b.egan 
 To sing you the song of Harridan! " 
 
 '"Well, well! " commented ; 'the marshal, when the con- 
 cert was over. " Are there many more like you at Harri- 
 gan?" 
 
 " A Jittje. group enough to leaven 'the lump. ' 
 ' " And this > is"yoiir' idea of a vacation ? " 
 
 a iS[o, it isn't a vacation ; it's a'stimmer-course in- prac- 
 tical sociology:" 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 159 
 
 " Oh, I see ! " said the marshal ; ; and he smiled in spite 
 of himself. 
 
 " All last year we let the professors of political economy 
 hand out their theories to us. But somehow the theories 
 didn't seem to correspond with the facts. I said to my- 
 self, ' I've got to check them tip.' You know the phrases, 
 perhaps individualism, laissez faire, freedom of con- 
 tract, the right of every man to work for whom he pleases. 
 And here you see how the theories work out a camp- 
 marshal with a cruel smile on his face and a gun on his hip, 
 breaking the laws faster than a governor can sign them." 
 
 The camp-marshal decided suddenly that he had had 
 enough of this "tea-party." He rose to his feet to cut 
 matters -short. " If you don't mind, young man," said he, 
 " we'll get down to business ! " 
 
 22. He took a turn about the room, then he came and 
 stopped in front of Hal. He stood with his hands thrust 
 into his pockets, with a certain jaunty grace that was out 
 of .keeping with his occupation. He was a handsome 
 devil, Hal thought in spite of his dangerous mouth, and 
 the marks of dissipation on him. 
 
 " Young man," he began, with another effort at geni- 
 ality. "I don't know who you are, but you're wide- 
 awake ; you've got your nerve with you, and I admire you. 
 So I'm willing to call the thing off, and let you go back 
 and finish that course at college." 
 
 Hal had been studying the other's careful smile. 
 "Cotton," he said, at last, "let me get the proposition 
 clear. I don't have to say I took that money ? " 
 
 "No, we'll let you off 'from that." 
 
 " And you won't send me to the pen ? " 
 
 " No. I never meant to do that, of course. I was 
 only trying to bluff you. All I ask is that you clear out, 
 and give our people a chance to forget." 
 
160 KING COAL 
 
 ' "But what's there in that for me, Cotton? If I had 
 wanted to run away, I could have done it any time during 
 the last eight or ten weeks." 
 
 " Yes, of course, but now it's different. Now it's a mat- 
 ter of my consideration.' 7 
 
 " Cut out the consideration ! " exclaimed Hal. " You 
 want to get rid of me, and you'd like to do it without 
 trouble. But you can't so forget it." 
 The other was staring, puzzled. " You mean you ex- 
 pect to stay here ? " 
 
 "I mean just- that." 
 
 "Young -man, I've had enough of this! I've got no 
 more time to play. I don't care who you are, I don't care 
 about your threats. I'm the marshal of this camp, and I 
 have the job of keeping order in it. I say you're going to 
 get out ! " 
 
 " But, Cotton," said Hal, " this is an incorporated town ! 
 I have a right to walk on the streets exactly as much 
 right as you." 
 
 "I'm not going to waste time arguing. I'm going to 
 put you into an automobile and take you down to Pedro ! " 
 
 " And suppose I go to the District Attorney and de- 
 mand that he prosecute you : { " 
 
 "He'll laugh at you." 
 
 " And suppose I go to the Governor of the state ? " 
 
 ".Hell laugh still louder." 
 
 "All right, Cotton; maybe you know what you're do- 
 ing; but I wonder I wonder just how sure you feel. 
 Has it never occurred to you that your superiors might not 
 care to have you take these high-handed steps ? " 
 
 "My superiors? Who do you mean?" 
 
 "There's one man in the state you must respect 
 even though you despise the District Attorney and the 
 Governor. That is Peter Harrigan.." 
 
 " Peter Harrigan ? " echoed the other ; and then he 
 burst into a laugh. " Well, you are a merry lad! " 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 161 
 
 Hal continued to study him, 1 unmoved. " I wonder if 
 you're sure! He'll stand fot everything you've done?" 
 
 "He will!" said the other. 
 
 "For the way you, treat the workers? He knows you 
 are giving short weights? " 
 
 "Oh hell!" said the other. "Where do you suppose 
 he got the money for your college ?. " 
 
 There was a pause; at last the marshal asked, de- 
 fiantly, " Have you got what you want ? " 
 
 "Yes," replied Hal. "Of course, I; thought it all 
 along, but it's hard to convince other people. Old Peter's 
 not like most of these Western wolves, you know; he's a 
 pious; high-church man." 
 
 The marshal smiled grimly. "So log as there are 
 sheep," said he, " there'll be wolves in sheep's clothing." 
 
 " I see," said Hal. " And you leave them to feed on 
 the lambs!" 
 
 " If any lamb is silly enough to be fooled by that old 
 worn-out skin," remarked the marshal, "it deserves to 
 be eaten." 
 
 Hal was studying the cynical face in front of him. 
 " Cotton," he said, " the shepherds are asleep ; but the 
 watch-dogs a-re barking. Haven't .you heard them ? " 
 
 " I hadn't noticed." 
 
 " They are barking, barjking ! They are going to wake 
 the shepherds ! They are going to save the sheep! " 
 
 "Religion don't interest me," said the other,, looking 
 bored; "your kind any more than Old Peter's." 
 
 And suddenly Hal rose to his feet. " Cotton," said he, 
 " my placfc is with the flock ! I'm gsoing back to my job at 
 the tipple! " And he started towards the door. 
 
 23. Jeff Cotton sprang forward. "Stop!" he 
 cried. 
 
 But Hal did not stop. 
 
162 KING COAL 
 
 " See here, young man! " cried the marshal.- " Don't 
 carry this joke too far ! " And he sprang to the door, just 
 ahead of his prisoner. His hand moved toward his hip. 
 
 " Draw your gun, Cotton," said Hal; and, as the mar- 
 shal obeyed, " Now I will stop. If I obey you in future, 
 it will be at the point of your revolver.' 7 
 
 The marshal's mouth was dangerous-looking. "You 
 may find that in this country there's not so much" between 
 the drawing of a gun and the firing of it! " 
 
 " I've explained my attitude," replied Hal. " What 
 are your orders ? " 
 
 " Come back and sit in this chair. ?? 
 
 So Hal sat, and the marshal went to his desk, and took 
 up the telephone. " Number seven," he said, and waited 
 a moment. " That you, Tom ? Bring the car right 
 away." 
 
 He hung up the receiver, and there followed a silence ; 
 finally Hal inquired, " I'm going to Pedro? " 
 
 There was no reply. 
 
 " I see I've got on your nerves," said Hal. " But I 
 don't suppose it's occurred to you that you deprived me of 
 my money last night. Also, I've an account with the 
 company, some money coming to me for my work \ What 
 about that ? " 
 
 The marshal took up the receiver and gave another 
 number. " Hello, Simpson. This is Cotton. Will you 
 figure out the time of Joe Smith, buddy in Number Two, 
 and send over the cash. Get his account at the store; 
 and be quick, we're waiting for it. He's going out in 
 a hurry." Again he hung up the receiver. 
 
 " Tell me," said Hal, " did you take that trouble for 
 Mike Sikoria ? " 
 
 There was silence. 
 
 " Let me suggest that when you ^et my time, you give 
 me part of it in scrip. I want it for a souvenir." 
 
 Still there was silence. 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 163 
 
 *' Yb~u - know," persisted the prisoner, ; tormentingly!, 
 " there's a law against paying wages in scrip. 7 ' 
 : The 1 marshal* was goaded to speech. " We don't payi in 
 
 "But you- do, man! You- know ! yfu do!;" 
 
 "We give it when they ask their money ahead." .; 
 
 " The ; law requires you to pay thenrtwice.a month, and 
 you don't do it. Yon pay "them once a month, and mean- 
 time, if they need money, :yOu give them this imitation 
 money ! " 
 '" Well, i it satisfies .them, where's. your; kick ? " 
 
 " If it doesn't '-satisfy them, you put them on the train 
 and ship them out;? " . , , 
 
 The marshal sat in silence,, 'tapping; impatiently with 
 his fingers on 'the desk. 
 
 "Cotton," Hal began, again, " I'm out : for -education, 
 an.d there's something I'd like you to explain to me 
 a problem in human psychology. W T hen a man puts 
 through a deal like this, what does he telkhimseli about 
 it?" 
 
 " Young man," said the marshal, ^ if you'll ,par4on me, 
 you are getting to be ,-a" bore." 
 
 " Ohj but we've, got an automobile ride before , us! 
 Surely we can't sit in silence all the ;way; ! " After a mo- 
 ment he addd, in a coaxing tone, ." I really want .-toilfcarn, 
 you know. You might be able to win me over." 
 
 "No!" said Cotton,; promptly. :' I'll not; go-! in for 
 anything like that ! " 
 
 "But why not?" 
 
 "Because, I'm no match -for you an 'longvvvindedness. 
 I've heard you agitators before, you're all alike: you think 
 the' world is - run by t^lk r but it "isn't." 
 
 Hal had- come to realise >tfiat- fee was- not getting anj^- 
 where in his ^iiel with the'carnp-marshal. He had made 
 ^very effort to get somewhere; he had .alr#ued; thr^^t- 
 ened, bluffed, he had even sung songs for the marshal ! 
 
164 KING COAL 
 
 But the marshal was going- to ship him out, that was all 
 there was to it. 
 
 Hal had gone on with the quarrel, simply because he 
 had to wait for the automobile, and because he had en- 
 dured indignities and had to vent his anger and disappoint- 
 ment. But now he stopped quarrelling suddenly. His at- 
 tention was caught by the marshal's words, " You thirik the 
 world is run by talk!" Those were the words Hal's 
 brother always used ! And also, the marshal had said, 
 " You agitators ! " For years it had been one of the 
 taunts Hal had heard from his brother, u You will turn 
 into one of these agitators!" Hal had answered, with 
 boyish obstinacy, " I don't care if I do! ;" And now, here 
 the marshal was calling him an agitator, seriously, with- 
 out an apology, without the license of blood relationship. 
 He repeated the words, " That's what gets me about you 
 agitators you come in here trying to stir these people 
 up " 
 
 So that was* the way Hal seemed to the " G. F. C." ! 
 He had come here intending to be a spectator, to stand on 
 the deck of the steamer and look down into the ocean of 
 social misery. He had considered every step so carefully 
 before he took it! He had merely tried to be a check- 
 weighman, nothing more! He had told Tom Olson he 
 would not go in for unionism; he had had a distrust of 
 union organisers, of agitators of all sorts blind, irre- 
 sponsible persons^ who went about stirring : up dangerous 
 passions. He had come to admire Tom Olson - but that 
 had only partly removed his prejudices; Olson was only 
 one agitator, not the whole lot of them! 
 
 But all his consideration for the company had counted 
 for nothing; likewise all his efforts'to convince the marshal 
 that he was a leisure-class person. In spite of all Hal's 
 " te'a-party manners," the marshal had said, " You agi- 
 tators ! " What was he judging by, Hal wondered. Had 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 165- 
 
 he, Hal Warner, come to. look like one of these blind, irre- 
 sponsible persons # It was time that he took stock of him- 
 self! 
 
 Had two months of r " dirty , work " in the bowels of the 
 earth changed him so? The idea was bound to be dis- 
 concerting to one who had been a favourite of the ladies ! 
 Did he talk like itf he who had been " kissing the 
 Blarney^stone ! " L The marshal had said he was " long- 
 winded ! " Well, to be sure, he had talked a lot ; but. 
 what could the man expect having shut him up in jail 
 for two nights and a. day,- 'with only his grievances to brood 
 over! Was that the way real agitators were made be- 
 ing shut'lip with grievances to brood over? 
 . Hal recalled his broodings in the jail. He had been 
 embittered; he had not cared whether North Valley was 
 dominated by labour unions. But that had all been a 
 mood, the same as. his answer to his brother; that was 
 jail psychology, a part of his summer course in practical 
 sociology. He had put it aside; but apparently it had 
 made a deeper impression upon him than he had realised. 
 It had changed his physical aspect ! It had made him 
 look and talk like an agitator! It had made him "irre- 
 sponsible," " blind ! " 
 
 Yes, thajt wa it! All th;s dirt, ignorance, disease, this 
 knavery and oppression, this maiming of men in body and 
 soul in the coal-camps of America all this did not ex- 
 ist it was the hallucination of an "irresponsible" 
 brain! There was the evidence of Hal's brother and the, 
 camp-marshal to prove it; there was the evidence of the 
 whole world to prove it! The camp-marshal and his 
 brother and the whole world could not be " blind! " And 
 if you talked to the.m about'these conditions, they shrugged 
 their shoulders, they called you a ". dreamer," a, "crank," 
 they said you were " off your trolley " ; or else they became 
 angry and bitter, they called you names; they said, " You 
 agitators ! " 
 
 12 
 
166 KINO-GOAL' 
 
 24. The camp-marshal of 'North Valley had beenl 
 "agitated " to such an extend that h<^oiM i: not stay in his 
 chair. All the harassments of his troubled career" had- 
 come pouring into his niind. Ho had begun pacing the 
 floor, and was talking away, 51 regardless of whether Hal 
 listened or not. 
 
 "A campful of lousy wops !-- -They can't -understand 
 any civilised language,- they've drily we idea in the world 
 
 to shirk every li'ck 'of work they can, 1 to fill up their 
 cars with slate and rock and blame it on ; some 'other* f ellowy 
 and go off to fill themselves with booze. They won't work 
 fair, they won't fight fair- they fight with a knife in the- 
 back! And you a'gitat'ors with your x sympathy for 'them 
 
 why the hell dp "they come to this 'country, unless they 
 like iff better than their own ?" 
 
 Hal had heard ;thjs i: question before ; but thoy'had to 
 wait for the 'automobile'- 1 -- and beiri^'sure that he ; was ; an 
 agitator now, he would make; all the trouble he could! 
 "The reason is obvious enough/' he said. "Isn't it true 
 that the ' G. F. O.' ?r employs agents abroad to tell them of 
 the wtinderf ul pay they get in America '? " 
 
 " Well, they get it, don't they ? Three times what tliey 
 ' ever got at home ! 7? 
 
 " l r es, ( but it doe'sn'i/ do th-erii'any good. ^There's an- 
 other 'f^ct ' wlii'cli the "' G. F. O. 7 doesn't mention that 
 the cost of Hying is even higher than the -wages. Then,, 
 too, ^hey're led to; think of America as a land of liberty* 
 they come, hoping for a better chance for themselves and 
 their children; but they find a camp-marshal who's off in 
 his geography -who thinks the Rocky Mountains are 
 ^omewhere in Russi^ !" ' 
 
 ' " I know that Ihio of talk! '''exclaimed the other. "I 
 learned to wave the starry flag when I was a kid. But : I 
 tell you, you've got to get 'coal. mined, and if isn't the same 
 thing as ? running a Fourth of July "celebration. Some 
 church people make a law they shan't work on Sunday 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 167 
 
 and what comes of that ? They have thirty-six hours to 
 get soused in, and so they can't work on Monday!" 
 
 " Surely there's a remedy, Cotton ! Suppose the com- 
 pany refused to rent buildings to salooti-keepers ? " 
 
 " Good God ! You think we haven't tried it ? They'go 
 down to Pedro for the stuff, and bring back all they can 
 carry inside them and out. And if we stop that- 
 then our hands mote to some other camps, where they can 
 spend their money as they please. No, young man, when 
 you have 'Such cattle, you have to drive them! And it 
 takes a strong hand to do it a man like Peter Harrigan. 
 If there's to be any coal, if industry's to go on, if there's 
 to be any progress " 
 
 " We have that in our song! " laughed Hal, breaking 
 into the camp-marshal's discourse ~ 
 
 " He .keeps them a-roll, that merry old soul 
 
 The wheels of industree; 
 A-roll and a-roll, for his pipe and his bowl 
 
 And his college facultee! " 
 
 ' 
 
 " Yes," growled the marshal. " It's easy enough for 
 you smart young chaps to make verses, while you're living 
 at ease on the old man's. bounty. But that don't answer 
 any argument. Are you college boys ready to take. over 
 his job '( Or these Democrat politicians that come in here, 
 talking fool-talk about liberty, making labour laws for 
 these wops " 
 
 "I begin to understand," said Hal, "You object to 
 the politicians who pass the laws,. you doubt their motives 
 and so you refuse to obey. But why didn't you tell me 
 sooner you were an anarchist ? " 
 
 "Anarchist?" cried the marshal. "Me an anar- 
 chist?" 
 
 " That's 'what an anarchist is, isn't' it ?" 
 
 " Good God ! If that isn't the limit ! You come here,, 
 stirring up the men a union agitator, or whatever 
 
168 KING COAL 
 
 are and you know that the first idea of these people, 
 when they do break loose, is to put dynamite in the shafts 
 and set fire to the buildings ! " 
 
 " Do they do that ? " There was surprise in Hal's tone. 
 : " Haven't you read what they did in the last big strike ? 
 That dough-faced old preacher, John Edstrom, could tell 
 you. He was one of the bunch." 
 
 " No," said Hal, " you're mistaken. , Edstrom has a 
 different philosophy. But others did, I've no doubt. 
 And since I've been here, I can understand their point of 
 view entirely. When they set fire to the buildings, it was 
 because they thought you and Alec Stone might be inside." 
 
 The marshal did not smile. 
 
 " They want to destroy the properties," continued Hal, 
 "because that's the only way they can think of to. punish 
 the tyranny and greed of the owners. But, Cotton, sup- 
 pose some one were to put a new idea into their heads; 
 suppose some one were to say to them, ' Don't destroy 
 the properties take them! f 
 
 The other stared. " Take them ! So that's your idea 
 of morality ! " 
 
 " It would be more moral than the method by which 
 Peter got them in the beginning." 
 
 " What method is that?" demanded the marshal, with 
 some appearance of indignation. " He paid the market- 
 price for them, didn't he ? " 
 
 " He paid the market-price for politicians. Up in 
 Western City I happen to know a lady who was a school- 
 commissioner when he was buying school-lands from the 
 state lands that were known to contain coal. He was 
 paying three dollars an acre, and everybody knew they 
 were worth three thousand." 
 
 " Well," said Cotton, " if you don't buy the politicians, 
 you wake up some fine morning and find that somebody 
 else has bought them. If you have property, you have to 
 protect it." - 
 
THE SEKFS OF KING COAL 169 
 
 " Cotton," said Hal, "you sell Old Peter your time - 
 but surely you might keep part of your brains! Enough 
 to look at your monthly pay-check and realise that you too 
 are a wage-slave, not much bettqr than the miners you 
 despise." 
 
 The other smiled. " My check might be bigger, I ad- 
 mit; but I've figured over it, and I think I have an easier 
 time than you agitators. I'm top-dog, and I expeqt to 
 stay on top." 
 
 " Well, Cotton, on that view of life, I don't wonder you 
 get drunk now and then. A dog-fight, with no faith or 
 humanity anywhere ! Don't think I'm sneering ,at you 
 I'm talking out of my heart to you. I'm not so young, nor 
 such a fool, that I haven't had the dog-fight aspect of 
 things brought to my attention. But there's something in 
 a fellow that insists he isn't all dog; he has at least a possi- 
 bility of something better. Take these poor under-dogs 
 sweating inside the mountain, risking their lives every 
 hour of the day and night to provide you and me with coal 
 to keep us warm to ' keep the wheels of industry 
 a-roli ' " 
 
 25. These were the last words Hal spoke. They 
 were obvious enough words, yet when he looked back upon 
 the coincidence, it seemed to him a singular one. For 
 while he was sitting there chatting, it happened that the 
 poor under-dogs inside the mountain were in the midst of 
 one of those experiences which make the romance and 
 terror of coal-mining. One of the boys who were em- 
 ployed underground, in violation of the child labour law, 
 was in the act of bungling his task. He was a " sprag- 
 ger," whose duty it was to thrust a stick into the wheel of 
 a loaded car to hold it; and he was a little chap, and 
 the car was in motion when he made the attempt. It 
 knocked him against the wall and so there was a load 
 
17.0 KING COAL 
 
 of coal rolling down grade, pursued too late lyy half a dozen 
 men. Gathering inonientum, it whirled round a curve 
 and flew from the track, crashing into timbers and knock- 
 ing them loose. With the timbers came a shower of coal- 
 dust, accumulated for decades in these old workings; and 
 at the same time came an electric, .light wire, which, as it 
 touched, the car, produced a spark. 
 
 And so it was that Hal, chatting with the marshal, sud- 
 denly felt, rather than heard, a deafening roar; he felt the 
 air about him turn into a living thing which struck him a 
 mighty, blow, hurling him flat upon the floor. The win- 
 dows of the room crashed .inward upon him in a shower of 
 glass, and the plaster of the ceiling came down on 1} is head 
 in another shower. 
 
 When he raised himself, half stunne,^ he saw the mar- 
 shal, also on the floor; these two ; conversationalists stared 
 at each other with horrified eyes. Even as they crouched, 
 there came a crash above their heads, and half the ceiling 
 of the room came toward them, with a grqat piece of timber 
 sticking through. All about them were other crashes, as 
 if the end of the world had come. 
 
 They struggled to their feet, and rushing to the door, 
 flung it open, just as a jagged piece of timber shattered 
 the side-walk in front of them. They sprang back, again. 
 " Into'the cellar! " cried the marshal, leading the way to 
 the back-stairs. . > 
 
 But before they had started down these stairs, they 
 realised, that the crashing had ceased. " What is.it?" 
 gasped Hal, as they stood. 
 
 " Mine-explosion," said the other;,. and after a few 
 seconds they ran to the door again. 
 
 The first thing they saw was a vas^: pillar of dust and 
 smoke, rising into the sky above them. It .spread before 
 their dazed eyes, until it made night of everything about 
 them. There was still a rain of lighter debris pattering 
 down over the village ; as they stared, and got their wits 
 

 THE SERES OF KIXG COAL 171 
 
 about them, remembering how., -things ; had looked before, 
 tiiis, they realised that -.the shaft-house of !N umber One had 
 disappeared. 
 
 "Blown up, by God ! " ,cr.ied the marshal ; and the two, 
 ran out into the street, and looking up, saw that a portion, 
 of the wrecked "building had fallen through the roof, of the 
 jail abo.Vje their heads. 
 
 . The rain of. debris had now 7 ceased, but there were clouds 
 of dust which covered the two men black; the clouds grew^ 
 worse^ /until they could .hardly see their way at all. And 
 with the darkness there;: fell silence, which, after the 
 sound of : the explosion and the crashing of debris, seemed 
 the silence . of death. 
 
 . For a few moments Hal stood dazed. -He, saw a stream 
 of men and boys pouring. -.from the .breaker ; while from 
 every street : there appeared a. ! stream of women-; women 
 old, women -young leaving their cooking on the stove, 
 their babies in, the crib,,. with their older children scream- 
 ing at their skirts, they gathered in swarms about the pit- 
 mouth, which was like the steaming crater of a volcano, ni 
 
 Cartwright, the superintendent, appeared, running to- 
 ward' the 'fan-house. Cotton -joined]" him, and Hal fol- 
 lowed: The fan-house was a i wreck, 'the giant fan lying 
 on the ground a hundred feet away, its blades smashed. 
 Hal was too inexperienced in mine-matters to get the full, 
 significance of this ; but he saw the marshal and the .super- 
 intendent stare blankly at each .other, and, heard the 
 former's exclamation, " That does for us!" ' Cartwright 
 'said hot a word; but his thin lips were pressed together, 
 and there was fear in his eyes. 
 
 Back to the smoking pit-mouth^ the two men hurried, 
 with Hal following. Here were a hundred, two hundred; 
 women crowded, clamouring questions all at once. > They 
 swaitmed ; about the marshal, the superintendent, the other 
 bosses + even about Halj i crying hysterically in Polish 
 and Bohemian and Greek. When Hal -shook his head, in- 
 
172 KING COAL 
 
 dicating that he did not "Understand them, they moaned in 
 anguish, or shrieked aloud. Some continued to stare into 
 the smoking pit-mouth others covered the sight from their 
 eyes, or sank down upon their knees, sobbing, praying with 
 uplifted hands. 
 
 Little by little Hal began to realise the full horror of a 
 mine-disaster. It was not noise and smoke and darkness, 
 nor frantic, wailing women: it was not anything above 
 ground, but what was below in the smoking black pit ! It 
 wa's men ! Men whom Hal knew, whom he had \vorked 
 with and joked with, whose smiles he had shared, whose 
 daily life he had come to know ! Scores, possibly hun- 
 dreds "of them, they were down here under his feet 
 some dead, others injured, maimed. What would they 
 do ? What would those on the surface do for them ? Hal 
 tried to get to Cotton, to ask him questions; but the camp- 
 marshal was surrounded, besieged. He was pushing the 
 women back, exclaiming, " Go away! Go home! " 
 
 What ? Go home ? they cried. When their men were 
 in the mine ? They crowded about him closer, imploring, 
 shrieking. 
 
 -" Get out ! " he kept exclaiming. " There's 1 nothing 
 you can do! There's nothing anybody can do yet! Go 
 home ! Go home ! " He had to beat them back by force, 
 to keep them from pushing one another into the pit- 
 mouth. 
 
 Everywhere Hal looked were women in attitudes of 
 grief: standing rigid, staring ahead of them as if in a 
 trance; sitting- down, rocking to and fro; on their knees 
 with faces uplifted in prayer; clutching their terrified 
 children about their skirts. He saw an Austrian woman, 
 a pitiful, pale -young thing with a ragged grey shawl about 
 her head, stretching out her hands and crying: " Mein 
 Mann ! Mein Mann ! " Presently she covered her face, 
 and her voice died into a wail of despair : " O, me hi 
 Mann! O, me in Mann ! "' She "turned away- staggering 
 
THE SERFS OE KING COAL 173 
 
 ; .a]x>ut like some creature that has received a death wound. 
 'Hal's eye^ followed her: her cry, repeated over and over 
 incessantly.,, became the, leit-motif of this symphony of 
 horror. 
 
 He had read about mine-disasters in his morning news- 
 paper; but here a mine-disaster became a thing of human 
 flesh and blood. The unendurable part of it was the 
 utter impotence of himself and of all the world. This 
 impotence became clearer to him each moment from the 
 exclamations of Cotton and of the men he questioned. It 
 was monstrous, incredible but it was so ! They must 
 send for a new fan, they .must wait for it to be brought in, 
 they must set it up and get it into operation; they must 
 wait fpr hours after that while smoke and gas were cleared 
 out of the main passages of the mine; and until this had 
 been done, there was nothing they could do absolutely 
 nothing! The men inside the mine would stay. Those 
 who had not been killed outright would make their way 
 into the remoter chambers, and barricade themselves 
 against the deadly " after damp." They would wait, 
 without food or water, with air of doubtful quality 
 they would wait and wait, until the rescue-crew could get 
 to them ! 
 
 26. At moments in the midst of this confusion, Hal 
 found himself trying to recall who had worked in Number 
 One, among the people he knew., He himself had been 
 employed in Number Two, so he had naturally come to 
 know more men in that mine. But he had known some 
 from the other mine Old Rafferty for one, and Mary 
 Burke's father for another, arid at least one of the mem- 
 bers of his check-weighman group Zamierowski. Hal 
 saw in a sudden vision the face of this patient little man, 
 who smiled so good-naturedly while -Americans were try- 
 ing to say his name. And Old liafferty, with all his little 
 
M74 KING COAL 
 
 Rafferties, and his piteous efforts to keep the favour of his 
 employers! And poor Patrick Btirke, whom Hal had 
 never seen sober; doubtless he was sober now, .if he was 
 still alive ! 
 
 Then in the crowd Hal encountered Jerry Minetti, and 
 learned that another man who ha&'been down was ; Faren- 
 zena^ the Italian whose " -fanciulla y ' had played with 
 him; and yet another was Judas Apostolikas r having 
 taken his thirty pieces of silver with him into the death- 
 trap! 
 
 People were making up lists, just as Hal was doing, by 
 askhig -questions of others. These lists were subject 1 to 
 revision sometimes under dramatic - circumstances. 
 You saw a woman weeping, ' with her apron to her eyes; 
 suddenly she would look up, 'give a piercing cry, and iliiVg 
 her arms about the neck of some man. As for Hal, he 
 felt as if he were- encountering a ghost 'tvheri suddenly he 
 recognised Patrick Burke, standing in the mklst of a group 
 of people. He went over and 'heard the old man's story 
 how there was a Dago fellow who had' stolen his timbers, 
 and he had come up to the surface for more; so his life 
 had I been saved, while ; the timber-thief was down there 
 still a judgment of Providence upon mine-miscreants ! 
 
 Presently Hal asked if Burke had been to tell his 
 family. He had run home, he said, but there was no- 
 body there. So Hal began pushing his way through the 
 throngs, looking for Mary, or her sister J crime, or her 
 brother Tommies He persisted in this search, although 
 it occurred to him to wonder whether the family of a hope- 
 less drunkard' would appreciate the interposition of 'Provi- 
 dence in his behalf. 
 
 Pie encountered Olson, Who had had a narrow escape, 
 being employed as a surface-man near the hoist. All this 
 was an old^fctory to the organiser, who had worked in 
 mines' since he was eight years old, and had seen many 
 kinds of disaster. He began to explain things to Hal, in 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 175 
 
 a matter of fact way. The law required a certain nuni- 
 ber of openings to 'every mine, also an escape-way with 
 ladders by which men could come out; but it cost good 
 money to dig holes in the ground. 
 
 At this time the immediate cause of the explosion was 
 unknown, but they could tell it was a " dust explosion" 
 by the* clouds of coke-dust, and no one. who had been into 
 the mine arid seen its dry condition would doubt what they 
 would find when they went down and traced out the 
 " force " and its effects. They were supposed to do regu- 
 lar sprinkling, but in such matters the bosses used their 
 own judgment. 
 
 Hal was only half listening to these explanations. The 
 thing was too raw and too horrible to him. . What differ- 
 ence did it make whose fault it was? The accident had 
 happened, and the question was now "how to meet the 
 emergency! Underneath Olson's sentences he , heard the 
 cry of men and boys being asphyxiated in dark dungeons 
 he heard the wailing of women, like a surf beating on a 
 distant sliore, or the faint, persistent accompaniment of 
 muted strings,: " O, mein Mann! O, mein .Mann ! " 
 
 They came 'upon Jefjf Cotton again. With half a dozen 
 men to help him, he was pushing back the crowd from the 
 pit-mouth, and stretching barbed wired to hold them back. 
 He was none too gentle about, it, Hal thought; but doubt-, 
 less women are provoking when they are hysterical. He 
 was answering their frenzied questions, " Yes, yes !. 
 We're getting a new fan. We're doing everything we can, 
 I tell you. We'll get them out. Go home and wait." . 
 
 But of course no one would go home. How could a 
 woman sit in her house, or go about her ordinary tasks of 
 cooking or washing, while her man might ; be suffering 
 asphyxiation under the ground ? The least she could do 
 was to stand at the pit-mouth as near to him' as she 
 could get! Some of them stood motionless, hour after 
 hour, while others wandered through the village streets, 
 
176 KING COAL 
 
 asking the same people, over and over again, if they had 
 seen their loved ones. Several had turned up, like Pat- 
 rick Burke ; there seemed always a chance for one more. 
 
 27. In the course of the afternoon Hal came upon 
 Mary Burke on the street. She had long ago found her 
 father, and seen him off to O'Callahan's to celebrate the 
 favours of Providence. Now Mary was concerned with a 
 graver matter. Number Two Mine was in danger 1 The 
 explosion in Number One had been so violent that the 
 gearing of the fan of the other mine, nearly a mile up the 
 canyon, had been thrown out of order. So the fan had 
 stopped ; and when some one had gone to, Alec Stone, ask- 
 ing that he bring out the men, Stone had refused.- " What 
 do ye think he said? " cried Mary. "What do ye think? 
 ' Damn the men ! Save the mules ! ' " 
 
 Hal had all but lost sight of the fact that there was a 
 second mine in the village, in which hundreds of men and 
 boys were still at work. " Wouldn't they know about the 
 explosion ? " he asked. 
 
 " They might have heard the noise/ 7 said Mary. " But 
 they'd not know what it was; and the bosses won't tell 
 them till they've got out the mules." 
 
 For all that he had seen in North Valley, Hal could 
 hardly credit that story. " How do you know it, Mary ? " 
 
 " Young Rovetta just told me. He was there, and 
 heard it with his own ears." 
 
 He was staring at her. " Let's go and make sure," he 
 said, and they started up the main street of the village. 
 On the way they were joined by others for already 'the., 
 news of this fresh trouble had begun to spread. Jeff Cot- 
 ton went past them in an automobile, and Mary ex- 
 claimed, " I told ye so! When ye see him goin', ye know 
 there's dirty work to be done! " 
 
 They came to the shaft-house of Number Two, and 
 

 THE SERFS OF KING COAL 17Y 
 
 found a swarm of people, almost a riot. Women and 
 children were shrieking and gesticulating, threatening to 
 break into the office and use the mine-telephone to warn 
 the men themselves. And here was the camp-marshal 
 driving them back. Hal and Mary arrived in time to see 
 Mrs. David, whose husband was at work in Number Two, 
 shaking her fist : in the marshal's face and screaming at him 
 like a wild-cat. He drew his revolver upon her; and at 
 this Hal started forward. A blind fury seized him - he 
 would have thrown himself upon the marshal. 
 
 But Mary Burke stopped him, flinging hei* arms about 
 him, and pinning him by main force. " No, no ! " she 
 cried. "Stay back, man! D'ye want to get killed?" 
 
 He was amazed at her strength. He was amazed also 
 at the vehemence of her emotion. She was calling him a 
 crazy fool, and names even more harsh. "Have ye no 
 more sense than a woman ? Running into the mouth of a 
 revolver like that ! " 
 
 The crisis passed in a moment, for Mrs. David fell 
 back, and then the marshal put up his weapon. But Mary 
 continued scolding Hal, trying to drag him away. " Come 
 dn now! Come out of here ! " 
 
 " But, Mary ! We must do something ! " 
 
 "Ye can do nothing I tell ye! Ye'd ought to have 
 sense enough to know it. I'll not let ye get yeself mur- 
 dered ! Come away now ! " And half by force and half 
 by cajoling, she got him farther down the street. 
 * He was trying to think out the situation. Were the 
 men in Number Two really in danger ? . Could it be pos- 
 sible that the bosses would take such a chance in cold 
 blood ? And right at this moment, with the disaster in 
 the other mine before their eyes ! He could not believe 
 it ; and meantime Mary, at his side, was declaring that the 
 men were iri no real danger it was only Alec Stone's 
 bhital . words that had set her crazy. 
 
 "Don't ye remember the time when the air-course was 
 
KING COAL 
 
 blocked before, and ye helped to get up .the mules yeself .? 
 Ye tli ought nothin' ;of it then,, and 'tis the, ; same now, 
 They'll get every bpjdy out in time ! " 
 
 She was concealing her real feelings in order to keep 
 him safe; he let her lead him ouy. while he tried to think 
 of something else to do. He would, think of the men in 
 Number Two; they were his best friends,.. Jack David, Tim 
 Ra'fferty,, Wresrnak, Androkulos, Klowoski. :He would 
 think of them, in their, remote dungeons -^- breathing bad 
 air, .becoming sick and faint in orpler that mules might 
 be saved! He would stop in his tracks, and Mary would 
 drag him on, repeating over and over,-" Ye can do nothin' 1 
 Nothin' ! " And then he would think,. What could he do.?, 
 He. had put up his best bluff to Jeff Cotton a few hours 
 earlier, and the, answer had been the jnuzzle of the mar- 
 shal's revolver in his face. , All he could accomplish-now 
 would be to bring himself to Cotton's attention, and be 
 thrust out of camp forthwith. 
 
 28, They came to Mary's home; and next door was 
 the home of the Slav woman, Mrs. Zamboni, about whom, 
 in the past she had told him so many funny stories. 
 Mrs. Zamboni had had a new baby every year for sixteen 
 years, and eleven of these babies were still alive. Now 
 her husband was trapped in Number One, and she was 
 distracted, wandering about the streets with the greater 
 part of her brood *at her heels. At intervals she would 
 emit a howl like a tortured animal, and her brood would 
 take it up in various tinibres. Hal stopped to listen to 
 the sounds, but Mary put her fingers into her ears and fled, 
 into the house. Hal followed Ijer, and saw h'er fling her* 
 self into a chair and burst into hysterical weeping. And ; 
 suddenly Hal realised what a strain this terrible affair had. 
 been upon Mary. It had been bad enough to him but- 
 he was a man, and more able to contemplate sights of 
 
THE SERFS OE KING COAL 179 
 
 Horror. Men went to their deaths in industry! and war, 
 and other men saW'them go and inured- themselves to ; the 
 spectacle. But women were the mothers of thesfe men; it 
 was women who bore them in pain, nursed them and 
 reared them with endless patience -women could never 
 become inured to the- spectacle-! Then too, the ; women's 
 fate was worse. If the men were dead, that was the end 
 of. them; but the- women must face the future, with its 
 bitter memories, its- lonely and desolate struggle for- ex- 
 istence. The women miist see the children suffering, 
 dying 'by slow stages, of deprivation. 
 
 Hal's pity for all suffering women, became concentrated 
 upon the girl beside him. He -knew how tenderhearted 
 she was. She had no man in the mine, but some day she 
 would have, and she was suffering the pangs of that in- 
 exorable future. He' looked at> her, huddled in her ; chair, 
 vyiping away her tears with the hem of her old blue calico. 
 She seemed unspeakably pathetic 'like a child that has 
 been hurt. She was sobbing out sentences now and then, 
 as if to. herself : " Oh, the poor women, the poor women ! 
 Did ye see-dhe ? fafce of Mr& ISTonotch ? She'd jumped into 
 the smoking pit-mouth if they'd let her ! " 
 
 "Don't suffer so, -Mary!" pleaded. Hal as -if he 
 thou'ght she could stop. 
 
 "Let me alone!" she cried. " Let me have it out!" 
 And Hal, who had had no experience with hysteria,- stood 
 helplessly by. 
 
 " There's moate misery than I ever knew there was! " 
 she .went on. " 3 Tis everywhere ye turn, a woman 1 -with 
 her eyes' burnin' with sufferin', wondering if<<she'dl ever 
 see her man again ! Or some* mother whose lad may be 
 dying and she can do nothin' for him!." 
 
 " And neither can you do anything, Mary," Hal pleaded 
 again. . u You're -only sorrowing yourself to death." 
 
 " Ye say that to me ? " she cried. . " And when -ye were 
 ready to let Jeff Cotton shoot ye, because you were so sorry 
 
180 KING COAL 
 
 for Mrs. David! No., the sights here nobody can stand.* 
 He could thiilk of nothing to -answer. He drew up a 
 chair and sat by her in silence, and after a while she began 
 to'grow calmer, and wiped away her tears, and sat gazing 
 dully through the doorway into the dirty little street. 
 
 Hal's eyes followed hers. There were the ash-heaps and 
 tomato-cans, there were two of Mrs. Zamboni's bedraggled 
 brood, poking with sticks; into a dump-heap looking for 
 something to eat, perhaps, or for something to play with. 
 There was the dry, waste grass of the road-side, grimy with 
 coal-dust, as was everything else in the village. What a 
 scene ! And this girl's eyes had never a": sight of any- 
 thing more inspiring than this. Day in and day out, all 
 her life long, she looked at this scene ! Had he ever for a 
 moment reproached her for her " black moods " 2 With 
 such an environment could men or women be cheerful 
 could they dream of beauty, ^aspire to heights of nobility 
 and -courage, to happy service of their fellows? There 
 was a .miasma of despair over this place; it was not a 
 real place it was a dream-place a horrible, dis- 
 torted nightmare! It was like the black hole in the 
 ground which haunted Hal's imagination, with men and 
 boys at the bottom; of it, dying of asphyxiation ! 
 
 Suddenly it came to Hal he wanted to get away from 
 North Valley! To get away at all costs! The place had 
 worn down his courage ; slowly, -day after day, the sight of 
 misery and want, of dirt and disease, of hunger, oppres- 
 sion, despair, had eaten the soul out of ;kim, had under- 
 mined his fine structure of altruistic theories. Yes, he 
 wanted to escape -to a place where the sun shone, where 
 the grass grew green, where human beings stood erect and 
 laughed and were free. He wanted to shut from his eyes 
 the dust and smoke of this nasty little village; to stop his 
 ears to that tormenting sound of women wailing: " 0, 
 mein Mann ! . O, mein.Mann! " 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 181 
 
 . He looked at the girl, who sat staring before her, bent 
 forward, her arras hanging limply over her knees. 
 
 ki Mary," he said, " you must go away from here! It's 
 no place for a tenderhearted girl to be. It's no place for 
 any one ! " 
 
 She gazed at him dully for a moment. " It was me that 
 was tellin' you to, go away," she said, at last. "Ever 
 since ye came here I been sayin' it ! Now I guess ye know 
 what 1 mean." 
 
 " Yes,", he said, " I do, and I want to go. But I want 
 you to go too." 
 
 " D'ye think 'twould do me any good,. Joe? " she asked. 
 " D'ye think 'twould do me any good to get away ? Could 
 I ever forget the sights I've seen this day ? Could I ever 
 have any real, honest happiness anywhere after this ? " 
 
 He. tried to reassure her, but he was far from reassured 
 himself. How would it be with him ? Would he ever 
 feel ,that he had a right to happiness after this ? Could he 
 take any satisfaction in a pleasant and comfortable world, 
 knowing that it was based upon such hideous misery '( 
 His. thoughts went to that world, where careless, pleasure- 
 loving people sought gratification of their desires. It 
 came to him suddenly that what he wanted more than to 
 get away was to bring those people here, if only for a day, 
 for an hour, that they might hear this chorus of wailing 
 women ! 
 
 29. Mary made Hal swear that he would not get into 
 a fight with Cotton; then they went to Number Two. 
 They found the mules coming up, and the bosses promising 
 that in a short while the men w^ould be coming. Every- 
 thing was all right there was not a bit of danger ! 
 But Mary was afraid to trust Hal, in spite of his promise, 
 so she lured him back to Number One. 
 
182 KING COAL 
 
 They found that a rescue-car had just arrived from 
 Pedro, bringing doctors and nurses, also several " hel- 
 mets." These "helmets" were strange looking contriv- 
 ances, fastened over the head and shoulders, air-tight, and 
 provided with oxygen sufficient to last for an hour or more. 
 The men who wore them sat in a big bucket which was let 
 down the shaft with a windlass, and every now and then 
 they pulled on a signal-cord to let those on the surface know 
 they were alive. When the first of them came back, he 
 reported that there were bodies near the foot of the shaft, 
 but apparently all dead. There was heavy black smoke, 
 indicating a fire somewhere in the mine; so nothing more 
 could be done until the fan had been set up. By reversing 
 the fan, they could draw out the smoke and gases and clear 
 the shaft. 
 
 The state mine-inspector had been notified, but was ill 
 at home, and was sending one of his deputies. Under the 
 law this official would have charge of all the rescue work, 
 but Hal found that the miners took no interest in his pres- 
 ence. It had been his duty to prevent the accident, and 
 he had not done so. When he came, he would do what 
 the company wanted. 
 
 Some time after dark the workers began to come out of 
 Number Two, and their women, waiting at the pit-mouth, 
 fell upon their necks with cries of thankfulness. Hal ob- 
 served other women, whose men were in Number One, and 
 would perhaps never come out again,, standing and watch- 
 ing these greetings with wistful, tear-filled eyes. Among 
 those who came out was Jack David, and Hal walked home 
 with him and his wife, listening to the latter abuse Jeff 
 Cotton and Alec Stone, which was an education in the vo- 
 cabulary of class-consciousness. The little Welsh woman 
 repeated the pit-boss's saying, " Damn the men, save the 
 mules!" She said it again and again it seemed to 
 delight her like a work' of art, it summed up so perfectly 
 the attitude of the bosses to their men ! There were many 
 
THE SEKFS OF ZING COAL 183 
 
 other people repeating that saying, Hal found ; it went all 
 over the village, in a few days it Went all over the district. 
 It summed up what the district believed to be the attitude 
 of the coal-operators to the workers ! 
 
 Having got over the first shock of the disaster, Hal 
 'wanted information, and he questioned Big Jack, a solid 
 and well-read man who had given thought to every aspect 
 'of the industry. In his quiet, slow way, he explained to 
 Hal that the frequency of accidents in this district was not 
 due to any special difficulty in operating these mines, the 
 explosiveness of the gases or the dryness of the atmosphere. 
 It was merely the carelessness of those in charge, their 
 disregard of the laws for the protection of the men. There 
 ought to be a law with "teeth " in it for example, one 
 providing that for every man killed in a coal-mine his 
 'heirs should receive a thousand dollars, regardless of who 
 had been to blame for the accident. Then you would see 
 how quickly the operators would get busy and find reme- 
 dies for the " unusual "dangers ! 
 
 As it was, they knew that no matter how great their 
 culpability, they could get off with slight loss. Already, 
 no doubt, their lawyers were on the spot, and by the time 
 the first bodies were brought out, they would be fixing 
 things up with the families. They would offer a widow 
 a ticket back to the old country ; they would offer a whole 
 family of orphaned children, maybe fifty dollars, maybe 
 a hundred dollars and it would be a case of take it or 
 leave it. You could get nothing from the courts ; the case 
 was so hopeless that you could not even find a lawyer to 
 make 'the attempt. That was one reform in which the 
 companies believed, said " Big Jack," with sarcasm ; they 
 had put the " shyster lawyer " out of business ! 
 
 30. There followed a night and then another day of 
 torturing suspense. The fan came, but it had to be set up 
 
184 KING COAL 
 
 before anything could be done! As volumes of black smoke 
 continued to pour from the shaft, the opening was made 
 tight with a board and canvas cover; it was necessary, the 
 bosses said, but to Hal it seemed the climax of horror. To 
 seal up men and boys in a place of deadly gases ! 
 
 There was something peculiarly torturing in the idea 
 of men caught in a mine; they were directly under one's 
 feet, yet it was impossible to get to them, to communicate 
 with them in any way! The people on top yearned to 
 them, and they, down below, yearned back. It was im- 
 possible to forget them for even a few minutes. People 
 would become abstracted while they talked, and would 
 stand staring into space; suddenly, in the rnidst of a 
 crowd, a woman would bury her face in her hands and 
 burst into tears, and then all the others would follow suit. 
 
 Few people slept in North Valley during those two 
 nights. They held mourning parties in their homes or on 
 the streets. Some house-work had to be done, of course, 
 but no one did anything that could be left undone. The 
 children would not play ; they stood about, silent, pale, like 
 wizened-up grown people, over-mature in knowledge of 
 trouble. The nerves of every one were on edge, the self- 
 control of every one balanced : upon a fine point. 
 
 It was a situation bound to be fruitful in imaginings, and 
 rumours, stimulated to those inclined to signs and omens 
 -7- the seers of ghosts, or those who went, into trances, or 
 possessed second sight qr other mysterious gifts. There 
 were some living in a remote, part of .the village who de- 
 ,clared they had heard explosions under the ground, several 
 blasts -in quick succession. The men underground were 
 setting .off dynamite by way of signalling! 
 
 In the course^ of the second day Hal sat with Mary 
 Burke upon the steps of her home. Old Patrick lay 
 within, having found the secret of oblivion at O'Callahan's. 
 ~Now and then came the moaning of Mrs. Zamboni, who 
 was in her cabin with her brood of children. Mary had 
 
THE SERFS ! OF KING COAL 185 
 
 been in to feed them, because the distracted mother let them 
 sta r ve and cry. Mary was worn out, herself; the won- 
 derful Irish domplexion had faded, and there were no 
 curves to the vivid lips. They had been sitting in silence; 
 for there was nothing to talk 6f but the disaster -and 
 they had said all there was to say about that. But Hal 
 had been thinking while he watched Mary. 
 
 "Listen, Mary," he said, at last; "when this thing is 
 over, you must really come away from here. I've thought 
 it all out I have friends in Western City who will give 
 you work, so you can take care of yourself; and of your 
 brother and sister too. Will you go ? " 
 
 But she did not answer. She continued to gaze indif- 
 ferently into the dirty little street. 
 
 " Truly, Mary," he went on, " Life isn't so terrible 
 everywhere as it is here. Come away! Hard as it is to 
 believe, you'll forget all this. People suffer, but then they 
 stop suffering; it's nature's way to make them forget." 
 
 " Nature's way has been to beat me dead," said she. 
 
 " Yes, Mary. Despair can Become a disease, but it 
 hasn't with you. You're just tired out. If you'll try to 
 rouse yourself" And he reached over and caught her 
 hand with an attempt at playfulness. ' " Cheer up, Mary V 
 You're coming away from North Valley." 
 
 She turned and looted at him. " Am I ? " she asked, 
 impassively; and she went on studying his face. " Who 
 are ye, Joe Smith? W T hat are ye doin' here?" 
 
 "Working in a coal-mine," lie laughed, still trying to 
 divert her. 
 
 But she went on, as gravely as before. " Ye're no work- 
 ing man, that I know. And ye're always offering me 
 help! Ye're always sayin' what ye can do for me!" 
 She paused and there came some of the old defiance into 
 her face. "Joe, ye can have no idea. of the feelinVthat 
 have got hold of me' just now. I'm ready to do something 
 desperate ; ye'd best be leavin' me alone, Joe ! " 
 
186 KING COAL 
 
 "I think. I. understand, Mary. I would hardly blame 
 you for anything you did." 
 
 .She took up his. words eagerly.. "Wouldn't ye, Joe ? 
 Ye're sure? Then what I want is to got the truth from 
 ye. I want ye to talk it out fair ! " 
 
 " All right, Mary. What is it 2 " 
 
 But her defiance had vanished suddenly. Her eyes 
 dropped, an$ he saw her fingers picking nervously at a 
 fold of her dress. "About us, Joe," she said. "I've 
 thought sometimes ye cared for me. I've thought ye liked 
 to be with me not just because ,ye were sprry for me, 
 but because of me. I've not been sure,, but I can't help; 
 thinkin' it's so. Is it ? " 
 
 " Yes, it is," he said, a little uncertainly. " I do care 
 for you." 
 
 " Then is it that ye don't care for that other girl all the 
 time?" 
 
 " No," he said, " it's not that." 
 
 " Ye can cane for two girls at the same time ? " 
 
 He did not know what to say. "It would seem that 
 I can, Mary." 
 
 She raised her eyes again and studied his face. "Ye 
 told me about that other girl, and I been wonder in', was 
 it only to put me oft' ? Maybe it's me own fault, . out I 
 can't make meself believe in that other girl, Joe ! " 
 
 " You're mistaken, Mary," he answered, quickly. 
 " What I told you was true." 
 
 " Well, maybe so," she said, but there was no conviction 
 in her tone. "Ye come away from her, and ye never 
 go where she is or see her it's hard to believe, ye'd 
 do that way if ye were very close to her. I just don't 
 think ye love her as much as ye might. And ye say you 
 do care some for me. So I've thought I've won- 
 dered " ' . . 
 
 She stopped, forcing herself to meet his gaze : " I been: 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL - 187 
 
 tryin' to work it out ! I know ye're too good a man for 
 me, Joe. Ye come from a better place in life, ye've a 
 right to expect more in a woman " 
 
 "It's not that, Mary! " 
 
 But she cut him -short. " I know that's true ! Ye're 
 only try in' to save my feelin's. I know ye're better than 
 me ! I've tried hard to hold me head up, I've tried a long 
 time not to let meself go to .pieces. I've even tried to keep 
 cheerful, telling meself I'd not want to be like Mrs. Zam- 
 boni, forever cornplainm'. But 'tis no use tellin' yourself, 
 lies! I been up to the church, and heard the Reverend 
 Spragg tell the people that the rich and poor are the same 
 in the sight of the Lord. And. maybe 'tis so, but I'm not 
 the Lord, and I'll never pretend I'm, not ashamed to be 
 livin' in a place like this.?' 
 
 " I'm sure the Lord has no interest in keeping you 
 here " he began. 
 
 But she broke in, " What makes it so hard to bear is 
 knowin' there's so many wonderful things in the world, 
 and ye can never have them ! Tis as if ye had to see them 
 through a pane of glass, like in the window of a store. 
 Just think, Joe Smith once, in a church in Sheridan, I 
 heard a lady sing beautiful music; once in my whole life- 
 time ! Can ye guess what it meant to me ? " 
 
 " Yes, Mary, I can." 
 
 " But I had that all out with meself years ago. I 
 knew the price a work in' girl has to pay for such things, 
 and I said, I'll not let meself think about them. I've 
 hated this place, I've wanted to get away but there's 
 only one way to go, to let some man take ye! So I've 
 stayed ; I've kept straight, Joe. I want ye to believe 
 that." 
 
 " Of course, Mary ! " 
 
 " No ! It's not been !< of course ' ! It means ye have to 
 fight with temptations. It's many a time I've looked at 
 
188 KING COAL 
 
 Jeff Cotton,' and thought about the things I need ! And 
 I've done without! But now comes the thing a woman 
 wants more than all the other things in the world ! " 
 
 She paused, but only for a moment. " They tell ye to 
 love a man of your own class. Me old mother said that to 
 me, before 1 she died. But suppose ye didn't happen to? 
 Suppose ye'd stopped and thought what it meant, bavin' 
 one baby after another, till ye're worn out and drop 
 like me old mother did? Suppose ye knew good manners 
 when ye see them ye knew interestin' talk when ye 
 heard it ! " She clasped her hands suddenly before her, 
 exclaiming, " Ah, 'tis something different ye are, Joe 
 so different from anything around here! The. way ye 
 talk, the way ye move, the gay look in your eyes! No 
 miner ever had that happy look, Joe ; me heart stops beat in' 
 almost when ye look at me! " She stopped with a sharp 
 catching of her breath, and he saw that she was struggling 
 for self-control. After a moment she exclaimed, de- 
 fiantly: "But they'd tell ye, be careful, ye daren't love 
 that kind of man ; ye'd only have your heart broken ! " 
 
 There was silence. For this problem the amateur so- 
 ciologist had no solution at hand whether' for the ab- 
 stract question, or for its concrete application! 
 
 31. Mary forced herself to go on. "This is how 
 I've' worked it out, Joe ! I said to meself, ' Ye love this 
 man; and it's his -love ye want nothin' else! If he's 
 got a place in the world, ye'd only hold him back and 
 ye'd not want to do that. Ye don't' want his name, or his 
 friends, or any of those things ye want him!' Have 
 ye ever heard of such a thing as that ? " 
 
 Her cheeks were flaming, but she continued to meet his 
 gaze. " Yes, I've heard of it," he answered, in a low 
 voice. 
 
 " What would ve say to it ? Is it honest ? The Rev- 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 189 
 
 erend Spragg would say 'twas the devil, no doubt ; Father 
 O'Gorman, down in Pedro, would call it mortal sin ; and 
 maybe they know but I don't ! I only know I can't 
 stand it any more ! " 
 
 Tears sprang to her :Cyes, and she cried out suddenly, 
 '" Oh, take me away from here ! Take me away and give 
 me a chance, Joe ! I'll ask nothing, I'll never stand in 
 your way; I'll work for ye, I'll cook and wash and do 
 everything for ye, I'll wear my fingers to the bone ! Or 
 I'll go out and work at some job, and earn my share. And 
 I'll make ye this promise if ever ye get tired and want 
 to leave rne ? ye'll not hear a word of complaint ! " 
 
 She made no conscious appeal to his senses; she sat 
 gazing at him honestly through her tears, and that made 
 it all the harder to answer her. 
 
 What could he say? He felt the old dangerous im- 
 pulse to take, the girl in his arms and comfort her. 
 When finally he spoke it was with an effort to keep his 
 voice calm. "I'd. say yes ; Mary, if I thought it would 
 work."' 
 
 ." It would work! It would, Joe! . Ye can quit \yhen 
 ye want to. I mean it ! " 
 
 " There's no woman lives who can be happy on such 
 terms, Mary. She wants her man, and she wants him to 
 herself, and she wants him always; she's only deluding 
 herself if she believes anything else. You're over-wrought 
 now, what you've seen in, the last few days has made you 
 wild " 
 
 "No!" she exclaimed. " 'Tis not only that! I been 
 thinkin' about it for w r eeks." 
 
 " I know. You've been thinking, but you wouldn't 
 have spoken if it hadn't been for this horror." He paused 
 for a moment, to renew his own self-possession. "-It 
 won't do, Mary," he declared. " I've seen it tried more 
 than once, and I'm not so old either. My own brother 
 *ied it once, and ruined himself." 
 
190 KING COAL 
 
 "Ah, ye're afraid to trust me, Joe! " 
 
 " No, it's not that ; what I mean is he ruined his own 
 heart, he made himself selfish. He took everything, and 
 gave nothing. He's much older than I, so I've had a 
 chance to see its effect on him. He's cold, he has no faith, 
 even in his own nature ; when you talk to him about mak- 
 ing the World better he tells you you're a fool." 
 
 " It's another way of bein' afraid of me," she insisted. 
 " Afraid you'd ought to marry me ! " 
 
 " But, Mary there's the other girl. I really love her, 
 and I'm promised to her. W T hat can I do? " 
 
 " ? Tis that I've never believed you loved her," she said, 
 in a whisper. Her eyes fell and she began picking nerv- 
 ously again at the faded blue dress, which was smutted 
 and grease-stained, perhaps from her recent effort with 
 Mrs. Zamboni's brood. Several times Hal thought she 
 was going to speak, but she shut her lips tightly again; 
 he watched her, his heart aching. 
 
 When finally she spoke, it was still in a whisper, and 
 there was a note of humility he had never heard from her 
 before. " Ye' 11 not be wantin' to speak to me, Joe, after 
 what I've said." 
 
 "Oh, 'Mary!" he exclaimed, and caught her hand, 
 " don't say I've made you more unhappy ! I want to help 
 you ! Won't you let me be your friend your real, true 
 friend? Let me help you to get. out of this trap; you'll 
 have a chance to look aboui, you'll find a way to be happy 
 - the whole world will seem different to you then, and 
 you'll laugh at the idea that you ever wanted me ! " 
 
 32. The two of them went back to the pit-mouth, 
 had been' two days since the disaster, and still the fan had 
 not been started, and there was no sign of its being started. 
 The hysteria of the women was growing, and there was a 
 tension in the crowds. Jeff Cotton had brought in a force 
 
THE SE : KFS OF KING COAL 191 
 
 ' of men to assist him in keeping order. They had built 
 'a fence of barbed wire about the pit-mouth and its ap- 
 proaches, and behind this wire they walked hard-look- 
 ing citizens 'with policemen's "billies," and the bulge of 
 revolvers plainly visible on their hips. 
 
 During this. Jong period of waiting, Hal had talks with 
 
 'members of his, check-weighman group. They told what 
 
 ' had happened while he was in jail, and this reminded him 
 
 /of something which, had been driven from his mind by the 
 
 ' explosion. Poor old John Edstrom was down in Pedro, 
 
 ! perhaps in dire need. Hal went to the old, Swede's cabin 
 
 that night, climbed through a window, and, dug up the 
 
 buried money. There were five five-dollar bills, and he 
 
 .put them jn an envelope, addressed them in care of General 
 
 Delivery, 'Pedro, and had Mary Burke take them to the 
 
 post office and register them. 
 
 The hours 'dragged on, and still there was no sign of 
 the pit-mouth being opened. There began to be secret 
 gatherings, of the miners and their wives to complain at 
 'the conduct of the company ; and it was natural that Hal's 
 friends who had started the check-weighman movement, 
 should take the lead in these. They were among the most 
 "intelligent of the workers, and saw farther into the mean- 
 ing of events. They thought, not merely of the men who 
 were trapped under ground at this moment, but of thou- 
 sands of otjiers who would be trapped through years to 
 come. Hal, especially, was pondering how he could ac- 
 complish something definite before he left the camp* for 
 of course he would have to leave soon Jeff Cotton would 
 remember him, and carry out his threat to get rid of him. 
 Newspapers had come in, with accounts of the disaster, 
 and Hal and his friends read these. It was. evident that 
 the company had been at pains to have the accounts writ- 
 ten from its own point of view. There existed some public 
 sensitiveness on the subject of mine-disasters in this state. 
 The death-rate from accidents was seen to be mounting 
 
192 KING COAL 
 
 steadily; the reports of the state mine inspector showed 
 six per thousand in one year, eight and a half in the next, 
 and twenty-one and a half in the next. When fifty or a 
 hundred men were killed in a single accident, and when 
 such accidents kept happening, one on the heels of an- 
 other, even the most callous public could not help asking 
 questions. So in this case the " G. F. C." had been care- 
 ful to minimise the loss of life, and to make excuses. The 
 accident had been owing to no fault of the company's ; the 
 mine had been regularly sprinkled, both with water and 
 adobe dust, and so the cause of the explosion must have 
 been the carelessness of the men in handling powder. 
 
 In Jack David's cabin one night there arose a discussion 
 as to the number of men entombed in the mine. The com- 
 pany's estimate of the number was forty, but Minetti and 
 Olson and David agreed that this was absurd. Any man 
 who went about in the crowds could satisfy himself that 
 there were two or three times as many unaccounted for. 
 And this falsification was deliberate, for the company had 
 a checking system, w T hereby it knew the name of every man 
 in the mine. But most of these names were unpronounce- 
 able Slavish, and the owners of the names had no friends 
 to mention them at least not in any language under- 
 stood by American newspaper editors. 
 
 It was all a part of the system, declared. Jack David: 
 its purpose and effect being to enable the company to go 
 on killing men without paying for them, either in money 
 or in prestige. It occurred to Hal that it might be worth 
 while to .contradict these false statements almost as 
 worth while as to save the men who were at this moment 
 entombed. Any one who came forward to make such a 
 contradiction would of course be giving himself up to the 
 black-list; but then, Hal regarded himself as a man al- 
 ready condemned to that penalty. 
 
 Tom Olson spoke up. " What would you do with your 
 contradiction ? " 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 193 
 
 "Give it to the papers," Hal answered. 
 
 " But what papers would print it ? " 
 
 " There are two rival papers in Pedro, aren't there ? " 
 
 " One owned by 'Alt' Raymond, the sheriff-emperor, and 
 the other by Vagleman, counsel for the * G. F. CV Which 
 one would you try ? " 
 
 "Well then, the outside papers those in Western 
 City. There are reporters here now, and some one of 
 them would surely take it." 
 
 Olson answered, declaring that they would not get any 
 but labour and Socialist papers to print such news. But 
 even that was well worth doing. And Jack David, who 
 was strong for unions and dll their activities, put in, " The 
 thing to do is to take a regular census, so as to know exactly 
 how many are in the mine." 
 
 The suggestion struck fire, and they agreed to set to 
 work that same evening. It would be a relief to do some- 
 thing, to have something in their minds but despair. They 
 passed the word to Mary Burke, to Rovetta, Klowoski, 
 and others; and at eleven o'clock the next morning, they 
 met again, and the : lists were put together, and it was found 
 that no less thai! a hundred and seven men and boys were 
 positively known to be inside Nunibef One. 
 
 33. As 1 it happened/ however, discussion of this list 
 and the method of giving it to the world was cut short 
 by a more urgent matter. Jack David came in with news 
 of fresh trouble at the pit-mouth. The new fan was being 
 piit in place ; but they were slow about it, so slow that some 
 people had become convinced that they did not mean to 
 start the fan at all, but were keeping the mine sealed to 
 prevent the fire from spreading. A group of such mal- 
 contents had presumed to go to Mr. Carmichael, the deputy 
 state mine-inspector, to urge him to take -some action ; and 
 the leader of these protestants, Huszar, the Austrian, who 
 
194: KING COAL 
 
 had been one of Hal's check-weighman group, -had been 
 taken into custody and marched at. double-quick to the 
 gate of the stockade! 
 
 Jack David declared furthermore that he knew a car- 
 penter who was working in the, fan-house, and who said 
 that no haste whatever was being made. -All the men at 
 the fan-house shared that opinion; the mine, was sealed, 
 and would stay pealed until the company was sure ithe fire . 
 was out. 
 
 "But," argued Hal, " if .they were to open it, the fire 
 would spread; and wouldn't that prevent rescue work.?" 
 
 " Not at all," declared "'Big Jack." He explained, that 
 by reversing the fan they could draw the smoke up through 
 the air-course, which would clear the main passages for a 
 time. " But, you see, some coal might catch fire, and some 
 timbers ; there might be falls of rock sq they couldn't work 
 some of the rooms again." 
 
 " How long will they keep the mine sealed ? " cried Hal, 
 in consternation. 
 
 " No.body can say. In a big mine like that, a fire might 
 smoulder for a week." 
 
 "Everybody be dead!" cried Rosa Miuetti, wringing 
 her hands in a sudden access of grief. 
 
 Hal turned to Olson. " Would they possibly do such a 
 thing?" 
 
 " It's been done more than once," was the organiser's 
 reply. 
 
 " Did you never hear about Cherry, Illinois ?" asked 
 David. " They did it -there,, and more ; than three hundred 
 people lost their lives." He went on to tell that dreadful 
 story, known to every coal-miner. They had sealed, the 
 mine, while women fainted and men tore their clothes .in, 
 frenzy some going insane. They had kept it sealed., 
 for two weeks, and when they opened it, there were twenty- . 
 one men still alive ! 
 
 " They did the same thing in Diamondville, Wyoming," 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 195 
 
 added Olson. " They built up a barrier, and when they 
 took it away they found a heap of dead men, who had 
 crawled to it and torn their finders to the bone trying to 
 break through." 
 
 " My God! " cried Hal, springing to his feet. "And 
 this man Carmichael would he stand for that ? " 
 
 " He'd tell you they were doing their best/' said " Big 
 Jack." " And maybe he thinks they are. But you'll see 
 something'll keep happening; they'll drag on from day 
 to day, and they'll not start the fan till they're ready." 
 
 " Why, it's murder ! " cried Hal 
 
 " It's business/' said Tom Olson, quietly. 
 
 Hal looked from one to another of the faces of these 
 working people. Not one but had friends in that trap; 
 not one but might be in the same trap to-morrow ! 
 
 " You have to stand it ! " he exclaimed, half to himself. 
 
 " Don't you see the guards at the pit-mouth ? " answered 
 David. "Don't you see the guns sticking out of their 
 pockets ? " 
 
 " They bring in more guards this morning/' put in 
 Jerry Minetti. " Rosa, she see them get off." 
 
 "They know what they doinM " said Rosa. "They 
 only fraid we find it out ! They told Mrs. Zamboni she 
 keep away .or they send her out of , camp. And old Mrs. 
 Jonotch her husband and three sons inside ! " 
 
 " They're getting rougher and rougher/' declared Mrs. 
 David. " That big fellow they call Pete, that came up 
 from Pedro - the way he's handling the women is a 
 shame ! " 
 
 " I know him," put in Olson ; " Pete Hanun. They 
 had him in Sheridan when the union first opened he,ad- 
 quarters. He smashed one of our organisers in the mouth 
 and broke four of his teeth. They say he has a jail- 
 record." 
 
 All through the previous year at college Hal had lis- 
 tened to lectures upon political economy, filled with the 
 
196 KING COAL 
 
 praises of a thing called " Private Ownership." This 
 Private Ownership developed initiative and economy; it 
 kept the wheels of industry a-roll, it kept fat the pay-rolls 
 of college faculties ; it accorded itself with the sacred laws 
 of supply and demand, it was the basis. of the progress and 
 prosperity wherewith America had been blessed. And 
 here suddenly Hal found himself face to face with the 
 reality of it ; he saw its Wolfish eyes glaring into his own, 
 he felt its smoking hot breath in his face, he saw its gleam- 
 ing fangs and cl^w-like fingers, dripping with the blood 
 of men and women and children. Private Ownership of 
 coal-mines ! Private Ownership of sealed-up entrances 
 and non-existent escape-ways ! Private Ownership of fans 
 which did not start, of sprinklers which did not sprinkle. 
 Private Ownership of clubs and revolvers, and of thugs 
 and ex-convicts to use them, driving away rescuers and 
 shutting up agonised widows and orphans in their homes ! 
 Oh, the serene and well-fed priests of Private Ownership, 
 chanting in academic halls the praises of the bloody 
 Demon ! 
 
 Suddenly Hal stopped still. Something had risen in 
 him, the existence of which he had never suspected. Therv 
 was a n,ew look upon his face, his voice was deep as a 
 strong man's when he spoke: " I am going to make them 
 open that mine! " 
 
 They looked at him. They were all of them close to the 
 border of hysteria, but they caught the strange note in his 
 utterance. " I am going to make them open that mine ! " 
 
 " How ? " asked Olson. 
 
 " The public doesn't know about this thing. If the 
 story got out, there'd be such a clamour, it wouldn't go on ! " 
 
 " But how will 'you get it out ? " 
 
 "I'll give it to the newspapers ! They can't suppress 
 such a thing I don't care how prejudiced they are! " 
 
 " But do you think they'd believe what a miner's buddy 
 tells them ? " asked Mrs. David. 
 
THE SERFS OF KIXG COAL 197 
 
 "I'll find a way to make them believe me," said Hal. 
 " I'm 01112,' to make them open that name!'" 
 
 34. In the course of his wanderings about the camp, 
 Hal had observed several wide-awake looking young men 
 with notebooks in their hands. He could see that these 
 young men Were being made guests of the company, chat- 
 ting with the bosses upon friendly terms ; nevertheless, he 
 believed that among them he might 'find one who had a con- 
 science or at any rate who would yield to the tempta- 
 tion of a "scoop." So, leaving the gathering at Mrs. 
 David's, Hal went to the pit-mouth, watching out for one 
 of these reporters ; when he found him, he followed him for 
 a while, desiring to get him where no company " spotter " 
 might interfere. At the first chance, he stepped up, and 
 politely aked the reporter to come into a side street, where 
 they might converse undisturbed. 
 
 The reporter obeyed the' request ; and Hal, concealing 
 the intensity of his feelings, so as not to repel the 'other, 
 let it be know r n that he had worked in North Valley for 
 some months, and could tell much about Conditions' in the 
 camp. There Was the matter of adobe-dust; for example. 
 Explosions in dry mines .could be presented by spraying 
 the walls with this' material. .Did the reporter happen to 
 know that the company's' claim' to have used it r was en- 
 tirely false ? 
 
 No, the reporter answered, he did not know this. He 
 seemed interested, and asked Hal's name and occupation. 
 Hal told him " Joe Smith," a "buddy," who had recently 
 been chosen as check-weighman. . The reporter, a lean and 
 keen-faced yoiing man, Basked many questions- intelli- 
 gent questions; incidentally he mentioned that he was the 
 local correspondent of the great press association whose 
 stories of the disaster were sent to every cortier of the" 
 country. This seemed to Hal an extraordinary piece of 
 
 14 
 
198 KING COAL 
 
 good fortune, and lie proceeded to tell this Mr. Graham 
 about the census which some of the workers had taken; 
 they were able to give the names of a hundred and seven 
 men and boys who were inside the mine. The list was at 
 Mr. Graham's disposal if he cared to see it. Mr. Graham 
 seemed more interested than ever, and made notes in his 
 book. 
 
 Another thing, more important yet, Hal continued; the 
 matter of the delay in getting the fan started. It had been 
 three days since the explosion, but there had been no at- 
 tempt at entering the mine. Had Mr. Graham seen the 
 disturbance at the pit-mouth that morning ? Did he real- 
 ise that a man had been thrown out of camp merely because 
 he had appealed to the deputy state mine-inspector ? Hal 
 told what so many had come to, believe that the company 
 was saving property at the expense of life. He went on 
 to point out the human meaning of this he, told about 
 old Mrs. Rafferty, with her failing health and her eight 
 children ; about Mrs. Zamboni, with eleven children ; about 
 Mrs. Jonotch, with a husband and three sons in the mine. 
 Led on by the reporter's interest, Hal began to show some 
 of his feeling. These were human beings, not animals; 
 they loved and suffered, even though they were poor and 
 humble ! 
 
 " Most certainly! " said Mr. Graham. " You're right, 
 and you may rest assured I'll look into this." 
 
 " There's one thing more/' said Hal. " If my name is 
 mentioned, I'll be fired, you know." 
 
 " I won't mention it," said the other. 
 . " Of course, if you can't publish the story without giv- 
 ing its source " 
 
 " I'm the source," said the reporter, with a smile. 
 " Your name would not add anything." 
 
 He spoke with quiet assurance; he seemed to know so 
 completely both the situation and his own duty in regard 
 
THE SERFS OF KING COAL 199 
 
 to it, that Hal felt a thrill of triumph: It was as if a 
 strong, wind had come blowing from the outside world, 
 dispelling the miasma which hung over this coal-camp. 
 Yes, -this reporter WCL& the outside world! He was the 
 power of public opinion, making itself felt im this place 
 of knavery and fear ! He was the voice of truth, the 
 courage and rectitude of a great organisation of publicity, 
 independent of secret influences, lifted above corruption! 
 "I'm indebted to you, 1 ' said Mr. Graham, at the end, 
 and -Hal's sense of victory : was complete. What an ex- 
 traordinary chance - that he should have run into the 
 agent of the great press association ! ; The story would go 
 out to the great world of industry, which depended upon 
 coal as its life-blood. The men in the factories, the wheels 
 of which were turned by coal - the travellers on trains 
 which were j moved by coal they would hear at last of 
 the sufferings of 'those who toiled in the bowels of the earth 
 for them I Even the ladies, reclining upon the decks .of 
 palatial steamships in gleaming tropic seas so marvel- 
 lous was the power of modern news-spreading agencies, 
 that these ladies too might hear the cry for help of these 
 toilers, and df their wives and little ones! And from this 
 great world would come an answer, a universal shout of 
 horror, of execration, .that, would force even old Peter 
 Harrigan to give way ! So Hal mused for he was 
 young, and this was his first crusade. 
 
 He was so happy that he was able. to think of himself 
 again, and to realise that he had not eaten that day. It 
 was noon-ntime, and he went into Reminitsky's, and was 
 about half through with the first course of Reminitsky's 
 two-course banquet, when his cruel disillusioning fell upon 
 him! 
 
 ! He. looked up and saw Jeff Cotton striding into., the 
 dining-room, making straight for him. There was blood 
 in the marshal's eye, and Hal saw it, and rose, instinctively. 
 
200 KING COAL 
 
 "Come! " said Cotton, and took him by the coat-sleeve 
 and marched him out; almost before the rest of the diners 
 had time 'to catch their breath. 
 
 Hal had no opportunity now to display his " tea-party 
 manners " to the camp-marshal. As they Walked, Cotton 
 expressed his opinion of him, thaft' he was a skunk, a puppy, 
 a person of undesirable ancestry; and when Hal endeav- 
 oured to ask a question which 'he did quite genuinely, 
 not grasping at once the meaning of what Was happening 
 the marshal bade him " shut his face," and emphasised 
 the command by a ! twist at his coat-collar. At the same 
 time two of the huskiest mine-guards, who' had been wait- 
 ing at the dining-room door, took him, one by each arm, 
 and assisted his progress. 
 
 They went down the street and past Jeff Cotton's office, 
 not stopping this time. Their destination was the rail- 
 road-station, and when Hal got there, he saw a train stand- 
 ing. The three men m'arched him to it, not releasing him 
 till they had jammed him down into a seat. 
 
 " Now, young fellow," said Cotton, "we'll see who's 
 running this camp ! " 
 
 By this time Hal had regained a part of his self-pos- 
 session. '" Do I need a ticket ? " he asked. 
 
 "I'll see to i that," said the marshal. 
 And do I get my things ? " 
 
 " You save some questions for your college professors," 
 snapped the marshal. 
 
 So Hal waited; and a minute or two later a man ar- 
 rived bn the run with his scanty belongings, rolled into a 
 bundle and tied with a piece<of twine. Hal noted that 'this 
 man 1 was big and ugly, and was addressed by the camp- 
 marshal as " Pete." 
 
 The conductor shouted, " All aboard ! " And at the 
 same time Jeff Cotton leaned over towards Hal and spoke 
 in a menacing whisper: " Take this from me, young fel- 
 
THE SERFS OF KIISTG COAL 201 
 
 low; don't stop in Pedro, move on in a hurry, or some- 
 thing will happen to you on a dark night." 
 
 After which he strode down the aisle, and jumped off 
 the moving train. But Hal noticed that Pete Hanun, the 
 breaker of teeth, stayed on the car a few seats behind him. 
 
BOOK THREE 
 THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 
 
1. It was Hal's intention to get to Western City as 
 quickly as possible to call upon the newspaper editors.. 
 But first lie must have money to .travel, and the best way 
 he could think of to get it ; was to find John Edstrom. He 
 left the train, followed by Pete Hanun; after some in- 
 quiry, he came upon the undertaker who had buried Ed- 
 strom's wife, and who told him where the old Swede was 
 staying, in the home of a labouring-man nearby. 
 
 Edstrom greeted him with eager questions: Who had 
 been killed? What was the situation ? Hal told in brief 
 sentences what had happened., When he mentioned his 
 i}eed of money, Edstrom answered that he had a little, and 
 would lend it, but it was not enough for a ticket to Western 
 City. Hal asked about the twenty-five dollars i which Mary 
 Burke had sent by registered mail ; the old man had heard 
 nothing about it, he had not been to the post-office. " Let's 
 go now !" said Hal, at once $ . but as they were starting 
 downstairs, a fresh difficulty occurred to him, Pete 
 Hanun was on the street outside, and it was likely that he 
 had heard about this money from Jeff Cotton ; he might 
 hold Edstrom up and take it away. 
 
 "Let me suggest something,'' put in the .old man. 
 " Come and see my friend Ed MacKellar. He may be 
 able to give us some advice even to think of .some way 
 to get the mine ope,n." Edstrom explained that MacKel- 
 lar, an old Scotchman, had been a miner, Inut was now 
 crippled, and held some petty office in Pedro. He was a 
 persistent opponent of " Alf " Raymond's machine, and 
 they had almost killed, him on one occasion. His home 
 was not far away, and it would take little time to consult 
 
 him. 
 
 205 
 
206 KING COAL 
 
 " All right," said Hal, and they set out at once. Pete 
 Hanun followed them, not more than a dozen yards behind, 
 but did not interfere, and they turned in at the gate of a 
 little cottage. A woman opened the door for them, and 
 asked them into the dining-room where MacKellar was 
 sitting - 1 a grey-haired old man, twisted up with rheuma- 
 tism and obliged to go about on crutches. 
 
 Hal told his story. As the Scotchman had been brought 
 up in the mines, it was not necessary to go into details 
 about the situation. When Hal told his idea of appealing 
 to the newspapers, the other responded at once, "-You 
 won't have to go to Western City. There's a man right 
 here who'll do the business for you; Keating, of the 
 Gazette" 
 
 "The Western City Gazette?" exclaimed Hal. He 
 knew this paper; an evening journal selling for a cent, and 
 read by working-men. Persons of culture who referred to 
 it disposed of it with the adjective "yellow." 
 
 "I know," said MacKellar, noting' Hal's tone. "But 
 it's the only paper that will publish your story anyway." 
 
 " Where is this Keating? " 
 
 " He's been up at the mine. It's too bad you didn't 
 meet him." 
 
 " Can we get hold of him now ? " 
 
 " He might be in Pedro. Try the American Hotel." 
 
 Hal went to the telephone, and in a minute was hearing 
 for the first time the cheery voice .of his friend and lieu- 
 tenant-to-be, "Billy" Keating. .In a couple of minutes 
 more the owner of the voice was at MacKellar's door, 
 wiping the perspiration from his half-bald forehead. He 
 was round-faced, like a full moon, and as jolly as Falstaff ; 
 when you- got to know him better, you discovered that he 
 was loyal as a Newfoundland dog. For all his bulk, 
 Keating was a newspaper man, every inch of him " on the 
 job." 
 
 He started to question the young miner as soon as he 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 207 
 
 was introduced, and it quickly became clear to Hal that 
 here was the man he was looking for. Keating knew ex- 
 actly what questions to ask, and had the whole story in 
 a few minutes. " By thunder !" he cried. "My last 
 edition ! " And he pulled out his watch, and sprang to 
 the telephone. " Long distance/' he called ; then, " 1 want 
 the city editor of the Western City Gazette. And, oper- 
 ator, please see if you can't rush it through. It's very 
 urgent, and last time I had to wait nearly half an hour." 
 
 He turned hack to Hal, and proceeded to ask more ques- 
 tions, at the same time pulling a bunch of copy-paper from 
 his pocket and making notes* He got- all Hal's statements 
 about the lack of sprinkling, the absence of escape-ways, 
 the delay in starting the. fan, the concealing of the number 
 of men in the mine< " I knew things were crooked up 
 there!" he exclaimed. "But I couldn't get a lead! 
 They kept a man with me every minute of the time. You 
 know a fellow named Predovich ? " 
 
 " I do," said Hal. " The company store-clerk; he once 
 went through my pockets." 
 
 Keating made a face of disgust. " Well, he was my 
 chaperon. Imagine trying to get the miners to talk to 
 you with that sneak at your heels ! I said to the superin- 
 tendent, ' I don't need anybody to escort me around your 
 place.' And he looked at me with a nasty little smile. 
 ' We wouldn't want anything to happen to you while you're 
 in this camp, Mr. Keating.' i You don't consider it neces- 
 sary to protect the lives of the other reporters,' I said. 
 'No,' said he; i but the Gazette has made a great many 
 enemies, 'you know.' ' Drop your fooling, Mr. Cart- 
 wright,' I said. ''You propose to have me shadowed while 
 I'm .working on this assignment ? ' ' You can put it that 
 way,' he answered, ' if you think it'll please the readers 
 of the -Gazette: ' 
 
 " Too bad we didn't meet! " said Hal. "Or if you'd 
 ran into any of our check-weighman crowd! " 
 
208 KING COAL 
 
 "Oh! You know about that checkyweighman busi- 
 ness !" exclaimed the reporter. "I got a hint of it 
 that's how 1 happened to be down here to-day. I heard 
 there was a man named Edstrom, who'd been shut out 
 for making trouble ; and I thought if I could find him, I 
 might get a lead.' 7 
 
 Hal and MacKellar looked at the old Swede, and the 
 three of them began to laugh. " Here's your man ! " said 
 MacKellar. 
 
 "And here's your checkiweighman ! " added Edstrom, 
 pointing to Hal. 
 
 Instantly the reporter was on his job again ; he began 
 to fire another series of questions. He would use that 
 check-weighman story as a "follow-up "for the next day, 
 to keep the subject of North Valley alive. The story had 
 a direct bearing on the disaster, because it showed what 
 the North Valley bosses were doing when they should have 
 been looking after the safety of their mine. " I'll write 
 it out this afternoon and send it by mail/' said Keating; 
 he added, with a smile, " That's one advantage of handling 
 news the other papers won't touch you don't have to 
 worry about losing your 'scoops'! " 
 
 2. Keating went to the telephone again, to worry 
 " long distance "; then, grumbling about his last edition, 
 he -came back to ask more questions about Hal's experi- 
 ences. Before long he drew out the' story of the young 
 man's first effort in the publicity game; at which he sank 
 back in : his chair, and laughed until he shook, as the 
 nursery-rhyme describes it, " like a bowlful of jelly." 
 
 ''Graham!" he exclaimed. "Fancy, MacKellar, he 
 took that story to; Graham ! " 
 
 The Scotchman seemed to find it equally funny ; to- 
 gether they 'explained that Graham was the political re- 
 porter of the Eagle, the paper in Pedro which was owned 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 209 
 
 by the Sheriff-emperor. One might call him Alf Ray- 
 mond's journalistic jackal; there was no job too dirty for 
 him. 
 
 " But," cried Hal, " he told me he was correspondent 
 for, the Western press association!" 
 
 " He's that, too," replied Billy. 
 
 " But does the press association employ spies for the 
 < G. F. C.' ? " 
 
 The reporter answered, drily, " When you understand 
 the news game better, you'll realise that the one thing the 
 press association cares about in a correspondent is that he 
 should have respect for property. If respect for prop- 
 erty is the back-bone of his being, he can learn what news 
 is, and the right way to handle it." 
 
 Keating turned to the Scotchman. " Do you happen 
 to have a typewriter in the house, Mr. MacKellar '? " 
 
 " An old one," said the other " lame, like myself." 
 
 " I'll make out with it. I'd ask this young man over to 
 my hotel, but I, think he'd better keep on the streets as 
 much as possible." 
 
 " You're right. If you take my advice, "you'll take the 
 typewriter upstairs, where there's no chance of a shot 
 through the window." 
 
 " Great heavens! " exclaimed Hal. " Is this America, 
 or mediaeval Italy ? " 
 
 " It's the Empire of Raymond," replied MacKellar. 
 " They shot my friend Tom Burton, dead while he stood 
 on the steps of his home. He was opposing the machine, 
 and had evidence about ballot-frauds he was going to* put 
 before the Grand Jury." 
 
 While Keating continued to fret with ".long distance," 
 the old Scotchman went on trying to impress upon Hal the 
 danger of his position. Quite recently an organiser of the 
 miners' union had been beaten up in broad day-light and 
 left insensible on the sidewalk; MacKellar had watched 
 the trial and acquittal of the two thugs who had committed 
 
210 KING COAL 
 
 this crime the foreman of the jury being a saloon-keeper, 
 one of Raymond's heelers, and the other jurymen being 
 Mexicans, unable to comprehend a word of the court pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 " Exactly such a jury as Jeff Cotton promised me ! " 
 remarked Hal, with a feeble attempt at a smile. 
 
 ".Yes," answered the other; " and don't make any 'mis- 
 take about it, if they want to put you away, they can do it. 
 They run the whole machine here. I know how it is, for 
 I had a political job myself, until they found they couldn't 
 use me." 
 
 The old Scotchman went on to explain that he had been 
 elected justice of peace, and had tried to break up the 
 business of policemen taking money from the women of the 
 town; he had been forced to resign, and his enemies had 
 made his life a torment. Recently he had been candidate 
 for district judge on the Progressive ticket, and told of his 
 efforts to carry on. a campaign in the coal-carnps how his 
 circulars had been confiscated, his posters torn down, his 
 supporters " kangarooed." It was exactly as Alec Stone, 
 the pit-boss, had explained to Hal. In some of 'the camps 
 the meeting-halls belonged to the company ; in others they 
 belonged to saloon-keepers whose credit depended upon 
 Alf Raymond. In the few places where there were halls 
 that could be hired, the machine had gone to the extreme 
 of sending in rival entertainments, furnishing free music 
 and free beer in order to keep the crowds away from 
 MacKellar. 
 
 All this time Billy Keating had been chafing and scold- 
 ing at " long distance." Now at last he managed to get 
 his call, and silence fell in the room. " Hello, Pr ingle, 
 that you ? This is Keating. Got a big story on the North 
 Valley disaster. Last edition put to bed yet? Put Jim 
 on the wire. .Hello, Jim! Got your book ?" And then 
 Billy, evidently talking to a stenographer, began to tell 
 'the story he had got from Hal. Now and then he would 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KIN COAL 211 
 
 stop to repeat or spell a word ; once or twice Hal corrected 
 him on details. JSo, in about a quarter of an hour, they 
 put the job through; and Keating turned to Hal. 
 
 " There you are, son/ 7 said he. " Your story'll be on 
 the street in Western City in a little over an hour; it'll be 
 down here as soon thereafter as they can get telephone con- 
 nections. Arid take my advice, if you want to keep a 
 whole skin, you'll be out of Pedro when that happens ! " 
 
 3. When Hal spoke, he did not answer Billy Keat- 
 ing's last remark. He had been listening to a retelling of 
 the North Valley disaster over the telephone ; so he was not 
 thinking about his skin, but about a hundred and seven 
 men and boys buried inside a mine. 
 
 ".Mr. . Keating," said he, "are you sure the Gazette 
 will print that story ? " 
 
 "Good Lord!" exclaimed the other. "What am I 
 here for 2 " 
 
 " Well, I've been disappointed once, you know." 
 
 " Yes, but you got into the wrong camp. We're a poor 
 'man's paper, and this is what we live on." 
 
 " There's no chance of its being ' toned down ' \ " 
 
 " Not the slightest, I assure you." 
 
 " There's no chance of Peter Harrigan's suppressing 
 it?" 
 
 " Peter Harrigan made his attempts on the Gazette long 
 ago, my boy." 
 
 : " Well,", said Hal,'" and now tell me this will it do 
 the work ? " 
 
 " In what way ? " 
 
 " I mean in making them open the mine." 
 
 Keating' considered for a moment, ." I'm afraid it won't 
 do much." 
 
 Hal looked at him blankly. He had taken it for granted 
 that the publication of the facts would force the company 
 
212 . KING COAL 
 
 to move. But Keating explained that the Gazette was 
 read mainly by-, working-people, and so had comparatively 
 little influence,. "We're -an afternoon paper," he said ; 
 " and when people have been reading lies all morning, it's 
 not easy to ma,ke them believe the truth in the afternoon/' 
 
 " But won't the story go to other papers over the 
 , country, ,1 mean ? " 
 
 " Yes, we have a press service; but the papers are all 
 like the Gazette poor man's papers. If there's some- 
 thing very raw, and we keep pounding away for a long 
 time, we can make an impression; at least we limit, the 
 amount of news the Western press association can sup- 
 press. But when it comes to a small matter like sealing 
 up workingmen in a mine, all we can do is to worry the 
 ' G. F. C.' a little." . 
 
 So- Hal was just where he had begun! " I must find 
 some other plan," he exclaimed. 
 
 ^ I don't see what you can do, ?? replied 'the other. 
 
 There was a pause, while the young miner pondered. 
 " I. had thought of going up to Western City and appealing 
 to the editors," he said, a little uncertainly. 
 
 " Well, I can tell y6u about that you might as well 
 save your car-fare. They < wouldn't touch your story." 
 
 " And if I appealed to the Governor ?' " 
 
 " In the first place, he probably wouldn't -see you. And 
 if he did, he wouldn't do anything. He's not really the 
 Governor, you know ; he's & puppet putaip there to fool 
 you. He only moves when Harrigan pulls a string." 
 
 " Of course I knew he was Old Peter's man," said Hal. 
 " But then " and he concluded, somewhat lamely, 
 " What can I do ? " 
 
 A smile of pity came upon the reporter's face. " I can 
 see this is the first time you've been up against 'big busi- 
 ness/ " And then he added, " You're young ! When 
 you've had more experience, you'll leave these problems 
 to older heads ! " But Hal failed to get the reporter's 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 213 
 
 sarcasm. lie had heard these exact words in such deadly 
 seriousness from his brother ! Besides, he had just come 
 from scenes of horror. 
 
 " But don't you see, Mr. Keating ? " he exclaimed. 
 " It's impossible for me to sit still while those men die 2 " 
 
 " I don't know about your, sitting still," said the other. 
 " All I know is that all your moving about isn't going to 
 do them any good." 
 
 Hal turned to Edstrom and MacKellar. " Gentlemen/' 
 he said, " listen to rne for a minute." And there w r as a 
 note of pleading in his voice as if he thought they .were 
 deliberately refusing to help him ! " We've got to do some- 
 thing about this. We've got to do something! I'm new 
 at the game, as Mr. Keating feays; but you aren't. Put 
 your minds on it, gentlemen, and help me work out a 
 plan!" 
 
 There was a long silence. " God knows," said Edstromj 
 at last. " I'd suggest something if I could." 
 
 " And I, too/' said MacKellar. " You're up against a 
 stone-wall, my boy; The government here is simply a 
 department of the i G. F. C.' The officials are crooks 
 company servants, all of them." 
 
 " Just a moment now," said Hal. " Let's consider. 
 Suppose we had a real government what steps' would we 
 take? We'd carry such a case to the District Attorney, 
 wouldn't we ? " 
 
 " Yes, no doubt of it," said MacKellar. 
 
 " You mentioned him before," said Hal. " He threat- 
 ened to prosecute some mine-superintendents for ballot- 
 frauds, you said." 
 
 " That was while he was running for election," said 
 MacKellar. 
 
 "Oh!" I remember what Jeff Cotton said - that he 
 was friendly to the miners in his speeches, and to the 
 companies in his acts." 
 
 " That's the man;" said the other, drily. 
 
 15 
 
214 KING COAL 
 
 " Well," argued Hal, " oughtn't I go to him, to give him 
 a chance, at least You can't tell/ he might have a heart 
 inside him." 
 
 It isn't a heart he needs/' replied MacKellar; " it's 
 a hack-bone." 
 
 " But surely I ought to put it up to him ! If he won't 
 do anything, at least I'll pu't him on record, and it'll make 
 another story for you, won't it, Mr. Keating ? " 
 
 " Yes, that's true," admitted the reporter. " What 
 would you ask him to do? "_ 
 
 "Why, to lay the matter before the Grand Jury; to 
 bring indictments against the North Valley bosses." 
 
 " But that would take a long time ; it wouldn't save the 
 men in the mine." 
 
 " What might save them would be the threat of it." 
 
 MacKellar put in. " I don't think any threat of Dick 
 Parker's would count for that much. The bosses know 
 they could stop him." 
 
 " Well, isn't there somebody else ? Shouldn't I try the 
 courts ? " 
 
 " What courts ? " 
 
 " I don't know. You tell me." 
 
 "Well," said the Scotchman, "to begin at the bottom, 
 there's a justice of the peace." 
 
 "Who's he?" 
 
 "Jim Anderson, a horse-doctor. He's like any other 
 J. P.. you ever knew he lives on petty graft." 
 
 " Is there a higher' court ? " 
 
 " Y r es, the district court ; Judge Denton. He's the law- 
 partner of Vagleman, .counsel for the.'G. F. C.' How 
 far w r ould you expect to get with him ? " 
 
 ," I suppo&e I'm clutching at straws," said Hal. , " But 
 they say that's what a drowning man does. Anyway, I'm 
 going to see these people, and maybe out of the lot of then! 
 I can find one who'll act. It can't do any harm ! " 
 
 The three ^men thought of some harm it might do ; they 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 215 
 
 tried to make Hal consider the danger of being slugged 
 or shot. " They'll do it ! " exclaimed MacKellar. " And 
 no trouble for them they'll prove you were stabbed by a 
 drunken Dago, quarrelling over some woman. 77 
 
 But Hal had got his head set; he believed he could put 
 this job through before his enemies had time to lay any 
 plans. Nor would he let any of his friends accompany 
 him ; he had something more important for both Edstrom 
 and Keating to do and as for MacKellar, he could not 
 get about rapidly enough. Hal bade Edstrom go to the 
 post-office and get the registered letter, and proceed at 
 once to change the bills. It was his plan to make' out affi- 
 davits, and if the officials here would* not act, to take the 
 affidavits to the Governor. And for this he would need 
 money. Meantime, he said, let Billy Keating write out 
 the check-weighman story, and in a couple of hours meet 
 him at the American Hotel, to get copies of the affidavits 
 for the Gazette. 
 
 Hal was still w r eaTing the miner's clothes he had worn 
 on the night of his arrest in Edstrom's cabin. But he 
 declined MacKellar's offer to lend him a business-suit; 
 the old Scotchman's clothes w r ould not fit him, he knew, 
 and it would be better to make his appeal as a real miner 
 than as a misfit gentleman. 
 
 These matters being settled, Hal went out upon the 
 street, 'where Pete Hanun, the breaker of teeth, fell in 
 behind him. The young miner at once broke into a run, 
 and the other followed suit, and so the two of them sped 
 down the street, to the wonder of people on the way. As 
 Hal had had practice as a sprinter, no doubt Pete was glad 
 that the District Attorney's office was not far-away! 
 
 4. Mr. Richard Parker was busy, said the clerk in 
 the outer office ; for which Hal was not sorry, as it gave 
 him a chance to get his breath. Seeing a young man 
 
216 KING COAL 
 
 flushed and panting, the clerk stared with .curiosity; but 
 TIal offered no explanation, and the breaker of teeth waited 
 on the street outside. 
 
 Mr. Parker received his caller in a couple of minutes. 
 He was a well-fed gentleman with generous neck and chin, 
 freshly shaved and rubbed with talcum powder. His 
 clothing was handsome, his linen immaculate; one got the 
 impression of a person who " did himself well." There 
 were papers on his desk, and he looked preoccupied. 
 
 '" Well ? " said he, with a swift glance at the young 
 miner. 
 
 " I understand that I am speaking to the District At- 
 torney of Pedro County ? " 
 
 " That's right." 
 
 '" Mr.' Parker, have you given any attention to the cir- 
 cumstances of the North Valley disaster? " 
 
 "No," said Mr. Parker. "Why?" 
 
 " I have just come from North ' Valley, . and I .can give 
 you information- which may be of interest to you. There 
 are a hundred and seven people entombed in the mine, and 
 the company officials have sealed it, and are sacrificing 
 those lives.' 7 
 
 The other put down the correspondence, and made an 
 examination of his caller from under his heavy, eyelids. 
 " How do you know this ? " 
 
 ."I left there only a few hours ago. The facts are 
 known to all the workers in the camp." 
 
 " You are speaking from what you heard ? " 
 
 " I am speaking from what I know at, first hand. I saw 
 the disaster, I saw the pit-mouth boarded over and covered 
 with canvas. I know a man who was driyen out of camp 
 this morning for complaining about the delay in starting 
 the fan. It has been over three days since the explosion, 
 and still nothing has been done." 
 
 Mr. Parker proceeded to fire a series of questions, in 
 the sharp, suspicious^ manner customary : to . prosecuting 
 
THE HEXCiniEX OF KING COAL 217 
 
 officials. But Hal did not mind that; it was the man's 
 business to make sure. 
 
 Presently he demanded to know how he could get cor- 
 roboration of Hal's statements. 
 
 " You'll have to go up there/ 7 was the reply, i 
 
 "You say the facts are known to the men? Give me 
 the names of some 'of them." 
 
 '" I have no authority to give their names, Mr. Parker." 
 
 "What authority do you need? They will tell me, 
 won't they ? " 
 
 " They may, and they may not. One man has already 
 lost his job; not every man cares to lose his job." 
 
 " You expect me to go up there on your bare say-so ? " 
 
 " I offer you more than my say-so. I offer an affi- 
 davit." 
 
 " But what do I know about you ? " 
 
 " You know that I worked in North Valley or you 
 can verify the fact by using the telephone. My name is 
 Joe Smith, and I was a miner's helper in. lumber Two." 
 
 But that was not sufficient, said Mr. Parker; his time 
 was valuable, and before he took a trip to. North Valley 
 he must have the names of witnesses ""who would corroborate 
 these statements. 
 
 " I 'Offer you an affidavit!" exclaimed Hal. "I say 
 that I have knowledge that a crime is being committed 
 that a hundred and seven human/lives arc being sacrificed. 
 You don't consider that a sufficient reason for even making 
 inquiry? " 
 
 The District Attorney answered again that he desired 
 to do his duty, he desired to 1 protect the -workers in their 
 rights; but he could riot afford to go off on a " wild goose 
 chase," he must have the names of witnesses. And Hal 
 found himself wondering. Was' the man merely taking 
 the first pretext for doing nothing? Or could it be that 
 an official of the state would go as far as to help the com- 
 pany by listing the names of " trouble-makers " ? 
 
218 KING COAL 
 
 In spite of his distrust, Hal was resolved to give the 
 man every chance he could. He we.iit over the whole story 
 of the* disaster. -He took 'Mr. Parker up to the camp, 
 showed him the agonised women and terrified children 
 crowding about the pit-mouth, driven back with clubs and 
 revolvers. He named family after, family, widows and 
 mothers and orphans. He told of the miners clamouring 
 for a chance to risk their lives to save their fellows. He 
 let his own feelings sweep him along; he pleaded with 
 fervour for his suffering friends. 
 
 " Young man/' said the other, breaking in upon his 
 eloquence, " how long have you been working in North 
 Valley?" 
 
 " About ten weeks." 
 
 " How long have you been working in coal-mines ? " 
 
 " That was my first experience." 
 
 " And you think that in ten weeks you have learned 
 enough to entitle you to bring a charge of k murder ' against 
 men who have spent their lives in learning the business of 
 mining ? " 
 
 " As I have told you," exclaimed Hal, " it's not merely 
 my opinion; it's the opinion of the oldest and most ex^ 
 perienced of the miners. I tell you no effort whatever is 
 being made to save those men ! The bosses care nothing 
 about their men ! One of them, Alec Stone, was heard by 
 a crowd of people to say, ' Damn the men ! Save the 
 mules ! ' " 
 
 " Everybody up there is excited," declared the other. 
 "Nobody can think straight at present you can't think 
 straight yourself. If the mine's on fire, and if the fire 
 is spreading to such an extent that it can't be put out " 
 
 " But, Mr. Parker, how can you say that it's spreading 
 to such an extent ? " 
 
 " Well, how can you say that it isn't ? " 
 
 There was a pause. " I understand there's a deputy 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 219 
 
 mine-inspector up there," said the District Attorney, sud- 
 denly. u What's his name 'I f 
 
 " Carmichael," said Hal. 
 
 " Well, and what does he say about it ? " 
 
 " It was for appealing to him that the miner, Huszar, 
 was turned out of camp." 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Parker and there came a note into 
 his voice by which Hal knew that he had, found the excuse 
 he sought " Well, it's CarmichaePs business, and I have 
 no right to butt in on it. If he comes to me and asks for 
 indictments, I'll act but not; otherwise. That's all I 
 have to say about it. ; " 
 
 And Hal rose. " Very well, Mr. Parker," said he. " I 
 have put the facts before you. I was told you wouldn't 
 do anything, but I wante$ to give you a chance. Now I'm 
 going to ask the Governor for your removal ! " And with 
 these words the young miner strode out of the office. 
 
 . 5. Hal went down the street to the American Hotel, 
 where there was a public stenographer. When this young 
 woman discovered the nature of the material he. proposed 
 to dictate, her fingers trembled visibly; but she did not re- 
 fuse the task, and- Hal proceeded to set forth the circum- 
 stances of' the sealing of the pit-mouth of Number One 
 Mine at North Valley, and to pray for warrants for the 
 arrest of Enos Cartwright and Alec Stone. Then he gave 
 an account of how he had been selected as check- weighm an 
 and been refused access to the scales ; and with all the legal 
 phraseology he could rake up, he prayed for .the arrest of 
 Enos Cartwright and James Peters, superintendent and 
 tipple-boss at North Valley, for these offences. In another 
 affidavit he narrated how Jeff Cotton, camp-marshal, had 
 seized him at night, mistreated him, and shut him in prison 
 for thirty-six hours without warrant or charge ; also how 
 
220 KING COAL 
 
 Cotton, Pete Hanun, and two 1 other parties by name tin- 
 known, had illegally driven him from the town of North 
 Valley, threatening him with violence ; for which he 
 prayed the arrest of Jeff Cotton, Pete Hanun, and the 
 two parties unknown. 
 
 Before this task was finished, Billy Keating came in, 
 bringing 1 the twenty-five dollars which Edstrom had got 
 from the post-office. They found a notary public, before 
 whom Hal made oath to each document; and when these 
 had been duly inscribed and stamped with the seal of the 
 state, he gave carbon copies to Keating, who hurried off 
 to catch a mail-train which was just due. Billy. would not 
 trust such things to the local post-office; for Pedro was the 
 hell of a town, he declared. As they went out oil the 
 street again 'they noticed that their body-guard had been 
 increased by another husky-looking personage, who made 
 no attempt to conceal what he was doing. 
 
 Hal went around the corner to an office bearing the 
 legend, " J W. Anderson, Justice of the Peace." 
 
 Jim Anderson,, the horse-doctor, sat at his desk within. 
 He had evidently chewed tobacco before he assumed the 
 ermine, and his reddish^coloured moustache still showed 
 the stains. Hal observed such details, trying to weigh his 
 chances of success. He presented the affidavit describing 
 his treatment in North Valley, and sat waiting while His 
 Honour read it through with painful slowness. 
 
 " Well," said the ni^n, at last, " what do you want ? " 
 1 " I* want a warrant for Jeff Cotton's arrest." 
 
 The other studied him for a minute. " No, young fel- 
 low," said he. " You can't get no such warrant here." 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 '" Because Cotton's a deputy-sheriff; he had a right to 
 arrest you." 
 
 " To arrest me without a warrant? " 
 
 " How do you know he didn't have a warrant ? " 
 
 " He admitted to me that he didn't." 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 221 
 
 "Well, whether he had a warrant or not, it was his 
 business to keep order in the camp." 
 
 IC You mean he can do anything he pleases in the 
 camp ? " 
 
 " What I mean is, it ain't my business .to interfere. 
 Why didn't you see Si Adams, up to the camp ? " 
 
 " They didn't give me any chance to see him." 
 " Well," replied the other, " there's nothing I can do 
 for you. You can see that for .yourself. What kind of 
 discipline could they keep in them eamps^if any fellow that 
 had a kick could come down here and have the marshal 
 arrested ? " ( 
 
 " Then a camp-marshal can act without regard to the 
 law?" 
 
 ".I didn't ;say that." 
 
 " Suppose he had committed murder would you give 
 a warrant for that ? " 
 
 P" Yes, of course, if it was murder." 
 " And if you knew that he was in the act of committing 
 murder in a coal-camp would you try to stop him \ " 
 
 " Yes, of course." 
 
 " Then here's another affidavit," said Hal ; and he pro- 
 duced the one about the sealing of the mine. There was 
 silence while Justice Anderson read it through. 
 
 But again he shook his head. " No, you can't get no 
 such warrants here." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Because it ain't my business to run a coal-mine. I 
 don't understand it, and I'd make a fool of myself if I 
 tried to tell them people how to run their business." 
 
 Hal argued with him. Could company officials in 
 charge of a coal-mine commit any sort of outrage upon 
 their employes, and call it running their business ? Their 
 control of the mine in such an emergency as this meant 
 the power of life and death over a hundred and seven men 
 and boys; could it be that the law had nothing to say in 
 
222 KING COAL 
 
 such a situation ? But Mr. Anderson only shook his head ; 
 it was not his business to interfere. HaLmight go up to 
 the court-house and see Judge Denton about it. So Hal 
 gathered, up his affidavits and went out to the street again 
 -where there-were now three husky-looking peonages 
 waiting to escort him. 
 
 6. The district court was ^in session and Hal sat for 
 a while in the court-room, watching Judge Denton. Here 
 was another prosperous and well-fed appearing gentleman, 
 with a rubicund visage shining over the top of hiis y; bliick 
 silk robe. The young miner found himself regarding 
 both the robe and the visage with suspicion. Could it be 
 that Hal was becoming cynical, and losing his faith in' his 
 fellow man? What he thought of, in connection with the 
 Judge's appearance, was that there was a living to be 
 made sitting on the bench, while one's partner appeared 
 before the bench as coal-company counsel ! 
 
 In an interval of the proceedings, Hal spoke to the 
 clerk, and was told that he might see the judge at four- 
 thirty; but a few minutes later Pete Hanun came in and 
 whispered to this clerk. The clerk looked at Hal, then 
 he went up and whispered to the J udge. At four-thirty, 
 when the court was declared adjourned, the Judge rose 
 and disappeared into his private office ; and when Hal ap- 
 plied to the clerk; the latter brought out the message that 
 Judge Denton was too busy to see him. 
 
 But- Hal was not to be disposed of in that easy fashion. 
 There was a side door to the court-room, with a corridor 
 beyond it, and while he stood arguing with the clerk he 
 saw the rubicund visage of the Judge flit past. 
 
 He darted in pursuit. He did not shout or make a 
 disturbance ; but when he was close behind his victim, he 
 said, quietly, " Juda:e Denton, I appeal to you for jus- 
 tice!" 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 223 
 
 The Judge turned and looked at him, his countenance 
 showing annoyance. " What do you want 3 " 
 
 It was a ticklish moment, for Pete Hanun was at Hal's 
 heels, and it would have needed no more than a nod from 
 the Judge to cause him to collar Hal. But the Judge, 
 taken by surprise, permitted himself to parley with the 
 young miner ; and the detective hesitated, and finally fell 
 back a step or two. 
 
 Hal repeated his appeal. " Your Honour, there are a 
 hundred and seven men and boys now dying up at the 
 North Valley mine. They are being murdered, and I am. 
 trying to save their lives ! " 
 
 "Young man," said the Judge, " I have an urgent en- 
 gagement down the street." 
 
 " Very well," replied Hal, " I will walk with you and 
 tell you as you go." Nor did he -give -"His Honour " a 
 chance to say whether this arrangement was pleasing to 
 him; he set out by his side, with Pete Hanun and the 
 other two men some ten yarcls in the rear. 
 
 Hal told the story as he had told it to Mr. Kichar'd 
 Parker; and he received the same response. Such -mat- 
 ters were not easy to decide about; they were hardly a 
 Judge's business. There was a state official on the ground, 
 and it was for him to decide if there was violation of 
 law. 
 
 Hal repeated his statement that a man who made a com- 
 plaint to this official had been thrown out of camp. " And 
 I was thrown out also, your Honour." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " Nobody told me what for." 
 
 " Tut, tut, young man ! They don't throw men out 
 without telling them the reason ! " 
 
 " But they do, your Honour ! Shortly before that they 
 locked me up in jail, and held me for thirty-six hours with- 
 out the slightest show of authority." 
 
 " You must have been doing something ! " 
 
224 KING COAL 
 
 "What I had done was to be chosen by a committee of 
 miners to act as their .check-weighman/' - 
 
 '* Their eheek-weighman 1". . 
 
 " Yes, your Honour. I am informed there's a law pro- 
 Aiding that when the men demand, a check-weighman, and 
 offer' to pay for. him,, the company must permit him to 
 inspect the weights. Is. that correct? " 
 
 " It is, I believe." 
 
 " And there's a penalty for refusing ? " 
 
 " The law always carries a penalty, young man." 
 
 " They tell me that law has been on the statute-books 
 for fifteen or sixteen years, and that the penalty is from 
 twenty-five to five hundred. dollars fine. It's a case about 
 which there can be no dispute, your Honour the .miners 
 notified the superintendent that they desired my services, 
 and when I presented myself at the tipple, I was refused 
 access to the scales; then I was seized and shut up in jail, 
 and finally;. turned out of the camp. I have made affidavit 
 to these facts, and I think I Have the right to ask for war- 
 rants for the guilty men." 
 
 " Can you produce witnesses to your statements ? " 
 
 " I can, your Honour. One of the committee of miners, 
 John Edstrom, is. now in Pedro, having been kept out of 
 his home, which he had rented and paid for. The other, 
 Mike Sikoria, was also thrown out of camp. There are 
 many others at North Valley who know all about it." 
 
 There was a pause. Judge Denton for the first time 
 took a good look at the young miner, at his side; and then 
 he drew his brows together in solemn thought, and his 
 voice became deep and impressive. " I shall take this mat- 
 ter under advisement. What is your name, and where do 
 you live ? " 
 
 " Joe Smith,, your Honour. I'm staying at Edward Mac- 
 Kellar's, but I don't know how long I'll be able to stay there. 
 There are company thugs watching the place all the time." 
 
 " That's wild talk ! " said the Judge, impatiently. 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 225 
 
 "As it happens," said Hal, " we are being followed by 
 three of them at this moment one of them the same Pete ; 
 Hanun who helped to drive me out of North Valley. If 
 you will turn your head you will see them behind us." 
 
 But the portly Judge did not turn his head. 
 
 "I have been informed/' Hal continued, " that I am 
 taking my life in my hands by my present course of action. 
 I believe I'm entitled to ask for protection." 
 
 " What do you want me to do ? " 
 
 " To begin with, I'd like you to cause the arrest of the 
 men who are shadowing me." 
 
 " It's not my business to cause such arrests. You 
 should apply to a policeman." 
 
 " I don't see any policeman. Will you tell me where to 
 find one ? " 
 
 His Honour was growing Weary of such persistence. 
 " Young man, what's the matter with you is that you've 
 been reading dime novels, and they've got on your nerves ! " 
 
 " But the men are right behind me, your Honour ! 
 Look at them ! " 
 
 " I've told you it's not my business, young man ! " 
 
 "But, your Honour, befbre I can find a policeman I 
 may be dead ! " 
 
 The other appeared to be untroubled by this possi- 
 bility. 
 
 " And, your Honour, while you are taking these mat- 
 ters under advisement, the men in the mine will be dead ! " 
 
 Again there was no reply. 
 
 " I have some affidavits here," said Hal. " Do you 
 wish them ? " 
 
 " You can give them to me if you want to," said the 
 other. 
 
 " You don't ask me for them ? " 
 
 " I haven't yet." 
 
 " Then just one more question if you will pardon 
 me, your Honour. Can you tell me where I can find an 
 
226 < KING COAL 
 
 honest lawyer in this town -. a man who might be willing 
 to take a case against the interests of the General Euel 
 Company ? " 
 
 There was a silence a long,/ long silence. Judge 
 Denton, of the firm of Denton and Vagleman, stared 
 straight in front of him as he walked. Whatever compli- 
 cated processes might have been going on inside his mind, , 
 his judicial features did not reveal them. "No, young 
 man," he said at last, " it's not my business to give you 
 information about .lawyers.' 7 And with that the judge 
 turned on his Tieel and went into the Elks' Club. 
 
 7. Hal stood and watched the portly figure until it 
 disappeared ; then he turned back and passed the three de- 
 tectives, who stopped. He stared at them, but ,made ; no 
 sign, nor did they. Some twenty feet behind him, they 
 fell in and followed as before. 
 
 Judge Denton had suggested consulting a policeman ; 
 and suddenly Hal noticed that he was passing the City 
 Hall, and it occurred to him that this matter of his being 
 shadowed might properly be brought to the attention of 
 the mayor of Pedro. He wondered what the chief magis- 
 trate of such a " hell of a town " might be like; after due 
 inquiry, he found himself in the office of Mr. Ezra Per- 
 kins, a mild-mannered little gentleman who had been in 
 the undertaking-business, before he became a figure-head 
 for the so-called " Democratic " machine. 
 
 He sat pulling nervously at a neatly trimmed brown 
 beard, trying to wriggle out of the dilemma into which 
 Hal put him. Yes, it might possibly be that a young 
 miner was being followed on the streets of the town; but 
 whether or not this was against the law depended on the' 
 circumstances. If he had made a disturbance in North 
 Valley, and there was reason to believe that he might be 
 intending trouble, doubtless the company was keeping track 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 227 
 
 of him. But Pedro was a law-abiding place, } and he 
 would be protected in his rights sO long as he behaved 
 himself. 
 
 Hal replied by citing what MacKellar had told him 
 about men being slugged on the streets in broad, day-light. 
 To this Mr. Perkins answered that there was uncertainty 
 about the circumstances of these cases ; anyhow, they had 
 happened before he became mayor. His was a reform ad- 
 ministration, and he had given strict orders to the Chief 
 of Police that there were to be no more incidents of the 
 sort. 
 
 " Will you go with me to the Chief of Police and give 
 him orders now ? " demanded Hal. 
 
 " I do not consider it necessary," said Mr. Perkins. 
 
 He was about to go home, it seemed. He was a pitiful 
 little rodent, and it was a shame to torment him ; but Hal 
 stuck to him for ten or twenty minutes Iqnger, arguing and 
 insisting until finally the little rodent bolted; for ; the 
 door, and made his escape in an automobile. " You can 
 go to the Chief of Police yourself/' were his .last words, 
 as he started the machine ; and Hal decided to follow the 
 suggestion. ,He had no hope left, but he was possessed 
 by a kind of dogged rage. He would not let go'! 
 
 Upon inquiry of a passer-by, he learned that police 
 headquarters was in this same building, the entrance be- 
 ing just round the corner. He went in, and found a man 
 in uniform writing at a desk, who stated that the Chief 
 had '" stepped down the street." Hal sat down to wait, 
 by a window through which he could look out upon the 
 three gunmen loitering across the way. 
 
 The man at the desk wrote on, but now and then he 
 eyed, the young miner with that 'hostility which American 
 policemen cultivate toward the lower classes. To Hal this 
 was a new; phenomenon, and he found himself suddenly 
 wishing that he had put on MacKellar's clothes. Per- 
 haps a policeman would not have noticed the misfit ! 
 
228 KING COAL 
 
 The Chief came in. His blue uniform concealed a 
 burly figure, and his moustache revealed the fact that his 
 errand, down the street had had to do. with beer. " Well, 
 young Mlow 3 " said he, fixing his gaze upon Hal. 
 
 Hal explained his errand. 
 
 " What do you want me to do ? " asked the Chief, in a 
 decidedly hostile voice. 
 
 " I want you to make those men stop following me." 
 
 " How can I make them stop ? " 
 
 " You can lock them, up, if necessary. I can point 
 them out to you, if you'll step to the window." 
 
 But the other made no move. "I reckon if they're fol- 
 lerin' you, they've got some reason for it. Have you been. 
 makin 7 trouble in the camps?" He a'sked this question 
 with sudden force, as if it had occurred to him that it 
 might be his duty to lock up Hal. 
 
 " No," said Hal, speaking as bravely as he could 
 " no indeed, I haven't been making trouble. I've only 
 been demanding my rights." 
 
 " How do I know what you been doin',? " 
 
 The young miner was willing to explain, but the other 
 Cut him short. " You behave yourself while you're in this 
 town, young feller, d'you see ? If you do, nobody'll bother 
 you." 
 
 "But," said Hal, "they've already threatened to bother 
 me." 
 
 "What did they say?" 
 
 " They said something might happen to me on a dark 
 night," 
 
 " Well, so it might you might fall down and hit you? 
 nose." 
 
 The Chief was pleased with this wit, but only for a 
 moment. " Understand, young feller, we'll give yon your 
 rights in this town, but we got no love for agitators, and 
 we don't pretend to have. See ? " 
 

 THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 229 
 
 " You call a man an agitator when he demands his legal 
 rights \ " 
 
 ^ I, -ain't got time to argue with you, young feller. It's 
 no easy matter keepiii' order 1 in coal-camps, and I ain't 
 going to meddle in the business. I reckon the company 
 detectives has got as good a right in this town as you.' 7 
 
 There was a pause. Hal saw that there was nothing 
 to be gained by further discussion wi'th the Chief. It 
 was his first glimpse of the American policeman as he ap- 
 pears to the labouring mail in revolt, 'and he found it an 
 illuminating experience. There was dynamite in his 
 heart as he turned and went out to the street ; nor was the 
 amount t of the explosive diminished by the mocking grins 
 which he noted upon the faces of Pete Hanun and the other 
 two husky-looking personages. 
 
 8. Hal judged thaj; he had now exhausted his legal 
 resources in Pedro ; the Chief of Police had not suggested 
 any one else he might call upon, so there seemed nothing he 
 cfould do but go back to MacKellar's and await the hour of 
 the 1 night train to Western City. He started to give his 
 guardians another run, by way of working off at least a 
 part of his own temper ; but he found that they had antici- 
 pated this difficulty. An automobile came up and the 
 three of them stepped in. JSTot to be outdone, Hal en- 
 gaged a hack, and so the expedition returned in pomp to 
 MacKellar's. 
 
 Hal found the old cripple in a state of perturbation. 
 All that afternoon his telephone had been ringing ; one per- 
 son after another had ! warned him some pleading with 
 him, some abitsiiig him. It was evident- that among them 
 were people who had a hold on the old man; Imt he was 
 undaunted, and would not hear of Hal's going to stay at 
 the hotel until train-time. 
 
 16 
 
230 KING COAL 
 
 Then. Elating returned, with an exciting tale to tell. 
 Schulman, general manager of the " G. F. C.," had been 
 sending out messengers to hunt for him, and finally had 
 'got him in his office, arguing and pleading, cajoling and 
 denouncing him by turns. He had got Cartwright on the 
 telephone, and the North , Valley superintendent had lar 
 boured to convince Keating that > he had done the company 
 a wrong. Cartwright had told a story about Hal's efforts 
 to hold up the company for money. , " Incidentally," said 
 Keating, " he added the charge that you had seduced a girl 
 in ; his camp." 
 
 Hal stared at his friend. " Seduced a girl ! " he ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 " That's what he s said ; a red-headed Irish girl. 7 ' 
 
 "Well, damn his soul !" ..,. 
 
 There followed a silence, broken by a laugh from Billy. 
 " Don't glare at me like that. I didn't say it ! " 
 
 But Hal continued to glare, nevertheless. " The dirty 
 little skunk 1 " 
 
 "Take it easy, sonny," said the fat man, soothingly. 
 "It's quite the usual thing, to drag in a woman. It's -so 
 easy for of course there always is a woman. There's 
 one in this case, T suppose '? " 
 
 " There's a perfectly decent girl." 
 
 "But you've been friendly with her? You've been 
 walking around where people can see you ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " So you see, they've got you. There's nothing you can 
 do about a thing of that sort." 
 
 " You wait and see ! " Hal burst out. 
 
 The other gazed curiously at the angry young miner. 
 " What'll you do ? Beat him up some night ? " 
 
 But the young miner did not answer. " You say ho 
 described the' girl?" 
 
 "He was kind enough to say she was, a red-headed 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 231 
 
 beauty, and with no one to protect her but a drunken 
 father. I could understand that must have made it pretty 
 hard for her, in one of these coal-camps. 77 There was a 
 pause. " But see here, 77 said the reporter, " you'll only 
 do the girl harm by maiing a row. Nobody believes that 
 women in coal-camps have any virtue. God knows, I 
 don't see how they do have, considering the sort of men 
 who run the camps, and the power they have. 77 
 
 " Mr. Keating, 77 said Hal, " did you believe what Cart- 
 wright told you ? " 
 
 Keating had started to light a cigar. He stopped in 
 the middle, and his eyes met Hal 7 s. " My dear boy," said 
 he, " I didn't consider it my business to have an opinion. 77 
 
 " But what did you say to Cartwright 3 " 
 
 " Ah ! That's another matter. I said that I'd been a 
 newspaper man for a good many years, and I knew his 
 game.' 7 
 
 " Thank you for that," said Hal. " You may be in- 
 terested to know there isn't any truth in the story." 
 
 "Glad to hear it," said the other. "I believe you." 
 
 " Also you may be interested to know that I shan't drop 
 the matter until I 7 ve made Cartwright take it back. 77 
 
 " Well, you're an enterprising cuss ! " laughed the re- 
 porter. ''Haven't you got enough on your hands, with 
 all the men you're going to get out of the mine ? " 
 
 9. Billy Keating went out again, saying that he knew 
 man who might be willing to talk to him on the quiet, 
 and give him some idea what was going to happen to Hal. 
 Meantime Hal and Edstrom sat down to dinner with Mac- 
 Kellar. The family were afraid to use the dining-room 
 of their home, but spread a little table in the upstairs hall. 
 The distress of mind of MacKellar's wife and daughter 
 was apparent, and this brought home to Hal the terror of 
 
232: KING COAL 
 
 life matins coal-country. Here were American women, 
 in an American home, a home with: evidences of refinement 
 and culture; yet they felt and acted as if they were Kus- 
 sian conspirators, in terror of Siberia and the knout! 
 
 The reporter/was gone a couple df hours; w r hen he came 
 back, he brought news. " You can prepare for trouble, 
 young fellow. 7 ' 
 
 "Why so?-" 
 u Jeff Cotton's in town." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 ",I saw him in an automobile. If he left North Valley 
 at this time, it was for something serious, you may be 
 sure.' 7 ; 
 
 " What does he mean to do ? " 
 
 " There's no telling. He may have you slugged; he 
 may have you run out of town and dumped out in the 
 desert; he may just have you arrested." 
 
 Hal considered for a moment. " For slander ? " 
 
 "Or for vagrancy; or on suspicion of having robbed a 
 bank in Texas, or murdered your great-grandmother in 
 Tasmania. The point is, he'll keep you locked up till 
 this trouble has f blown over." 
 
 "Well," said Hal, " I don't want to be locked up. I 
 want to go up to Western City. - I'm waiting for the 
 train." 
 
 " You may have to wait till morning," replied Keating. 
 " There's been trouble on the railroad a freight-car 
 broke" down and ripped up the track; it'll be some time be- 
 fore it's clear." 
 
 They discussed this new problem back and- forth. Mac- 
 Kellar wanted to get in half a dozen friends and 
 guard over Hal during the night ; and Hal had.;, 
 agreed to this idea, when the discussion was given a 
 turn by a chance remark of Keating's. " Somebody el 
 is tied up by the railroad accident. The Coal Kinifs 
 son!" 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 
 
 "The Coal King's son?" echoed Hal. 
 
 " Young Percy Harrigan. He's got a private car here 
 or rather a whole train. Think of it dining-car, 
 drawing-room ar, two whole cars with sleeping apart- 
 ments! Wouldn't you like to be a son of ; the Coal 
 King?" 
 
 " Has he come on account of the mine-disaster ? " 
 
 " Mine-disaster ?.' ? echoed Keating. "I doubt if he's 
 heard of it. They've been on a trip to the Grand Canyon, 
 I was told; there's a baggage-ear with four automo- 
 biles." 
 
 P Is Old Peter with them ? " 
 
 " No, he's in New. York. Percy's the host. He's got 
 one of his automobiles out, and was up in town two 
 other fellows and some girls." 
 
 "Who's in his .party?" 
 
 ft I couldn't find out. You can see, it might be a story 
 for the Gazette the Coal King's son, coming by 
 chance at the moment when a hundred and se^ven of his 
 serfs are perishing in the mine ! If I could only have got 
 him to say a word about the disaster! If I could even 
 have got him to say he didn't know about it ! " 
 
 "Did you try?" 
 
 " What am I a reporter for ? " 
 
 "What happened?" 
 
 " Nothing happen'ed ; except that he froze me stiff." 
 
 "Where was this?" 
 
 " On the street. They stopped at a drug-store, and I 
 stepped up. ' Is this Mr. Percy H#rrigan 2 ' He was 
 looking into the store, over my head. ' I'm a reporter/ I 
 said, ' and I'd like to ask you about the accident up at 
 North Valley.' ' Excuse me,' Ire said, in a tone gee, it 
 makes your blood cold to think of it! ; Just a word,' 
 I pleaded, 'I don't give interviews/, he answered; and 
 that was all- he continued looking over my head, and 
 everybody else staring in front of them. They had turned 
 
234 KING COAL 
 
 to ice at ray first word. If ever I felt like a frozen 
 worm ! " 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 " Ain't it wonderful/' reflected Billy, " how quick you 
 can build up an aristocracy! When you looked at that 
 car, the crowd in it and the airs they wore, you'd think 
 they'd been running the world since the time of William 
 the Conqueror. And Old Peter came into this country 
 with a pedlar's pack on his shoulders ! " 
 
 " We're hustlers here," put in .MacKellar. 
 
 " We'll hustle all the way to hell in a generation more," 
 said the reporter. Then, after a minute, u Say, but there's 
 one girl in that bunch that was the real thing ! She sure 
 did get me! You know all those fluffy things they do 
 themselves up in soft and fuzzy, makes you think of 
 spring-time orchards. This one \vas exactly the colour of 
 apple^blossorns." 
 
 " You're susceptible to the charms of the ladies ? " in- 
 quired Hal, mildly. 
 
 " I am," said the other. " I know it's all fake, but just 
 the same, it makes, my little heart go pit-a-pat. I always 
 want to think they're as lovely as they look." 
 
 Hal's smile became reminiscent, and he- quoted : 
 
 " Oh Liza- Ann, come out with me, 
 The moon is a-shinin' in the monkey-puzzle tree! " 
 
 Then he stopped, with a laugh. " Don't wear your 
 heart on your sleeve, Mr. Keating. She wouldn't be above 
 taking a peck at it as she passed." 
 
 " At me ? A worm of a newspaper reporter ? " 
 
 " At you, a man ! "laughed Hal. " I wouldn't want to 
 accuse the lady of posing;" but a lady has her role in life, 
 and has to keep her hand in." 
 
 There was a pause. The reporter was looking at the 
 young miner with sudden curiosity. " See here," 'he re- 
 marked^ "'I've been wondering about you. How do you 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 235 
 
 come to' know so much about the psychology of the .leisure 
 class ? " 
 
 " I used to have money once," said Hal. " My family's 
 gone down as Quickly as the Harrigans .have come up." 
 
 10. Hal we^nt on 'to question Keating about the 
 apple-blossom girl. "Maybe I, could guess who she is. 
 What colour was her hair '( " 
 
 " The colour of molasses .taffy when you've pulled it 1 /' 
 said Billy; "but all fluffy and wonderful, with star-dust 
 in, it. Her eyes were brown, and her cheeks pink and 
 cream." 
 
 " She had two rows of pearly white teeth, that flashed at 
 you when she smiled ? " 
 "'She didn't smile, unfortunately." 
 
 " Then her brown eyes gazed at you, wide open, full of 
 wonder ? " 
 
 "Yes, they did -only it was into the drug-store win- 
 dow." 
 
 " Did she wear a white hat of soft straw, with a green 
 and white flower garden on it, and an olive green veil, and 
 maybe cream white ribbons ? " 
 
 " By George, I believe you've seen her ! " exclaimed the 
 reporter. 
 
 " Maybe," said Hal. " Or maybe I'm describing the 
 girl on the cover of one of the current magazines! " He 
 smiled ; but then, seeing the other's curiosity, " Seriously, 
 I think I do know your young lady. If you announce 
 that Miss Jessie Arthur is a member of the Harrigan 
 party, you won't be taking a long chance." 
 
 " I can't afford to take any chance at all," said the 
 reporter. " You mean Robert Arthur's daughter ?-" 
 
 "Heiress-apparent of the banking business of Arthur 
 and Sons," said Hal. " It happens I know her by sight." 
 
 "How's that?" 
 
23.6 KING COAL 
 
 " I worked in a grocery-store where she used to come." 
 ' " Whereabouts ? " 
 
 " Peterson and Company, in Western City." 
 
 " -Oho ! And you used to sell her candy." 
 
 " Stuffed dates." 
 
 " And your little heart used to go pit-a-pat, so that 
 you could hardly count the change .? " 
 
 " Gave her too much,, several times! " 
 
 " And you wondered if she was as good as .she was beau- 
 tiful ! One day you were thrilled with hope, the next you 
 were cynical and bitter till at last you gave up in de- 
 spair,, and ran away to work in a coal-mine ! " 
 
 They laughed, and MacKellar and Edstrom joined in. 
 But suddenly Keating became serious again. " I ought 
 to be away on that story! " he exclaimed. ' " I've got to 
 get something out of that crowd about the disaster. Think 
 what copy it would make ! " 
 
 " But how x can you do it ? " 
 
 .".I don't know; I only know I ought to be trying. I'll 
 hang round the train, and maybe I can get one. of the 
 porters to talk." 
 
 " Interview with the Coal King's porter ! " chuckled 
 Hal. " How it feels to make up a multi-millionaire's 
 bed!" 
 
 " How it feels to sell stuffed dates to a banker's daugh- 
 ter ! " countered the other. 
 
 But suddenly it was Hal's turn to become serious. 
 "Listen, Mr. Keating," said he, " why not let me inter- 
 view 7 young Harrigan ? " 
 
 "You?" 
 
 " Yes ! I'm' the proper person one of his miners! 
 I help to make his money for him, don't I \ I'm the one 
 to tell him about North Valley." 
 
 Hal saw the reporter staring at him in sudden excite- 
 ment ; he continued : " I've been to the District Attorney, 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 237 
 
 the Justice of the Peace, the District Judge, the Mayor 
 and the Chief of Police. Now, why shouldn't I go to the 
 Owner?" 
 
 u By thunder ! " cried Billy. " I believe you'd have the 
 nerve ! " 
 
 " I believe I would," replied Hal, quietly. 
 
 The other scrambled out of his chair, wild with delight. 
 " I dare you ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " I'm ready," said Hal. 
 
 " You mean it ?" 
 
 " Of course I mean it." 
 
 " In that costume ? " 
 
 " Certainly. I'm one of his miners." 
 
 "But it won't go," cried the reporter. "You'll stand 
 no chance to get near him unless you're well dressed." 
 
 "Are you sure of tljat '? What I've got on might 
 'be the garb of a railroadrhand. Suppose there was some- 
 thing out of order in one of the cars the plumbing, for 
 example ? " 
 
 " But you couldn't fool the conductor or the porter." 
 
 " I might be able to. Let's try it." 
 
 There was a pause, while Keating thought. "The 
 truth is," he said, " it doesn't matter whether you succeed 
 or not it's a story if you even make the attempt. The 
 Coal King's son appealed to by one of his serfs ! The 
 hard heart of Plutocracy rejects the cry of Labour ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Hal, " but I really mean to get to him. 
 Do you suppose he's got back to- the train yet ? " 
 
 " They were starting to it when I left." 
 
 " And where is the train ? " 
 
 " Two or three hundred yards east of the station, I was 
 told." 
 
 MacKellar and Edstrom had been listening enthralled 
 to this exciting conversation. " That ought to be just back 
 of my house," said the former. 
 
238 KING COAL 
 
 " It's a short train four parlour-cars and a baggage- 
 car/' added Keating. "It ought to be easy to recog- 
 
 nise/' 
 
 The old Scotchman put in an objection. " The diffi- 
 culty may be to get out of this house. I don't believe they 
 mean to let you get away to-night.' 7 
 
 "By Jove, that's so!" exclaimed Keating. "We're 
 talking too much let's get busy. Are they watching the 
 back door, do you suppose ? " 
 
 " They've been watching it all day," said MacKellar. 
 
 " Listen," broke in Hal " I've an idea. They haven't 
 tried to interfere with your going out, have they, Mr* Keat- 
 ing?" 
 
 " No, not yet." 
 
 " Nor with you, Mr. MacKellar ? " 
 
 " No, not yet," said the Scotchman. 
 
 " Well," Hal suggested, " suppose you lend me your 
 crutches ? " 
 
 Whereat Keating gave an exclamation of delight. 
 "The very thing!'' 
 
 " Til take your over-coat and hat," Hal added. " I've 
 watched you get about, and I think I can give an imita- 
 tion. As for Mr. Keating, he's not easy to mistake." 
 
 " Billy, the fat boy! " laughed the other. " Come, let's 
 get on the job ! " 
 
 "I'll go out by the front door at the same time," put in 
 Edstrom, his old voice trembling with excitement. " May- 
 be that'll help to throw them off the track." 
 
 11. They had been sitting upstairs in MacKellar s 
 room. f Now they rose, and were starting for the stairs, 
 when suddenly there came a ring at the front door bell. 
 They stopped and stared at one another. " There they 
 are ! " whispered Keating. ' 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 239 
 
 And MacKellar sat down suddenly, and held out his 
 crutches to Hal. " The hat and coat are in the front 
 hall," he exclaimed. "Make a try for itf" His words 
 were full of -vigour,, but like Edstrom, his voice was 
 trembling. He was no longer young, and could not take 
 adventure gaily. 
 
 Hal and Keating ran downstairs, followed by Edstrom. 
 Hal put on the coat and hat, and they went to the back 
 door, while at the same 1 time Edstrom answered the bell in 
 front. 
 
 The back door opened into a yard, and this gave, through 
 a side gate, into an alley. Hal's heart was pounding furi- 
 ously as he began to hobble along with the crutches. He 
 had to go at MacKellar's slow pace while Keating, at 
 his side, started talking. He informed " Mr. MacKel- 
 lar," in a casual voice, that the Gazette was a newspaper 
 which believed in the people's cause, and was pledged to 
 publish the people's side of all public questions. Dis- 
 coursing thus, they went out of the gate and into the 
 alley. 
 
 A man emerged from the shadows and walked by them. 
 He passed within three feet of Hal, and peered at him, 
 narrowly. Fortunately there was no moon; Hal could 
 not see the man's face, and hoped the man could not see 
 his. 
 
 Meantime Keating was proceeding with his discourse. 
 " You . ; understand, Mr. MacKellar," he was saying, 
 " sometimes it's difficult to find out the truth in a situa- 
 tion like this. When the interests are filling their news- 
 papers with falsehoods and exaggerations, it's a tempta- 
 tion for us to publish falsehoods and exaggerations on the 
 other side. x But we find in the long run that it pays best to 
 publish the truth, Mr. MacKellar -we can stand by it, 
 and there's no come-back." 
 
 Hal, it must be admitted, was not paying much atten- 
 tion to this edifying sermon. He was looking ahead, to 
 
240 KING COAL 
 
 where the alley debouched onto the street. It was the 
 street behind MacKellar's house, arid only ! a block from the 
 railroad-track. ". 
 
 He dared not look behind, but he was straining his ears. 
 Suddenly he heard a shout, in John Edstrom's voice. 
 "Run! Run!" 
 
 .In a flash, Hal dropped the two crutches, arid started 
 down the alley, Keating at his heels. They heard cries 
 behind them, and a voice, sounding quite near, , com- 
 manded, "Halt!" They had reached the end of the 
 alley, and were in the act of swerving, when a shot 
 rang out and there was a crash of glass in a house beyond 
 them on the far side of the street. 
 
 Farther on was a vacant lot with a path running across 
 it. .-Following this, they dodged behind some shanties, 
 and came to another street and so to the railroad 
 tracks. There was a long line of freight-cars before them, 
 and they ran between two of these, and climbing over the 
 couplings, saw a great engine standing, its headlight gleam- 
 ing full in their eyes. They sprang in front of it, and 
 alongside the Strain, passing a tender, then a baggage-car, 
 then a parlour-car. 
 
 " Here we are!" exclaimed Keating, who was puffing 
 like a bellows. 
 
 Hal saw that there were only three more cars to the 
 fraiu ; also, he saw a man in a blue uniform standing at 
 the steps. He, dashed towards him. "Your car?s on 
 fire!"" he cried. 
 
 " What? " exclaimed the man. " Where ? " 
 
 " Here ! " cried Hal ;< and in a flash he had sprung past, 
 the' other, up the steps and into the car. 
 
 There was a long, narrow corridor, to be recognised as 
 the kitchen portion of a dining-car; at the other end of 
 this corridor was a swinging door, and to this Hal leaped. 
 He heard the conductor shouting to him to stop, but he 
 paid no heed. He slipped off his over-coat and hat; and 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 241 
 
 then, pushing open the door, he entered a brightly -lighted 
 apartment and the presence of the Coal King's son. 
 
 12. White linen and cut glass of the dining-saloon- 
 shone brilliantly under electric lights, softened to the eye 
 by pink shades. Seated at the tables were half a dozen 
 young men and as many young ladies, all in evening cos- 
 tume ; also two or three older ladies, They had begun 
 the first course of their meal, and were laughing and chat- 
 ting, when suddenly came this unexpected visitor, clad in 
 coal-stained miner's jumpers. He was not disturbing in 
 the manner of his entry ; but immediately behind him came 
 a fat man, perspiring, wild of aspect, and wheezing like 
 an old fashioned steam-engine ; behind him came the con- 
 ductor of the train, in a no less evident state of agita- 
 tion. So, of course, conversation ceased. The young 
 ladies turned in their chairs,: while several of the young 
 men sprang to their feet. 
 
 There followed a silence: until finally one of the young 
 men took a step forward. " What's this ? " he demanded, 
 as one who had a right to demand. 
 
 Hal advanced towards the speaker, a slender youth, 
 correct in appearance, but not distinguished looking. 
 " Hello, Percy ! " said Hal. 
 
 A look of amazement came upon the other's face. He 
 stared, but seemed unable to believe what he saw. And 
 then suddenly came a cry from one of the young ladies; 
 the one having hair the colour of molasses taffy when 
 youVe pulled it : but all fluffy and wonderful, with star- 
 dust in, it. Her cheeks were pink and cream, and her 
 brown eyes gazed, wide'open, full of wonder. She wore a 
 dinner, gown of soft olive green, with a cream white scarf 
 of some filmy material thrown about her bare shoulders. 
 '" She had started to her feet. " It's Hal ! " she cried. 
 
242 KING COAL 
 
 " Hal Warner ! " echoed young Harrigan. " Why, 
 what iii the world ? " 
 
 He was interrupted by a clamour outside. " Wait a 
 moment," said Hal, quietly. " I think some one else is 
 coming in." 
 
 The door was pushed violently open. It was pushed so 
 violently that Billy Keating and the conductor were 
 thrust to one side; and Jeff Cotton appeared in the en- 
 trance. 
 
 The camp-marshal was breathless, his face full of the 
 passion of the hunt. In his right hand he carried a re- 
 volver. He glared about him, and saw the two men he 
 was chasing; also he saw the Coal King's son, and the rest 
 of the astonished company. 'He stood, stricken dumb. 
 
 The door was pushed again, forcing him aside, and two 
 more men crowded in, both of them carrying revolvers in 
 their hands. The foremost was Pete Hanun, and he also 
 stood staring. The " breaker of "teeth " had two teeth of 
 his own missing, and when his prize-fighter's jaw dropped 
 down, the deficiency became conspicuous. It was proba- 
 bly his first entrance into society, and he was like an over- 
 grown boy caught in the jam-closet. 
 
 Percy Harrigan's manner became distinctly imperious. 
 "What does this mean?" he demanded. 
 
 It was Hal who answered. " I am seeking a crimi-' 
 nal, Percy." 
 
 "What?" There were little cries of alarm from the 
 women. 
 
 ' Yes, a criminal ; the man who sealed up the mine." 
 
 " Sealed up the mine? " echoed the other. " What do 
 you mean ? " 
 
 " Let me -explain. First, I will introduce my friends. 
 Harrigan, this is my friend Keating." 
 
 Billy suddenly realised that he had a hat on his head. 
 He jerked it off; but for the rest, his social instincts failed 
 
 

 THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 243 
 
 him. He could only stare. He had not yet got all his 
 breath. 
 
 ''Billy's a reporter," said Hal. "But you needn't 
 worry he's a gentleman, and won't betray a confidence. 
 You understand, Billy." 
 
 " Y yes," said Billy, faintly. 
 
 " And this," said Hal, " is Jeff Cotton, camp-marshal at 
 North Valley. I suppose you know, Percy, that the 
 North Valley mines belong to the ( G. E. C.' Cotton, this 
 is Mr. Harrigan." 
 
 Then Cotton remembered his hat; also his revolver, 
 which he tried to get out of sight behind his back. 
 
 " And this," continued Hal, " is Mr. Pete Hanun, by 
 profession a breaker of teeth. This other gentleman, 
 whose name I don't know,, is presumably .an assistant- 
 breaker." So Hal went on, observing the forms of social 
 intercourse, his purpose being to give his mind a chance 
 to work. So much depended upon the tactics he chose in 
 this emergency ! Should he take Percy to one side and 
 tell him the story quietly, leaving it to his sense of jus- 
 tice and humanity ? No, that was not the way one dealt 
 with the Harrigans! They had bullied their way to the 
 front; if anything 'were done with them, it would be by 
 force ! If anything were done with Percy, it would be by 
 laying hold of him before these guests, exposing the situa- 
 tion, and using their feelings to coerce him ! 
 
 The Coal King's son ' was asking questions again. 
 What was all this about? So Hal began to describe the 
 condition of the men inside the mine. " They have no 
 food or water, except what they had in their dinner-pails ; 
 and it's been three days and a half since the explosion! 
 They are "breathing bad air; their heads are aching, the 
 veins swelling in their foreheads ; their tongues are crack- 
 ing, they are lying on the ground, gasping. But they are 
 waiting kept alive by the faith they have in their friends 
 
244 KING COAL 
 
 on the surface, who will try to get to them. They dare 
 not take down the barriers, because the gases would kill 
 them at once. But they know the rescuers will come, so 
 they listen for the sounds of axes and picks. That is the 
 situation." 
 
 Hal stopped and waited for some sign of concern from 
 young Harrigan. But no such sign was given. Hal 
 went on : 
 
 " Think of it, Percy! There is one old man in that 
 mine, an Irishman who has a wife and eight children wait- 
 ing to learn about his fate. I knW one woman who has 
 a husband and three sons in the mine. For three days and 
 a half the women and children have been standing at the 
 pit-mouth ; I have seen them sitting with their heads sunk 
 upon their knees, or shaking their fists, screaming curses 
 at the criminal who is to blame.' 7 
 
 There was a pause. " The criminal ? " inquired 
 young Harrigan. "I don't understand !. " 
 
 " You'll hardly be able to believe it; but nothing has 
 been done to rescue these men. The criminal has nailed 
 a cover of boards over the pit-mouth, and put tarpaulin 
 over it sealing up men and boys to die ! " 
 
 There was a murmur of horror from the diners. 
 
 " I know, you can't conceive such a thing. The reason 
 is, there's a fire in the mine; if the fan is set to working, 
 the coal will burn. But at the same time, , some of the 
 passages could be got clear of smoke, and some of the men 
 could be rescued. So it's a question .of property against 
 lives ; and the criminal has decided for the property. He 
 proposes to wait a week, two weeks, until the fire has been 
 smothered ; then of course the men and boys will be dead." 
 
 There was a silence. It was broken by young Harri- 
 gan. " Who has done this? " 
 
 " His name is Enos Cartwright." 
 
 " But who is he ? " 
 y " Just now when I said that I was seeking the crimi- 
 

 THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 245 
 
 nal, I , misled you a little, Ifercy. I did it because I 
 wanted to collect my thoughts." Hal paused: when he con- 
 tinued, ; his voice was sharper, his sentences falling like 
 hlows. '" The criminal I've been telling you about is the 
 superintendent of the mine a man employed and put in 
 authority by the General Fuel Company. The one who is 
 being chased is not the one who sealed up the mine,. but the 
 one who proposed to have it opened. He is being treated 
 as a malefactor, because the laws of the state, as well as 
 the laws of humanity, have : been suppressed by the Gen- 
 eral Fuel Company ; he was forced to seek refuge in your 
 car, in order to save his life from thugs and gunmen in the 
 company's employ ! " 
 
 13. .Knowing these people well,. Hal could measure 
 the effect of the thunderbolt he had hurled among them. 
 They were people to whom good taste was the first of all 
 the virtues; he knew how he was offending them. If he 
 was to win them to the least extent, he must explain his 
 presence here i- a trespasser upon the property of the 
 Harrig#ns. 
 
 " Percy," he continued, " you remember how you used 
 to jump on me last year at college, because I listened to 
 1 .muck-rakers,' You saw fit to take personal offence at 
 it. You knew that their tales couldn't be true. But I 
 wanted to see for myself, so I went to work in a coal- 
 mine. I saw the explosion; I saw this man, Jei! Cot- 
 ton, driving women and children away from the pit-mouth 
 with blows and curses. I set out to help the men in the 
 mine, and the marshal rushed me out of camp. He told 
 me that if I didn't go about my business, something would 
 happen to me on a dark night. And you see this is a 
 dark night!" 
 
 17, 
 
246 KING COAL 
 
 Hal waited, to give young Harrigaii a chance to 'grasp 
 this situation and to take command. But apparently 
 young Harrigaii was not aware of the presence of the canip- 
 inarshal and his revolver. Hal tried again: 
 
 " Evidently these men wouldn't have minded killing 
 me; they fired at me just now. The marshal still has the 
 revolver and you can smell the pOwder-smoke. So I took 
 the liberty of entering your car, Percy. It was to save 
 my 'life, and 'you'll have to excuse me." 
 
 The Coal King's son had here a sudden opportunity to 
 be magnanimous. He made haste to avail himself of it. 
 "'Of course, Hal/ 7 he said. " It was quite all right to 
 come here. If our employes were behaving in such fash- 
 ion, it was without authority, and they will surely pay for 
 it." He spoke with quiet certainty ; it was the Harrigan 
 manner, and before it Jeff Cotton and the two mine-guards 
 seemed to wither and shrinjj. 
 
 "Thank you, Percy," said Hal. "" It's what I knew 
 you'd say. I'm sorry to have disturbed your dinner- 
 party " 
 
 " Not at all, Hal; it was nothing of a party." 
 
 "You see, Percy, it was not only to save myself, but 
 the people in the mine! They are dying, and every mo- 
 ment is precious. It will take ; a day at least to get to 
 them, so they'll be at their last gasp. Whatever's to be 
 clone must be done at once." 
 
 Again Hal waited until the pause became awkward. 
 The diners had so far been looking at him; but now 
 they were looking at young Harrigan, and young Harrigan 
 felt the change. 
 
 " I don't know just what you expect of me, Hal. My 
 father employs competent men to manage his bu^ine'ss, and 
 I certainly don't feel that I know enough to. give them any 
 suggestions." This again in the Harrigan manner; but 
 it weakened before Hal's firm gaze. " What can I do ? " 
 
 " You can give the order to open the mine, to reverse the 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 247 
 
 fan and start it. That will draw out the smoke and gases, 
 and the rescuers can go down.' 7 
 
 " But Hal, I assure you I have no authority to give 
 such an -order." 
 
 "You must -take the authority. Your father's in the 
 East, the officers of the company are in their beds at 
 >home; you are here! " 
 
 " But I don't understand such things, Hal! I don't 
 know anything of the situation ---except what you tell me. 
 And while I don't doubt your word, any man -may make 
 a mistake in such' a situation. 7 ' 
 
 " Come arid see for yourself, Percy! That's all I ask, 
 and it's easy enough. Here i your train, your engine 
 with steam up; have us .switched onto the North Valley 
 branch,, and we can be at the mine in half an -hour. Then 
 
 let me take you to the men who know! Men who've 
 been working all their lives in mines, who've seen acci- 
 dents ilike this many times, and who will tell you the truth 
 
 that, there's a chance of saving many lives,, and that the 
 chance is being thrown away to save some thousands of 
 dollars' w^orth of coal and timbers and track." 
 
 " But even if that's true, Hal, I have no \ power ! " 
 -.-" If you -come there, you can cut the red-tape in one 
 minute. What those bosses are doing is a thing that can 
 only be done in darkness!." 
 
 Under the pressure of Hal's vehemence, the Harrigan 
 manner was failing.; the Coal King's son was becoming 
 a bewildered and quite ordinary youth. But there was' a 
 power greater than Hal behind him. He shook his T head. 
 " It's the old man's business, Hal. I've no right to butt 
 in!" 
 
 The other, in his desperate ne,ed, turned to the rest 
 of the party. His gate, moving from one face to an- 
 other, rested upon the rnazagine-eover countenance, with 
 the brown eyes wide open, full of wonder. 
 
 " Jessie ! What do you think about it ? " 
 
248 KING COAL 
 
 The girl started, and distress leaped into her face. 
 " How do you mean, Hal \ " 
 
 " Tell him he ought to^ save those lives ! " 
 
 The moments seemed ages as Hal waited. It was a 
 test, he realised. The brawn eyes dropped. "I don't 
 understand such things, Hal ! " 
 
 " But, Jessie, I am explaining them ! Here are men 
 and boys being suffocated to death, in order to save a little 
 money. Isn't that-plain ? " 
 
 " But how can I know, Hal ? " 
 
 " I'm giving you my word, Jessie. Surely I wouldn't 
 appeal to you unless I knew." 
 
 Still she hesitated. And there came a swift note of 
 feeling into his voice : " Jessie, dear ! " 
 
 As if under a spell, the girl's eyes were raised to his ; 
 he saw a scarlet flame of embarrassment spreading .over her 
 throat and cheeks. " Jessie, I know it seems an intolera- 
 ble thing to ask! You've never been rude to a friend. 
 But I remember once you forgot your good manners, when 
 you saw a rough fellow on the street beating an old drudge- 
 horse. Don't you remember how you rushed *at him 
 like a wild thing ! And now think of it, dear, here are 
 old drudge-creatures being tortured to death; but not 
 horses working : men ! " 
 
 Still the girl gazed at him.' He could read grief, dis- 
 may in her eyes; he saw tears steal from them, and stream 
 down her cheeks. "Oh, I don't know, I don't know!" 
 she cried ; and hid her face in her hands, and began to sob 
 aloud. 
 
 14. There was a painful pause. HaPs gaze travelled 
 on, and came to a grey-haired lady in a black dinner- 
 gown, with a rope of pearls about her neck. " Mrs. Cur- 
 tis ! Surely you will advise him ! " 
 
 The grey-haired lady started' was there no limit to his 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 249 
 
 impudence? She had witnessed the torturing of Jessie. 
 But Jessie was his fiancee; he had no such claim upon Mrs. 
 Curtis. She answered, with iciness in her tone : . " I 
 could not undertake to dictate to my host in such a mat- 
 ter." 
 
 "Mrs. Curtis! You have founded a charity for the 
 helping of stray cats and dogs ! " These words rose to 
 Hal's lips .; but he did not say them. His eyes moved on. 
 Who else might help to bully a Harrigan ? 
 
 Next to Mrs. Curtis sat Reggie Porter, with a rose in 
 the button-hole of his dinner-jacket. Hal knew the role 
 in which Reggie was there a kind of male chaperon, 
 an assistant host, an admirer to the wealthy, a solace to 
 the bored. Poor Reggie lived other people's lives, his soul 
 perpetually a-quiver with other people's excitements, with* 
 gossip, preparations for tea-parties, praise of tea-parties 
 past. And always the soul was pushing; calculating, 
 measuring opportunities, making up in tact and elegance 
 for distressing lack of money. Hal got one swift glimpse 
 of the face; the sharp little black moustaches seemed^ 
 standing up with excitement, and in a flash of horrible in- 
 tuition Hal read the situation Reggie .was expecting 
 to be questioned, and had got ready an answer that would 
 increase his social capital in the Harrigan family bank! 
 
 Across the aisle sat Genevieve Halsey: tall, erect, built 
 on the scale of a statue. You thought of the ox-eyed 
 Juno, and imagined stately emotions ; but when you came 
 to know Genevieve, you discovered that her mind was slow, 
 and entirely occupied with herself. Next to her was 
 Bob Creston, smooth-shaven, rosy-cheeked, exuding well- 
 being what is called a " good fellow," with a wholesome 
 ambition to win cups for his athletic club, and to keep up 
 the score of his rifle-team of the state militia. Jolly Bob 
 might have spoken, out of his good heart; but he was in 
 love with a cousin of Percy's, Betty Gunnison, who sat 
 across the table from him^ and 'Hal saw her black eyes 
 
250 KING COAL 
 
 shining, her little fists; clenched tightly, her lips, pressed 
 white. Hal understood Betty she was one of the Har^ 
 rigans, working at the Harrigan family task of making the 
 children of a pack-pedlar into leaders in the " younger 
 set"! 
 
 Next sa " Vivie " Cass> whose talk was of horses, and 
 dogs and such ungirlish matters ; Hal had discussed social' 
 questions in her presence, and heard her view expressed in 
 one flashing sentence " If a man eats with his. knife, I 
 consider him my personal enemy ! " Over her shoulder 
 peered the face of a man with pale eyes and yellow mous- 
 taches Bert Atkins, cynical and world-weary, whom the 
 papers referred to as a " club-man," and whom Hal's 
 brother had called a -".taime cat." There was /Dicky" 
 lilverson, like Hal, a favourite of the ladies, but nothing 
 more ; " Billy " Harris, son of another, " coal man " ; 
 Daisy, his sister; and Blanche Vagleman,: whose father 
 was Old Peter's head lawyer, whose' brother was the local 
 counsel, and publisher of the Pedro Star. 
 
 ,So Hal's eyes moved from face to face,, and, his mind, 
 from; personality to personality. It was like the .unrolling 
 of a scroll; a panorama of a : world he had half forgotten. 
 lie had no time for reflection, but one impression came to 
 him, swift and overwhelming. Once he had lived in this 
 world and taken it as a matter of course, lie had known 
 these people, gone about with them; they had, seemed 
 friendly, obliging, a good sort of people on-. the whole, 
 And now, what, a change! They seemed ..no longer 
 friendly! Was the change in them? Or was it Hal who 
 had become cynical so that he saw them in this terri- 
 fying new light, cold, and unconcerned; as the stars about 
 men who were dying a few miles away,! 
 
 Hal's eyes came , back to the Coal King's son, and he 
 discovered that Percy was white .wjth anger. . "I : assure 
 you, Hal, there's no use going on with this. I have nq 
 intention of letting myself be bulldozed." 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 251 
 
 Percy's gaze shifted with sudden purpose to the 
 camp-gnarshal. "Cotton, what do you say about this? 
 Is Mr. Warner, correct in his idea of the situation? " 
 
 "You know what such a man would say, Percy!'' 
 broke in Hal. 
 
 ."I don't," v^as the reply. "I wish to know. What 
 is it, Cotton '( " 
 
 "He's mistaken, Mr. Harrigan." The marshal's, voice 
 was sharp and defiant. 
 
 " In what way ? " 
 
 " The company's doing everything to get . the mine 
 open, and has. been from, the beginning." 
 
 "Oh!" And there was triumph in Percy's voice. 
 "What is the cause of the delay \ " 
 
 " The fan was broken, and we had to send for , a new 
 one. It's a job to set: it up such things can't be done in 
 an hour." 
 
 Percy. : turned to Hal. "You see! There are two 
 opinions, at least ! " 
 
 " Of course !" ,cried Betty Gunnison, her black eyes 
 snapping at Hal. She would have said more, but H&l in- 
 terrupted, stepping closer to his host. "Percy," he said, 
 in a low voice, " come back here, please. I have a word 
 to say to you alone." 
 
 There was just a hint of menace in Hal's voice ; his 
 gaze went to the far end of the car, a space occupied 'only 
 by two negro waiters. These retired in, haste- as the young 
 men moved towards them ; and so, having the Coal King's 
 son to himself, Hal went in to finish this fight. 
 
 15. Percy Harrigan was known ta Hal, as a college- 
 boy is known to his class-mates. He was not brutal, like 
 his grim old father; he was merely self-indulgent, as one 
 who had. always had everything.; he was weak, as one who 
 had never had to take a bold resolve. He had been, brought 
 
252 KING COAL 
 
 up by the women of the family, to be a part of. what they 
 called " society " ; in which process he had been given high 
 notions of his own importance. The life of the Harri 1 
 gans was dominated by one painful memory that of a 
 pedlar's pack; and Hal knew that Percy's most urgent 
 purpose was to be regarded as a real and; true and free- 
 handed aristocrat. It was this knowledge Hal was using 
 in his attack. 
 
 He began with apologies, attempting to soothe the other's 
 anger. He had not meant to make a scene like this; it 
 was the 'gunmen who had forced it, putting his life in 
 danger. It was the very devil, being chased about at 
 night and shot at! He had lost his nerve, really; he 
 had forgot what little manners he had been able to keep 
 as a miner's buddy. He had made a spectacle of himself; 
 good Lord yes, he realised how he must seem ! 
 
 And Hal looked at his dirty miner's jumpers, and 
 then at --Percy.' He could see that Percy was ' in hearty 
 agreement thus far he had indeed made a spectacle of 
 himself, and of Percy too I Hal was sorry about this lat- 
 ter, but here they were, in a pickle, and it Was certainly too 
 late now. This story was out -^- there could be no sup- 
 pressing it! Hal might sit down on his reporter-friend, 
 Percy might sit down 011 the waiters arid the con- 
 ductor and the camp-marshal and the gunmen but he 
 could not possibly sit down on all his friends! They 
 would talk about nothing else for weeks ! The story would 
 be all over Western City in a day this amazing, melo- 
 dramatic, teri-twenty-thirty story of a miner's buddy in the 
 private car of the Coal King's son ! 
 
 " And you must see, Percy," Hal went on, " it's the sort 
 of thing that sticks to a man. It's the thing by which 
 everybody will form their idea of you as long as you live ! " 
 
 " I'll take my chances with my friends' criticism/' said 
 the other, with some attempt at the Harrigan manner. 
 
 " You can make it whichever kind of story you choose," 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 253 
 
 continued Hal, implacably. " The world will say, He de- 
 cided for the dollars; or it will say, He, decided for the 
 lives. .Surely, Percy, your family doesn't need those par- 
 ticular dollars so badly! Why, you've spent, more on this 
 one train-trip ! " 
 
 And Hal waited, to give his victim time to calculate. 
 
 The result of the thinking was a question worthy of Old 
 Peter. ' " What are you getting, out of this? " 
 
 " Percy," said Hal, " you .must know I'm getting noth- 
 ing ! If you can't understand it otherwise, say to yourself 
 that you are dealing with a man who's irresponsible. I've 
 seen so many terrible things I've been chased around so 
 much by camp-marshals why, Percy, that man Cotton 
 has six notches on his gun! I'm simply crazy! " And 
 into the brown eyes of this miner's buddy came a look .wild 
 enough to convince a stronger man than Percy Harrigaii. 
 " I've got just one idea left in the world, Percy to save 
 those miners ! You make a mistake unless you realise : how 
 desperate I am. So far I've done this thing incog ! I've 
 been Joe Smith, a miner's buddy. If I'd come out and 
 told rny real' name well, maybe I wouldn't have made 
 them open the mine, but at least I'd have made a lot of 
 trouble for the G. F.'C. ! . But I didn't do it ; I knew what 
 a scandal it would make, and there .was something I owed 
 my father. But if I see there's no other way, if it's a 
 question of letting those people perish, I'll throw every- 
 thing else to the winds. Tell your father that ; tell him I 
 threatened to turn this man Keating loose and blow the 
 filing wide open denounce the company, appeal to the 
 Governor, raise a disturbance and get arrested on the 
 street, if necessary, in order to force the facts before the 
 public.* You see, I've got the facts, Percy! I've been 
 there and seen with my own eyes. Can't you realise 
 that?" 
 
 The other did, not answer, but it was evident that he 
 realised. 
 
KI1STG COAL 
 
 '"On the other hand, see how you can fix it, if you 
 choose. You were on a pleasure trip when you heard of 
 thig disaster; you rushed up and took command, you 
 opened the mine, you saved the lives of your employed 
 That is the way the papers will handle it." 
 
 Hal, watching his victim intently, and groping for the 
 path to his mind, perceived that he had gone "wrong. 
 Crude as the Harrigans were, they had learned tnat it is 
 not aristocratic to be picturesque. 
 
 " All right then'!'"" 'said Hal, quickly. " If you prefer, 
 you needn't be mentioned. The "bosses up at' : the camp 
 have the reporters under their thumbs, they'll handle the 
 story any way you want it. The one thing I care about is 
 that you run your car up and see the mine opened. Won't 
 you do it, Percy ? " 
 
 Hal was gazing into the other's eyes, knowing that life 
 and death for the miners hung upon his nod. '" Well \ 
 What is the answer? " 
 
 "Hal," exclaimed Percy, "my old man will give me 
 hell ! " 
 
 "All right; but on the other hand, Til give you hell; 
 and which will be worse ? " 
 
 Again there was a silence. " Come along, Percy ! For 
 God's sake ! " And- Hal's tone was desperate, alarming. 
 
 And suddenly the other gave way. " All right ! " 
 
 Hal drew a breath. " But mind you ! " he added. 
 " Ymi're not going up 'there to let them fool you'! They'll 
 try to bluff you out they may go as far as to refuse to 
 obey you. But you must stand by your guns for, you 
 see, I'm going along, I'm going to see that mine open. 
 I'll never quit till the rescuers have gone down!" 
 
 " Will they go, Hal ?" 
 
 "Will they go? Good God, man, they're clamouring 
 for the chance to go ! They've almost been rioting for it. 
 I'll go with them - and you, too, Percy the whole 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 255 
 
 crowd of us idlers will gD ! When we come out, we'll 
 know something about the business of coal-mining! " 
 u All right, I'm with you/ 7 said the Coal King's son. 
 
 16. Hal never knew what Percy said to Cartwright 
 that night; he only knew that when they arrived at the 
 mine the superintendent was summoned to a consultation, 
 and half an hour -later Percy emerged smiling, with the 
 announcement that Hal Warner had been mistaken all 
 along ; the mine authorities had been making all possible 
 haste to get the fan ready, with the intention of opening 
 the iriine at the earliest moment. The work was now com- 
 pleted, and in an hour 'or two the fan was to be started, and 
 by morning there' would be a chance of rescuers getting in. 
 Percy said this so innocently that for a moment Hal won- 
 derfed if Percy himself might not believe it. Hal's posi- 
 tion as guest of course required that he should graciously 
 pretend to believe it, consenting to appear as a fool before 
 the rest of the company. 
 
 Percy invited Hal and Billy Keating to spend the night 
 in the train ; but this Hal declined. He was too dirty, he 
 said ; besides-, he wanted to be up at daylight, to be one of 
 the first to go down rafe shaft. Percy answered that the 
 superintendent had vetoed this proposition .he did ot 
 want any one to go down but experienced men, who could 
 take ''care of themselves. When there Were so many on 
 hand ready and eager to go, there was no need to' imperil 
 the lives of amateurs. ; 
 
 At the risk of seeming ungracious, Hal declared that he 
 would " hang around " and see them take the cover -off 
 the pit-mouth. There were mourning parties in some of 
 the cabins, where women were gathered together who could 
 not sleep, and it would be an act of charity to take them 
 the good news. 
 
256 KING COAL 
 
 Hal and Keating set out; they went first to the Raf- 
 ferties', and saw Mrs. Jiafferty spring up and stare at 
 them, and then scream aloud to the Holy Virgin, waking 
 all the little Rafferties to frightened clamour. When 
 the woman had made sure that they really knew what they 
 were talking about, she rushed out to spread the news, and 
 so pretty soon the streets were alive with hurrying figures, 
 and a crowd gathered once more at the pit-mouth. 
 
 Hal and Keating went on to Jerry Minetti^s. Out of a 
 sense of loyalty to Percy, Hal did no more than repeat 
 Percy's own announcement, that it had been Cartwright's 
 intention all along to have the mine opened. It was funny 
 to see the effect of this statement the face with which 
 Jerry looked at Hal! But they wasted no time in dis- 
 cussion; Jerry slipped into his clothes and hurried with 
 them to the pit-mouth. 
 
 : Sure, enough-, a gang was already tearing off the boards 
 and canvas. Never since Hal had been in North Valley 
 had he seen men working with such a will! Soon the 
 great fan began to stir, and then to roar, and then to sing ; 
 and there was a crowd of a hundred people, roaring and 
 singing also. 
 
 It would be some hours before anything more could be 
 done; and suddenly Hal realised that he was exhausted. 
 He and Billy Keating went back to the Minetti cabin, 
 and spreading themselves a blanket on the fioor, lay down 
 with sighs of relief. As for Billy, he was soon snoring ; 
 but to Hal there came sudden reaction from ajl the excite- 
 ment, and sleep was far from him. 
 
 An ocean of thoughts came flooding into his mind: the 
 world outside, his world, which he had banished deliber- 
 ately for several months, and which he had so suddenly 
 been compelled to remember! It had seemed so simple, 
 what he had set out to do that summer: to take another 
 name, to become a member of another class, to live its life 
 and think its thoughts, and then come back to his own 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 257 
 
 world with a new and fascinting adventure to tell about! 
 The possibility that his own world, the world of Hal 
 Warner, might find him out as Joe Smith, the miner's 
 buddy that was a possibility which had never come to 
 his mind. He was like a burglar, working away at a job 
 in darkness, and suddenly finding the room flooded with 
 light. 
 
 He had gone into the adventure, prepared to find things 
 that would shock him; he had known that somehow, some- 
 where, he would have to fight the " system." But he had 
 never expected to find himself in the thick of the class- 
 war, leading a charge upon the trenches of his own associ- 
 ates. Nor was this the end, he knew ; this war would not 
 be settled by the winning of a trench 1 Lying here in the 
 darkness and silence, Hal was realising what he had got 
 himself in for. To employ another simile, he was a man 
 who begins a flirtation on the street, and wakes up next 
 morning to find himself married. 
 
 It was not that he had regrets for the course he had 
 taken with Percy. No other course had been thinkable. 
 But while Hal had known these North Valley people for 
 ten weeks, he had known the occupants of Percy's car for 
 as many years. So these latter personalities loomed large 
 in his consciousness, and here in the darkness their 
 thoughts about him, whether actively hostile or passively 
 astonished, laid siege to the defences of his mind. 
 
 Particularly he found himself wrestling with Jessie 
 Arthur. Her face rose up before him, appealing, yearn- 
 ing. She had one of those perfect faces, which irre- 
 sistibly compel the soul of a man. Her brown eyes, soft 
 and shining, full of tenderness ; her lips, quick to tremble 
 with emotion ; her skin like apple-blossoms, her hair with 
 star-dust in it ! Hal was cynical enough about coal-oper- 
 ators and mine-guards, but it never occurred to him that 
 Jessie's soul might be anything but what these bodily 
 charms implied. He was in love with her ; and he was too 
 
258 KING COAL 
 
 young, too inexperienced in love to, realise that .under- 
 neath the sweetness of girlhood, so genuine and so lovable, 
 might lie deep, unconscious cruelty, inherited and in- 
 stinctive the cruelty of caste, the hardness of worldly 
 prejudice. A man has to come to middle age, and to suf- 
 fer much, before he understands that the charms of women,, 
 those rare and magical perfections of eyes and teeth and 
 hair, that softness of skin and delicacy of feature, have 
 cost labour and care of many generations, and imply in- 
 evitably that life has been feral, that customs and conven- 
 tions have been murderous and inhuman. 
 
 ;, Jessie had failed Hal in his desperate emergency. But 
 now he went .over the scene, arid told .himself that the test 
 had been an unfair one. He had known her since .child- 
 hood, and loved her, and never before had lie seen an act 
 or heard a word t-hat was not gracious and kind. But 
 so he told himself she gave her sympathy to those she 
 knew; and what chance had she ever had to know work- 
 ing-people? He must give her the chance; he must com- 
 pel her, even against her will, to broaden her understand- 
 ing of life ! The process might hurt her, it might mar the 
 unlined softness of her face, but nevertheless, it would be 
 good for her it would be a " growing pain " ! 
 
 So, lying there in the darkness and silence, Hal found 
 himself absorbed in long conversation with his sweetheart. 
 He escorted her about the camp, explaining things to her, 
 introducing her to this one and that. He took others, of 
 his private-car friends and introduced them to his North 
 Valley friends. There were individuals who had qualities 
 in common, and would siirely hit it off! Bob Creston, 
 for example, who was good at a " song and dance " - he 
 would surely be interested in "Blinky," the vaudeville 
 specialist of the camp ! Mrs, Curtis, who liked cats, 
 would find a bond of sisterhood with old Mrs. Nagle, 
 who lived next door to the Minettis, and kept five! 
 And even 'Yivie ,Cass, who hated men who : ate with their 
 
THE HENCHMEN OE KING COAL 259 
 
 krr^yes $he would be driven to murder by the table r 
 manners of Reminitsky's boarders, but she would take de- 
 light in " I>ago Charlie,," the tobacco-chewing mule which 
 had orice been Hal's pet ! . Hal could hardly wait for day- 
 light to come, so that he, might begin these efforts at social 
 amalgamation ! 
 
 17. Towards dawn Hal fell asleep ; he was awakened 
 by Billy Keating, who sat up yawning, at the same time 
 grumbling and bewailing. Hal realised that .Billy also 
 had discovered troubles during the night Never in all 
 his career, as a journalist had he had such a story; never 
 had any man had sucfi a story and it must be killed ! 
 
 Cartwright had got the reporters together late the night 
 before and told them the news tjiat the. company had at 
 last succeeded in, getting .the mine ready to be opened ; .also 
 that young Mr. Harrigan was there in his private train, 
 prompted by his concern for the entombed miners. The 
 reporters would mention his coming, of course, but were 
 requested not to " play it up," nor to mention the name 
 of Mr. Harrigan's, guests. Needless to say they .were not 
 told that the " buddy '' who had been thrown out of camp 
 for insubordination, had turned out to be the son of Ed- 
 ward S. Warner, the." coal magnate, 
 
 A fine, cold rain was falling, and Hal borrowed an old 
 coat of Jerry's. and slipped it on. Little Jerry clamoured 
 to go with him, and after some controversy Hal wrapped 
 him in a shawl and slung him onto his shoulder., It was 
 barely daylight, but already the whole population of the 
 village was on hand at the pit-mouth. The helmet-men 
 had gone dowp. to. make tests,, so the hour of final revela- 
 tion was at hand. Women stood with wet shawls about 
 their hunched shoujders, their faces white and strained, 
 their suspense too great for any sort of utterance. A 
 ghastly thought it wasj.that while they were shuddering in 
 
260 KING COAL 
 
 the wet, their men below might : be expiring for lack 6f a 
 few drops of water ! 
 
 The helmet-men, coming up, reported that lights would 
 burn at the bottom of the shaft; so it was j safe for men to 
 go down without helmets, and the volunteers 'of the first 
 rescue party made ready. All night there had beeii a clat- 
 tering of hammers, where the carpenters were working on 
 a new cage. Now it was swung from the hoist, and the 
 men took their places in it. When at last the hoist be- 
 gan to move, and the group disappeared below the surface 
 of the ground, you could hear a sigh from a thousand 
 throats, like the moaning of wind in a -pine-tree. They 
 were leaving women and children above, yet not one of 
 these women would have asked them' 'to stay -such was 
 the deep unconscious bond of solidarity which made these 
 toilers of twenty nations one ! 
 
 It was a. slow process, letting down the cage; on account 
 of the danger of gas, and the 'newness of the cage, it was 
 necessary to proceed a few feet at a time, waiting for a 
 pull upon the signal-cord to tell that the men were all 
 right. After they had reached the bottom, there would 
 be 'more time, no one could say how long, before they came 
 upon survivors with signs of life in them. . There were 
 bodies near the foot ,of the shaft, according to the reports 
 of the helmet-men, but there was no use delaying to bring 
 these up, for they must have been dead for days. Hal saw 
 a crowd of women clamouring about the helmet-men, try- 
 ing to find out if these bodies had been recognised. Also 
 he saw Jeff Cotton and Bud Adams at their old duty of 
 driving the women back. 
 
 The cage returned for a second load of men. There was 
 less need of caution now; the hoist worked quickly, and 
 group after group of men with silent, set faces, and pick- 
 axes and crow-bars and ^hovels in their hands, went down 
 into the pit of terror. They would scatter through the 
 workings, testing everywhere ahead of them with safety- 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 261 
 
 lamps, and looking for 'barriers erected by the imprisoned 
 men for defence against the gases. As they hammered 
 on these barriers, perhaps they would hear the signals of 
 living men on the other side ; or they would break through 
 in silence, and find men too far gone to make a sound, yet 
 possibly with the spark of life still in them. 
 
 One by one, Hal's friends went down " Big Jack " 
 David, and Wresmak, the Bohemian, Klowoski, the Pole, 
 and finally Jerry Minetti. Little. Jerry waved his hand 
 from his perch on Hal's shoulder ; while Rosa, who had 
 come out and joined them, was clinging to Hal's arm, si- 
 lent, as if her soul were going down in the cage. There 
 went blue-eyed Tim Rafferty to look for his father, and 
 black-eyed " Andy," the Greek boy, whose father had per- 
 ished in a similar disaster years ago; there went Rovetta, 
 and Carmino, the pit-boss, Jerry's cousin. One by one 
 their names ran through the crowd, as of heroes marching 
 out to battle. 
 
 18. Looking about, Hal saw some of the guests of the 
 Harrigan party. There was Vivie Cass, standing 1 'under 
 an umbrella with Bert Atkins; and there was Bob Ores 1 
 ton with Dicky Everson. ' These two had on riiackin- 
 toshes and water-proof hats, and were talking to Cart- 
 wright; tall, immaculate men, who seemed like creatures 
 of another world beside the stunted and coal-smutted 
 miners. 
 
 Seeing Hal, they moved over to him. " Where did you 
 get the kid ? " inquired Bob, his rosy, smooth-shaven face 
 breaking- 1 into a smile. 
 
 " I picked him up," said Hal, giving Little Jerry a toss 
 and. sliding him off his shoulder. 
 
 " Hello, kid !" said Bob. 
 
 And the answer came promptly, "Hello, yourself ! " 
 Little Jerry knew how to talk American ; he was a match 
 
 18 
 
262 KING COAL 
 
 for any society man ! " My father's went down in that 
 cage/ 7 said he, looking up at the tall stranger, his bright 
 black eyes sparkling. 
 
 " Is that so ! " replied the other. " Why don't you 
 go?" 
 
 "My father'll get 'em out. He ain't afraid o' nothin', 
 my father ! " 
 
 " \Vhat's your father's name ? " 
 
 " Big Jerry." 
 
 " Oho ! And what'll you be when you grow up ? " 
 
 " I'm goin' to be a shot-firer." 
 
 "In this mine?," 
 
 "You bet not!" 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 Little Jerry looked mysterious. " I. ain't tellin' all I 
 know," said he. 
 
 The two young fellows laughed. Here was education 
 for them ! " Maybe you'll go back to the old country \ " 
 put in Dicky Ever son. 
 
 " !N"o, sir-ee ! " said Little Jerry. " I'm American." 
 
 " Maybe you'll be president some day." 
 
 " That's what my father says," replied the little chap 
 " president of a miners' union." 
 
 Again they laughed; but Rosa gave a nervous whisper 
 and caught at the child's sleeve. That was not the sort 
 of thing to say to mysterious and rich-looking strangers! 
 " This is Little Jerry's mother, Mrs. Minetti," put in Hal, 
 by way of reassuring her. 
 
 " Qlad to meet you, Mrs. Minetti," said the two: young 
 
 -men, taking off their hats with elaborate bows; they stared, 
 
 for Rosa was a pretty object as she blushed and made her 
 
 shy response. She was much embarrassed, having never 
 
 before in her life been bowed to by men like these. 
 
 And here they were greeting Joe Smith as an old friend, 
 and calling him by a strange name ! She turned her black 
 Italian eyes upon Hal in inquiry, and he felt a flush creep- 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 263 
 
 ing over him. It was almost as uncomfortable to be found 
 out by Nortli Valley as to be found out by .Western City! 
 
 The men. talked about the rescue-work, and what Cart- 
 wright had been telling of its progress. The fire was in 
 one of the main passages, and was burning out the timber- 
 ing, spreading rapidly under the draft from the reversed 
 fan. There could be little hope of rescue in this part of 
 the mine, but the helmet-men would defy the heat and 
 smoke in the burned out pa-ssages^ '-They knew how likely 
 was the collapse of such, portions of the mine; but also 
 they knew that men had been working here before the ex- 
 plosion. " I must say they're a game lot ! " remarked 
 Dicky. 
 
 A group of women and children were gathered about to 
 listen, their shyness overcome by their torturing anxiety 
 for news. They made one think of women in war-time, 
 listening to the roar of distant guns and waiting for the 
 bringing in of the wounded. Hal saw Bob and Dicky 
 glance now and then at the ring of faces about them ; they 
 ^were getting something of. this mood, and that was a part 
 of what he had desired for, them. 
 
 " Are the others coming out ? " he asked. . 
 
 " I don't know/' said Bob. " I suppose they're having 
 breakfast. It's time we went in." 
 
 "Won't you come with us? " added Dicky. 
 
 "No, thanks," replied Hal, "I've an engagement with 
 the kid- here." And he gave Little Jerry's hand a squeeze. 
 " But tell some of the other fellows to come. They'll be 
 interested in these things." 
 
 "All right," said the two, as they moved away. 
 
 19. After allowing a sufficient time for the party in 
 the dining-car to : finish breakfast, Hal went down to the 
 tracks, and induced the porter to take in his name to 
 Percy Harrigan. He was hoping to persuade Percy to see 
 
26 KING COAL 
 
 the village under other than company chaperonage; he 
 heard with dismay the announcement that the party 
 had arranged to depart in the course of a couple of 
 hours. 
 
 " But you haven't seen Anything at all ! " Hal pro- 
 tested. 
 
 " They won't let us into the mine," replied the other. 
 " What else is there we Can do ? " 
 
 " I wanted you to talk to the people and learn some- 
 thing about conditions here. You ought not to lose this 
 chance, Percy ! " 
 
 " That's all right, Hal, hut you might understand this 
 isn't a convenient time. I've" got a lot of people with me, 
 and I've no right to ask them to wait." 
 
 " But can't they learn something also, Percy ? " 
 
 " It's raining," was the reply ; " and ladies would hardly 
 care to stand round in a crowd and see dead bodies brought 
 out of a mine." 
 
 Hal got the rebuke. Yes, he had grown Callous since 
 coming to North Valley; he had lost that delicacy of 
 feeling, that intuitive understanding of the sentiments of 
 ladies, which he would surely have exhibited a short time 
 earlier in his life. He was excited about this disaster; it 
 was a personal thing to him, and he lost sight of the fact 
 that to the ladies of the Harrigan party it was, in its de- 
 tails, nierely sordid and repelling. If they went out in 
 the mud and ram of a mining-village and stood about star- 
 ing, they would feel that they were exhibiting, not human 
 compassion, but idle curiosity. The sights they would see 
 would harrow them to no purpose; and incidentally they 
 would be exposing themselves to distressing publicity. As 
 for offering sympathy to widows and orphans well, 
 these were foreigners mostly, who could not understand 
 what was said to them, and who might be more embarrassed 
 than helped by the intrusion into their grief of persons 
 from an alien world. 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 265 
 
 The business of offering sympathy had been reduced to 
 a system by the civilisation which these ladies helped to 
 maintain; and, as it happened, there was one present who 
 was familiar with this system. Mrs. Curtis had already 
 acted, so Percy informed Hal; she had passed about a 
 subscription-paper, and in a couple of minutes over a thou- 
 sand dollars had been pledged. This would be paid by 
 check' to the " Red Cross,"' whose agents would under- 
 stand how to distribute relief among such sufferers. So 
 the members of Percy's party felt that they had done the 
 proper and delicate thing, and might go their ways with a 
 quiet conscience. 
 
 " The world can't stop moving just because there's been 
 a mine-disaster," said the Coal King's son. " People have 
 engagements they must keep." 
 
 And he went on to explain what these engagements 
 were. He himself had to go to a dinner that evening, and 
 would barely be able to make it. Bert Atkins was to play 
 a challenge match at billiards, and Mrs. Curtis was to at- 
 tend a committee meeting of a woman's club. Also it was 
 the last Friday of the month ; had Hal forgotten what that 
 meant ? 
 
 After a moment Hal remembered the "Young Peo- 
 ple's Night" at the country club! He had a sudden 
 vision of the white colonial mansion on thq ; mountain-side, 
 with its doors and windows thrown wide,; and the strains 
 of an orchestra floating out. In the ball-room the young- 
 ladies of Percy's party would appear Jessie, his sweet- 
 heart, among them gowned in filmy chiffons and laces, 
 floating in a mist of perfume and colour and music. They 
 would laugh and chatter, they would flirt and scheme 
 against one another for the sovereignty of the 1 ball-room 
 while here in North Valley the spbbing widows would be 
 clutching their mangled dead in their arms ! How strange, 
 how ghastly it seemed! How like the scenes one read of 
 on the eve of the French Revolution ! 
 
266 KING COAL 
 
 20. Percy wanted Hal to come away with the patty. 
 He suggested this tactfully at first, and then, as Hal did 
 not take the hint, he began to press the matter, showing 
 signs of irritation. The mine was open now j ' what 
 more did Hal want ? When Hal suggested that -Cart- 
 wright might order it closed again, Percy revealed the 
 fact that the matter was in his father's hands. The super- 
 intendent had sent a long telegram the night before, and 
 an answer was due at any moment. Whatever the an- 
 swer ordered would have to be done. 
 
 There was a grim look upon Hal's face, but he 'forced 
 himself to speak politely. " If your father orders any- 
 thing that interferes with the rescuing of the men ' don't 
 you see, Percy, that I have to fight him 2 " 
 
 " But how can you fight him ? " 
 
 "With the one weapon I have publicity." 
 
 "You mean " Percy stopped, arid stared. 
 
 " I mean what I said before I'd turn Billy Keating 
 loose and blow this whole story wide open." 
 
 " Well, by God ! " cried young Harrigan. " I must say 
 I'd call it damned dirty of you! You said you'd not do 
 it, if I'd come here and open the mine ! " 
 
 "But what good does it do to open it, if you close it 
 again before the men are out? " Hal paused, and when 
 he went on it was in a sincere attempt at apology. 
 " Percy, don't 'imagine I fail to appreciate the embarrass- 
 ments of this situation; I know I must seem a cad' to you 
 more than you've cared to tell me. I called you my 
 friend in spite of all our quarrels. All I can do is to 
 assure you that I never intended to get into such a position 
 as this?' 
 
 " Well, what the hell did you want to come here for ? 
 You knew it was the property, of a friend " 
 
 " That's the question at issue between us, Percy. Have 
 you forgotten our arguments? I tried to convince you 
 what it meant that you and I should own the things by 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 267 
 
 which other people halve to live. I said we were ignorant 
 of the conditions under which our properties were worked, 
 we were a ! bunch of parasites and idlers. But you laughed 
 at me, called me a crank, an anarchist, said I swallowed 
 what any muck-raker fed me. So I said : * I'll go to one 
 of Percy's mines ! Then, when he tries to argue with me, 
 I'll have him! ' That was the way the thing started 
 as a joke. But then I got drawn into things. I don't 
 want to be nasty, but no man with a drop of red blood in 
 his \ T eins could stay in this place a week without wanting 
 to fight ! That's why I want you to stay you ought to 
 stay, to meet some of the people and see for yourself." 
 
 "Well, I can't stay," said the other, coldly. "And 
 all I can tell you is that I wish you'd go somewhere else 
 to do your sociology." 
 
 " But where could I go, Percy? Somebody owns every- 
 thing. If it's a big thing, it's almost certain to be some- 
 body we know." 
 
 Said Percy, " If I might make a suggestion, you could 
 have begun with the coal-mines of the Warner Company." 
 
 Hal laughed. " You may be sure I a thought of that, 
 Percy. B.ut see the situation ! If I was to accomplish 
 my purpose, it was essential that I shouldn't be known, 
 -And I had met some of my father's superintendents in his 
 office, and I knew they'd recognise me. So I had to go to 
 some other mines." 
 
 " Most fortunate for the Warner Company," replied 
 Percy, in an ugly tone. 
 
 Hal answered, gravely, " Let me tell you, I don't intend 
 to leave the Warner Company permanently out of my so- 
 ciology." 
 
 " Well," replied the other, " all I can say is that we pass 
 one of their properties on our way back, and nothing would 
 please me better than to stop the train and let you'off ! " 
 
 21. Hal went into the drawing-room car. There 
 
.268 .KING GOAL 
 
 wore ^Irs. Curtis and Reggie Porter, playing bridge with 
 Genevieve Halsey and young JSversou. Bob' Creston was 
 chatting w^th .Betty Gunnison, telling her what he had 
 seen outside, no doubt. Bert Atkins was looking over the 
 morning paper, yawning. Hal went on, seeking Jessie 
 Arthur, and found her in one of the compartments of the 
 car, looking out of the rain-drenched window learning 
 about a mining-camp in the manner permitted to young 
 ladies of her class. 
 
 He expected to find her in a disturbed state of mind, 
 and was prepared to apologise. But when he met- the look 
 of distress she turned upon him, he did not know just 
 where to begin. He/ tried to speak casually -he had 
 heard she was going away. But she caught him by the 
 hand, exclaiming: " Hal, you are coming with us.! " 
 
 He did. not, answer for a moment, but sat down by her. 
 " Have I made you suffer so much, Jessie ? " 
 
 He saw tears start into her eyes. "Haven't you Jcnoicn 
 you were making me suffer ? Here, I was as Percy's guest ; 
 and to have you put such questions to. me ! What could I 
 say? What do I know about the way Mr. PIai;rigan 
 should run his business ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear," he said, humbly. " Perhaps I shouldn't 
 have drawn you into it. But the matter was . so compli- 
 cated and so sudden. Can't you understand that, and 
 forgive me ? Everything has turned out so well ! " 
 
 But she did not, "think that everything had turned out 
 well. " In the first place, for you to be here, in such a 
 plight ! And when I thought you were hunting mountain- 
 goats in Mexico! " 
 
 He could not help laughing; but v Jessie had not even a 
 smile. " And then to have you drag our love into the 
 t[nng, there before every one ! " 
 
 " Was that really so terrible, Jessie? " 
 
 She looked at him with amazement. That lie, Hal 
 Warner, could have, done such a thing, and not realise how 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 269 
 
 terrible it was ! To put her in a position where she had to 
 break either the laws of -love or the laws of good-breeding ! 
 Why, it had amounted to a public quarrel. It would be 
 the talk of the town there was no end to the embarrass- 
 ment of it ! 
 
 "But, sweetheart!" argued Hal. "Try to see the 
 reality of this thing think about those people in the 
 mine. You really must do that ! " 
 
 She looked at him/ and noticed the new, grim lines that 
 had come upon his youthful face. Also, she caught the 
 note of suppressed passion in his voice. He 'was pale and 
 weary looking, in dirty clothes, his hair unkempt and his 
 face only half washed. It was terrifying as if he had 
 gone to war. 
 
 "" Listen to me, Jessie/' he insisted. " I want you to 
 know about these things. If you and I are ever to make 
 each other happy, you must try to grow up with me. -That 
 was why I was glad to have you here you would have 
 a chance to see for yourself. Now I ask you not to go 
 without seeing.' 7 
 
 " But I have to' go, Hal. I can't ask Percy Harrigan 
 to stay and inconvenience everybody! " 
 
 " You can stay without him. You can ask one of the 
 ladies to chaperon you. 7 ' 
 
 She gazed at him in dismay. "Why, Hal! What a 
 thing to suggest ! " 
 
 "Why so ?" 
 I " Think how it would look ! " 
 
 " I can't think so much about looks, dear " 
 i She broke in : " Think what Mamma would say ! " 
 
 "She wouldn't like it, I know " 
 
 " She would be wild! She would never forgive either 
 of us. She would never forgive any one who stayed with 
 me. And what would Percy say, if I came here as his 
 gues*, and stayed to spy on him : and his father? Don't 
 you see how preposterous it would be? " 
 
2TO KING COAL 
 
 Yes, he saw. He was defying all the conventions of 
 her worldj and it seemed to her a course of madness. She, 1 
 clutched his hands in hers, and the tears ran down -her 
 cheeks. > 
 
 " Hal/' she cried, " I can't leave you in this 'dreadful 
 place! You look like a ghost, and a, scarecrow, too! I 
 want you to go and get some decent clothes and ,coine home 
 on this train." 
 
 But he shook his head. " It's not possible, Jessie.' 
 
 " Why not ?" 
 
 " Because I have a duty to do here. Can't you tind< 
 stand,, dear? All my life, I've been living on the labour 
 of coalf-miners, and I've never taken the trouble to go near 
 them, to see how my money was got ! " 
 
 " But, Hal !, These aren't your people ! ^They are Mr. 
 Harrigan's people ! " 
 
 " Yes," he said, " but it's all the same. Tliey toil, and, 
 we live on their toil, and take it as a matter of course." I 
 
 " But what can one do about it, Hal ? " 
 
 " One can understand it, if nothing else'. And you see 
 what I was able to do in this case to get the mine open." 
 
 "Hal," she 'exclaimed, ".I can't understand you! 
 You've - become so cynical, you don't believe in any one! 
 You're quite convinced that these officials meant to murder 
 their working people ! As if Mr. Harrigan would let his 
 mines be run that way ! " 
 
 " Mr. Harrigan, Jessie ? He passes the collection, plate 
 at St. George's! That's the only place you've ever seen 
 him, and that's all you know about him." 
 
 " I know what everybody says, Hal ! Papa knows him, 
 and my brothers yes, your own brother^ too! Isn't it 
 true that Edward would disapprove what you're doing? " 
 
 " Yes, dear, I fear so." 
 
 " And you set yourself up against 'them against 
 everybody you know I Is it reasonable to think the older 
 people are all wrong, and only you are right ? Isn't it at 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 271 
 
 least possible; .you're making a mistake? Think about it 
 honestly, Hal, for my sake ! " 
 
 She was looking at him pleadingly; and he leaned for- 
 ward and took her hand. " Jessie," he said, his voice 
 trembling, " I know that these working people are op- 
 pressed ; I know it, because I have been one of them ! And 
 I know that such iri'en as Peter Harrigan, and even my own 
 brother, are to blame! And they've ^ot to be faced by 
 some one they've got to be made to see ! I've come to 
 see it clearly this summer that's the job I have to do! " 
 
 She was gazing at him with her wide-open, beautiful 
 eyes ; underneath her protests and her terror, she was thrill- 
 ing with awe at this amazing madman she loved. " They 
 will kill you ! " she cried. 
 
 " No, "dearest you don't need to worry about that 
 I don't think they'll kill me." 
 
 "But they shot at you! " 
 
 " No, they shot at Joe Smith, a miner's buddy. , They 
 won't shoot at the son of a millionaire *-^ not in America, 
 Jessie." 
 
 ''.But some dark night " 
 
 " Set your mind at rest," he said, " IVe got Percy tied 
 up in this, and everybody knows it. There's no way they 
 could kill me : without the whole story's coming out and 
 8<D I'm as safe -as I would be in my bed at home ! ". 
 
 ; 22. Hal was still possessed by his idea that Jessie 
 must be taught she must have knowledge forced upon 
 her, whether she would or no. The train would not start 
 for a couple, of hours, and he tried to think of some use 
 he could make of that precious interval. He recalled that 
 Rosa,. Hi net ti had returned to her cabin to. attend to her 
 baby. A sudden vision came to him of Jessie in that little 
 homo. Rosa was. sweet and good, and assuredly Little 
 Jerry was a " winner." 
 
272 KING COAL 
 
 " Sweetheart/' he said, " I wish you'd came for a walk 
 with me." 
 
 "But it's raining, Hal!" 
 
 " It won't hurt you to spoil one dress; you have plenty." 
 
 " I'm not thinking of that " 
 
 " I wish you'd come." 
 
 " I don't feel comfortable about it, Hal. I'm here as 
 Percy's guest, and lie mightn't like " 
 
 " I'll ask him if he objects to your taking a stroll," he 
 suggested^ with pretended gravity. 
 
 " No, no! That would make it worse! " Jessie had 
 no humour whatever about these matters. 
 
 " Well, Vivie Cass was out, and some of the others are 
 going. He 'hasn't objected to that." 
 
 " I know, Hal. But he knows they're all right." 
 
 Hal laughed. " Come on, Jessie. Percy won't hold 1 
 you for my sins! You have a long train journey before 
 you, and some fresh air will be good for you." 
 
 She saw that she must make some concession to him, if 
 she was to keep any of her influence over him. 
 
 " All right," she said, with resignation, and disappeared 
 and returned with a heavy veil over her face, to conceal 
 her from prying reportorial eyes; also an equipment of: 
 mackintosh, umbrella and overshoes, against the rain. 
 The two stole out of the car, feeling like a couple of crimi- 
 nals. 
 
 Skirting the edge of the throng about the pit-mouth, they 
 came to the muddy, impaved quarter in which the Italians 
 had their homes ; he held her arm, steering her through 
 the miniature sloughs and creeks. It was thrilling to him 
 to have her with him thus, to see her sweet face and hear 
 her voice full of love. Many a time he had thought of her 
 here, and told her in his imagination of his experi- 
 ences ! 
 
 He told her now about the Minetti family, : and how 
 he had met Big and Little Jerry on the street, and how 
 
THE HENCHMEX OF KING COAL 273 
 
 they had taken him in, and then been driven by fear to 
 let him go again. He told his check-weighman story, and 
 was telling how Jeff Cotton bad arrested him; but they 
 came to the Minetti cabin, and the terrifying narrative 
 was cut short. 
 
 It was Little Jerry who came to the door, with the re- 
 mains of breakfast distributed upon his cheeks; he stared 
 Jn wonder at the- mysteriously veiled figure. Entering, 
 they saw Eosa sitting in a chair nursing her baby. She 
 rose in confusion; but she did not quite like to turn her 
 back upon her guests, so she stood trying to hide her 'breast 
 as best she could, blushing and looking very girlish and 
 pretty;. - B 
 
 Hal introduced Jessie, as an old friend who was in- 
 terested to meet his new friends, and Jessie threw back her 
 veil and sat down. Little Jerry wiped off his face at his 
 mother's command, and:then came where he could stare at 
 this incredibly lovely vision. x 
 
 " I've been telling Miss Arthur what good care you took 
 of me," said Hal to Rosa. " She wanted to come and 
 thank you for it." 
 
 " Yes," added Jessie, graciously. " Anybody who is 
 good to Hal earns m'y gratitude." 
 
 Rosa started to murmur something; but Little Jerry 
 broke in, with his cheerful; voice, "Why you call him 
 Hal? His name's Joe!" 
 
 " Ssh 1 " cried Rosa. But Hal and Jessie laughed 
 and so the process of Americanising Little Jerry was con- 
 tinued, 
 
 " I've got lots of names," said Hal. " They called me 
 Hal when I was a kid like you." 
 
 " Did she know you then? " inquired Little Jerry. 
 
 " Yes, indeed." 
 . " Is she your girl ? " 
 
 Rosa laughed shyly, and Jessie blushed, and looked 
 charming. She realised vaguely a difference in manners. 
 
274 KING COAL 
 
 These people accepted the existence of " girls/' not con- 
 cealing their interest in the 1 phenomenon, 
 
 " It's a secret," warned Hal. " Don't you tell on us! " 
 
 "I can keep a secret," said Little Jerry. After a 
 moment's pause he added, dropping his voice,-" You gotta 
 keep secrets if you work in North Valley." 
 
 " You bet your life," said H'al. 
 
 "'My father's a Socialist/' continued the other, 
 dressing Jessie; then, since one thing leads on to 
 other, " My father's : a shot-firer." 
 3 "What's a ' shot-firer ?" asked Jessie, by way of 
 sociable. 
 
 " Jesus ! " exclaimed Little Jerry. " Don't you know 
 nothiii' about minin' s { " 
 
 "No,", said Jessie. " You tell me." 
 
 " You couldn't get no coal without a shot-firer/' de- 
 clared Little Jerry. "You gotta -get ,a good one, too, or 
 maybe you bust up /the mine. My father's : the best they 
 got." 
 
 "What does he do?" 
 
 " Well, they got a drill long, long, like this, all the 
 way across the room; and they turn it and bore holes in 
 the coal. Sometimes they, got machines to drill, only we 
 don't like them machines, 'cause it takes the men's jobs. 
 When they got the holes, .then the shot-firer comes and 
 sets off the powder. You gotta have "and here Little 
 Jerry slowed up, pronouncing each .syllable very care- 
 fully -" per-miss-i-ble powder what don't make no 
 flame. Arid you gotta know just how much to put in. 
 If you put in too much, you smash the coal, and the miner 
 raises hell ; if you don't put in enough, you make too much 
 work for him, an' he raises hell again. So you gotta get 
 a good shot-firer." 
 
 Jessie looked at Hal, and he saw that her dismay was 
 mingled with genuine amusement. He judged this a 
 good way ;for her to get her education, so he proceeded io 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 275 
 
 draw out Little Jerry on other aspects of coal-mining: on 
 short weights and long hours, grafting bosses and camp- 
 marshals/ company-stores and boarding-houses, Socialist 
 agitators and union organisers. Little Jerry talked freely 
 of the secrets of the camp. " It's all right for you to 
 know/' he remarked gravely. " You're Joe's girl ! " 
 
 " You little cheru*b ! " exclaimed Jessie. 
 
 " What's a cherub ? " was Little Jerry's reply. 
 
 23. So the time passed in a way that was pleasant. 
 Jessie was completely won by this little Dago mine-urchin, 
 in spite of all his frightful curse-words ; and Hal saw that 
 she was won, and was delighted by the success of this ex- 
 periment in social amalgamation. He could not read 
 Jessie's mind, and realise that underneath her genuine de- 
 light were reservations born of her prejudices, the in- 
 stinctive cruelty of caste. Yes, this little mine chap was a 
 cherub, now ; but how about when he grew big ? He would 
 grow, ugly and coarse-looking, in ten years one would not 
 kriow him from any other of the rough and dirty men of 
 the village. Jessie took the fact that common people grow 
 Ugly as they mature as a proof that they are, in -some deep 
 and permanent way, the inferiors of those above them. 
 Hal was throwing away his time and strength, trying to 
 make them into something which Nature h#d obviously not 
 intended them to be! She decided to make that point to 
 Hal on their way back to the train. She realised that he 
 liiid brought her herte to educate her; like all the rest of 
 the world, she resented forcible education, and she was not 
 withoilt 'hope that sfye might turn the tables and educate 
 Hal. 
 
 Pretty sootf Rosa finished nursing the baby, and Jessie 
 remarked the '"little one's black eyes. This topic broke 
 'down the mother's shyness, arid they were chatting pleas- 
 antly, when suddenly they heard sounds outside which 
 
276 KING COAL ] 
 
 caused ; them to start up. , It. was a clamour of women's 
 voices; and Hal and Rosa sprang to the door. Just now 
 was a critical time, when every one was on edge for .news. 
 
 Hal threw open the door and called to those outside, 
 " What is it?" There 1 came,, a,. response, in a woman's 
 voice, " They've found Rafferty!" 
 
 " Alive ? " 
 
 " Nobody knows yet." 
 
 " Where?" 
 
 " In Room Seventeen. Eleven of them Rafter ty, 
 and young Flanagan, and Johanneon,, .the Swede. 
 .They're near dead can't speak, they say. They won't 
 let anybody near them." 
 
 Other voices brok0 in; but j the one which answered Hal 
 had a different quality; it was a warm, rich voice, un- 
 mistakably Irish, and it held Jessie's attention. " They've 
 got them in the tipple-room, a,nd the women want to know 
 about their; < men, and they won't tell them. They're 
 :beatin' them back like dogs !" 
 
 I There was a tumult of weeping, and Hal stepped out 
 of the cabin, and in a minute or so he entered again, sup- 
 porting on his arm a girl, clad in a faded blue calico dress, 
 and having a head of very conspicuous red hair. She 
 seemed half -fainting, and; kept moaning that , it was hor- 
 rible}, horrible. Hal led her to a chair, and she^sank into 
 it and hid* her face in her hands, sobbing, talking inco- 
 herently between her sobs. 
 
 Jessie stood looking at this girl. She felt the in- 
 tensity of her excitement, and. shared it; yet at the same 
 time -there was something in Jessie that resented it. She 
 did not wish to be upset about things like 1 this, which she 
 could not help. Of course these unfortunate people .wene 
 suffering; but what a shocking, lot of; noise the poor 
 thing was making! A part of the. poor thing's excitement 
 was *rage,, and Jessie realised that, and resented it. still t 
 more; It was as if it were. a personal challenge to her ; the 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 27Y 
 
 same as Hal's fierce social passions, which so bewildered 
 and shocked her. 
 
 " They're beatin' the women .back like < dogs I" the girl 
 repeated. 
 
 " Mary/ 7 said Hal, trying to soothe her, " the doctors 
 will be doing their best. The women couldn't expect 'to 
 'crowd 'about them ! " 
 
 " Maybe they couldn't ; but that's not it, Joe, and ye 
 know it ! They been bringin' up dead bodies, some they 
 found where the explosion was blown all to pieces. 
 And they won't let anybody see them. Is that because of 
 the doctors? No, it ain't ! It's because they want to tell 
 lies about the number killed ! They want to count four or 
 five legs to a man ! And that's what's drivin' the women 
 crazy! I saw Mrs. Zamboni, tryin' to get into the shed, 
 and Pete Hanun caught her by the breasts and shoved her 
 back. '-I want my man ! ' she screamed. ' Well, what do 
 you want him for ? He's all in pieces ! ' 'I want the 
 pieces! ' ( What good'll they ' do you? Are you goin* to 
 eat him ? ' " 
 
 There were cries of horror now, even from Jessie ; and 
 the strange girl hid her face in her hands and began to 
 sob again. Hal put his hand gently on her arm. 
 "Mary," he pleaded, "it's not so bail at least they're 
 getting the people out." 
 
 " How do ye know what they're doin' ? They might be 
 sealin' up parts of the mine down below! That's what 
 makes it so horrible nobody knows what's happenin' ! 
 Ye should have heard poor Mrs. RafTerty screamin'. Joe, 
 it went through me like a knife; Just think, it's been half 
 an hour since they brought him up, and the poor lady can't 
 be told if her man is alive." 
 
 24. Hal stood for a few moments in thought. He 
 was surprised that such things should be happening while 
 
 19 
 
278 .KING COAL 
 
 Percy Harrigan's train was in the village. lie was con- 
 sidering whether he should go to Percy, or whether a hint 
 to Cotton or Cartwright would not he sufficient. 
 
 " Mary," he said, in a quiet voice, " you needn't distress 
 yourself so. ."We can get better treatment for the women, 
 I'm .sure,' 7 
 
 But her sobhing went on. " What can ye do ? i They're 
 bound to have 'their way ! " 
 
 " No," said Hal. "There's a difference now. .. Be* 
 lieve me -something can be done. I'll step over and 
 have a word with Jeff .Cotton." 
 
 He started towards the door ; but, j there c.uuo a ; cry : 
 ".Hal.1 " It was Jessie, whom he had almost forgotten in 
 his sudden anger at the bosses. 
 
 At her protest he turned ; and looked at her; tljen he 
 looked at Mary: He saw the latter's hands fall from 'her 
 tear-stained face, and her, expression of griei' give way to 
 one of wonder. >"Hal!" 
 
 " Excuse me," he said, quickly. " Miss Burke, this is 
 my friend, Miss Arthur." Then, not quite sur.e if this 
 was a satisfactory introduction, he added, " Jessie, this is 
 my friend, Mary." 
 
 Jessie's training could not fail in any emergency. 
 " Miss Burke," she said, and" smiled 1 with perfect 
 politeness. But Mary said nothing, and the strained look 
 did not leave her face. 
 
 In the first excitement she had almost failed to notice 
 this stranger; but now she stared, and realisation grew 
 upon her. Here was a girl, beautiful with a kind of 
 beauty hardly to be conceived of. in a mining-camp-; re- 
 served, yet obviously .expensive ven in a mackintosh 
 and rubber-shoes. Mary was used to the expensiv'eness 'of 
 Mrs. O'Callahan, but here was a new kind of expensive- 
 ness, subtle and compelling, strangely unconscious. And 
 she laid claim to Joe, .Smith, the miner's buddy! She 
 called him by a name hitherto unknown to his North 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 279 
 
 Valley associates! It needed no word from Little Jerry 
 to guide Mary's instinct; she knew in a flash that here was 
 the " other girl." 
 
 Mary was seized with sudden acute consciousness of the 
 blue calico dress, patched at the shoulder and stained with 
 grease-spots ; of her hands, big and rough with hard labour ; 
 of her feet, clad in shoes worn sideways at the heel, and 
 threatening to break out at the toes. And as for Jessie, 
 she too had the woman's instinct ; she too saw a girl who 
 was beautiful, with a kind of beauty of which which she 
 did not approve, but which she could not deny the 
 beauty of robust health, of abounding animal energy. 
 Jessie was not 1 unaware of the nature of her own. charms, 
 having been carefully educated to conserve them ; nor did 
 she fail to make note of the other 'girl's handicaps the 
 patched and greasy dress, the big rough hands, -the shoes 
 worn, sideways. But even so, she realised that " Red 
 Mary " had a quality which she lacked that beside this 
 wild rose of a mining-camp, she, Jessie Arthur, might pos- 
 sibly seem a garden flower, fragile and insipid. 
 
 She had seen Hal lay his hand upon Mary's arm, and 
 heard her speak to him. She called him Joe! And a 
 sudden fear had leaped into Jessie's heart. 
 
 Like many girls who have been delicately reared, Jessie 
 Arthur knew more than she admitted, even to herself. 
 She knew enough to realise that young men with ample 
 means and leisure are not always saints and ascetics. 
 Also, she had heard the remark many times made that 
 these women of the lower orders had " no morals." Just 
 what did such a remark mean ? What would be the atti- 
 tude of such a girl as Mary Burke full-blooded and 'in- 
 tense, dissatisfied with her lot in life to a man of culture 
 and charm like Hal ? She would covet him, of course ; no 
 woman who knew him could fail to covet him. And she 
 would try to steal him away from his friends, from the 
 world to which he belonged, the future of happiness and 
 
280 KING COAL 
 
 ease to which he was entitled. She would have powers 
 dark and terrible powers, all the more appalling to Jessie 
 because they were mysterious. Might they possibly be 
 able. to overcome even the handicap of a dirty calico dress, 
 of big rough hands and shoes worn sideways'? 
 
 These reflections, which have taken many words to ex- 
 plain,' came to Jessie in one flash of intuition. She under- 
 stood now, all at once ? the incomprehensible phenomenon 
 that Hal should leave friends and home and career, to 
 come and live amid this squalor and suffering! She saw 
 the old drama of the soul of man, heaven and hell con- 
 tending for mastery of \t ; and she knew that she was 
 heaven,- and that this-" Red Mary " was hell. 
 
 She looked at Hal. . He seemed to her so fine and true ; 
 his face was frank, he was the soul of honourableness. 
 No, it was impossible to believe that he had yieldeol to 
 s'uch a lure! If that had been the case, he would never 
 have brought her to this cabin, he would never have 
 taken -a chance of her meeting the girl. No; but he 
 might be struggling against temptation, he might be in the 
 toils of it, and only half aware of it. He was a man, and 
 therefore blind; he was a dreamer, and it would be like 
 him to idealise this .girl, calling her ( na-i've and primitive, 
 thinking that she had no wiles ! Jessie ria'd come just in. 
 time to save him ! And she would fight to save him - 
 using wiles more subtle than those at the command of 
 any mining-camp hussy ! 
 
 25. It was the surging up in Jessie Arthur of that 
 instinctive self, the creature of hereditary cruelty, of the 
 existence of which Hal had no idea. She drew back, and 
 there was a quiet liautenr in her tone as she spoke. " Hal, 
 come here, please." 
 
 He came; and she waited until he was' close enough for 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 281 
 
 intimacy, arid then said, " Have you forgotten you have to 
 take me back to the train S" 
 
 " .Can't. -you come with me for a few minutes? " he 
 pleaded. " It would have such a good effect if you did." 
 
 " I can't go into that crowd," she answered; and sud- 
 denly her voice trembled, and the tears came into her 
 sweet brown eyes. " Don't you know, Hal, that I couldn't 
 stand such terrible sights?. This poor girl she is used 
 to them she is hardened! But I I oh, take me 
 away, take me away, dear Hal! " This cry of a woman 
 for protection came with a familiar echo to Hal's mind. 
 He did not stop to think he was moved by it instinct- 
 ively. Yes, : he had exposed the girl he loved to suffering 1 
 He had meant it for her own good, but even so, it was 
 cruel! 
 
 He stood close to her, and saw the love-light in her eyes ; 
 he saw the tears, the trembling of her sensitive chin. She 
 swayed to him, and he caught her in his arms and there, 
 before these witnesses, she let him press her to himy while 
 she sobbed and whispered her distress. She had been shy 
 of caresses hitherto, .watched and admonished by an expe- 
 rienced mother ;- certainly she had never before made what 
 could by the remotest stretch of the imagination be con- 
 sidered ari advance towards him. But 'now she made it, 
 and there was a cry of triumph in her soul as" she saw that 
 he responded 'to it. He was still hers and these low 
 people should know it, this " otHer girl " should know it! 
 
 Yet, in the midst of this very exultation, Jessie Arthur 
 really felt the grief she expressed for the women of North 
 Valley; she really felt horror at the story of Mrs. Zam- 
 boni's "man": so intricate is the soul of woman, so 
 puzzling that faculty, older than the ages, .which enables 
 her to be hysterical, and at the same time to be guided in 
 the use of that hysteria by deep and infallible calcula- 
 tion. 
 
 But she made Hal realise that it wds necessary for him 
 
282 KING COAL 
 
 to take her away. He turned to Mary Burke and said, 
 " Miss Arthur's train is leaving in a short time. I'll have 
 to take her back, and then I'll go to the pit-mouth with you 
 and see what I can do." 
 
 " Very well," Mary answered ; and her voice was hard 
 and cold. But Hal did not notice this. He was a man, 
 and not able to keep up with the emotions of one woman 
 to say nothing of two women at the same time. 
 
 He took Jessie out, and all the way back to the train 
 she fought a desperate fight to get him away from here. 
 She no longer even suggested that he get decent clothing; 
 she was willing for him to come as he was, in his coal- 
 stained mining-jumpers, in the priate train of the Coal 
 King's son. She besought him in the name of their af- 
 fection. She threatened him that if he did not come, this 
 might be the last time they would meet. She even broke 
 down in the middle of the street, and let him stand there 
 in plain sight of miners' wives and children, and of pos- 
 sible newspaper reporters, "holding her in his arms and 
 comforting her. 
 
 Hal was much puzzled ; but he would not give way. The 
 idea of going off in Percy Harrigan's train had come to 
 seem morally repulsive to him ; he hated Percy Harrigan's 
 train, and Percy Harrigan also, he declared. And Jessie 
 saw that she was only making him unreasonable that 
 before long he might be hating her. With her instinctive 
 savoir faire, she brought up his suggestion that she might 
 find some one to chaperon her, and stay with him at North 
 Valley until he was ready to come away. 
 
 Hal's heart leaped at that; he had no idea what was in 
 her mind the certainty -that no one of the ladies of the 
 Harrigan party would run the risk of offending her host 
 by staying under such circumstances. 
 
 " You mean it, sweetheart ? " he cried, happily. 
 
 She answered, " I mean that I love you, Hal." 
 
THE HENCHMEN OF KING COAL 283 
 
 "All right, dear!" he said. " We'll see if we- can 
 arrange it."' 
 
 'But as they walked on, she managed, without his realis- 
 ing it, to cause him to reflect upon the effect of her staying. 
 She was willing to do it, if it was what he wanted; but it 
 would injure, perhaps irrevocably, his standing with her 
 parents. They would telegraph her to come at once; and 
 if she r did not obey, they would come by the next train. 
 So on, until at last Hal was moved to withdraw his own 
 suggestion. After all, what was the use of her staying, if 
 her mind was on the people at home, if she would simply 
 keep him in hot water ? Before the conversation was over 
 Hal had become clear in his mind that North Valley was 
 no place for Jessie Arthur, and that he had been a fool to 
 think he could bring the two together. 
 
 She tried to get him to promise to leave as soon as the 
 last man had been brought out of the mine. He answered 
 that he intended to 'leave then, unless some new emer- 
 gency should arise. She tried to get an unqualified 
 promise ; and failing in that, when they had nearly got to 
 the train she suddenly made a complete surrender. Let 
 him do what he pleased but let him remember that she 
 loved him, th,at she needed him, that she could not do 
 without him. No matter what he might do, no matter 
 what people might say about him, she believed in him, she 
 would stand by him. Hal was deeply touched, and took 
 her in his arms again and kissed her tenderly under the 
 umbrella, in the presence of the wondering stares of sev- 
 eral urchins with coal-smutted faces. He pledged anew 
 his love for her, assuring her that no amount of interest in 
 mining-camps should ever steal him from her. 
 
 Then he put her on the train, and shook hands with the 
 departing guests. He was so very sombre and harassed- 
 Iqoking that the young men forbore to " kid " him as they 
 would otherwise have done. He stood on the station-plat- 
 
284 KING COAL 
 
 form and ; saw tlie^train roll away and felt, to his own 
 desperate bewilderment, that he hated these friends of his 
 boyhood and youth. His reason protested against it; .'he 
 told himself there was nothing they could do, no reason on 
 earth for them to stay and yet he hated them. They 
 were hurrying off to dance and flirt at the country club 
 while he was going back to the pit-mouth, to try to get Mrs. 
 Zamboni the right to inspect the pieces of her " man " ! 
 
BOOK FOUE 
 THE WILL OF KING COAL 
 
 
1. The pit of death was giving up its secrets. The 
 hoist was busy, and cage-load after cage-load came up, with 
 bodies dead and bodies living and bodies only to be classi- 
 fied after machines had pumped air into them for a while. 
 Hal stood in the rain and watched the crowd and thought 
 that he had never witnessed a scene so compelling to pity 
 and terror. The silence that would fall when any one 
 appeared who might have news to tell ! The sudden 
 shriek of anguish from some woman whose hopes were 
 struck dead! The moans of sympathy that ran through 
 the crowd, alternating with cheers at some good tidings, 
 shaking the souls of the multitude as a storm of wind 
 shakes a reed-field ! 
 
 And the stories that ran through the camp brought 
 up from the underground world stories of incredible 
 sufferings, and of still more incredible heroisms! Men 
 who had been four days without food or water, yet had re- 
 sisted being carried out of the mine, proposing to stay and 
 help rescue others ! Men who had lain together in the 
 darkness and silence, keeping themselves alive by the water 
 which seeped from the rocks overhead, taking turns lying 
 face upwards where the drops fell, or wetting pieces of 
 their clothing and sucking out the moisture ! Members of 
 the rescue parties would tell how they knocked upon the 
 barriers, and heard the faint ansAvering signals of the im- 
 prisoned tnen; how madly they toiled to cut through, and 
 how, when at last a little hole appeared, they heard the 
 cries of joy, and saw the eyes of men shining from the 
 darkness, while they waited, gasping, for the hole to grow 
 bigger, so that water and food might 'be passed in ! 
 
 In some places they were fighting the fire. Long lines 
 of hose had been sent down, and men were moving forward 
 foot by foot, as the smoke and steam were sucked out ahead 
 
 287 
 
288 KING COAL 
 
 of them by the fan. Those who did this work were taking 
 their lives in their hands, yet they went without hesita- 
 tion. There was always hope of finding men in barri- 
 caded rooms beyond. 
 
 Hal. sought out Jeff Cotton at the entrance to the tipple- 
 room, which had -been turned into a temporary hospital. 
 It .was the first time the two had met since the revelation in 
 Percy's car, and the camp-marshal's face took on a rather 
 sheepish grin. " Well, Mr. Warner, you win," he re- 
 marked; and after a little arguing he agreed to permit a 
 couple of women to go into the tipple-room and make a list 
 of the injured, and go out and give the news to the crowd. 
 Hal went to the Minettis to ask Mary Burke to attend to 
 this; but Rosa said that Mary had gone out after he and 
 Miss Arthur had left, and no one knew where she was. 
 So Hal went to Mrs/ David, who consented to get a couple 
 of friends, and do the work without being called a.." com- 
 mittee." "I won't have any damned committees!" the* 
 camp-marshal had declared. 
 
 So the night passed, and part of another day. A clerk 
 from the office came to Hal with a sealed envelope, con- 
 taining a telegram, addressed in. care of Cartwright. " I 
 most urgently beg of you to come home at once. It will 
 be distressing to Dad if he hears what has happened, and it 
 will not be possible to -keep the matter from him for 
 long." 
 
 As Hal -read, he frowned; evidently the Harrigans had 
 got busy without delay! He went to the office and tele- 
 phoned his answer. " Am planning to leave in a day or 
 two. Trust you will make an effort to spare Dad until you 
 have heard my story." 
 
 This message troubled Hal. It started in his mind long 
 arguments with his brother, and explanations and apolo- 
 gies to his father. He loved the old man tenderly. What 
 a shame if some emissary of the Harrigans were to get to 
 him to upset him with misrepresentations! 
 
THE WILL OF KI^G COAL 289; 
 
 Also these ideas had a tendency to make Hal homesick ; 
 they brought more Vividly to his thoughts the outside 
 world, with its physical allurements there being a limit 
 to the amount of unwholesome meals and dirty beds and 
 repulsive sights a man of refinement can force himself to 
 endure. Hal found himself obsessed by a vision of a club 
 dining-room, with odours of grilled steaks and hot rolls, 
 and the colours of salads and fresh fruits and cream. The 
 conviction grew suddenly strong in him that his work in 
 ISTorth Valley was nearly done! 
 
 Another night passed, and another day. The last of 
 the bodies had been brought out, and the corpses shipped 
 down to Pedro for one of 'those big wholesale funerals 
 which are a feature of mine-life. The fire was out, and 
 the rescue-crews had given place to a swarm of carpenters 
 and timbermen, repairing the damage and making the 
 mine safe. The reporters had gone; Billy Keating hav- 
 ing clasped HaFs hand, and promised to meet him -for 
 luncheon at the club. An agent of the " Red Cross " was 
 on hand, and was feeding the hungry oiit of Mi's. Curtis's 
 subscription-list. What more .was there for Hal to do 
 except to bid good-bye to his friends, and assure them of 
 his help in the future ? 
 
 First among these friends was Mary Burke, whom he 
 had had no chance to talk to since the meeting with Jessie. 
 He realised that Mary had been deliberately avoiding him. 
 She was not in her home, and he went to inquire at the 
 Rafferties 7 , and stopped for a good-bye chat with the old 
 woman whose husband he had saved. 
 
 EafTerty was going to pull through. His wife had been 
 allowed in to see him, and tears rolled down her shrunken 
 cheeks as she told about it. He had been four days and 
 nights blocked up in a little tunnel, with no food or water, 
 save for a few drops of coffee which lie had shared with 
 other men. He could still not speak, he could hardly 
 move a hand; but there was life in his eyes, and his look 
 
290 KING COAL 
 
 bad been a greeting from the soul she had loved and served 
 these thirty years and more. Mrs. Rafferty sang praises 
 to the Raii'erty God, who had brought him safely through 
 these perils ; it seemed obvious that He must be more effi j 
 cient than the Protestant God of Johannson, the giant 
 Swede, who had lain by Rafferty's side and given up the 
 ghost. 
 
 But the doctor had stated that the old Irishman would 
 never be good to work again; and Hal saw a shadow of 
 terror cross the sunshine of Mrs. Raff erty's rejoicing. 
 How could a doctor say a thing like that? Rafi'erty was 
 old, to be sure; but he was tough and could any doctor 
 imagine how hard a man would try who had a family look- 
 ing to him ? Sure, he was not the one to give up for a bit 
 of pain now and then ! Besides him, there was only Tim 
 who was earning; and though Tim was a good lad, and 
 worked steady x any doctor ought to know that a big family 
 could not be kept going on the wages of one eighteen-year- 
 old pit-boy. As for the other lads, there was a law that said 
 they were too young to work. Mrs. Rafferty thought there 
 shoiild be some one to put a little sense into the heads of 
 them that made the laws for if they wanted to forbid 
 children to work in coal-mines, they should surely provide 
 some other way to feed the children. 
 
 Hal listened, agreeing sympathetically, and meantime 
 watching her, and learnin'g more from her actions than 
 from her words. She had been obedient to the teachings 
 of her religion, to be fruitful and multiply ; she had fed 
 three grown sons into the maw of industry, and had still 
 eight children and a man to care for. Hal wondered if 
 she had ever rested a single minuie of daylight in all her 
 fifty-four years. Certainly not while he had been in her 
 house ! Even now, while praising the Rafferty God and 
 blaming the capitalist law-makers, she was getting a sup- 
 per, moving swiftly, silently, like a machine. . She was 
 lean as an old horse that has toiled across a desert ; the skin 
 
THE WILL OF Kfife COAL 
 
 over her cheek-bones was tight as stretched rubber, and 
 cords stood out in her wrists like piano-wires. 
 
 And now she was cringing before the spectre of destitu- 
 tion. He asked what 'she would do about it, and saw the 
 shadow of terror cross her face again. There was one re- 
 course from starvation, it seemed L to have her children 
 taken from her, and put in some institution ! At the men- 
 tion of this, one of the special nightmares of the poor, the 
 old woman began to sob and cry again that the doctor was 
 wrong; he would see, arid Hal' would see- Old KafTerty 
 would be back at his jpb in a week or two ! 
 
 2. Hal went out on the street again. It was the 
 hour which would have been sunset, in a level region; the 
 tops of the mountains were touched with a purple light, 
 and the air was fresh and chill with early fall. Down the 
 darkenirig streets he saw a gathering of men; there was 
 shouting, and people running towards the platfe, so iie hur- 
 ried up, with the thought in his mind, " What's the matter 
 now ? " There were perhaps a hundred men crying out, 
 their^ voices mingling like the sound of waves on the sea. 
 He could make out words : " Go on ! Go on ! We've 
 had enough of it ! Hurrah ! " 
 
 " What's happened ? " he asked, of some one on the out- 
 skirts; and the man, recognising him, raised a cry -which 
 ran through the throng: " Joe Smith ! He's the'bby for 
 us ! <Qome in here, Joe ! Give us a speech ! " 
 
 But even while. Hal was asking questions, trying to- get 
 the situation clear, other shouts had drowned out his 'name. 
 "We've had enough of thorn walking over us!" And 
 somebody cried, more loudly, " Tell us about it! Tell it 
 again ! Go on ! " 
 
 A man was standing upon the steps of a building at one 
 side. Hal stared in amazement; it was Tim Rafferty. 
 Of all people in the world Tim, the light-hearted and 
 
292 KING COAL 
 
 simple, Tim of the laughing face and the merry Irish blue 
 eyes! Now- his sandy hair was tousled and his features 
 distorted with rage. " Him near dead ! " he yelled. 
 ".Him with his voice gone, and couldn't move his hand! 
 Eleven years he's slaved for them, and near killed in an 
 accident that's their own fault -every man in this crowd 
 knows it's their own fault, by God ! " 
 
 " Sure thing ! You're right ! " cried a chorus of voices. 
 "Tell it all !" 
 
 " They give ,him twenty-five dollars and his hospital 
 expenses and what'll his hospital expenses be ? . They'll 
 have him out on the street again before he's able to stand. 
 You know that they done it to Pete Cullen ! <" 
 
 "You bet they did!" 
 
 " Them damned lawyers in there gettin' ? ein to sign 
 papers when they don't know what they're doin'. An 7 me 
 that might help him can't get near ! By Christ, I say it's 
 too much ! Are we slaves, or are we dogs, that we .have to 
 stand such things ? " 
 
 " We'll stand no more of it ! " shouted one. " We'll go 
 in there and see to it ourselves I " 
 
 " Come on ! " shouted another. " To hell with their 
 gunmen ! " 
 
 Hal pushed his way into the crowd; " Tim ! " he cried. 
 " How do you know this ? " 
 
 " There's a fellow in there seen it." 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 " I can't tell you - they'd ; fire him ; but it's somebody 
 you know as well as me. He come and told me. They're 
 beatin' me old father out of damages ! " 
 
 " They do it all the time! " shouted Wauchope, an Eng- 
 lish miner at Hal's side. " That's why they won't let us 
 in there." 
 
 "They done the same thing to my father! " put. in an- 
 other voice. Hal recognised Andy, the Greek boy. 
 
 " And they want to start Number Two in the mornin' ! " 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 293 
 
 yelled Tim. " Who'll go down there again? And with 
 Alec Stone, him that damns the men and saves the mules, ! " 
 
 " We'll not go back in them mines till they're safe! " 
 shouted Wauchope. "Let them sprinkle them or I'm 
 done with the whole business." 
 
 " And let 'em give us our weights ! " cried another. 
 " We'll have a check-weighman, and we'll get what we 
 earn!" 
 
 So again came the cry, " Joe Smith ! Give us a speech, 
 Joe ! Soak it to 'em ! You're the boy ! " 
 
 Hal stood helpless, dismayed. He had counted his fight 
 won and here was another beginning! The men were 
 looking to him, calling upon him as the boldest of the 
 rebels. Only a few of them knew about the sudden change 
 in his fortunes. 
 
 Even while he hesitated, the line of battle had swept past 
 him; the Englishman, Wauchope, sprang upon the steps 
 and began to address the throng. He was one of the 
 bowed and stunted men, but in this emergency he de- 
 veloped sudden lung-power. Hal listened in astonish- 
 ment ; this silent and dull-looking fellow was the last he 
 would have picked for a fighter. Tom Olson had sounded 
 him out, and reported that he would hear nothing, so they 
 had dismissed him from mind. And here he was, shout- 
 ing terrible defiance ! 
 
 " They're a set of robbers and murderers ! They rob 
 us everywhere we turn ! Eor my part, I've had enough of 
 it ! Have you ? " 
 
 There was a roar from every one within reach of his 
 voice. They had all had enough. 
 
 " All right, .then we'll fight them ! " 
 
 " Hurrah ! Hurrah ! We'll have our rights ! " 
 
 Jeff Cotton came up on the run, with " Bud " Adams 
 
 and -two or three of the gunmen at his heels. The crowd 
 
 turned upon them, the men on the outskirts clenching their 
 
 fists, showing their teeth like angry dogs. Cotton's face 
 
 20 
 
294 KING COAL 
 
 was red with rage, but he saw that he had a serious matter 
 in; hand ; he turned and went for more help and the mob 
 roared with delight. Already they had begun their fight ! 
 Already they had won their first victory ! 
 
 3. The crowd moved down the street, shouting and 
 cursing as it went. Some one started to sing the Mar- 
 seillaise, and others took it up, and the words mounted to 
 a frenzy : 
 
 " To arms! To arms, ye brave! 
 March on, march on, ( all hearts resolved 
 On victory or death! " 
 
 There were the oppressed of many nations in this crowd ; 
 they sang in a score of languages, but it was the same 
 song. They would sing a few bars, and the yells of others 
 would drown them out; " March on! March oil! All 
 hearts resolved I " Some rushed away in different direc- 
 tions to spread the news, and very soon the whole popula- 
 tion of the village was on the spot; the men waving their 
 caps, the women lifting up their hands and shrieking 
 or standing terrified, realising that babies could not be fed 
 upon revolutionary singing. 
 
 Tim Rafferty was raised up on the shoulders of the 
 crowd and made to tell his story once more. While he was 
 telling it, his old mother came running, and her shrieks 
 rang above the clamour : " Tim ! Tim ! Come down 
 from there ! What's the matter wid ye ? " She was twist- 
 ing her hands together in an agony of fright ; seeing Hal, 
 she rushed up to : him. "Get him out of there, Joe! 
 Sure, the lad's gone crazy! They'll turn us Out of the 
 camp, they'll give us nothin' at all - and what'll become 
 of us ? Mother of God, what's the matter with the b'y ? " 
 She called to Tim again; but Tim paid rib 'attention, if he 
 heard her. Tim was on the march to Versailles ! 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 295 
 
 Some one shouted that they would go to the hospital to 
 protect the injured men from the "damned lawyers." 
 Here was something definite, and the crowd moved in that 
 direction, Hal following with the stragglers, the women 
 and children, and the less bold among the men. He no- 
 ticed some of the clerks and salaried employes of the com- 
 pany; presently he saw Jeff Cotton again, and heard him 
 ordering these men to the office to get revolvers. 
 
 " Big Jack " David came along with Jerry Minetti, and 
 Hal drew back to consult with them. Jerry was on fire. 
 It had come the revolt he had been looking forward to 
 for years ! Why were they not making speeches, getting 
 control of the men and organising them ? 
 
 Jack David voiced uncertainty. They had to consider 
 if this outburst could mean anything permanent. 
 
 Jerry answered .that it would mean what they chose to 
 make it mean. If they took charge, they could guide the 
 men and hold them together. Wasn't that what Tom 
 Olson had wanted? 
 
 "No, said the big Welshman, Olson had been trying 
 to organise the men secretly, as preliminary to a revolt in 
 all the camps. That was quite another thing from an open 
 movement, limited to one camp. Was there any hope of 
 success for 'such a movement ? If not, they would be fool- 
 ish to start, they would only be making sure of their own 
 expulsion. 
 
 Jerry turned to Hal. What did he think ? 
 
 And so at last Hal had to speak. It was hard for him 
 to judge, he said. He knew so little about labour matters. 
 It was to learn about them that he had come to North 
 Valley. It was a hard thing to advise men to submit to 
 such treatment as they had been getting; but on the other 
 hand, any one could see that a futile outbreak would dis- 
 courage everybody, and make it harder than ever to organ- 
 ise them. 
 
 So much Hal spoke; but there was more in his mind, 
 
296 KING COAL 
 
 which he could not speak. He could not- say to these 
 men, " I* am a friend of yours, but I am also a friend of 
 your enemy, and in this crisis I cannot make up my mind 
 to which side I owe allegiance. I'm bound by a duty of 
 politeness to the masters of your 'lives; also, I'm 
 anxious not to distress the girl I am to marry! " No, he 
 could not say such things. He felt himself a traitor for 
 having them in his mind, and he could hardly bring him- 
 self to look these men in the.eye^ Jerry knew that he was 
 in some way connected with the Harrigans; probably he 
 had told the rest of Hal's friends, and they had been dis- 
 cussing it .and speculating about 'the meaning of it. Sup- 
 pose they should think he was a spy ? 
 
 So., Hal was relieved when Jack David spoke firmly. 
 They would only be playing tihe ; game of the enemy if they 
 let' themselves be drawn in prematurely. They ought to 
 have the advice of Tom Olson. 
 
 Where was Olson ? Hal asked; and David explained 
 that on the day when Hal had been thrown out of canip, 
 Olson had got his " time " and set out for Sheridan, the 
 local headquarters of the union, to report the situation. 
 He would probably aiot come back; he had got his little 
 group together, he had planted the seed of revolt in North 
 Valley. 
 
 They discussed back and f orth the problem of getting 
 advice. It was impossible to telephone from North Valley 
 without everything they said being listened to; but the 
 evening train for Pedro left in a few minutes, and "Big- 
 Jack "declared that some one ought to take it. The town 
 of Sheridan was only fifteen or twenty miles from Pedro, 
 and there would be a union official there to advise them; 
 or they might use the long distance telephone, and per- 
 suade one- of the union leaders in Western City to take the 
 midnight train, and.be in Pedro next morning. 
 
 Hal, still hoping to withdraw himself, put this task off 
 on Jack David. They emptied out the contents of their 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 297 
 
 pockets, so that he might have funds enough, and the big 
 Welshman darted off to catch the train. In the meantime 
 'Jerry and Hal agreecj to keep in the background, and to 
 seek out the other members of their group and' warn them 
 to do the same. 
 
 4. This programme was a convenient one for Hal ; 
 but as he was to find almost at once, it had been adopted 
 too late. He and Jerry started after the crowd, which had 
 stopped in front of one of the company buildings; and, as 
 they came nearer they heard some tine making a speech. 
 It was the voice of a woman, the tones rising clear and 
 compelling. They could not see the speaker, because of 
 the throng, but Hal recognised her voice, and caught his 
 companion 7 by the arm. " It's Mary Burke ! " 
 
 Mary Burke it was, for a fact ; and she seemed to have 
 the crowd in a kind of frenzy. She would speak one sen- 
 tence, and there would come a roar from the throng; she 
 would speak another sentence, and there would come an> 
 other 'roar. Hal and Jerry pushed their way in, to where 
 they could make out the words of this litany of rage. 
 
 " Would they go down into the pit themselves, do ye 
 think ? " 
 
 " They would not ! " 
 
 "Would they be dressed in silks and laces, do ye 
 think?" 
 ."They would not!" 
 
 " Would they have such fine soft hands, do ye think ? " 
 
 " They would not 1 " 
 
 " Would they hold themselves too good to look at ye ? " 
 
 " They would not ! They would not ! " 
 
 And Mary swept on : " If only ye'd stand together, 
 they'd come to ye on their knees to ask for terms ! But 
 ye're cowards, and they play on your fears ! Ye're trait- 
 ors, and they buy ye out! They break ye into pieces, 
 
298 KING COAL 
 
 they do what they, please with ye -~- and then ride off in 
 their private cars, and leave gunmen to beat ye down and 
 trample on your faces! How long will ye stand it? 
 How long?"" 
 
 The roar of the mob rolled down the street and back 
 again. " We'll not stand it ! We'll not stand it ! " Men 
 shook their clenched fists, women shrieked, even children 
 shouted curses. " We'll fight them! We'll slave no more 
 for them ! " 
 
 And Mary found a magic word. " We'll Jiave a 
 union ! " she shouted. " We'll get together, and stay to- 
 gether ! If they refuse us our rights, we'll know what to 
 answer we'll have a strike ! " 
 
 There was a roar like the crashing of thunder in the 
 mountains. Yes, Mary had found the word ! For many 
 years it had not been spoken aloud in North Valley, but 
 now it ran like a flash of gunpowder through the throng. 
 "Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!" It seemed as if 
 they would never have enough of it. Not all of them had 
 understood Mary's speech, but they knew this word, 
 " Strike ! " They translated and proclaimed it in 
 Polish and Bohemian and Italian and Greek. Men waved 
 their caps, women waved their aprons in the semi-dark- 
 ness it was like some strange kind of vegetation tossed by a 
 storm. Men clasped one another's hands, the more demon- 
 strative of the foreigners fell upon one another's necks. 
 "Strike! Strike! Strike!" 
 
 " We're no longer slaves ! " cried the speaker. " We're 
 men and we'll live as men ! We'll work as men or 
 we'll not work at all ! We'll no longer be a herd of cattle, 
 that they can drive about as they please ! We'll organise, 
 we'll stand together shoulder to shoulder ! Either we'll 
 win together, or we'll starve and die together !. And not a 
 man of us will yield, not a man of us will ,turn traitor! 
 Is 1 there anybody here who'll scab on his fellows ? " 
 
 There was a howl, which might have come from a pack 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 299 
 
 of wolves, Let the man who .would scab on his fellows 
 show his dirty face in that crowd! 
 
 " Ye'll stand by the'iimon?" 
 
 "We'll stand by it!" 
 ."Ye'll swear?" . 
 
 "We'll swear!" 
 
 She flung her arms to heaven with a gesture of passion- 
 ate adjuration. " Swear it on your lives! To stick to 
 the rest, of us, and never a man of ye give way till ye've 
 won! Swear! Swear!" 
 
 Men stood, imitating her gesture, their hands stretched 
 up to the sky. " We swear ! We swear ! " 
 
 "Ye'll 'not let them break ye! Ye'll not let them 
 frighten ye ! " 
 
 "No! No!" 
 
 " Stand by your word, men ! , Stand by it ! 'Tis the 
 one chance for your wives and childer ! " The girl 
 rushed on exhorting with leaping words and passionate 
 out-flung arms a tall, swaying figure of furious re- 
 bellion. Hal listened to the speech and watehqd the 
 speaker, marvelling. Here was a miracle of the human 
 soul, here was hope born of despair! And the crowd 
 around her -they were sharing the wonderful rebirth; 
 their waving arms, their swaying forms responded to 
 Mary as an orchestra to the baton of a leader. 
 
 A thrill shook Hal a thrill of triumph ! He had 
 been beaten down himself, he had wanted to run from this 
 place of torment; but now there was hope in North Valley 
 now there would be victory, freedom! 
 
 Ever since he had coine to the coal-country, the knowl- 
 edge had been growing in Hal .that the real tragedy of 
 these people's lives was not their physical suffering, but 
 their mental depression the dull, hopeless misery in 
 their minds. This had been driven into his consciousness 
 day by day, both by what he saw and by what others told 
 him. Tom Olson had first put it into words: "Your 
 
300 KING COAL 
 
 worst troubles are inside the heads of the fellows you're 
 trying to help ! " How could hope be given to men in this 
 environment of terrorism ? Even Hal himself, young and 
 free as he was, had been brought to despair. He came 
 from a class which is accustomed to say, " Do this," or " Do 
 that," and it will be done. But these mine-slaves had 
 never known that sense of power, of certainty ; on the con- 
 trary, they were accustomed to having their efforts' balked 
 at every turn, their every impulse to happiness or achieve- 
 ment crushed by another's will. 
 
 But here was this miracle of the human soul! Here 
 was ; hope in North Valley! Here were the people rising 
 and Mary Burke at their head ! It was his vision come 
 true Mary Burke with a glory in her face, and her hair 
 shining like a crown of gold ! Mary Burke mounted upon 
 a snow-white horse, wearing a robe of white, soft and lus- 
 trous - like Joan of Arc, or a leader in a suffrage parade ! 
 Yes, and she was at the head of a host, he had the music 
 of its marching in his ears ! 
 
 Underneath Hal's jesting words had been a real vision, 
 a real faith in this girl. Since that day when he had first 
 discovered her, a wild rose of the mining-camp taking in 
 the family wash, he had realised that she was no pretty 
 young working-girl, but a w v oman with a mind and a per- 
 sonality. She saw farther, she felt more deeply than the 
 average of these wage-slaves. Her problem was the same 
 as theirs, yet more complex. When he had wanted to help 
 her and had offered to get her a job, she had made clear 
 that what she craved was not merely relief from drudgery, 
 but a life with intellectual interest. So then the idea had 
 come to him that Mary should become a teacher, a leader 
 of her people. She loved them, she suffered for them 
 and with them, and at the same time she had a mind that 
 was capable of seeking out the causes of their misery. But 
 when he had gone to her with plans of leadership, he had 
 been met by her corroding despair; her pessimism had 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 301 
 
 seemed to mock his dreams, her contempt for these mine- 
 slaves had belittled his efforts in their behalf and in -hers. 
 
 And now, here she was taking up the role he had planned 
 for her ! Her very soul was in this shouting throng, he 
 thought. She had lived the lives of these people, shared 
 their every wrong, been driven to rebellion with them. 
 Being a mere man, Hal missed one important point about 
 this startling development ; he did not realise that Mary's 
 eloquence was addressed, not merely to the "Rafferties and 
 the Wauchopes, and the rest of the North Valley mine- 
 slaves, but to a certain magazine-cover girl, clad in a mack- 
 intosh and a pale green hat -and a soft and filmy and hor- 
 ribly expensive motoring veil! 
 
 5. Mary's speech was brought to a sudden end. A 
 group of the men had moved down the street, and there 
 arose a disturbance there. TJie noise of it swelled louder, 
 and more people began to move in that direction. Mary 
 turned to look, and all at once the whole throng surged 
 down the street. 
 
 The trouble was at the hospital. In front of this build- 
 ing was a porch, and on it Cartwright and Alec Stone were 
 standing, with a group of the clerks and office-employes, 
 among whom Hal saw Predovich, Johnson, the postmaster, 
 and Si Adams. At the foot .of the steps stood Tim Raf- 
 ferty, with a swarm of determined men at his back. He 
 was shouting, " We want them lawyers out of there ! " 
 
 The superintendent himself had undertaken to parley 
 with him. " There are no lawyers in here, Bafferty." 
 
 " We don't trust you! " And the crowd took up the 
 cry : " We'll see for ourselves ! " 
 
 " You can't go into this building," declared Cartwright. 
 
 " I'm goin' to sec my father ! " shouted Tim. " I've 
 got a right to see my father, ain't I ? " 
 
 " You can see him in the morning. You can take him 
 
302 KING COAL 
 
 away, if you want to. We've no desire to keep him. But 
 he's asleep now, and you can't disturb the others:" 
 
 " You weren't afraid to disturb them with your damned 
 lawyers ! " And there .was a roar of approval so loud 
 that Cartwright's denial could hardly be heard. 
 
 " There have been no lawyers near him, I tell you." 
 
 " It's r a lie! " shouted Wauchope. " They been in there 
 all day, and you know it. We mean to have them out." 
 
 " Go on, Tim ! " cried Andy, the Greek boy, pushing his 
 way to the front. " Go on! " cried the others: and thus 
 encouraged, Rafferty started up the steps. 
 
 "I mean to see my father!" As Cartwright caught 
 him by the shoulder, he yelled, " Let me go, I say ! " 
 
 It was evident that the superintendent was trying his 
 best not to use violence ; he was ordering his own followers 
 back at the same time that he was holding the boy. But 
 Tim's blood was up ; he shoved forward, and the superin- 
 tendent, either striking him or trying to ward off a blow, 
 threw him backwards down the steps. There was an up- 
 roar of rage from the throng; they surged forward, and at 
 the same time some of the men on the porch drew re- 
 volvers. 
 
 The meaning of that situation was plain enough. In a 
 moment more the mob would be up the steps, and, there 
 would be shooting. And if once that happened, who could 
 guess the end ? Wrought up as the crowd was, it might 
 not stop till it had fired every company building, perhaps 
 not until it had murdered every company representative. 
 
 Hal had resolved to keep in the back-ground, but he saw 
 that to keep in the back-ground at that moment would be 
 an act of cowardice, almost a crime. He sprang forward, 
 his cry rising above the clamour. " Stop, men ! Stop ! " 
 
 There was probably iio other man in North Valley who 
 could have got himself heeded at that moment'. But Hal 
 had their confidence, he had earned the 'right to be heard. 
 Had he not been to prison for them, had they not seen him 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 303 
 
 behind the bars ? " Joe Smith ! " The cry ran from one 
 end of the excited throng to the other. 
 
 Hal was fighting his way forward, shoving men to one 
 side, imploring, commanding silence. " Tim RafFerty ! 
 Wait! " And Tim, recognising the voice, obeyed. 
 
 Once clear of the press, Hal sprang upon the porch, 
 where Cartwright did not attempt to interfere with him. 
 
 " Men ! " he cried. " Hold on a moment ! This isn't 
 what yon want ! You don't want a fight ! " He paused 
 for an instant; but he knew that no mere negative would 
 hold them at that moment. They must be told what they 
 did want. Just now he had learned the particular words 
 that would carry, and he proclaimed them at the top of his 
 voice : " What you want is a union ! ' A strike ! " 
 
 He was answered by a roar from the crowd, the loudest 
 yet. Yes, that was what they wanted ! A strike ! And 
 they wanted Joe Smith to organise it, to lead it. He had 
 been their leader once, he had been thrown out of camp for 
 it. How he had got back they were 'not quite clear but 
 here he was, and he was their darling. Hurrah for him ! 
 They would follow him to hell and back ! 
 
 And wasn't he the boy with the nerve ! Standing there 
 on the porch of the hospital, right under the very noses of 
 the bosses, making a union speech to them, and the bosses 
 never daring to touch him ! The crowd, realising this" situ- 
 ation, went wild with delight. The English-speaking men 
 shouted assent to his words; and those who could not un- 
 derstand, shouted because the others did. 
 
 They did not want fighting of course not! Eight- 
 ing would not help them ! What would help them was to 
 get together, and stand a solid body of free men. There 
 would be a union committee, able to speak for all of them, 
 to say that no man would go to work any more until justice 
 was secured! They would have an end to the business 
 of discharging men because they asked for their rights,. of 
 blacklisting men and driving them out of the district be- 
 
304 XING GOAL 
 
 cause 'they presumed to want what the laws of the state 
 awarded them ! 
 
 
 6. How long could a man expect to stand on the stepjs 
 of a company building, with a super and a pit-boss at his 
 back, and organise a union of mine-workers \ Hal realised 
 that he must' move the crowd from that perilous place. 
 
 " You'll do what I say, now ? " he demanded ; and when 
 they agreed in chorus, he added the warning: " There'll 
 be no fighting ! And no drinking ! If you see any mail 
 drunk to-night, sit on him and hold him down ! " 
 
 They laughed and cheered. Yes, they would keep 
 straight. '.Here was a job for soBer men, you bet ! 
 
 " And now," JIal continued, " the people in the hos- 
 pital. We'll have a committee go in and see about them. 
 No noise we don't want, to disturb the, sick men. We 
 only want to make sure nobody else is disturbing them; 
 Some one will go in and stay with them. Does that suit 
 you?" 
 
 Yes, that suited them. 
 
 " All right," said Hal. " Keep quiet for a moment." 
 
 And he turned to the superintendent. " Gartwright," 
 said he, " We want a committee to go in and stay with ouu 
 people." Then, as the superintendent started to expostu^ 
 late, he added,- in a low voice, "Don't be a'. fool, man I 
 Don't you see I'm trying to save your life ?" 
 
 The superintendent knew how bad it would be for disci^ 
 pline to let Hal carry his point With the crowd; but also 
 he saw the immediate danger and he was not sure of the 
 courage and shooting .ability of book-keepers and stenog* 
 raphers. 
 
 " Be quick, man ! " exclaimed Hal. " I can't hold these 
 people long. If you don't want hell breaking loose, como 
 to your senses." 
 
 " All right," said Cartwright, swallowing his dignity, 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 305 
 
 And Hal turned to the men and announced the concession. 
 There was a shout of triumph. 
 
 " Now, who's to go ? " said Hal, when he could be heard 
 again ; and he looked about at the upturned faces. There 
 were Tim and Wauchope, the most obvious ones ; but Hal 
 decided to keep them under his eye. He thought of Jerry 
 Minetti and of Mrs. David - but remembered his agree- 
 ment .with'" Big Jack/ 7 to keep their own little group in 
 the back-ground. Then he thought of Mary -Burke; she 
 had already done herself all the harm she could do, and she 
 was a person the crowd would trust. He called her> and 
 called Mrs.j Ferris, an American woman in the crowd; 
 The two came up the steps, and Hal turned to Cart- 
 wright. 
 
 .-. " Now, let's have an understanding," he said. " These 
 people are going in to stay with the sick men, and to talk 
 to them if they want to, and nobody's going to give them 
 any orders but the doctors and nurses. Is that right ? " 
 ; " All right," said the superintendent, sullenly. 
 
 " Good ! " said Hal. " And for God's sake have a little 
 sense and stand by your word; this crowd has had all it 
 ean endure, and if you do any more to provoke it, the con- 
 sequences will be on you. And while you're about it, see 
 that the saloons are closed and kept closed until this trouble 
 is settled. ^ And keep your people out of the way don't 
 let them go about showing their guns and making faces." 
 ! Without waiting to hear the superintendent's reply, Hal 
 turned to the throng, and held up his hand for silence. 
 " Men," he said, " we have a big job to do we're going 
 to organise a union. And we can't do it here in front of 
 the hospital. We've made too much noise already. Let's 
 go off quietly, and have our meeting on the dump in back 
 of the power-house. Does that suit you ? " 
 
 They answered that it suited them.; and Hal, having 
 3een the two women passed safely into the hospital, sprang 
 down from the porch to lead the way. Jerry Minetti came 
 
306 KING COAL 
 
 to his side, trembling with deligh^ ; and Hal clutched him 
 by the arm and whispered, excitedly, " Sing, Jerry ! Sing 
 them some Dago song ! " 
 
 7. They got to the place appointed without any fight- 
 ing. And meantime Hal had worked out in his mind a 
 plan for communicating with .this polyglot horde. He 
 knew that half the, men could not understand a word 61 
 English, and that half the remainder understood very 
 little. Obviously, if he was to make matters clear to them, 
 they must be sorted out according to nationality, and a re- 
 liable interpreter found for each group. 
 
 The process of sorting proved a slow one, involving no 
 end of shouting and good-natured jostling: Polish here, 
 Bohemian here, Greek here, Italian here! When this job 
 had been done, and a man found from each nationality who 
 understood enough English to translate to his fellows, Hal 
 started in to make a speech. But before he had spoken 
 many sentences, pandemonium broke loose. All the in- 
 terpreters started interpreting at the same time and at 
 the top of their. lungs; it was like a parade with the bands 
 close together! Hal was struck dumb; then he began to 
 laugh, and the various. audiences began to laugh; the ora- 
 tors stopped, perplexed then they too began to laugh. 
 So wave after wave of merriment rolled over the throng JJ 
 the mood of the assembly was changed all at once, from 
 rage and determination .to the wildest hilarity. Hal 
 learned his first lesson in the handling of these hordes of 
 child-like people, whose moods were quick, whose tempers 
 were balanced upon a fine point. 
 
 It was necessary for him to make his speech through to 
 the end, and then move the various audiences apart, to bo 
 addressed by the various interpreters. But then arose n 
 new difficulty. How could any one control these floods of 
 eloquence ? How be sure that the message was not being 
 
THE WILL, OF KIA T G COAL 307 
 
 distorted? Hal had been warned by Olson, pf company 
 detectives, who posed as workers, gaining the confidence of 
 men in order to incite them to violence. And certainly 
 some of these interpreters were violent-looking, and one's 
 remarks sounded strange in their translations ! 
 
 Therq was, the Greek orator, for example ; a wild man, 
 with wild -hair and eyes/ who tore all his passions to tat- 
 ters. He stood upon a barrel-head, with the light of two 
 pit-lamps upon him, and some two score of his compatriots 
 at his feet; he waved his arms, he shook his fists, he 
 shrieked, he bellowed. But when Hal, becoming uneasy, 
 went over and asked another English-speaking Greek what 
 the orator was saying, the answer was that he was promis- 
 ing that the law should be enforced in North Valley I 
 
 Hal stood watching this perfervid little man, a study 
 in the possibilities of gesture. He drew back his shoul- 
 ders and pufj'e'd out his chest,' almost throwing himself 
 backwards oft' the barrel-head; he was saying that the 
 miners would be able to live like men. He crouched down 
 and bowed his head, moaning; he was telling them, what 
 would happen if. they gave up. He fastened his fingers in 
 his long black hair and began tugging desperately ; , he 
 pulled, and then stretched out his empty hands ; he pulled 
 again, so hard that it almost made one cry out with pain to 
 watch him. Hal asked what that was for ; and the answer 
 was, " He say, i Stand by/ union! Pull one hair ; he come 
 out ; pull all hairs, no come out ' ! " It carried one back to 
 the days of ^Esop and his fables! 
 
 Tom Olson had told Hal something about the technique 
 of an organiser, who wished to drill these ignorant "hordes. 
 He had to repeat and repeat, until the dullest in his audi- 
 ence had grasped his meaning, had got into his head the 
 all-saving idea of solidarity. When the various orators 
 had talked themselves out, and the audiences had come 
 back to the cinder-heap, Hal made his speech all over 
 again, in words of one syllable, in the kind of pidgin- 
 
308 KING COAL 
 
 English wliick does duty' in the camps. Sometimes lie 
 would stop to reinforce it with Greek or Italian or Slavish 
 words he had picked up. Or perhaps his eloquence would 
 inflame some one of the interpreters afresh, and he would 
 wait while the man shouted a few sentences to his com- 
 patriots.. It was not necessary to consider the possi- 
 bility of boring any one, for these were patient and long- 
 suffer ing men, and now desperately in earnest. 
 
 They were going to have a union ; they were going to do 
 the thing in regular form, with membership cards and of- 
 ficials chosen by ballot. So Hal explained to them, step 
 by step. There was no use organising unless they meant 
 to stay organised. They would choose leaders, one from 
 each' of the principal language groups; and these leaders 
 would meet and draw up a set of demands, which would be 
 submitted in mass-meeting, and ratified, f and then pre- 
 sented to the bosses with tne announcement that until these 
 terms were granted, not a single North Valley worker 
 would go back into the pits. 
 
 - Jerry Minetti, who knew all about unions, advised Hal 
 to enroll the men at once ; he counted on the psychological 
 effect of having each man come forward and give in his 
 name. But here at once they met a difficulty encountered 
 by all would-be organisers lack of funds. There must 
 be pencils and paper for the enrollment; and Hal had 
 emptied his pockets for Jack David! He was forced to 
 borrow a quarter, and send a messenger off to the store. It 
 was voted by the delegates that each member as he joined 
 the union should be assessed a dime. There would have 
 to be s"ome telegraphing and telephoning if they were going 
 to get help from the outside world. 
 
 A temporary committee was named, consisting of Tim 
 Rafferty, Wauchope and Hal, to keep the lists and the 
 funds, and to run things until another meeting could fce 
 held on the morrow; also a body-guard of a dozen of the 
 sturdiest and most reliable men were named to stay by the 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 309 
 
 mimittee. The messenger came back. r with pads and 
 pencils, and sitting on the ground by the light, of pit- 
 lamps, the interpreters wrote down the names of the men 
 who wished to join the union, each man in turn pledging 
 ihis word for solidarity and discipline. Then the meeting 
 was declared adjourned till daylight of the morrow, and 
 the workers scattered to their homes to sleep, with a joy 
 4 and sense .of power such as few of them had ever known in 
 their lives beforte. 
 
 8. The committee and its body-guard repaired : to the 
 dining-room of Reminitsky's, where they stretched them- 
 selves out on the -floor; no one attempted, to interfere with 
 ihem, and while the majority snored peacefully, Hal and 
 ^ small group sat writing out the list of demands which 
 were to be submitted to the bosses in the morning. It 
 was arranged that Jerry should go down to Pedro by the 
 early morning train, to get into touch with Jack David 
 and the union officials, and report to them the latest de- 
 velopments. Because, the officials were sure to have de- 
 fectives following them, Hal warned Jerry to. go to Hac- 
 kellar's house, and have MacKellar bring " Big Jack" 
 to meet him there. Also Jerry must have MacKellar get 
 the Gazette on the long distance phone, and tell Billy 
 Keating about the strike. 
 
 A hundred things like this Hal had to think of ; his head 
 was a-buzz with them, so that when he lay down to sleep he 
 could not. He thought about the bosses, and what they 
 might be doing. The bosses would not be sleeping, he felt 
 sure ! 
 
 And then came thoughts about his private-car friends; 
 .about the strangeness of this plight into which he had got 
 himself ! He laughed aloud in a kind of desperation as he 
 recalled Percy's efforts, to get him away from here. And 
 poor Jessie ! What could he say to her now ? 
 
 21 
 
310 KI&G COAL 
 
 The bosses 'ftiade no move that night; and when rhorn- 
 ing came, the strikers hurried to the meeting-place, some 
 of them, without even stopping for breakfast. They came 
 tousled and unkempt, looking anxiously at their fellows, as 
 if unahle to credit the memory of the bold thing they had 
 done on the night before. But finding the committee and 
 its body-guard on hand and ready for business, their cour- 
 age revived, they felt again the wonderful sentiment of 
 solidarity which had made men of them. Pretty soon 
 speech-making began, and cheering and singing, which 
 brought out the 1'aggards and the cowards. So in a short 
 while the movement was in full swing, with practically 
 every man, woman and child among the workers present. 
 
 Mary Burke came from 'the hospital, where she had 
 spent the night. She looked weary and bedraggled, but 
 her spirit of battle had not slumped. She reported that 
 she had talked with some of the injured men, and that 
 many of them had signed " releases/ 7 whereby the com- 
 pany protected itself against even the threat of a lawsuit. 
 Others had refused to sign, and Mary had been vehement 
 in warning them to stand out. Two other women volun- 
 teered to go to the hospital, in order that she might have a 
 chance to rest ; but Mary did not wish to rest, she did not 
 feel as if she could ever rest again. - 
 
 The members of the newly-organised union proceeded to 
 elect officers. They sought to make Hal president, but he; 
 was shy of binding himself in that irrevocable way, and' 
 succeeded in putting the honour off on Wauchope. Tim 
 Eafferty was made treasurer and secretary. Then a com- 
 mittee was chosen to go to Cartwright with the demands of 
 the men. It included Hal, Wauchope, and Tim.; an Ital- 
 ian named Marcelli, whom Jerry had vouched for ; a repre- 
 sentative of the Slavs and one of the Greeks Rusick and 
 Zammakis, both of them solid and faithful men. Finally, 
 with a good deal of laughter and cheering, the meeting 
 voted to add Mary Burke to this committee. It was a new 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 311 
 
 thing to have a woman in such a rule, but Mary was the 
 daughter of a miner and the sister of a breaker-boy, and 
 had as good a right to speak as any one in North Valley. 
 
 9. Hal read the document which had been prepared 
 the night before. They demanded the right to have a 
 union without being discharged for it. They demanded a 
 check-weighman, to be elected by the men themselves. 
 They demanded that the mines should be sprinkled to pre- 
 vent explosions, and properly timbered to prevent falls. 
 They demanded the right to trade at any store they pleased. 
 Hal called attention to the fact that every one of these de- 
 mands was for a right guaranteed by the laws of the state ; 
 this was a -significant fact, and he urged the men not to in- 
 clude other demands. After some argument they voted 
 down the proposition of the radicals, who wanted a ten 
 per cent, increase in wages. Also they voted down the 
 proposition of a syndicalist-anarchist, who explained to 
 them in a jumble of English and Italian that the mines 
 belonged to them, and that they should refuse all com- 
 promise and turn the bosses out forthwith. 
 
 While this speech .was being delivered, young Rovetta 
 pushed his way through the crowd and drew Hal to one 
 side. -He had been down by the railroad-station and seen 
 the morning train come in. ETom it had descended a 
 crowd of thirty or forty men, of that " hard citizen " type 
 which every miner in the district could recognise at the 
 first glance. Evidently the company officials had been 
 keeping the telephone-wires busy that night; they were 
 bringing in, not merely this train-load of guards, but auto- 
 mobile loads from other camps from the Northeastern 
 down the canyon, ;and from Barela, in a side canyon over 
 the mountain. 
 
 Hal told this news to the meeting, which received it 
 with howls of rage. So that was. the bosses' plan ! Hot- 
 
312 KING GOAL 
 
 heads sprang upon the cinder-heap, half a dozen of them 
 trying to make speeches at once. The leaders had to sup- 
 press these too impetuous ones by-main force; once more 
 Hal gave the warning of " No fighting! " They were go- 
 ing to have faith in their union ; they were going to present 
 a solid front to the company, and the company would learn 
 the lesson that intimidation would not win a strike. 
 
 So it was agreed, and the committee set out for the com- 
 pany's office, Wauchope carrying in his hand the written 
 demands of the meeting. Behind the committee marched 
 the crowd in a solid mass.; they packed the street in front 
 of the office, while the heroic seven went up the steps and 
 passed into the building. Wauchope made inquiry for 
 Mr. Cartwright, and a clerk took in the message. 
 
 They stood waiting; and meanwhile, one of the office- 
 people, coming in from the street, beckoned to. Hal. He 
 had<:an envelope in his hand; and gave it over without a 
 word. It was addressed, " Joe Smith," "and Hal opened 
 it, and found within a small visiting card, at which lie 
 stared. , " Edward S. Warner, Jr." ! 
 
 For a moment Hal could hardly believe the evidence of 
 his eyesight. Edward in North Valley! Then, turning 
 the card over, he read, in his brother's familiar handwrit- 
 ing, " I am at Cartwright's house. I must see you. The 
 matter concerns Dad. Come instantly." 
 
 Fear leaped into Hal's heart. What could such a mes- 
 sage mean? 
 
 He turned quickly to the committee and explained. 
 " My father's an old man, and had a stroke of apoplexy 
 ihree years, ago. I'm afraid he may be dead, or very ill. 
 I must go." 
 
 "It's a trick ! " cried Wauchope excitedly. 
 
 " No, not possibly," answered Hal. " I know my 
 brother's handwriting. I must see him." 
 
 " Well," declared the other, " we'll wait. We'll not see 
 Oartwright until you get back." 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 313 
 
 Hal considered this. " I don't think that's wise/' he 
 said. " You can do what you have to do just as well with-, 
 out me." 
 
 " But I wanted you to do the talking! " 
 
 " No/ 7 replied Hal, " that's your business, Wauchope. 
 You are the- president of the union. You know what the 
 men want, as well as I do ; you know what they complain 
 of. And besides, there's not going to be any need of talk- 
 ing with Cart wright. Either he's going to grant our de- 
 mands or Jbe isn't." 
 
 They discussed the matter back and forth. Mary Burke 
 insisted that they were pulling Hal away just at the criti- 
 cal moment! He laughed as he answered. She was as 
 good as any man when it came to an argument. If Wau- 
 chope showed signs of weakening, let her speak up ! 
 
 10. So Hal hurried off, and climbed the street which 
 led to the superintendent's house, a concrete bungalow set 
 upon a little elevation overlooking the camp. He rang the 
 bell, and the door opened, and. in the entrance stood his 
 brother. 
 
 Edward Warner was eight years older than Hal; the 
 perfect type of the young American business 'man. His 
 figure was erect and athletic, his features were regular and 
 strong, his voice, his manner, everything about him spoke 
 of quiet decision, of energy precisely directed. As a rule, 
 he was a model of what the tailor's art could do, but just 
 now there was something abnormal about his attire as well 
 as his manner. 
 
 Hal's anxiety had been increasing all the way up the 
 street. " What's the matter with Dad ? " he cried. 
 
 "Dad's all right," was the answer "that is, for the 
 moment." 
 
 " Then what ? " 
 
 " Peter Harrigan's on his way back from the East. 
 
314 KING COAL 
 
 He's due in Western City to-morrow. You can see that 
 something will be the matter with Dad unless you quit this 
 business at once." 
 
 Hal had a sudden reaction from his fear. " So that's 
 all ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 His brother was gazing at the young miner, dressed in 
 sooty blue overalls, his face streaked with black, his wavy 
 hair all mussed. " You wired me you were going to 
 leave here, Hal ! " 
 
 " So I was ; but things happened that I couldn't fore- 
 see. There's a strike." 
 
 " Yes ; but what's that got to do with it ? " Then, with 
 exasperation in his voice, " For God's sake, Hal, how much 
 farther do you expect to go ? " 
 
 Hal stood for a few moments, looking at his brother. 
 Even in a tension as he was, he could not help laughing. 
 " I know how all this must seem to you, Edward. It's a 
 long story ; I hardly know how to begin." 
 
 " No, I suppose not," said Edward, drily. 
 
 And Hal laughed again. " Well, we agree that far, at 
 any rate. What I was hoping was that we could talk it all 
 over quietly, after the excitement was past. When I ex- 
 plain to you about conditions in this place " 
 
 But Edward interrupted. " Really, Hal, there's no use 
 of such an argument. I have nothing to do with condi- 
 tions in Peter Harrigan's camps." 
 
 The smile left Hal's face. " Would you have pre- 
 ferred, to have me investigate conditions in the Warner 
 camps ? " Hal had tried to suppress his irritation, but 
 there was simply no way these tAvo could get along. 
 "We've had our arguments about these things, Edward, 
 and you've always had the best of me you could tell me 
 I w r as a child, it was presumptuous of me to dispute your 
 assertions. But now- well, I'm a child no longer, and 
 we'll have to meet on a new basis." 
 
 Hal's tone, more than his words, made an impression. 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 315 
 
 Edward thought before he spoke. "Well, what's your 
 uewbasis I " 
 
 fct Just now I'm in the midst of 'a strike, and I canjiardly 
 stop to explain." 
 
 " You don't think of Dad in all this madness ? " 
 
 " I think of Dad, and of you too, Edward; but this is 
 hardly the time " 
 
 " If ever in the world there was a time, this is it ! " 
 
 Hal groaned inwardly. "All right," he. said, "sit 
 down. I'll try to give you some idea how I got swept into 
 this." 
 
 He began to tell about the conditions he had found in 
 this stronghold of the " G. F. C." As usual, when he 
 talked about it, -he became absorbed in its human as- 
 pects ; a fervour came into his tone, he was carried on, 'as 
 he had been when he tried to argue with the officials in 
 Pedro. But his eloquence was interrupted, even as it had 
 been then; he discovered that, his brother, was in such a 
 state of exasperation that he could not listen to a con- 
 secutive argument. 
 
 It was the old, old story ; it had been thus as far back as 
 Hal could remember. It seemed one of the mysteries of 
 nature, how she could have brought two such different 
 temperaments out of the same parentage. Edward was 
 practical and positive; he knew what he wanted in the 
 world, and he knew how to get it; he was never troubled 
 with doubts, nor with self-questioning, nor with any other 
 superfluous emotions ;. he could not understand people who 
 allowed that sort of waste in their mental processes. He 
 could not understand people who got ".swept into things." 
 
 In the beginning, he had had with llal the prestige of 
 the elder brother. He was handsome as a young Greek 
 god, he was strong and masterful ; whether he was flying 
 over the ice with sure, strong strokes, or cutting the water 
 with his glistening shoulders, or bringing down a partridge 
 with the certainty and swiftness of a lightning stroke, 
 
316 KING COAL 
 
 Edward was the incarnation of Success. When he said 
 that one's ideas were " rot," when he spoke with contempt 
 of " mollycoddles " then indeed one suffered in soul, and 
 had to go back to Shelley and Ixuskin to renew one's 
 courage. 
 
 The questioning of life had begun very early with Hal ; 
 there seemed to be something in his nature which forced 
 him to go to the roots of things ; and 'much as he looked 
 up to his wonderful brother, he had been made to realise 
 that there were sides of life to which this brother was 
 blind. To begin, with, there were religious doubts ; the 
 distresses of mind which plague a young man when first 
 it dawns upon him that the faith he has been brought up 
 in is a higher kind of fairy-tale. Edward had never 
 asked such questions, apparently. He went to church, be- 
 cause it was the thing to do ; more especially because it was 
 pleasing to the young lady he wished to marry to have him 
 put on stately clothes, and escort her to a beautiful place 
 of music and fldwers and perfumes, where she would meet 
 her friends, also in stately clothes. .How abnormal it 
 seemed to Edward that a young man should give up this 
 pleasant custom, merely because he could not be sure that 
 Jonah had swallowed a whale ! 
 
 But it was when Hal's doubts attacked his brother's 
 week*day religion the religion of the profit-system - 
 that the controversy between them had become deadly. 
 At first Hal had known nothing about practical: affairs, 
 and it had been Edward's duty to answer his questions. 
 The prosperity of the country had been built up by strong 
 men ; and these meji had enemies evil-minded persons, 
 animated by jealousy and other base passions, seeking to 
 tear dbwri the mighty structure. At first this devil-theory 
 had satisfied the boy; but later on, as he had come to read 
 and observe, he had been plagued by doubts. In the end, 
 listening to his brother's conversation, and reading the 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 317 
 
 writings of so-called " muck-rakers," the realisation, was 
 forced upon him that there were two types of mind in the 
 controversy those who thought of profits, and those who 
 thought of human beings. 
 
 Edward was alarined at the books Hal was reading ; he 
 was still more alarmed when he saw 'the ideas Hal was 
 bringing home from college. There must have been some 
 strange change in Harrigan in "a few years ; no one had 
 dreamed of such ideas when Edward was there! No. one 
 had written satiric songs about the faculty, or the endow- 
 ments of eminent philanthropists ! 
 
 In the meantime Edward Warner Senior had had a 
 Daralytic stroke, and Edward Junior had taken charge of 
 ;he .company. Three years of this had given him the point 
 of view of a coal-operator, hard and set for a life-time. 
 The business of a coal-operator was to buy his labour 
 cheap, to turn out the maximum product in. the shortest 
 time, and to sell the product at the market price to parties 
 whose credit was satisfactory. If a concern was doing 
 that, it was a successful concern ; for any one to mention 
 
 at it was making wrecks of the people whovdug the coal, 
 was to be guilty of sentimentality and impertinence. 
 
 Edward had heard with dismay his brother's announce- 
 ment that he meant to study industry by spending his va? 
 cation as a common labourer. However, when he consid- 
 ered it, he was inclined "to tlpnk that the idea might not 
 be such a bad one. Perhaps Hal would not find what he 
 was looking for; perhaps, working with his hands, he 
 might get some of the nonsense knocked out of his head ! 
 
 But now the experiment had been made, and the reve- 
 lation had burst upon Edward that it had been a ghastly 
 failure. Hal had not come to realise that labour was 
 turbulent and lazy and incompetent; needing a strong hand 
 to rule it; on the contrary, he had become one of these 
 turbulent ones himself! A champion of the lazy and in- 
 
318 KING COAL 
 
 'competent, an agitator/ a fonrenter of class-prejudice, an 
 enemy of his 'own friends, and of his brother's business 
 associates ! 
 
 Never had Hal seen Edward in such a state of excite- 
 ment. There was something really abnormal about him, 
 Hal realised ; it puzzled him vaguely while he talked, but 
 he did not understand it until his brother told how he had 
 come to be here. He had been attending a dimier^dance 
 at the home of a friend, and Percy Harrigan had got him 
 on the telephone' at half past eleven o'clock at night. 
 Percy had had a message from Cartwright, to the effect 
 that Hal was leading a riot in North Valley ; Percy had 
 painted the situation in such lurid colours that Edward 
 had made a dash and caught the midnight train, wearing 
 his evening clothes, and without so much as a tooth-brush, 
 with him ! 
 
 Hal could hardly keep from bursting out laughing. 
 His brother, his punctilious and dignified brother, alight- 
 ing from a sleeping-car at seven o'clock in the morning, : 
 wearing a dress suit and a silk hat! And here he was, 
 Edward Warner Junior, the fastidious, who never paid 
 less than a hundred and fifty dollars for a suit of clothes, 
 clad in a " hand-me-down " for which he had expended i 
 twelve dollars and forty-eight cents in a " Jew-store " inj 
 a coal-town I 
 
 11. But Edward would not stop for a single smile; 
 his every faculty was absorbed in the task he had before>j 
 him, to get his brother out of this predicament, so dan- 
 gerous and so humiliating. Hal had come to a town 
 owned by Edward's business friends, and had proceeded 
 to meddle in their affairs, to stir up their labouring people; 
 and imperil their 1 property. That North Valley was th6; 
 property of the General Fuel Company not merely the 
 mines and the houses, but likewise the people who lived in^ 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 319 
 
 them -Edward seemed to have no doubt whatever; Hal 
 got only exclamations of annoyance when he suggested 
 any other ^point of view. Would there have been any town 
 of North Valley, if it had not been for the capital and 
 energy of the General Fuel Company \ If the people of 
 North Valley did not like the conditions which the General 
 Fuel Company offered them, they had one simple and 
 obvious remedy to go .somewhere else to work. But 
 they stayed; they got out the General Fuel Company's 
 coal, they took the General Fuel Company's wages 
 
 " Well, they've stopped taking them now," put in Hal. 
 
 All right, that was their affair, replied Edward. But 
 let them stop because they wanted to not because out- 
 side agitators put them up to it. At any rate, let the agi- 
 tators not include a member of the Warner family ! 
 
 The elder brother pictured old Peter Harrigan on his 
 way back from the East; the state of unutterable fury in 
 which he w r ould arrive, the storm he would raise in the 
 business world of Western City. Why, it was unimagin- 
 able, such a thing had never been heard of ! " And right 
 when we're opening up a new mine when we need every 
 dollar of credit we can get ! " 
 
 " Aren't we big enough to stand off Peter Harrigan ? " 
 inquired Hal. 
 
 " We have plenty of other people to stand off," was the 
 answer. " We don't have to go out of our way to make 
 enemies." 
 
 ' Edward spoke, not merely as the elder brother, but also 
 as the money-man of the family. When the father had 
 broken down from over-work, and had been changed in one 
 terrible hour from a driving man of affairs into a childish 
 and pathetic invalid, Hal had been glad enou'gh that there, 
 was one member of the family who was practical ; he had 
 been perfectly willing to see his brother shoulder these 
 burdens, while he w T ent off to college, to amuse himself 
 with satiric songs. Hal had no responsibilities, no one 
 
320 KING COAL 
 
 asked anything of him except that he would not throw 
 sticks into the wheels of the machine his brother was run- 
 ning. "You are living by the coal industry! Every 
 dollar you spend comes from it " 
 
 V s i know it! I know it!" cried Hal. "That's the 
 thing that .torments me! The fact that I'm living upon 
 the bounty of such wage-slaves " 
 
 " Oh ? cut it out! " cried Edward. " That's not what I 
 mean ! " 
 
 "I know but it's what / mean! From now on I 
 mean to know about the people who work for me, and 
 what sort of treatment they get. I'm no' longer your kid- 
 brother, to be put off with platitudes." 
 
 ' You know ours are union mines, Hal " 
 
 " Yes, but what does that mean ? How do we work it ? 
 Do we give the men their weights ? " 
 '" Of course! They have their check- weighmen." 
 
 "But then, how do we compete with the operators in 
 this district, who pay for a ton of three thousand pounds '( " 
 
 '" We manage it - by economy." 
 
 " Economy ? I don't see Peter Harrigan wasting any- 
 thing here ! " Hal paused for an answer, but none came. 
 " Do we buy the check-w T eighmen ? Do we bribe the la- 
 bour leaders ? " 
 
 Edward coloured slightly. " What's the use of being 
 nasty, Hal ? You know I don't do dirty work." 
 
 " I don't mean to be nasty, Edward ; but you must know 
 that many a business-man can say he doesn't do dirty 
 work, because he has others do it for him. What about 
 politics, for instance? Do we run a machine, and put our 
 clerks and bosses into the local offices ? " 
 
 Edward did not answer, and Hal persisted, " I mean 
 to know these things! I'm not going to be blind any 
 more ! " 
 
 "All right, Hal you can know anything you want; 
 but for God's sake, not now! If you want to be taken for 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 321 
 
 a' man, show a man's common sense! Here's Old Peter 
 getting back to. Western City to-morrow night! Don't 
 you know that he'll be after me, raging like a mad bull ? 
 Don't you know that if I tell him I can do nothing that 
 I've been down here and tried to pull you. away don't 
 you know he'll go after Dad I " 
 
 Edward had tried all, the arguments, and this was the 
 only one that counted. " You must keep him away from 
 Bad-! ' 7 exclaimed Hal. 
 
 " You tell me that! " retorted the other. "And when 
 you know Old Peter! Don't you know he'll get at him, 
 if he has to break down the door of the house? He'll 
 throw the burden of 'his rage on that poor old man! 
 You've been warned about it clearly ; you know it may be 
 a matter of life and death to keep Dad from getting ex- 
 cited. I don't know what he'd do; maybe he'd fly into a 
 rage with you, maybe .he'd defend you. He's old and 
 weak, he's lost .his grip on things. Anyhow, he'd not let 
 Peter abuse you and like as not he'd drop dead in the 
 midst of tie dispute ! Do you want to have that on your 
 conscience, along with the troubles of your workingmeii 
 friends 2 " 
 
 12. Hal sat staring in front of him, silent. Was 
 it a fact that every man had something in his life which, 
 palsied his arm, and struck him helpless in the battle for 
 social justice ? 
 
 When he spoke again, it was in a low voice. " Edward, 
 I'm thinking about a young Irish boy who works in these 
 mines. He, too ; has a father ; and this father was caught 
 in the explosion. He's an old man, with a wife .and seven 
 other children. He's a good man, the boy's a good boy. 
 Let me tell you what Peter Harrigan has done to them ! " 
 
 " Well," said Edward, " whatever it is, it's all right, 
 you can help them. They won't need to starve." 
 
322 KING , COAL 
 
 " I know/' said Hal, " but there are so many others ; 
 I can't help them all. And besides, can't you see, Ed- 
 ward what I'm thinking about is not charity, but jus- 
 tice. I'm sure this boy, Tim RaiTerty, loves his father 
 just exactly as much as I love my father; and there are 
 other old men here, with sons who love them " 
 
 " Oh, Hal, for Christ's sake ! " exclaimed Edward, in 
 a sort of explosion. He had no other words to express his 
 impatience. " Do you expect to take all the troubles in 
 the world on your shoulders ? " And he sprang up and 
 caught the other by the arm. " Boy, you've got to come 
 away from here! " 
 
 Hal got up, without answering. , He seemed irresolute, 
 and his brother started to draw him towards the door. 
 " I've got a car here. We can get a train in an hour " 
 
 Hal. saw that he had to speak firmly. " No, Edward," 
 he said. " I can't come just yet." 
 
 " I tell you you must come ! " 
 
 " I can't. I made these men a promise ! " 
 
 " In God's name what are these men to you ? Com- 
 pared with your own father ! '.' 
 
 " I can't explain it, Edward. I've talked for half an 
 hour, and I . don't think you've even heard me. Suffice 
 it to say that I see these people caught in a trap and one 
 that my whole life has helped to make. I can't leave 
 them in it. What's more, I don't believe Dad would 
 want me to do it, if he understood." 
 
 The other made a last effort at self-control. " I'm not 
 going to call you a sentimental fool. Only, let me ask 
 you one plain question. What do you think you can do 
 for these people ? " 
 
 " I think I can help to win decent conditions for them." 
 
 "Good God! " cried Edward; he sighed, in his agony 
 of exasperation. " In Peter Harrigan's mines ! Don't 
 you realise that he'll pick them up and throw them out of 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 323 
 
 here, neck and crop the whole crew, every man in the 
 town, if necessary \ " 
 
 " Perhaps," answered Hal ; " but if the men in the other 
 mines should join them if the big union outside should 
 stand by them - 
 
 " You're dreaming, Hal ! You're talking like a child ! 
 I talked to the superintendent here ; he had telegraphed 
 the situation to Old Peter, and had just got an answer. 
 Already he's acted, no doubt." 
 
 " Acted ? " echoed Hal. " How do you mean ? " He 
 was staring at his brother in sudden anxiety. 
 
 " They were going to turn the agitators out, of course." 
 
 " What? And while I'm here talking! " 
 
 Hal turned toward the door. "-You knew it all the 
 time ! " he exclaimed. " You kept me here deliberately ! " 
 
 He was starting away, but Edward sprang and caught 
 him. " What could you have done ? " 
 
 " Turn me loose ! " cried Hal, angrily. 
 
 " Don't be a fool, Hal ! I've been trying to keep you 
 out of the trouble. There may be fighting." 
 
 Edward threw himself between Hal and the door, and 
 there was a sharp struggle. But the elder man was no 
 longer the athlete, the young bronzed god; he had been 
 sitting at a desk in an office, while Hal had been doing 
 hard labour. Hal threw him to one side, and in a mo- 
 ment more had sprung out of the door, and was running 
 down the slope. 
 
 13. . Coming to the main street of the village, Hal 
 saw the crowd in front of the office. One glance told 
 him that something Jiad happened. Men were running 
 this way and that, gesticulating, shouting. Some were 
 coming in his direction, and when they saw him they be- 
 gan to yell to him. The first to reach him was Klowoski, 
 
324 KING COAL 
 
 the little Pole, breathless ; gasping with excitement. 
 " They fire our committee! " 
 
 " Eire them?". 
 
 " Fire 'em out ! Down canyon ! " The little man was 
 waving his arms in wild gestures; his eyes seemed about 
 to start out of his head. " Take 'em off ! Whole bunch 
 fellers gunmen ! . People see them come out back 
 door. Got ever'body's arm tied. Gunmen fellers hold 
 'ern, don't let 'em holler, can't" do nothin' ! Got them 
 cars waitin' what you call ? " 
 
 "Automobiles?" 
 
 " Sure, got three ! Put ever'body in, quick like that 
 they go down road like wind ! Go down canyon, all gone ! 
 They bust our strike ! " And the little Pole's voice ended 
 in a howl of despair. 
 
 " No, they won't bust our strike ! " exclaimed Hal. 
 " Not yet ! " 
 
 Suddenly he was reminded of the fact that his brother 
 had followed him puffing hard, for the run had been 
 strenuous. He caught Hal by the arm, exclaiming, 
 " Keep out of this, I tell you ! " 
 
 Thus while Hal was questioning Klowoski, he was strug- 
 gling half-unconsciously, to free himself from his brother's 
 grasp. Suddenly the matter was forced to an issue, for 
 the little Polack emitted a cry like an angry cat, and went 
 at Edward with fingers outstretched like claws. Hal's 
 dignified brother would have had to part with his dignity, 
 if Hal had not caught Klowoski's onrush with his other 
 arm. " Let him alone ! " he said. " It's my brother ! " 
 Whereupon the little man fell back and stood watching in 
 bewilderment. 
 
 Hal saw Androkulos running to him. The Greek boy 
 had been in the street back of the office, and had seen the 
 committee carried off ; nine people had been taken 
 Wauchope, Tim Rafferty, and Mary Burke, Marcelli, 
 Zammakis and Rusick, and three others who had served 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 325 
 
 as interpreters on the night before. It had all been done 
 so quickly 'that the crowd had scarcely realised what was 
 happening. 
 
 'Now, having grasped the meaning of it, the men were 
 beside themselves with rage. They shook their fists, shout- 
 ing defiance to a group of officials and guards who were 
 visible upon the porch of the office-building. There was 
 a clamour of shouts for revenge. 
 
 Hal could see instantly the dangers, of the situation; 
 he was like a man watching the burning fuse -pf a bomb. 
 Now, if ever, this polyglot horde must have leadership' 
 wise and cool and resourceful leadership. 
 
 The crowd, discovering his presence, surged down upon 
 him like' a wave. They gathered round him, -howling. 
 They had lost the rest of their, committee, but they still had 
 Joe Smith. Joe Smith ! Hurrah for Joe ! Let the gun- 
 men take him, "if they could! They waved their caps, 
 they tried to lift him upon their shoulders, so that all could 
 see him. 
 
 There was clamour for a speech, and Hal started to make 
 his way to the steps of the nearest building, with Edward 
 holding on to his coat. Edward was jostled; he had to 
 part with his dignity but he did not part with his 
 brother. And when Hal was about to mount the steps, 
 Edward made a last desperate effort, shouting into his ear, 
 "Wait a minute! Wait! Are you going to try to talk 
 to this mob ? " 
 
 "Of course. Don't you - see there'll be trouble if I 
 don't ? " 
 
 " You'll get yourself killed ! You'll start a fight, and 
 get a lot of these poor devils shot! Use your common 
 sense, Hal; the company has brought in guards, and they 
 are armed, and your people aren't." 
 
 " That's exactly why I have to speak ! " 
 'The discussion was carried on under difficulties, the 
 elder brother clinging to the younger's arm, while the 
 
 22 
 
326 KING COAL 
 
 younger sought to pull free, and the mob shouted with a 
 single voice, " Speech ! Speech ! " There were some 
 near by who, like Klowoski, did not relish having this 
 stranger interfering with their champion, and showed 
 signs of a disposition to " mix in " ; so at last Edward gave 
 up the struggle, and the orator mounted the steps and faced 
 the throng. 
 
 14. Hal raised his arms as a signal for silence. 
 
 " Boys," he cried, " they've kidnapped our committee. 
 They think they'll break our strike that way but they'll 
 find they've made a mistake ! " 
 
 " They will ! Right you are ! " roared a score of voices. 
 
 " They forget that we've got 9, union. Hurrah for our 
 North Valley union ! " 
 
 " Hurrah ! Hurrah ! " The cry echoed to the canyon- 
 walls. 
 
 " And hurrah for the big union that will back us the 
 United Mine-Workers of America ! " 
 
 Again the yell rang out ; again and again. " Hurrah 
 for the union ! Hurrah for the United Mine-Workers ! " 
 A big American miner, Ferris,, was in the front of the 
 throng, and his voice beat in Hal's ears like a steam-siren. 
 
 " Boys," Hal resumed, when at last he could be heard, 
 " use your brains a moment. I warned you they would 
 try to provoke you ! They would like nothing better than 
 to start a scrap here, and get a chance to smash our union ! 
 Don't forget that, boys, if they can make you fight, they'll 
 smash the union, and the union is our only hope ! " 
 
 Again ca.me the cry : " Hurrah for the union ! " Hal 
 let them shout it in twenty languages, until they were sat- 
 isfied. 
 
 " Now, boys," he went on, at last, " they've shipped out 
 our committee. They may ship me out in the same 
 way " 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 327 
 
 " No, they won't! " shouted voices in the crowd. And 
 there was a bellow of rage from Ferris. " Let them try 
 it ! We'll burn them in their beds ! " 
 
 " But they can ship, -me out!" argued Hal. " You 
 know they can beat us at that game ! They can call on the 
 sheriff, they can get the soldiers, if necessary! We can't 
 oppose them by force they can turn out every man, 
 woman and child in the village, if they choose. What 
 we have to get clear is that even that won't crush our union ! 
 Nor the big union outside, that will be backing us ! We 
 can hold out, and make them take us back in the end ! " 
 
 Some of Hal's friends, seeing what he was trying to do, 
 came to his support. " No fighting ! No violence ! 
 Stand by the union ! " And he went on to drive the lesson 
 home ; even though the company might evict them, the big 
 union of the four hundred and fifty thousand mine-work-, 
 ers of the country would feed them, it would call out the 
 rest of the workers in the district in sympathy. So the 
 bosses, who thought to starve and cow them into submis- 
 sion, would find their mines lying permanently idle. They 
 would be forced to give way, and the tactics of solidarity 
 would triumph. 
 
 So Hal went on, recalling the things Olson had told him, 
 and putting them into practice. He saw hope in their 
 faces again, dispelling the mood of resentment and rage. 
 
 " Now, boys," said he, " I'm going in to see the super- 
 intendent for you. I'll be your committee, since they've 
 shipped out the rest." 
 
 The steam-siren of Ferris bellowed again : " You're 
 the boy ! Joe Smith ! " 
 
 " All right, men now mind what I say ! I'll see the 
 super, and then I'll go down to Pedro, where there'll be 
 some officers of the United Mine-workers this morning. 
 I'll tell them the situation, and ask them to back you. 
 That's what you want, is it ? " 
 
 That was what they wanted. " Big union ! " 
 
328 KING COAL 
 
 " All right I'll do the best I can for you, and I'll find 
 someday to get word tb you. And meantime you stand 
 firm. The bosses will tell you lies, they'll try to deceive 
 you, they'll send spies and trouble-makers among you : 
 but you bold fast,, and wait for the big union." 
 
 Hal stood looking at the cheering crowd. He had time 
 to note some off the faces upturned to him. Pitiful, toil- 
 worn faces they were, each making its separate appeal, 
 telling its individual, story of .deprivation and defeat. 
 Once more they, were transfigured^ shining with that 
 wonderful new light which he had seen for the first time 
 the previous evening.' It had been crushed for a moment, 
 but it flamed up * again ; : it would never die in the hearts 
 of men once they had learned the power it gave. Noth- 
 ing Hal had yet seen moved him so much as this new birth 
 bf enthusiasm. A beautiful, a terrible 1 thing it was! 
 
 Hal looked at his brother, to see how he had Been moved. 
 What he saw on his brother's face was satisfaction, bound- 
 less,. relief. The matter had turned out all right! Hal 
 was coming away ! 
 
 Hal turned again to the men ; somehow, after his glance 
 at Edward, they seemed more pitiful than ever. For Ed- 
 ward typified the power they were facing the unseeing, 
 uncomprehending power that meant to -crush them. The 
 possibility of failure was revealed to Hal in a flash of emo- 
 tion, overwhelming him. He saw them as they would be, 
 when no leader was at hand to make speeches to them. 
 He saw them waiting, their life-long habit of obedience 
 striving to reassert itself ; a thousand fears besetting them, 
 a thousand rumours preying upon them wild beasts set 
 on them by their cunning enemies. They would suffer, 
 not merely for themselves, but for their wives and chil- 
 dren -the very same pangs of dread that Hal suffered 
 when he thought of one old man up in Western City, whose 
 doctors had warned him to avoid excitement. 
 
 If they stood firm, if they kept their bargain with 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 329 
 
 their leader, they would be evicted from their homes, they 
 
 I would face the cold of the coming winter, they would face 
 hunger and the black-list. And he, meantime what 
 would he be doing? What was his part of the bargain? 
 He would interview the superintendent for them, he would 
 turn them over to the " big union ; ' and then he would 
 
 , go off to his own life of ease and pleasure. \ To eat grilled 
 steaks and hot rolls in a perfectly appointed club, with 
 suave and sof tly-moying servitors at his, beck I To dance 
 
 -at the country club with exquisite creatures of chiffon and 
 satin, of perfume and sweet smiles and careless, happy 
 
 .charms!. No, it was too easy! He might call that his 
 duty to his father and brother, but he would know in his 
 heart that it was treason to life; it was the devil, taking 
 him onto a high mountain and showing him all the king- 
 
 . donis of the earth ! 
 
 Moved by a sudden impulse, Hal raised his hands once 
 more. " Boys, 77 he said, " we understand each other now. 
 
 .You'll not go back to work till the big union tells you. 
 And I, for my part, will stand by you. Your cause is my 
 
 -cause, Fll go on fighting for you till you have your rights, 
 till you can live and work as men ! Is that right '( " 
 "That's right! That's right!" 
 
 " Very good, then we'll swear to * it I" And Hal 
 raised his hands, and the men raised theirs, and amid a 
 storm of shouts, and a frantic waving of caps, he made 
 
 .them the pledge, which he knew would bind his. own con- 
 science. He made it deliberately, there; in ,his brother's 
 presence. This was no mere charge on a trench, it was en- 
 listing for a war! But even in that moment of fervour, 
 Hal would have been frightened had he realised the pe- 
 riod of that enlistment, the years of weary and desperate 
 conflict to which, he was pledging his life. 
 
 15. Hal descended from his rostrum, and the crowds 
 
330 KING COAL 
 
 made way for him, and with his brother at his side he went jj 
 down the street to the office building, upon the porch of 
 which the guards were standing. His progress was a tri 
 umphal one ; rough voices shouted words of encouragement ! 
 in his ea,rs, men jostled and fought to shake his hand or to 
 pat him on the back; they even patted 'Edward and tried to 
 shake his hand, because he was with Hal, and seemed to 
 have his confidence. Afterwards Hal thought it over and * 
 was merry. Such an adventure for Edward! 
 
 The younger man went up the steps of the building and 
 spoke to the guards. " I want to see Mr. Cartwright." 
 
 " He's inside," answered one, not cordially. With Ed- 
 ward following, Hal entered, and was ushered into the pri- \ 
 vate office of the superintendent. 
 
 Having been a working-man, and class-conscious, Hal 
 was observant of the manners of mine-superintendents ; 
 he noted that Cartwright bowed politely to Edward, but ] 
 did not include Edward's brother. " Mr. Cartwright," 
 he said, " I have come to you as a deputation from the ; 
 workers of this camp." 
 
 The superintendent did not appear impressed by the i 
 announcement. 
 
 "I am instructed to say that the men demand the re- ' 
 dress of four grievances before they return to work. : 
 First " 
 
 Here Cartwright spoke, in his quick, sharp way. 
 " There's no use going on, sir. This company will deal 
 only with its men as individuals. It will recognise no 
 deputations." 
 
 Hal's answer was equally quick. " Very well, Mr. 
 Cartwright. In that case, I come to you as an individual." 
 
 Eor a moment the superintendent seemed nonplussed. 
 
 " I wish to ask four rights which are granted to me by 
 the laws of thi3 state. First, the right to belong to a I 
 union, without being discharged for it." 
 
 The other had recovered his manner of quiet mastery. 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 331 
 
 "You have that right, sir; you have always had it. You 
 know perfectly well that the company has never discharged 
 any one for belonging to a union." 
 
 The man was looking at Hal, and there was a duel of 
 the eyes between them. A cold anger moved Hal. His 
 ability to endure this sort of thing was at an end. " Mr. 
 Oartwright," he said, " you are the servant of one of the 
 world's greatest actors; and you support him ably." 
 
 The other flushed and drew back; Edward put in 
 quickly : " Hal, there's nothing to be gained by such 
 talk!" 
 
 " He has all the world for an audience," persisted Hal. 
 " He plays the most stupendous farce and he and all 
 his actors wearing such solemn faces ! " 
 
 ." Mr. Cartwright," said Edward, with dignity, " I trust 
 you understand that I have done everything I can to re- 
 strain my brother." 
 
 " Of course, Mr. Warner," replied the superintendent. 
 " And you must, know that I, for my part, have done 
 everything to show your brother consideration." 
 
 " Again ! " exclaimed Hal. " This actor is a gen- 
 ius!" 
 
 " Hal, if you have business with Mr. Cartwright ' 
 . " He showed me consideration by sending his gunmen 
 to seize me at night, drag me out of a cabin, and nearly 
 twist the arm off me ! Such humour never was ! " 
 
 Cartwright attempted to speak but looking at Ed- 
 ward, not at Hal. " At that time - ' 
 
 " He showed me consideration by having me locked up 
 in jail and fed on bread and water for two nights and a 
 day ! Can you beat that humour ? " 
 
 " At that time I did not know " 
 
 " By- forging my name to a letter and having it circu- 
 lated in the camp ! Finally most considerate of all 
 by telling a newspaper man that I had seduced a girl 
 here!" 
 
332 KING COAL 
 
 The superintendent flushed still redder. " No I " he de- 
 clared. 
 
 " What? " cried Hal. " You didn't tell Billy Keating 
 of the Gazette that I had seduced a girl in North Valley ? 
 You didn- 1 describe the girl to him a red-haired Irish 
 girl ? " 
 
 " I merely said, Mr. Warner, that I had heard certain 
 rumours ' 
 
 " Certain rumours, Mr. Cartwright ? The certainty 
 was all of your making ! You made a definite and explicit 
 statement to Mr. Keating " ^ 
 ! "I did not ! " declared the other. 
 
 "I'll soon prove it ! " And Hal started towards the 
 telephone on Cartwright's desk. 
 
 " What are you -going to do, Hal ? " 
 
 . " I am going to get Billy Keating on the wire, and let 
 you hear his statement." 
 
 " Oh, rot, Hal ! " cried Edward. " I don't care any- 
 thing about Keating's statement. You know that at that 
 time Mr. Cartwright had no means of knowing who you 
 were." 
 
 Cartwright was quick to grasp this support. -""Of 
 ^course not, Mr. Warner! Your brother came here, pre- 
 tending to be a working boy " 
 
 "Oh!" cried Hal. "So that's it! You think it 
 proper -to circulate' slanders about working boys, in your 
 
 n ,) 
 
 camp ( 
 
 "You have been here long enough to know what the 
 morals of .such boys are." 
 
 "I have been here long enough, Mr. Cartwright, to 
 know that if you want to go into the question of morals in 
 North Valley, the place for you to begin is with the bosses 
 and guards you put in authority, and allow to prey upon 
 women." 
 
 Edward broke in : " Hal, there's nothing to be gained 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 333 
 
 by pursuing this conversation. If you have any business 
 here, get it over with, for God's sake! " 
 
 Hal made an effort to recover his self-possession. He 
 came back to the demands of the strike but only to find 
 that he had used up the superintendent' s self-possession. 
 " I have given you my answer/' declared Cartwright, " 1. 
 absolutely decline any further discussion." 1 
 
 " Well," said Hal, " since you decline to permit a 'depu- 
 tation of your men to deal with you in plain, business-like 
 fashion, I have to inform you as an individual that every' 
 other individual in your camp refuses to work for you." 
 
 The superintendent did not let himself be impressed by 
 this elaborate sarcasm. " AJ1 I have .to tell you, sir, 'is 
 that Number Two' mine will resume work in the morning, 
 and that any one who refuses to work will be sent down 
 the canyon before night." 
 
 "" So quickly, Mr. Oartwpght ? They have rented their 
 homes from the company, and 1 Vou 1th ow that according to 
 the company's- own lease they are entitled to three days'; 
 notice before being evicted ! " 
 
 Cartwright was so unwise as to argue. He knew that 
 Edward was hearing, and. he wishecl to clear himself. 
 "They will not be evicted by the company. ,They will 
 be dealt with by the town authorities." 
 
 " Of w^ich you yourself are the head ? " 
 
 " I happen to have been elected mayor of North Val- 
 ley." 
 
 " As mayor of North Valley, you gave my brother to un- 
 derstand that you would put me out, did you not?" 
 
 " I asked your brother to persuade you to leave." 
 
 " But you made clear that if he could not do this, you 
 would put me out ? ". 
 
 " Yes, that is true." 
 
 " And the reason you gave was that you had had 
 instructions by telegraph from Mr. Peter Harrigan. May 
 
334: KING COAL 
 
 -I ask to what office Mr. Ilarrigan lias been elected in your- 
 town ? " 
 
 Cartwright saw his difficulty. " Your brother misun- 
 derstood me," he said, crossly. 
 
 " Did you misunderstand him, .Edward ? " 
 
 Edward had walked to the window in disgust; he was 
 looking at tomato-cans and cinder-heaps, and did not see 
 fit tor turn around. But the superintendent knew that he 
 was hearing, and considered it necessary to cover the flaw, 
 in his argument. " Young man," said he, " you have vio- 
 lated several of the ordinances of this town.'' 
 
 " Is there an ordinance against organising a union of 
 the miners ? " 
 
 " No ; but there is one against speaking on the streets." 
 
 " Who passed that ordinance, if 1 may ask ? " 
 
 " The town council." 
 
 "Consisting of Johnson, postmaster and company-store 
 clerk; Ellison, company book-keeper; Strauss, company 
 pit-boss ; O'Callahan, company saloon-keeper. Have I the 
 list correct ? " 
 
 Cartwright did not answer. 
 
 " And the fifth member of the town council is yourself, 
 ex-officio Mr. Enos Cartwright, mayor and company- 
 superintendent:" 
 
 Again there was no answer. 
 
 " You have an ordinance against street-speaking ; and 
 at the same time your company owns the saloon-buildings, 
 the boarding-houses, the church and the -school. Where 
 do you expect the citizens to do their speaking ? " 
 
 " You- would make a good lawyer, young man. But we 
 who have charge here know perfectly well what you mean 
 by ' speaking ' ! " 
 
 " You don't approve, then, of the citizens holding meet- 
 ings ? " 
 
 ." I mean that we don't consider dt necessary to provide 
 agitators with opportunity to incite our employes." 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 335 
 
 May I ask., Mr. Gartwright, are you speaking as mayor 
 [of an American community, or as superintendent of a coal- 
 tine \ ',' 
 
 Cartwright's face had been growing continually redder. 
 [Addressing Edward's back, he said, " I don't see any rea- 
 son why this should continue." 
 
 And Edward was of the same opinion. He turned. 
 ["Keally, Hal- ' / 
 
 " But, Edward ! A man accuses your brother of being 
 la law-breaker ! Have you hitherto known of any criminal 
 [tendencies in our family ? " 
 
 Edward turned to the window again and resumed his 
 [study of the cinder-heaps and tomato-cans. It was a vul- 
 gar and stupid quarrel, but he had seen enough of Hal's 
 mood to realise that he would go on and on, so long as any 
 [one was indiscreet enough to answer him. 
 
 You say, Mr. Cartwright, that I have violated the or- 
 dinance against speaking on the street. May I ask what 
 penalty this ordinance carries? " 
 
 'You will find out when the penalty is exacted of you.." 
 
 Hal laughed. " From what you said just now, I gather 
 that the penalty is expulsion from the town! If I under- 
 stand legal procedure, I should have been brought before 
 the justice of the peace W 7 ho happens to be another com- 
 pany store-clerk. Instead of that, I am sentenced by the 
 mayor or is it the company superintendent ? May I 
 ask how that comes to be? " . 
 
 It is because of my consideration " 
 
 " When did I ask consideration ? " 
 
 " Consideration for your brother, I mean." 
 
 " Oh ! Then your ordinance provides that the mayor 
 - or is it the superintendent ? may show consideration 
 the brother of a law-breaker, by changing his penalty 
 
 expulsion from the town. Was it consideration for 
 Tommie Burke that caused you to have his sister sent down 
 the canyon ? " 
 
336 KING COAL 
 
 Cart wright clenched his hands. " I've had all I'll 
 stand 1 of this ! " 
 
 He was again addressing Edward's back; and Edward 
 turned and answered, " I don't blame you, sir." Then, 
 to Hal, " I really think you've said enough ! " 
 
 " I hope I've said enough," replied Hal " to convince 
 you that the pretence of American law in this coal-camp 
 is a silly farce, an insult and a humiliation to any man who 
 respects the institutions of his country." 
 
 " You, Mr. Warner," said the superintendent, to Ed- 
 ward, " have had experience in managing coal-mines. 
 You know what it means to deal with ignorant foreigners, 
 who have no understanding of American law " 
 
 Hal burst out laughing. " So you're teaching them 
 American law ! You're teaching them by setting at 
 naught every law of your town and state, every constitu- 
 tional guarantee and substituting the instructions you 
 get by telegraph from Peter Harrigan ! " 
 
 Cartwright turned and walked to the door. " Young 
 man," said he, over his shoulder, " it will be necessary 
 for you to leave North Valley this morning. I only hope 
 your brother will be able to persuade you to leave without 
 trouble." And the bang of the door behind him was the 
 superintendent's only farewell. 
 
 17. Edward turned upon his brother. " Now what 
 the devil did you want to put me through a scene like that 
 for? So undignified! So utterly uncalled for! A 
 quarrel with a man so far beneath you ! " 
 
 Hal stood where the superintendent had left him. He 
 was looking at his brother's angry face. "Was that all 
 you 'got out of it, Edward? " 
 
 "All that stuff about your private character! What 
 do you care what a fellow like Cartwright thinks about 
 you? " 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 337 
 
 " I care nothing at all what he thinks, but I care about 
 having him use such a slander. That's, one. of their regu- 
 lar procedures, so Billy Keating says.' 7 
 
 Edward answered, coldly, " Take my advice, and realise 
 that when you deny a scandal, you only give- it circula- 
 tion." 
 
 " Of course," answered Hal. " That's what makes me 
 so angry. Think of the girl, the harm done to her I " 
 
 " It's not up to you to worry about the girl." 
 
 "Suppose that Cartwright had slandered 'some woman 
 friend of yours. Would you have felt the same indiffer- 
 ence ? " 
 
 " He'd not have slandered any friend of mine ; I choose 
 my friends more carefully." 
 
 " Yes, of course. What that means is that you choose 
 them among the rich. But I happen to be more demo- 
 cratic in my tastes " 
 
 " Oh, for heaven's sake!" cried Edward. "You re- 
 formers are all alike you talk and talk and talk ! " 
 
 " I can tell you the reason for that, Edward a man 
 like you can shut his eyes, but he can't shut his ears ! " 
 
 " Well, can't you let up on me for awhile long enough 
 to get out of this place ? I feel as if I were sitting on the 
 top of a volcano, and I've no idea when it may break out 
 again." 
 
 ; Hal began to laugh. " All right," he said ; " I guess 
 I haven't shown much appreciation of your visit. I'll be 
 more sociable now. My next business is in Pedro, so 
 I'll go that far with you. There's one thing more " 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " The company owes me money " 
 
 "What money?" 
 
 " Some I've earned.' 7 
 
 It was Edward's turn to laugh. " Enough to buy you 
 a shave and a bath ? " 
 
 He took out his wallet, and pulled off several bills ; and 
 
338 KING COAL 
 
 Hal, watching him, realised suddenly a change which had 
 taken place in his own psychology. Not merely had he 
 acquired the class-consciousness of the working-man, he 
 had acquired the money-consciousness as well. He was 
 actually concerned about the dollars the company owed 
 him! He had earned those dollars by back- and heart-,, 
 breaking toil, lifting lumps of coal into cars ; the sum was 
 enough to keep the whole Kafferty family alive for a week 
 or two. And here was Edward, with a smooth brown;; 
 leather wallet full of ten- and twenty-dollar bills, which 
 he peeled off without counting, exactly as if money grew 
 on trees, or as if coal came out of the earth and walked 
 into furnaces to the sound of a fiddle and a flute ! 
 
 Edward had of course no idea of these abnormal proc^ 
 esses going on in his brother's mind. He was "holding out 
 the bills. " Get yourself some decent things," he said.* 
 " I hope you don't have to stay dirty in order to feel 
 democratic ? " 
 
 " No/' answered Hal ; and then, " How are we going ? " 
 
 " I've a car waiting, back of the office." 
 
 " So you had everything ready ! " But Edward made 
 no answer; afraid of setting off the volcano again. 
 
 18. They went out by the rear door of the office, en^ 
 tered the car, and sped out of the village, unseen by the 
 crowd. And all the way down the canyon Edward pleaded 
 with Hal to drop the controversy and come home at once. 
 He brought up the tragic question of Dad again; when 
 that did not avail, he began to threaten. Suppose Hal's 
 money-resources were to be cut off, suppose he were to 
 find himself left out of his father's will what would he 
 do then ? Hal answered, without a smile, " I can always 
 get a job as organiser for the United Mine- Workers." 
 
 So Edward gave up that line of attack. " If you won't 
 
THE WILL OF KI<KG COAL 339 
 
 come/' he declared, "I'm going to stay by you till you 
 do!"' 
 
 " All right," said Hal. He could not help smiling at 
 this dire threat. " But if 1 take you about and introduce 
 you to nfy friends, you must agree that what you hear shall 
 be confidential." 
 
 The other made a face of disgust. "What the devil 
 would I want to talk about your friends for ? " 
 
 " I don't know what might happen," said Hal. 
 "You're going to meet Peter Harrigan and take his side, 
 and I can't tell what you might conceive it your duty to 
 do." 
 
 The other exclaimed, with sudden passion, " I'll tell you 
 right now! If you try to go back to that coal-camp, I 
 swear to God I'll apply to the courts and have you shut up 
 in a sanitarium. I don't think I'd have much trouble in 
 persuading a judge that you're insane." 
 
 " No," said Hal, with a laugh "not a judge in this 
 part of the world ! " 
 
 Then, after studying his brother's face for a moment, it 
 Occurred to him that it might be well not to let such an 
 idea rest unimpeached in Edward's mind. " Wait," 
 said he, "till you meet my friend Billy Keating, of the 
 Gazette, and hear what he would do with such a story ! 
 Billy is crazy to have me turn him loose to ' play up ' my 
 fight with 'Old Peter!" The conversation went no far- 
 ther but Hal was sure that Edward would " put that in 
 his pipe and smoke it.' 9 ' 
 
 They came to the MacKellar home in Pedro, and JCd- 
 ward waited in the automobile while Hal went inside. 
 The old Scotchman welcomed him warmly, and told him 
 what news he had. Jerry 1 Minetti had been there that 
 morning, and MacKellar at his request had telephoned to 
 the office of the union in Sheridan, and ascertained that 
 Jack David had brought word about the strike on the pre- 
 vious evening. All parties had been careful not to men- 
 
340 KING GOAL . 
 
 tioii names, for " leaks " in the telephone were notorious, 
 but it was clear who the messenger had been. As a re- 
 sult of the message, Johann Hartman, president of the 
 local union qf the miners, was now at the American Hotel 
 in Pe^dro, together with James Moy Ian, secretary <i>f the dis- 
 trict organisation the latter having come down from 
 Western City on the same train as Edward. 
 
 This was all satisfactory ; but MacKellar added a bit of 
 information of desperate, import ,- the officers of the union 
 declared, ..that they could not support a strike at the pres- 
 ent time ! It was premature, it could lead to nothing but 
 failure and discouragement to the larger movement they 
 were planning. 
 
 Such a possibility Hal had himself realised at the out- 
 seti But he had witnessed the new birth of freedom at 
 ,!North Valley, he had, seen the hungry, toil-worn faces of 
 men looking up to him for support ; he had been moved by 
 it, and .l}a,d come to feel that the union officials must be 
 moved in the same way. " They've"simply got to back 
 ..it! "., he . exclaimed. "Those men must not be disap- 
 pointed! They'll lose all hope, they'll sink into utter de- 
 spair! The labour >men must realise that I must make 
 them!" 
 
 The old Scotchman answered that Minetti had felt the 
 same way. He had flung caution to the winds, and rushed 
 over t.o the hotel to see Hartman and Moylan. Hal de- 
 cided to follow, and went; out to the automobile. 
 
 He explained matters to his brother, whose comment 
 was, Of course ! It was what he had foretold. The *poor, 
 mis-guided miners would go back to their work, and their 
 would-be leader would , have to admit the folly of his 
 course. There was -a train for Western City in a couple of 
 hours ; it would be a great favour if Hal would arrange to 
 take it. , 
 
 Hal answered shortly that he was going to the American 
 Hotel. His .brother might . take him, - there, if he chose. 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 341 
 
 So Edward gave the order to the driver of the car. Inci- 
 dentally, Edward began asking about clothing-stores in 
 Pedro. While Hal was in the hotel, pleading for the life 
 of his newly-born labour union, Edward would seek a cos- 
 tume in which he could " feel like a human being." 
 
 19. Hal found Jerry Minetti with the two officials in 
 their hotel-room: Jim Moylan, district secretary, a long, 
 towering Irish boy, black-eyed and black-haired, quick and 
 sensitive, the sort of person one trusted and liked at the 
 first moment; and Johann Hartman, local president, a 
 grey-haired miner of German birth, reserved and slow- 
 spoken, evidently a man of much strength, both physical 
 and moral. He had need of it, any one could realise, hav- 
 ing charge of a union headquarters in the heart of this 
 " Empire of Raymond " ! 
 
 Hal first told of the kidnapping of the committee. This 
 did not surprise the officials, he found ; it was the thing the 
 companies regularly did when there was threat of re- 
 bellion in the camps. That was why efforts to organise 
 openly were so utterly hopeless. There was no chance for 
 anything but a secret propaganda, maintained until every 
 camp had the nucleus of an organisation. 
 
 " So you can't back this strike ! " exclaimed Hal. 
 
 Not possibly, was Moylan's reply. It would be lost as 
 soon as it was begun. There was no slightest hope of suc- 
 cess until a lot of organisation work had been done. 
 
 "But meantime," argued Hal, "the union at North 
 Valley will go to pieces ! " 
 
 " Perhaps," was the reply. " We'll only have to start 
 another. That's what the labour movement is like." 
 
 Jim Moylan was young, and saw Hal's mood. " Don't 
 misunderstand us !" he cried. "It's heartbreaking 
 but it's not in our power to help. We are charged with 
 
 23 
 
342 KING 'COAL 
 
 building up the union, and we know that if we supported 
 everything that looked like a strike, we'd be bankrupt the 
 first year. You can't imagine how often this same thing 
 happens hardly a month we're not called on to handle 
 such a situation." 
 
 " I can see what you mean/ 7 said Hal. " But I thought 
 that in this case, right after the disaster, with the men so 
 stirred " 
 
 The young Irishman smiled, rather sadly. " You're 
 new at this game," he said. " If a mine-disaster was 
 enough to wiu a strike, God knows our job would be easy. 
 In Earela, just down the canyon from you, they've had 
 three big explosions they've killed over five hundred 
 men in the past year ! " 
 
 Hal began to see how, in his inexperience, he had lost 
 his sense of proportion. 
 
 He looked at the two labour leaders, and recalled the 
 picture of such a person which he had brought with him 
 to North Valley a hot headed and fiery agitator, luring 
 honest workingmen from their jobs. But here was the 
 situation exactly reversed ! Here was he in a blaze of ex- 
 citement and two labour leaders turning the fire-hose on 
 him! They sat quiet and business-like, pronouncing a 
 doom upon the slaves of North Valley. Back to their 
 black dungeons with them ! 
 
 " What can we tell the men ? " he asked, making an ef- 
 fort to repress his chagrin. 
 
 " We can only tell them what I'm telling you that 
 we're helpless, till we've got the whole district organised. 
 Meantime, they have to stand the gaff ; they must do what 
 they can to keep an organisation." 
 
 " But all the active men will be fired ! " 
 
 " No, not quite all they seldom get them all." 
 
 Here the stolid old German put in. In the last year 
 the company had turned out more than six thousand men 
 because of union activity or suspicion of it. 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 343 
 
 /' Six thousand! " echoed Hal. " You mean from this 
 one district ? " 
 
 "That's what I mean." 
 
 " But there aren't more than twelve or fifteen thousand 
 men in the district ! " 
 
 " I know that." 
 
 " Then how can you ever keep an organisation ? " 
 
 The other answered, quietly, " They treat the new men 
 the same as they treated the old." 
 
 Hal thought suddenly of John Edstrom's ants ! Here 
 they were building their bridge, building it again and 
 again, as often as floods might destroy it! They had not 
 the swift impatience of a youth of the leisure-class, accus- 
 tomed to having his own way, accustomed to thinking of 
 freedom and decency and justice as necessities of life. 
 Much as Hal learned from the conversation of these men, 
 he learned more from their silences the quiet, matter- 
 of-fact way they took things which had driven him beside 
 himself with indignation. He began to realise what it 
 would mean to stand by his *pledge to those poor devils in 
 North Valley. He would need more than one blaze of ex- 
 citement; he would need brains and patience and disci- 
 pline, he would need years of study and hard work ! 
 
 19. Hal found himself forced to accept the decision 
 of the labour-leaders. They had had experience, they 
 could judge the situation. The miners would have to go 
 back to work, and Cartwright and Alec Stone and Jeff 
 Cotton would drive them as before! All that the rebels 
 could do was to try to keep a secret organisation in the 
 camp. 
 
 Jerry Minetti mentioned Jack David. He had gone 
 back this morning, without having seen the labour-leaders. 
 So he might escape suspicion, and keep his job, and help 
 with the union work. 
 
344 KING COAL 
 
 " How about you ? " asked Hal. ' " I suppose you've 
 cooked your goose." 
 
 Jerry had never heard .this phrase, but he got its mean- 
 ing. " Sure thing! "said he. ".Cooked him plenty! " 
 
 " Didn't you see the ' dicks ' down stairs in the lobby ? " 
 inquired Hartman. 
 
 " I haven't learned to recognise them yet." 
 
 " Well, you will, if you stay at this business. There 
 hasn't been a minute since our office was opened that we 
 haven't had half a dozen on the other side of the street. 
 Every man that comes to see us is followed back to his 
 camp and fired that same day. They've broken into my 
 desk at night and stolen my letters and papers ; they've 
 threatened us with death a hundred times." 
 . " I don't see how you make any headway at all ! " 
 
 " They can never stop us. They thought when they 
 broke into my desk, they'd get a list of our organisers. 
 But you see, I carry the lists in my head ! " 
 
 " No small task, either," put in Moylan. " Would 
 you li}:e to know how many organisers we have at work ? 
 Ninety-seven. And they haven't caught a single one of 
 them!" 
 
 Hal heard him, amazed. Here was a new aspect of the 
 labour movement ! This quiet, resolute old " Dutchy," 
 whom you might have taken for a delicatessen-proprietor ; 
 this merry-eyed Irish boy, whom you would have expected 
 to be escorting a lady to a firemen's ball they were cap- 
 tains of an army of sappers who were undermining the 
 towers of Peter Harrigan's fortress of greed ! 
 
 Hartman suggested that Jerry might take a chance at 
 this sort of work. He would surely be fired from North 
 Valley, so he might as well send word to his family to come 
 to Pedro. In this way he might save himself to work as 
 an organiser ; because it was the custom of these company 
 "spotters " to follow a man back to his camp and there 
 identify him. If Jerry took a train for Western City, they 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 345 
 
 would be thrown off the track, and he might get into some 
 new camp and do organising among the Italians. Jerry 
 accepted this proposition with alacrity; it would put off 
 the evil day when Rosa and her little ones would be left to 
 the mercy of chance. 
 
 They were still talking when the telephone rang. It 
 was Hartman's secretary in Sheridan, reporting that he 
 had just heard from the kidnapped committee. The en- 
 tire party, eight men and Mary Burke, had been taken to 
 Horton, a station rfbt" far up the line, and put on the train 
 with many dire threats. But they had left the train at the 
 next stop, and declared their intention of coining to Pedro. 
 They were due at the hotel very soon. 
 
 Hal desired - to be present at this meeting, and 'went 
 downstairs to tell his brother. There was another dispute, 
 of course. Edward reminded Hal that the scenery of 
 Pedro had a tendency to monotony; to which Hal could 
 only answer' by offering to introduce his brother to his 
 friends. They were men who could teach Edward much, 
 if he would consent to learn. He might attend the session 
 with the committee ; eight men and a woman who had 
 ventured an act of heroism and been made the victims of a 
 crime. Nor were they bores, as 'Edward might be think- 
 ing! There was blue-eyed Tim Rafferty, for example, 
 a silent, smutty-faced gnome who had broken out of his 
 black cavern and spread unexpected golden wings of ora- 
 tory; and Mary Burke, of whom Edward might read in 
 that afternoon's edition of the Western City Gazette 
 a " Joan of Arc of the coal-camps, 77 or something 
 equally picturesque. But Edward's mood was n6t to be 
 enlivened. He had a vision of his brother's appearance 
 in the paper as the companion of this Hibernian Joan ! 
 
 Hal went off with Jerry Minetti to what his brother de- 
 scribed as a " hash-house, 7 ' while Edward proceeded in 
 solitary state to the dining-room of the American Hotel. 
 But he was not left in solitary state / pretty soon a sharp- 
 
346 KING COAL 
 
 faced young man was ushered to a seat beside him, arid 
 started up a conversation. He was a " drummer/ 7 he 
 said ; his " line " was hardware, what was Edward ? s ? Ed- 
 ward answered coldly that he had no " line," but, the young 
 man was not rebuffed apparently his "line " had hard- 
 ened his sensibilities. Perhaps Edward was interested in 
 coal-mines? Had he been visiting the camps? He ques- 
 tioned so persistently, and came back so often to the sub- 
 ject, that at last it dawned over Edward what this meant 
 he was receiving the attention * of a .-" spotter!" 
 Strange to say, the circumstance caused Edward more irri- 
 tation against Peter Harrigan's regime than all his 
 brother's eloquence about oppression at North Valley. 
 
 20. Soon after dinner the kidnapped committee ar- 
 rived, bedraggled in body and weary in soul. They in- 
 quired for Johami Hartman, and were sent up to the 
 room, where there followed a painful scene. Eight men 
 and a woman who had ventured an act of heroism and been 
 made the victims of a crime could not easily be persuaded 
 to see their efforts and sacrifices thrown on the dump-heap, 
 nor were they timid in expressing their opinions of those 
 who were betraying them. 
 
 " You been tryin' to get us out ! " cried Tim Rafferty. 
 " Ever since I can remember you been at niy old man to 
 help, you an' here, when we do what you ask, you throw 
 us down ! " 
 
 " We never asked you to go on strike/' said Moylan. 
 
 "No, that's true. You only asked us to pay dues, so 
 you fellows could have fat salaries." 
 
 " Our i salaries aren't very fat," replied the young 
 leader, patiently. " You'd find that out if you inviasti- 
 gated." 
 
 " Well, whatever they are, they go on, while ours stop. 
 We're on the streets,; we're done for. Look at us and 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 347 
 
 most of us has got families, too ! I got an old mother an' a 
 lot of brothers and sisters, an' my old man done up an' 
 can't work. What do you think's to become of us ? " 
 
 " We'll help you out a little, RaiTerty " 
 
 " To hell with you ! " cried Tim. " I don't want your 
 help! When I need charity, I'll go to the county. 
 They're another., bunch of grafters, but they don't pretend 
 to be friends to the workin' man." 
 
 Here was the thing Tom Olson had told Hal at the out- 
 set the workingmen bedevilled, not knowing whom to 
 trust, suspecting the very people who most desired to help 
 them. " Tim," he put in, " there's no use talking like 
 that. We have to learn patience " 
 
 And the boy turned upon Hal. " What do you know 
 about it? It's all a joke to you. You can go orT and for- 
 get it when you get ready. You've got money, they tell 
 me ! " 
 
 Hal felt no resentment at this; it was what he heard 
 from his own conscience. " It isn't so easy for me as you 
 think, Tim. There are other ways of suffering besides not 
 having money " 
 
 " Much sufYerin' you'll do with your rich folks!" 
 sneered Tim. 
 
 There was a murmur of protest from others of the com- 
 mittee. 
 
 : " Good God, Rafferty ! " broke in Moylan. " We can't 
 help it, man we're just as helpless as you ! " 
 
 " You say you're helpless but you don't even try ! " 
 
 " Try? Do you want us to back a strike that we know 
 hasn't a chance? You might as well ask us to lie down 
 and let a load of coal run over us. We can't win, man ! 
 I tell you we can't win! We'd only be throwing away our 
 organisation ! " 
 
 Moylan became suddenly impassioned. He had seen a 
 dozen sporadic strikes in this district, and many a dozen 
 young strikers, homeless, desolate, embittered, turning 
 
348 KEtfG COAL 
 
 their disappointment on him. " We might support you 
 with our fluids, you say -we might go on doing it, even 
 while the company ran the mine with scabs. But where 
 would that land us, Rafferty ? I seen many a union on the 
 rocks and I ain't so^old either ! If we had a bank, we'd 
 support all the miners of the country, they'd never need to 
 work again till they got their rights. But this money we 
 spend is the money that other miners are earnin' right 
 now, down in the pits, Rafferty, the same as you and your 
 old man. They give us this money, and they say, i Use it 
 to build up the union. Use it to help the men that aren't 
 organised - take them in, so they "won't beat down our 
 wages and scab on us. But don't waste it, for God's sake ; 
 we have to work hard to make it, and if we don't see re- 
 sults, you'll get no more out of us.' Don't you see how 
 that is/ man? And how it weighs on us, worse even then 
 the fear that maybe we'll lose our poor salaries though 
 you might refuse to believe anything so good of us ? You 
 don't need to talk to me like I was Peter Harrigan's f son. 
 I was a spragger when I was ten years old, and I ain't been 
 out of the pits so long that I've forgot the feeling. I 
 assure you, the thing that keeps me awake at night ain't the 
 fear of not gettin' a living, for I give myself a bit of edu- 
 cation, working nights, and I know I could always turn out 
 and earn what I need; but it's wondering whether I'm 
 spending the miners' money the best way, whether maybe 
 I mightn't save them a little misery if I hadn't V done this 
 or had V done that. When I come down on that sleeper 
 last night, here's what I was thinking, Tim Rafferty all 
 the time I listened to the train bumping ' Now I got to 
 see some more of the suffering, I got to let some good men 
 turn against us, because they can't see why we should get 
 salaries while they get the sack. How am I going to how 
 them that I'm working for them working as hard as I 
 know how and that I'm not to blame for their 
 trouble ?'" 
 
THiT WILL OF KING Ct>AL 349 
 
 Here Wauchope broke in. " There's no use talking any 
 more. I see we're up against it. We'll not trouble you, 
 Moylan." 
 
 " You trouble me/ 7 cried Moylan, " unless you stand by 
 the movement ! " 
 
 The other laughed bitterly. " You'll never know what 
 I do. It's the road for rne and you know it ! " 
 " Well, wherever you go, it'll be the same ; either you'll 
 be fighting for the union, or you'll be a weight that we have 
 to carry." 
 
 The young leader turned from one to another of the 
 committee, pleading with them not to be embittered by this 
 failure, but to turn it to their profit, going on with the 
 work of building up the solidarity of the miners. Every 
 man had to make his sacrifices, to pay his part of the price. 
 The thing of importance was that every man who was dis- 
 charged should be a spark of unionism, carrying the flame 
 of revolt to a new part of the country. Let each one do his 
 part, and there would soon be no place to which the masters 
 could send for " scabs." 
 
 21. There was one member of this committee whom 
 Hal watched with especial anxiety Mary Burke. She 
 had not yet said a word ; while the others argued and pro- 
 tested, she sat with her lips set and her hands clenched. 
 Hal knew what rage this failure must bring to her. She 
 had risen and struggled and hoped, and the result was 
 what she had always said it would-be nothing! Now 
 he saw her, with eyes large and dark with fatigue, fixed on 
 this fiery young labour-leader. He knew that a war must 
 be going on within her. Would she drop out entirely 
 now ? It was the test of her character as it was the 
 test of the characters of all 'of them. 
 
 " If only we're strong enough and brave enough," Jim 
 Moylan was saying, " we can use our defeats to educate 
 
350 KING COAL 
 
 our people and bring them together. Right now, if we 
 can make. the men at North Valley see what we're doing, 
 they won't go back beaten, they won't be bitter against the 
 union, they'll only go back to wait. And ain't that a way 
 to beat the bosses to hold our jobs, and keep the union 
 alive, till we've got into all the camps, and can strike and 
 win?" 
 
 There was a pause; then Mary spoke. " How're you 
 meanin' to tell the men ? " Her voice was without emo- 
 tion, but nevertheless, Hal's heart leaped. Whether Mary 
 had any hope or not, she was going to stay in line with the 
 rest of the ants! 
 
 Johann Hartman explained his idea. He would have 
 circulars printed in several languages and distributed se- 
 cretly in the carnp, ordering the men back to work. But 
 Jerry met this suggestion with a prompt no. The people 
 would not believe the circulars, they would suspect the 
 bosses of having them printed. Hadn't the bosses done 
 worse than that, " framing up " a letter from Joe Smith to 
 balk the check-weighman movement ? The only thing that 
 would help would be for some of the committee to get into 
 the camp and see the men face to face. 
 
 " And it got to be quick ! " Jerry insisted. " They 
 get notice to work in morning, and them that don't be fired. 
 They be the best men, too men we want to save." 
 
 Other members of the committee spoke up, agreeing with 
 this. Said Eusick, the Slav, slow-witted and slow-spoken, 
 " Them fellers get mighty damn sore if they lose their job 
 and don't got no strike." And Zainmakis, the Greek, quick 
 and nervous, " We say strike ; we got to say no strike." 
 
 What could they do ? There was, in the first place, the 
 difficulty of getting away from the hotel, which was being 
 watched by the " spotters." Hartman suggested that if 
 they went out all together and scattered, the detectives 
 could not follow all of them. Those who escaped might 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 351 
 
 get into North Valley by hiding in the " empties " which 
 went up to the mine. 
 
 But Moylaii pointed out that the company would be 
 anticipating this ; and Rusick, who had once been a hobo, 
 put in : " They sure search them cars. They give us 
 plenty hell, too, when they catch us." 
 
 Yes, it would be a dangerous mission. Mary spoke 
 again. " Maybe a lady could do it better." 
 
 " They'd beat a lady," said Minetti. 
 
 " I know, but maybe a lady might fool them. There's 
 some widows that came to Pedro for the funerals, and 
 they're wearin' veils that hide their faces. I might pre- 
 tend to be one of them and get into the camp." 
 
 The men looked at one another. There was an idea ! 
 The scowl which had stayed upon the face of Tim Raf- 
 ferty ever since his quarrel with Moylan, .gave place 
 suddenly to a broad grin. 
 
 " I seen Mrs. Zamboni on the street," said he. " She 
 had on black veils enough to hide the lot of 'us." 
 
 And here Hal spoke, for the first time since Tim Raf- 
 ferty had silenced him. " Does anybody know where to 
 find Mrs. Zamboni ? " 
 
 " She stay with my friend, Mrs. Swajka," said Rusick. 
 
 " Well," 'said Halj " there's something you people don't 
 know about this situation. After they had fired you, I 
 made another speech to the men, and made them swear 
 they'd stay on strike. So now I've got to go back and eat 
 , my words. If we're relying on veils and things, a man can 
 be fixed up as well as a woman." 
 
 They were staring at hirru " They'll beat you to death 
 if they catch you ! " said Wauchope. 
 
 "No," said Hal, "I don't think so. Anyhow, it's up 
 to me " he glanced at Tim Rafferty -" because I'm the 
 only one who doesn't have to suffer for the failure of our 
 strike." 
 
352 KING COAT, 
 
 4 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 " I'm sorry I said that ! " cried Tim, impulsively. 
 
 ' Thajb's all right, old man," replied Hal. " What you 
 said is true, and I'd like to do something to ease my con- 
 science." He rose to his feet, laughing. "I'll make a 
 peach of a widow ! " he said. " I'm going up and have a 
 tea-party with my friend Jeff Cotton ! " 
 
 22. Hal proposed going ta find Mrs. Zamboni at the 
 place where she was staying; but Moylan interposed, ob- 
 jecting that the detectives would surely follow him. Even 
 though they should all go out of the hotel at once, the one 
 person the detective would surely stick to was the arch- 
 rebel and trouble-maker, Joe Smith. Finally they de- 
 cided to bring Mrs. Zamboni to the room. Let her come 
 with Mrs. Swajka or some other woman who spoke Eng- 
 lish, and go to the desk and ask for Mary Burke, ex- 
 plaining that Mary had borrowed money from her, and 
 that she had to have it to pay the undertaker for the burial 
 of her man. The hotel-clerk might not know who Mary 
 Burke was; but the watchful " spotters " would gather 
 about and listen, and if it was mentioned that Mary was 
 from North Valley, some one would connect her with "the 
 kidnapped committee. 
 
 This was made clear to Rusick, who hurried off, and in 
 the course of half an hour returned with the announcement 
 that the \vonien were on the way. A few minutes later 
 came a tap on the door, and there stood the black-garbed 
 old widow with her friend. She came in ; and then came 
 looks of dismay and horrified exclamations. Rusick was 
 requesting her to give up her weeds to Joe Smith ! 
 
 " She say she don't got nothing else," explained the 
 Slav. 
 
 " Tell her I give her plenty money buy- more," said Hal. 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 353 
 
 " Ai ! Jesu ! " cried Mrs. Zamboni, pouring out a sput- 
 tering torrent. 
 
 " She say slie don't got nothing to put on. She say it 
 ain't good to go no clothes ! " 
 
 " Hasn't she got on a petticoat? " 
 
 " She say petticoat got holes ! " 
 
 There was a 1 burst of laughter from the company, and 
 the old woman turned scarlet from her forehead to her 
 ample throat. " Tell her she wrap up in blankets," said 
 Hal. " Mary Burke buy her new things." 
 
 It proved surprisingly difficult to separate Mrs. Zamboni 
 from her widow's weeds, which she had purchased with so 
 great an expenditure of time and tears. Never had a re- 
 spectable lady who' had borne sixteen children received such 
 a proposition; to sell the insignia of her grief and here 
 in a hotel room, crowded with a dozen men ! Nor' was the 
 task made easier by the unseemly merriment of the men. 
 " Ai ! Jesu ! " cried Mrs. Zamboni again. 
 
 " Tell her it's very, very important," said Hal. " Tell 
 her I must have them." And then r seeing that Rusick was, 
 making poor headway, he joined in, in the compromise- 
 English one learns in the camps. "Got -to have! Sure 
 thing! Got to hide! Quick! Get away from boss! 
 See? Get killed if no go !" 
 
 So at last the frightened old woman gave way. " She 
 say all turn backs," said Rusick. And everybody turned, 
 laughing in hilarious whispers, while, with Mary Burke 
 and Mrs. Swajka for a shield, Mrs. Zamboni got out of her 
 waist and skirt, putting a blanket round her red shoulders 
 for modesty's sake. When Hal put the garments on, there 
 was a foot to spare all round ; but after they had stuffed two 
 bed pillows down in the front of him, and drawn them 
 tight at the waist-line, the disguise was judged more satis- 
 factory. He put on the old lady's ample if ragged shoes,, 
 and Mary Burke set the widow's bonnet on his head and 
 adjusted the many veils ; after that Mrs. Zamboni's own 
 
354 KING COAL 
 
 brood of children would not have suspected the disguise. 
 
 It was a merry party for a few minutes; worn and: 
 hopeless as Mary had seemed, she was possessed now by the 
 spirit of fun. But then quickly the laughter died. The 
 time for action had come. Mary Burke said that she 
 would stay with what was left of Mrs. Zamboni, to answer 
 the door in case any of the hotel people or the detectives 
 should come. Hal asked Jim Hoy Ian to see Edward, and 
 say that Hal was writing a manifesto to the North -Valley 
 workers, and would not be ready to leave until the mid- 
 night train. 
 
 These things agreed upon, Hal shook hands all round, 
 and the eleven men left the room at once, going down stairs 
 and through the lobby, scattering in every direction on the 
 streets. Mrs. Swajka and the pseudo-Mrs. Zamboni fol- 
 lowed a minute later and, as they anticipated, found the 
 lobby swept clear of detectives. 
 
 23. Bidding Mrs. Swajka farewell, Hal set out for 
 the railroad station. But before he had gone a block from 
 the hotel, he ran into. his brother, coming straight towards 
 him. 
 
 Edward's face wore a bored look; his very manner of 
 carrying the magazine under his arm said that he had se- 
 lected, it in a last hopeless effort against the monotony of 
 Pedro. Such a trick of fate, to take a man of important 
 affairs, and immure him at the mercy of a maniac in a God- 
 forsaken coal-town ! What did people do in such a hole ? 
 Pay a nickel to look at moving pictures of cow-boys and 
 counterfeiters ? 
 
 Edward's aspect was too much for Hal's sense of 
 humour. Besides, he had -a good excuse ; was it not proper 
 to make a test of his disguise, before facing the real danger 
 in North Valley ? 
 
 He placed himself in the path of his brother's progress, 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 355 
 
 and in Mrs. Zamboni's high, complaining tones, began, 
 " Mister!" 
 
 Edward stared at the interrupting black figure. " Mis- 
 ter, you Joe Smith's brother, hey ? " 
 
 The question had to be repeated before Edward gave 
 his grudging answer. He was not proud of the relation- 
 ship. 
 
 " Mister/' continued the whining voice, " my old man 
 got blow up in mine. I get five pieces from my man what 
 I got to bury yesterday in grave-yard. I got to pay thirty 
 dollar for bury them pieces and I don't got no. more money 
 left. I don't got no money from them company fellers. 
 They come lawyer feller and he say maybe I get money for 
 bury my man, if I don't jay too much. But, Mister, I 
 got eleven children I got to feed, and I don't got no more 
 man, and I don't find no new man for old woman like me. 
 When I go home I hear them children crying and I don't 
 got no food, and them company-stores don't give me no 
 food. I think maybe you Joe Smith's brother you good 
 man, maybe you sorry for poor widow- woman, you maybe 
 give m-e some money, Mister, so I buy some food for them 
 children." 
 
 " All right," said Edward. He pulled out his wallet 
 and extracted a bill, which happened to be for ten dollars. 
 His manner seemed to say, " For heaven's sake, here! " 
 
 Mrs. Zamboni clutched the bill with greedy fingers, but 
 was not appeased. " You got plenty money, Mister ! 
 You rich man, hey ! You maybe give me all them moneys, 
 so I got plenty feed them children ? You don't know them 
 company-stores, Mister, them prices is way up high like 
 mountain's; them children is hungry, they cry all day and 
 night, and one piece 'money don't last so long. You give 
 me some more piece moneys, Mister hey ? " 
 
 " I'll give you one more," said Edward. " I need some 
 for myself." He pulled off another bill. 
 
 " What you need so much, % Mister ? You don't got so 
 
356 KING COAL 
 
 many children, hey ? And you got plenty, more money 
 home, maybe ! " 
 
 " That's all I can give you," said the man. He took a 
 step to one side, to get round ,the obstruction in his path. 
 
 But the obstruction took a step also and with sur- 
 prising agility. " Mister, I thank you for them moneys: 
 I tell them children I get moneys from good man. I like 
 you, Mister Smith, you give money for poor widow-woman 
 you nice man." 
 
 And the dreadful creature actually stuck out one of her 
 paws, as if expecting to pat Edward on the cheek, or to 
 chuck him under the chin. He recoiled, as from a con- 
 tagion ; but she followed him, determined to do something 
 to him, he could not be sure what. He had heard that 
 these foreigners had strange customs ! 
 
 " It's all right! It's nothing!" he insisted, and fell 
 back at^the same time glancing nervously about, to see 
 if there were spectators of this scene. 
 
 " Nice man, Mister ! Nice man ! " cried the old woman, 
 with increasing cordiality. " Maybe some day I. find man 
 like you, Mr. Edward Smith so I don't stay widow- 
 woman no more. You think maybe you like to marry nice 
 Slavish woman, got plenty nice children ? " 
 
 Edward, perceiving that the matter was getting desper- 
 ate, sprang to one side. It was a spring which should have 
 carried him to safety ; but to his dismay the Slavish widow 
 sprang also her claws caught him under the arm-pit, 
 and fastening in his ribs, gave him a ferocious pinch. 
 After which the owner of the claws went down the street, 
 not looking back, but making strange gobbling noises, which 
 might have been the weeping of a bereaved widow in Slav- 
 ish, or might have been almost anything else. 
 
 24. The train up to North Valley left very soon, and 
 Hal figured that there would be just time to accomplish his 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 357 
 
 errand and catch the last train back. He took his seat in 
 the car without attracting attention, ; and sat in his place 
 until they were approaching their destination, the last stop 
 up the canyon. There were several of the miners' women 
 in the car, and Hal picked out one who belonged to Mrs. 
 Zamboni' s, nationality, and moved over beside her. She 
 made place, with some remark; but Hal merely sobbed 
 softly, and the woman felt for his hand to comfort him. 
 As his hands were clasped together under the veils, she 
 patted him reassuringly on the knee. 
 
 At the boundary of the stockaded village the train 
 stopped, and Bud Adams came through the car, scrutinis- 
 ing every passenger. Seeing this, Hal began to sob again, 
 and murmured something indistinct to his companion 
 which caused her to lean towards him, speaking volubly in 
 her native language. " Bud " passed by. 
 
 When Hal came to leave the train,, he took his com- 
 panion's arm; he sobbed some more, and she talked some 
 more, and so they went down the platform, under the 
 very eyes of Pete Hanun, the " breaker .of teeth." An- 
 other woman joined them, and they walked clown the 
 street, the women conversing in Slavish, apparently with- 
 out a suspicion of Hal. 
 
 He had worked out his plan of action. He would not 
 try to talk with the men secretly it would take too long, 
 and he might be betrayed before he had talked with a suf- 
 ficient number.' One bold stroke was the thing. In half 
 aii hour it would be supper-time, and the feeders would 
 gather in Reminitsky's dining-room. He would give his 
 message there I 
 
 Hal's two companions were puzzled that he passed the 
 Zamboni cabin, where presumably the Zamboni brood were 
 being cared for by neighbours. But he let them make 
 what they could of this, and went on to the Minetti home. 
 To the astonished Rosa he revealed himself, and gave her 
 husband's message that she should take herself and the 
 
 24 
 
358 KING COAL 
 
 children down to Pedro, and wait quietly until she heard 
 from him. She hurried out and brought in Jack David, to 
 whom Hal explained matters. " Big Jack's " part in the 
 recent disturbance had apparently not been suspected; he 
 and his wife, with Rovetta, Wresmak, and Klowoski, would 
 remain .as a nucleus through which the union could work 
 upon the men. 
 
 The supper-hour was at hand, and the pseudo-Mrs. 
 Zamboni emerged and toddled down the street. As she 
 passed into the dining-room of the boarding-house, men 
 looked at her, but no one spoke. It was the stage of the 
 meal where everybody was grabbing and devouring, in the 
 effort to get the best of his grabbing and devouring neigh- 
 bours. The black-clad figure went to the far end of the 
 room; there was a vacant chair, and the figure pulled it 
 back from the table and climbed upon it. Then a shout 
 rang through the room : " Boys ! Boys ! " 
 
 The feeders looked up, and saw the widow's weeds 
 thrown back, and their leader, Joe Smith, gazing out at 
 them. "-Boys I I've come with a message from the 
 
 union ! " 
 
 There was a yell; men leaped to their feet, chairs were 
 flung back, falling with a crash to the floor. Then, almost 
 instantly, came silence; you could have heard the move- 
 ment of any man's jaws, had any man continued to move 
 them. 
 
 " Boys ! I've been down to Pedro and seen the union 
 people. I knew the bosses wouldn't let me come back, so 
 I dressed up, and here I am ! " 
 
 It dawned upon them, the meaning of this fantastic 
 costume ; there were cheers, laughter, yells of delight. 
 
 But Hal stretched out his hands, and silence fell again. 
 " Listen to me ! The bosses won't let me talk long, and 
 I've something important to say. The union leaders say 
 we can't win a strike now." 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 359 
 
 1 Consternation came into the faces before him. There 
 were cries of dismay. He went on : 
 
 " We are only one camp, and the bosses would turn us 
 out, they'd get in scabs and run the mines without us. 
 What we must have is a strike of all the camps at once. 
 One big union and one. big strike ! If we walked out now, 
 it would please the bosses ; but we'll fool them we'll 
 keep our jobs, and keep our union too ! You are members 
 of the union, you'll go on working for the union ! Hooray 
 for the North Valley union ! " 
 
 For a moment there was no response. It was hard for 
 men to cheer over such a prospect ! Hal saw that he must 
 touch a different chord. 
 
 " We mustn't be cowards, boys ! We've got to keep our 
 nerve ! I'm doing my part it took nerve to get in here ! 
 In Mrs. Zamboni's clothes, and with two pillows stufi'ed in 
 front of me ! " 
 
 He thumped the pillows, and there was a; burst of laugh- 
 ter. Many in the 'Crowd knew Mrs. Zamboni it was 
 what comedians call a " local gag." The laughter spread, 
 and became a gale of merriment. Men began to cheer: 
 " Hurrah for Joe ! You're the girl ! Will you marry me, 
 Joe ? " And so, of course, it was easy for. Hal to get a re- 
 sponse when he shouted, " Hurrah for the North Valley 
 union ! " 
 
 Again he raised his hands for silence, and went on 
 again. "Listen, men. They'll turn me out, and you're 
 not going to resist them. You're going to work and keep 
 your jobs, and get ready for trie big strike. And you'll 
 tell the other men what I say. I can't talk to them all, but 
 you tell them about the union. Remember, there are peo- 
 ple outside planning and fighting for you. We're going 
 to stand by the union, all of us, till we've brought these 
 coal-camps back into America! "* There was a. cheer that 
 shook the walls of the r6om. Yes, that was what they 
 wanted to live in America! 
 
360 KING COAL 
 
 A crowd of men Lad gathered in the doorway, attracted 
 by the uproar ; Hal noticed confusion and pushing, and saw 
 the head and burly shoulders of his enemy, Pete Hanun, 
 come into sight. 
 
 " Here come the gunmen, boys ! " he cried ; and there 
 was a roar of anger from the crowd. Men turned, clench- 
 ing their fists, glaring at the guard. But Hal rushed on, 
 quickly : 
 
 " Boys, hear what I say ! Keep your heads ! I can't 
 stay in ISTorth Valley, and you know it! But I've done 
 the thing I came to do, I've brought you the message from 
 the union. And you'll tell the other men- tell them to 
 stand by the union ! " 
 
 Hal went on, repeating his message over and over. 
 Looking from one to another of these toil-worn faces, he 
 remembered the pledge he had made them, and he made it 
 anew : " I'm going to stand by you ! I'm going on with 
 the fight, boys! " 
 
 There came more disturbance at the door, and suddenly 
 Jeff Cotton appeared, with a couple of additional guards, 
 shoving their way into the room, breathless and red in the 
 face from running. 
 
 " Ah, there's the marshal ! " cried Hal. " You needn't 
 pusk, Cotton, there's not going to be any trouble. We are 
 union men here, we know how to control ourselves. ISTow, 
 boys, we're not giving up, we're not beaten, we're only 
 waiting for the men in the other camps ! We have a union, 
 and we mean to keep it ! Three cheers for the union ! " 
 
 The cheers rang out with a will: cheers for the union, 
 cheers for Joe Smith, cheers for the widow and her 
 weeds ! 
 
 a You belong to the union ! You stand by it, no matter 
 what happens! If they fire you, you take it on to the 
 next place! You teacH it to the new men, you never let it 
 die in your hearts! In union there is strength, in union 
 there is hope ! Never forget it, men Union ! '* 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 361 
 
 f 
 
 The voice of the cainp-marshal rang out. "If you're 
 coming, young woman, come now ! " 
 
 Hal dropped a shy curtsey. " Oh, Mr. Cotton! This 
 is so Sudden ! " The crowd howled ; a'nd Hal descended 
 from his platform. With coquettish gesturing he replaced 
 the widow's veils about his face, and tripped ; mincingly 
 across the dining-room. When he reached the camp- 
 marshal, he daintily took that worthy's arm, and with 'the 
 "breaker of teeth" on the other side, and Bud Adams 
 bringing up the rear, he toddled out of the dining-room, 
 and down the street. 
 
 Hungry men gave up their suppers to behold that sight. 
 They poured out of the building, they followed, laughing, 
 shouting, jeering. Others came from every direction 
 by the time the party had reached the depot, a good part 
 of the population of the village was on hand; and every- 
 where went the word, " It's, Joe Smith! Come back with 
 a message from the union!" Big, coal-grimed miners 
 laughed till the tears mdde streaks 1 on their faces ;'they fell 
 on one another's necks for delight at this trick which 'had 
 been played upon their oppressors. 
 
 Even Jeff -Cotton could not withhold his tribute. " By 
 God, you're the limit!" he muttered. He accepted the 
 " tea-party " aspect of the affair, as the easiest way to get 
 rid of his recurrent guest, and avert the possibilities of 
 danger. He escorted the widow to the train and helped 
 her up the steps, posting escorts at the doors of her car; 
 nor did the attentions of these gallants cease until the train 
 had moved down the canyon and passed the limits of the 
 North Vallev stockade! 
 
 25. Hal took off his widow's weeds; and with them 
 he shed the merriment he had worn for the benefit of the 
 men. There came a sudden reaction; he realised that he 
 
 was tired. 
 
362 KING COAL 
 
 For ten days he had lived in a whirl of excitement, 
 scarcely stopping to sleep. Now he lay back in the car- 
 seat, pale, exhausted ; his head ached, and he realised that 
 the sum-total of his North Valley experience wafe failure. 
 There was left in him no trace of that spirit of adventure 
 with which he had set out upon his " summer course in 
 practical sociology.' 7 He had studied his lessons, tried to 
 recite them, and been " flunked." He smiled a bitter 
 smile, recollecting the careless jesting that had been on his 
 lips as he came up that same canyon.: 
 
 " He keeps them a-roll, that merry old soul 
 
 The wheels of industreo ;. 
 A-roll and a-roll, for his pipe and his bowl 
 And his college facultee! " 
 
 The train arrived in Pedro, and Hal took a hack at the 
 station and drove to the hotel. He still carried the widow's 
 weeds rolled into a bundle. He might have left them in 
 the train, but the impulse to economy which he had ac- 
 quired during the last ten weeks had become a habit. He 
 would return them to Mrs. Zamboni. The money he had 
 promised, her might better be used to feed her young ones. 
 The two pillows he would leave in the car ; the hotel might 
 endure the loss ! 
 
 Entering the lobby, the first person Hal saw w r as his 
 brother, and the sight of that patrician face made human 
 by disgust relieved Hal's headache in part. Life was 
 harsh, life was cruel; but here was weary, waiting Ed- 
 ward, that boon of comic relief I 
 
 Edward demanded to know where the devil he had been ; 
 and Hal answered, " I've been visiting the widows and 
 orphans." 
 
 " Oh! " said Edward. "And while I sit in this hole 
 and stew ! What's that you've got under your arm 1 " 
 
 Hal looked at the bundle. " It's a souvenir of one of 
 the widows," he said, and unrolled the garments and spread 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 363 
 
 them out before his brother's puzzled eyes. " A lady 
 named Mrs. Swajka gave them to me. They belonged to 
 another lady, Mrs. Zamboni, but she doesn't need them any 
 more." 
 
 " What have you got to do with them ? " 
 
 " It seems that Mrs. Zamboni is going to get married 
 again." Hal lowered his voice,, confidentially. " It's a 
 romance, Edward it may interest you as an illustration 
 of the manners of these foreign races. She met a man on 
 the street, a fine, fine man, she says and he gave her a 
 lot of money. So she went and bought herself some new 
 clothes, and she wants to give these widow's weeds to the 
 new man. That's the custom in her country, it seems 
 her sign that she accepts him as a suitor." 
 
 Seeing the look of wonderment growing on his brother's 
 face, Hal had to stop for a moment to keep his own face 
 straight. " If that man wasn't serious in his intention, 
 Edward, he'll have trouble., for I know Mrs. Zamboni's 
 emotional nature. She'll follow him about everywhere 
 
 " Hal, that creature is insane ! " And Edward looked 
 abput him nervously, as if he thought the Slavish widow 
 might appear suddenly in the hotel lobby to demonstrate 
 her emotional nature. 
 
 " No," replied Hal, " it's just one of those differences in 
 national customs." And suddenly Hal's face gave way. 
 He began to laugh ; he laughed, perhaps more loudly than 
 good form permitted. 
 
 Edward Was much annoyed. There were people in the 
 lobby, and they were staring at him. " Cut it out, Hal! " 
 he exclaimed. " Your fool jokes bore me ! " But never- 
 theless, Hal could see uncertainty in his brother's face. 
 Edward recognised those widow's weeds. And how could 
 he be sure about the " national customs " of that grotesque 
 creature who had pinched him in the ribs on the street ? 
 
 " Cut it Out! " he cried again. 
 
 Hal, changing his voice suddenly to the Zamboni key, 
 
364 KING GOAL 
 
 exclaimed : " Mister, I got eight children I got to feed, 
 and I don't got.no more man, and I don't iind no new man 
 for old woman like me ! " 
 
 So at last the truth in its full enormity began to dawn 
 upon Edward. His consternation and disgust poured 
 themselves out; and Hal listened, his laughter dying. 
 " Edward/' he said, " you don't take me seriously even 
 yet!" 
 
 " Good God ! " cried the other. " I believe you're really 
 insane ! " 
 
 rt You were up there, Edward ! You heard what I said 
 to those poor devils ! And you actually thought I'd go off 
 with you and forget about them! " 
 
 Edward ignored this. " You're *really insane! " he re- 
 peated. " You'll get yourself killed, in spite of all I can 
 do!" 
 
 But Hal only laiighed. " Not a chance of it ! You 
 should have seen the tea-party manners of the camp- 
 marshal ! " 
 
 26. . Edward 'would have endeavoured to carry his 
 brother away forthwith, but there was no train until late, 
 at night ; so Hal went upstairs, where he found Moylan and 
 Hartman with Mary Burke and Mrs. Zamboni, all eager 
 to hear his story. As the members of the committee, 
 who had been out to supper, came straggling in, the story 
 was told again, and yet again. They were almost as much 
 delighted as the men in Reminitsky's. If only all strikes 
 that had to be called off could be called off as neatly as 
 that ! 
 
 Between these outbursts of satisfaction, they discussed 
 their future. Moylan was going back to Western City, 
 Hartman to his office in Sheridan, from which he would 
 arrange to send new organisers into North Valley. No 
 doubt Cartwright would turn off many men those who 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 365 
 
 liad made themselves conspicuous during the strike, those 
 who continued to talk union out loud. But such men 
 would have to be replaced, and the union knew through 
 what agencies the company got its hands. The North 
 Valley miners would find themselves mysteriously provided 
 with union literature in their various languages ; it would 
 be slipped under their pillows, or into their dinner-pails, or 
 the pockets of their coats while they were at work. 
 
 Also there was propaganda to be carried on among those 
 who were turned away ; so that, wherever they went, they 
 would take the message of unionism. There had been a 
 sympathetic outburst in Barela, Hal learned starting 
 quite spontaneously that morning, when the men heard 
 what had happened at North Valley. A score of workers 
 had been fired, and more would probably follow in the 
 morning. Here was a *job for the members of the kid- 
 napped committee ; Tim Rafferty, for example would he 
 care to stay in Pedro for a week or two, to meet such men, 
 and give them literature and arguments ? 
 . This offer was welcome; for life looked desolate to 
 the Irish boy at. this moment. He was out of a job, his 
 father was a wreck, his family destitute and helpless. 
 They would have to leave their home, of course; there 
 would be no place for any Rail'erty in North Valley. 
 Where they would go, God only knew ; Tim would become 
 a wanderer, living away from his people, starving himself 
 and sending home his pitiful savings. 
 
 Hal was watching the boy, and reading these thoughts. 
 He, Hal Warner, would play the god out of a machine in 
 this case, and in several others equally pitiful. He had 
 the right to sign his father's name to checks, a privilege 
 which he believed he could retain, even while under- 
 taking the role of Haroun al Raschid in a mine-disaster. 
 But what about the mine-disasters and abortive strikes 
 where there did not happen to be any Haroun al Raschid 
 at hand ? What about those people, right in North Valley, 
 
366 KING COAL 
 
 who did not happen to have told Hal of their affairs ? He 
 perceived that it was only by turning his back and running 
 that he would escape from his .adventure with any portion 
 of his self-possession. Truly, this fair-seeming and won- 
 derful civilisation was like the floor of a charnel-house or a 
 field of battle ; anywhere one drove a spade beneath its sur- 
 face!, he uncovered horrors, sights for the eyes and stenches 
 for the nostrils that caused him to turn sick ! 
 
 There was Rusick, for example ; he had a wife and two 
 children; and not a dollar in the world. In the year and 
 more that he had worked, faithfully and persistently, to get 
 out coal for Peter Harrigan, he had never once been able 
 to get ahead of his bill for the necessities of life at Old 
 Peter's store. All his belongings in the world could be 
 carried in a bundle on his back, and whether he ever saw 
 these again would depend upon the whim of old Peter's 
 camp-marshal and guards. . Rusick would take to the road, 
 with a ticket purchased by the union. Perhaps he would 
 find a job and perhaps not ; in any case, the best he could 
 hope for in life was to work for some other Harrigari, and 
 run into debt at some other company-store. 
 
 There was Hobianish, a Serbian, and Hernandez, a 
 Mexican, of whom the same things were true, except that 
 one had four children and the other six. Bill Wauchope 
 had only a wife their babies had died, thank heaven, he 
 said. He did not seem to have been much moved by Jim 
 Moylan's pleadings ; he was down and out ; he would take 
 to the road, and beat his way to the East and back to 
 England. They called this a free country! By God, if 
 he were to tell wnat had happened to him, he could not get 
 an English miner to believe it ! 
 
 Hal gave these men his real name and address, and made 
 them promise to let him know how they got along. He 
 would help a little, he said; in his mind he was figuring 
 how much he ought to do. How far shall a' man go in re- 
 lieving the starvation about him, before he can enjoy his 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 367 
 
 meals in a well-appointed club ?. What casuist will work 
 out this problem telling him the percentage he shall re- 
 lieve of the starvation he happens personally to know about, 
 the percentage of that which he sees on the streets, the per- 
 centage of that about which he reads in government reports 
 on the rise in the cost of living, to what extent is he per- 
 mitted to close, his eyes, as he walks along the streets on 
 his way to the club ? To what extent is he permitted to 
 avoid reading government reports before going out to 
 dinner-dances with his fiancee? Problems such as these 
 the masters of the higher mathematics have neglected to 
 solve ; the wise men of the academies and the. holy men of 
 the churches have likewise failed to work out the formulas ; 
 and Hal, trying to obtain them by his crude mental arith- 
 metic, found no satisfaction in the results. 
 
 27. Hal wante.d a chance., to talk to Mary Burke ; they 
 had had no intimate talk since the meeting with Jessie 
 Arthur, and now he was going away, for a long time. He 
 wanted to find out what plans Mary had for the future, and 
 : more important yet what was her state of mind. If 
 he had been able to lift this girl from despair, his summer 
 course in practical sociology had not been all a failure ! 
 
 He asked her to go with him to say good-bye to John 
 Edstrom, w r hom he had not seen since their unceremonious 
 parting at MacKellar's, when Hal had fled to Percy Harri- 
 gan's train. Downstairs in the lobby Hal explained his 
 errand to, his waiting brother, who made no comment, but 
 merely remarked that he would follow, if Hal had no ob- 
 jection. He did not care to make the acquaintance of the 
 Hibernian Joan of Arc, and, would not come close enough 
 to interfere with Hal's conversation with the lady ; but he 
 wished to do what he could for his 'brother's protection. 
 So there set out a moon-light procession first Hal and 
 
368 KING COAL 
 
 Mary, then Edward, and then Edward's dinner-table com- 
 panion, the " hardware-drummer ! " 
 
 Hal was embarrassed in beginning his farewell talk with 
 Mary. He had no idea how she felt towards him, and he 
 admitted with a guilty pang that he was a little afraid to 
 find out ! He thought it best to be cheerful, so he started 
 to tell her how fine he thought her conduct during the 
 strike. But she did not respond to his remarks, and at 
 last he realised that she was labouring with some thoughts 
 of her own. 
 
 " There's somethin' I got to say to ye ! " she began, sud- 
 denly. " A couple of days ago I knew how I meant to say 
 it, but now I don't." 
 
 " Well," he laughed, " say its as you meant to." 
 
 " No ; 'twas bitter and now I'm on my knees before 
 
 ye." 
 
 " Not that I want you to be bitter," said Hal, still laugh- 
 ing, " but it's I that ought to be on my knees before you. 
 I didn't accomplish anything, you know." 
 
 " Ye did all ye could and more than the rest of us. 
 I want ye to know I'll never forget it. But I want ye to 
 hear the other thing, too! " 
 
 She walked on, staring before her, doubling up her hands 
 in agitation. " Well ? " said he, still trying to keep a 
 cheerful tone. 
 
 " Ye remember that day just after the explosion ? Ye 
 remember what :I said about about goin' away with 
 ye ? I take it back." 
 
 " Oh, of course ! " said he, quickly. " You were dis- 
 tracted, Mary you didn't know what you were saying." 
 
 " No, no ! That's not it ! But I've changed my mind ; 
 I. don't mean to throw meself away." 
 
 " I told you you'd see it that way," he said. " No man 
 is worth it." 
 
 " Ah, lad ! " said she. " 'Tis the fine soothin' tongue ye 
 
THE WILL OF KIXG COAL 369 
 
 have but I'd rather ye knew the truth. "I is that I've 
 seen the other girl ; and I hate her ! " 
 
 They walked for a bit in silence. Hal had sense 
 enough to realise that here was a difficult subject. " I 
 don't want to be a prig, Mary/' he said gently ; " but you'll 
 change your mind about that, too. .You'll not hate her; 
 you'll be sorry for her." 
 
 She laughed a raw, harsh laugh. " What kind of a 
 joke is that ? " 
 
 " I know it may seem like one. But it'll come to you 
 some day. You have a wonderful thing to live and fight 
 for; while she "-^- he hesitated a moment, for he was not 
 sure of his own ideas on this subject " she has so many 
 things to learn; and she may never learn them. She'll 
 miss some fine things." 
 
 " I know one of the fine things she does not mean to 
 miss," said Mary, grimly; " that's Mr. Hal Warner." 
 Then, after they had walked again in silence : " I want ye 
 to understand me, Mr. Warner 
 
 " Ah, Mary ! " he pleaded. " Don't treat me that way ! 
 I'm Joe."- 
 
 " All right," she said, " Joe ye shall be. 'Twill remind 
 ye of a pretty adventure bein' a workin' man for a few 
 weeks. Well, that's a part of what I have to tell ye. I've 
 got my pride, even if I'm only a poor miner's daughter; 
 and the other day I found out oae place." 
 
 " How do you mean ? " he asked. 
 
 " Ye don't understand ? Honest ? " 
 
 " No, honest," he said". 
 
 " Ye' re stupid with women, Joe. Ye didn't see what 
 the girl did to me ! 'Twas some kind of a bug I was to her. 
 She was not sure if I was the kind that bites, but she took 
 no chances she threw me off, like that." And Mary 
 snapped her hand, as one does when troubled with a bug. 
 
 " Ah, now! " pleaded Hal. " You're not being fair ! " 
 
370 KING COAL 
 
 "I'm bein' just as fair as I've got it in- me to be, loe. 
 I been off and had it all out. I can see this much 'tis 
 not hei* fault, maybe L 'tis her- class;* 'tis all of ye the 
 very best of ye, even yeself, Joe Smith ! " 
 
 " Yes," he replied, " Tim Bafferty said that." 
 
 " Tim said too much but a part of it was true. Ye 
 think ye've come here and been one of us workiii' people. 
 But don't your own sense tell you the difference, as ii it 
 was a canyon a million miles across between a poor igno- 
 rant creature in a minin' camp, and a rich man's daugh- 
 ter, a lady? iTe'd tell me not to-be ashamed of poverty; 
 but would ye ever put me by the side of her for all your ; 
 fine f eelin's of friendship for them that's beneath ye ? 
 Didn't ye show that at the Minettis' ? " 
 
 " But don't you see, Mary " He made an effort to 
 laugh. " I got used to obeying Jessie ! I knew her a long 
 time before I knew you." 
 
 .".Ah, Joe! Ye've a kind heart, and a pleasant way of 
 speakin'. But wouldn't it interest ye to know the real 
 truth ? Ye said ye'd 'Come out here to learn the truth ! " 
 
 And Hal answered, in a low voice, " Yes," and did not 
 interrupt again. 
 
 28. Mary's voice had dropped low, and Hal thought 
 how rich and warm it was^ when she was deeply moved. 
 She went^ on : 
 
 " I lived all me life in minin' camps, Joe Smith, and I 
 seen men robbed and beaten, and women cryin' and^childer 
 hungry. I seen the companyylike some great wicked beast 
 that eat them up. , But I never knew why, or what it 
 meant till that day, there at the Minettis'. I'd read 
 about fine ladies in books, ye see; but I'd never been spoke 
 to by one, I'd never had to swallow one, as ye might say. 
 But there I did and all at .once I seemed to know where 
 the money goes that's wrung out of the miners. I saw why 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 371 
 
 people were robbin' us, grindin' the life out of us for 
 tine ladies like that, to keep them so shiniii' and soft! 
 'Twould not have been so bad, if she'd not come just then, 
 with all the men and boys dyin.' down in the pits dyin' 
 for that soft, white skin, and those soft, white hands, and 
 all those silky things she swished round in. My God, Joe 
 d'ye know what she seemed to me like I Like a smooth, 
 sleek cat that has just eat up a whole nest full of baby mice, 
 and has the blood of them all over her cheeks ! " 
 
 ]\f ary paused, breathing hard. Hal kept silence, and 
 she went on again: " I had it out with meself, Joe! I 
 don't want ye to think I'm any better than I am, and I 
 asked meself this question Is it for the men in the pits 
 that ye hate her with such black murder ? Or is it for the 
 one man ye want, and that she's got ? And I knew the an- 
 swer to that ! But then I asked meself another question, 
 too Would ye be like her if ye could ? Would ye do 
 what she's doin' right now would ye have it on your 
 soul ? And as God hears me, Joe, 'tis the truth I speak 
 I'd not -do it ! No, not for the love of any man that ever 
 walked on this earth ! " 
 
 She had lifted her clenched fist as she spoke. She let 
 it fall again, and strode on, not even glancing at him. 
 " Ye might try a thousand years, Joe, and ye'd not realise 
 the feelin's that come to me there at the Minettis'. The 
 shame of it not w T hat she done to me, but what she made 
 me in me own eyes ! Me, the daughter of a drunken old 
 miner, and her I don't know what her father is, but 
 she's some sort of princess, and she knows it. And that's 
 the thing that counts, Joe ! 'Tis not that she has so much 
 money, and so many fine things; that she knows how to 
 talk, and I don't, and that her voice is sweet, and mine is 
 ugly, when I'm ragin' as I am now. No 'tis that she's 
 so sure! That's the word I found to say it ; she's sure 
 sure sure! She has the fine things, she's always had* 
 them, she has a right to have them ! And I have a right 
 
372 KING, COAL 
 
 to nothin' but trouble, I'm hunted all day by misery and 
 fear, I've lost even the roof over me head ! Joe, ye know 
 I've got some temper I'm not easy to beat down ; but 
 when I'd got through bein' taught me place, I went off and 
 hid meself, I ground me face in the dirt, for the black rage 
 of it! I said to meself, 'Tis true! There's somethin' in 
 her better than me! She's some kind of finer creature. 
 Look at these hands ! " She held them out in the 
 moonlight, with a swift, passionate gesture. " So she's a 
 right to her man, and I'm a fool to have ever raised me 
 eyes to him ! I have to see him go away, and crawl back 
 into me leaky old shack! Yes, that's the truth! And 
 when I point it out to the man, what d'ye think he says ? 
 Why, he tells me gently and kindly that I ought to.be 
 sorry for her ! Christ ! did ye ever hear the like of that ? " 
 
 There was a long silence. Hal could not have said any- 
 thing now, if he had wished to. He knew that this was 
 what he had come to seek ! This was the naked soul of the 
 class-war ! 
 
 " JSTow," concluded Mary, with clenched hands, and a 
 voice that corresponded, " now, I've had it out. I'm no 
 slave; I've just as good a right to life as any lady. I 
 know I'll never have it, of course; I'll never wear good 
 clothes, nor live in a decent home, nor have the man I 
 want ; but I'll know that I've done somethin' to help free 
 the workin' people from the shame that's put on them. 
 That's what the strike done for me, Joe! The strike 
 showed me the way. We're beat this time, but somehow it 
 hasn't made the difference ye might think. I'm goin' to 
 make more strikes before I quit, and they won't all of them 
 be beat!" 
 
 She stopped speaking ; and Hal walked beside her, 
 stirred by a conflict of emotions. His vision of her was 
 indeed true; she would make more strikes! He was glad 
 and proud of that; but then came the thought that while 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 373 
 
 she, a girl, was going on with the bitter war, he,, a man, 
 would be eating grilled beefsteaks at the club ! 
 
 " Mary," he said, " I'm ashamed of myself " 
 
 " That's not it, Joe ! Ye've no call to be asfiamed. 
 Ye can't help it where ye were born " 
 
 " Perhaps not, Mary. But when a man knows he's 
 never paid for any of the things he's enjoyed all his life, 
 surely the least he can do is to be ashamed. I hope you'll 
 try not to hate me as you do the others." 
 
 " I never hated ye, Joe! Not for one moment! I tell 
 ye fair and true, I love ye as much as ever. I can say it, 
 because I'd not have ye now; I've seen the other girl, and 
 I know ye'd never be satisfied with me. I don't know if I 
 ought to say it, but I'm thinkin' ye'll not be altogether satis- 
 fied with her, either. Ye'll be unhappy either way- 
 God help ye ! " 
 
 The girl had read deeply into his soul in this last 
 speech ; so deeply that Hal could not trust himself to an- 
 swer.' 'They were passing a street-lamp^ and she looked 
 at him, for the first time since they had started on their 
 walk, and saw harassment in his face. A sudden tender- 
 ness came into her voice. " Joe," she said ; " ye're lookin' 
 bad. 'Tis good ye're goin' away from this place! " 
 
 He tried to smile, but the effort was feeble. 
 
 " Joe," she went on, " ye asked me to be your friend. 
 Well, I'll be that!" And she held out the big, rough 
 hand. 
 
 He took it. " We'll not forget each other, Mary," he 
 said. There was a catch in his voice. 
 
 " Sure, lad ! " she exclaimed. " WV11 make another 
 strike some day, just like we did at North Valley ! " 
 
 Hal pressed the big hand ; but then suddenly, remember- 
 ing his brother stalking solemnly in the rear, he relin- 
 quished the clasp, and failed to say, all the fine things he 
 had in his mind. He called himself a rebel, but not 
 enough to be sentimental before Edward ! 
 
 25 
 
374 KING COAL 
 
 29.. They came to the house where John Edstrom was 
 staying. The labouring man's wife opened the door. In 
 answer to Hal's question, she said, '" The old gentleman's 
 pretty bad." 
 
 " What's the matter with him ? " 
 
 " Didn't you know he was hurt ? " 
 
 "No. How?" 
 
 " They beat him up, sir. Broke his arm, and nearly 
 broke his head." 
 
 Hal and Mary exclaimed in chorus, " Who did it? 
 When ? " 
 
 " We don't know who did it. 'it was four nights ago." 
 
 Hal realised it must have happened while he was 
 escaping from MacKellar's. " Have you had a doctor 
 for him?" 
 
 " Yes, sir ; but we can't do much, because my man is 
 out of work; and I have the children and the boarders to 
 look after." 
 
 Hal and Mary ran upstairs. Their old friend lay in 
 darkness, but he recognised their voices and greeted them 
 with a feeble cry. The woman brought a: lamp, and they 
 saw him lying on his back, his head done up in bandages, 
 and one arm bound in splints. He looked really desper- 
 ately bad, his kindly old eyes deep-sunken and haggard, 
 and his face Hal remembered what Jeff .Cotton had 
 called him, " that dough-faced old preacher ! " 
 
 They got the story of what had happened at the time of 
 Hal's flight to Percy's train. Edstrom had shouted a 
 warning to the fugitives, and set out to run after them; 
 when one of the mine-guards, running past him, had 
 fetched him a blow over the* eye, knocking him down. He 
 had struck his head upon the pavement, and lain there un- 
 conscious for many hours. When finally some one had 
 come upon him, and summoned a policeman, they had gone 
 through his pockets, and found the' address of this place 
 where he was staying written on a scrap of paper. That 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 375 
 
 was all there was to the story except that Edsjrom had 
 refrained from sending to MacKellar for help, because he 
 had felt sure they were .all working to get, the mine open, 
 and he did not feel he had the right to put his troubles 
 upon them. 
 
 Hal listened to the old man's feeble statements, and 
 there came back to him a surge of^that fury which his 
 North Valley experience had generated in him. It was 
 foolish, perhaps ; for to knock down an old man who had 
 been : making trouble was a comparatively slight exercise of 
 the functions of a mine-guard. But to Hal it seemed the 
 most characteristic of all the outrages he had seen; it was 
 an expression of the company's utter blindness to all that 
 was best in life. This old man, who was so gentle, so pa- 
 tient, who had suffered so much, and not learned to hate, 
 who had kept his faith so true! What did his faith 
 mean to the thugs -of the General Fuel Company ? What 
 had his philosophy availed him, his saintliness, his hopes 
 for mankind? They had fetched him one swipe as they 
 passed him, and left him lying alive or dead, it was all 
 the same. 
 
 Hal had got some satisfaction out of his little adventure 
 in widowhood, and some out of Mary's self-victory; but 
 here, listening ; to the -old man's whispered story, his satis- 
 faction died. He realised again the grim truth about his 
 summer's experience * that the issue of it had been de- 
 feaU. . Utter, unqualified defeat! He had caused the 
 bosses a momentary chagrin; but it would not take them 
 many hours to realise that he had really dono them a 
 service in calling oil' the strike for them. They would start 
 the wheels of industry again, and the workers would be 
 just where they had been before Joe Smith came to be 
 stableman and buddy among them. What was all the talk 
 about solidarity, about hope for the future; what would it 
 amount to in the long run, the daily rolling of the wheels of 
 industry ? The workers of North Valley would have ex- 
 
376 KING COAL 
 
 actly the right they had always had the right to be slaves, 
 and if they did not care for that, the right ta be martyrs ! 
 Mary sat holding the old man's hand and whispering 
 words of passionate sympathy, while Hal got up and paced 
 the tiny attic, all ablaze with anger. He resolved sud- 
 denly that he would not go back to Western City; he would 
 stay here, and get an honest lawyer to come, and set out to 
 punish the men who were guilty of this outrage. He 
 would test out the law to the limit; if necessary, he would 
 begin a political fight, to put an end to coal-company rule 
 in this community. He would find some one to write up 
 these conditions, he would raise the money and publish a 
 paper to make them known! Before his surging wrath 
 had spent itself, Hal Warner had actually come out as a 
 candidate for governor, and was overturning the Republi- 
 can machine all because an unidentified coal-company 
 detective had knocked a dough-faced old miner into the 
 gutter and broken his arm ! 
 
 30. In the end, of course, Hal had to come down to 
 practical matters. He sat by the bed and told the old man 
 tactfully that his brother had come to see him and had 
 given him some money. This brother had plenty of 
 money, so Edstrom could be taken to the hospital ; or, if he 
 preferred, Mary could stay near here and take care of 
 him. They turned to the landlady, who had been stand- 
 ing in the doorway; she had three boarders in her little 
 home, it seemed, but if Mary could share a bed with the 
 landlady's two children, they might make out. In spite 
 of Hal's protest, Mary accepted this offer; he saw what 
 was in her mind she would take some of his money, 
 because of old Edstrom's need, but she would take just as 
 little as she possibly could. 
 
 John Edstrom of course knew nothing of events since his 
 injury, so Hal told him the story briefly though without 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 377 
 
 mentioning the transformation which had taken place in 
 the miner's buddy. : He told about the part Mary had 
 played in the strike; trying to entertain the poor old man, 
 he told how he had seen her mounted upon a snow-white 
 horse, and wearing a robe of white, soft and* lustrous, like 
 Joan of Arc, or the leader of a suffrage parade. 
 
 " Sure," said Mary, " he's forever callin' attention to 
 this old dress ! " 
 
 Hal looked; she was wearing the same blue calico. 
 " There's something mysterious about that dress," said he. 
 It's one of those that you read about in fairy-stories, that 
 forever patch themselves, and keep themselves new and 
 starchy. A body only needs one dress like that! " 
 
 " Sure, lad," she answered. " There's no fairies in 
 coal-camps unless 'tis . meself, that washes it at night, 
 and dries it over the stove, and irons it next morjiin'." 
 
 She said this with unwavering cheerfulness; but even 
 the old miner lying in pain on the cot could realise the 
 tragedy of a young girl's having only one old dress in her 
 love-hunting season. He looked at the young couple, and 
 saw their evident interest in each other ; after the fashion 
 of the old, he was disposed to help along the romance. 
 " She may need some orange blossoms," he ventured, 
 feebly. 
 
 " Go along with ye ! " laughed Mary, still unwavering. 
 
 " Sure," put in Hal, with hasty .gallantry, " 'tis a bios- 
 soiii she is herself! A rose in a mining-camp and 
 there's a dispute about her in the poetry-books. One tells 
 you to leave her on her stalk, and another says to gather ye 
 rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a-flying! " 
 
 " Ye're mixin ? me up," said Mary. " A while back I 
 was ridin' on a white horse." 
 
 " I remember," said Old "Edstrom, "' not so far back, you 
 were an ant, Mary." 
 
 Her face became grave. To jest about her personal 
 tragedy was one thing, to jest about the strike was an- 
 
378 KING COAL 
 
 other. " Yes, I remember. Ye said I'd stay in the 
 line ! Ye were wiser than me, Mr. Edstrom." 
 
 " That's one of the things that come with being old, 
 Mary." He moved his gnarled old hand toward hers. 
 " You're going on, now 2 " he asked. u You're a unionist 
 now, Mary ? " 
 
 " I am that ! " she answered, promptly,- her grey eyes 
 shining. 
 
 " There's a saying," said he " once a striker, always 
 a striker. Find a way to get some education for your- 
 self, Mary, and when the big strike comes you'll be one of 
 those the miners look to. I'll not be here, I know the 
 young people must take- my place/' 
 
 " I'll do my part," she answered. Her voice was low ; 
 it was a kind of benediction the old man was giving her. 
 
 The woman had gone downstaiis to attend to her chil- 
 dren ; she came back now to say that there was a gentleman 
 at the door, who wanted to know when his brother was 
 coming. Hal remembered suddenly Edward had been 
 pacing up and down all this while, with no company but a 
 " hardware drummer ! " The younger brother's resolve to 
 stay in Pedro had already begun to weaken somewhat, and 
 now it weakened still further ; he realised that life is com- 
 plex, that duties conflict ! He assured the old miner again 
 of his ability to see that he did not suffer from want, and 
 then he bade him farewell for a while. 
 
 He started out, and Mary went as far as the head of the 
 stairway with him. He took the girl's big, rough hand in 
 his this time with no one to see. " Mary," he said, " I 
 want you to. know that nothing will make me forget you ; 
 and nothing will make me forget the miners." 
 
 " Ah, Joe ! " she cried. " Don't let them win ye away 
 from us ! We need ye so bad ! " 
 
 " I'm going back home for a while," lie. answered, " but 
 you can be sure that no matter what happens in my life, 
 I'm going to fight for the. working people. When the big 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 379 
 
 strike comes, as we know it's coming in this coal-country, 
 I'll be here to do my share." 
 
 " Sure lad," she said, looking him bravely in the eye, 
 " and good-bye to ye, Joe Smith." Her eyes did not 
 waver; but Hal noted a catch in her voice, and he found 
 himself with an impulse to take her in his arms. It was 
 very puzzling. He knew he loved Jessie Arthur; he re- 
 membered the question Mary had once asked him could 
 he be in love with two girls at the same time ? It was not 
 -in accord with any moral code that had been impressed 
 upon him, but apparently he could! 
 
 31. He went out to the street, where his brother was 
 pacing up and down in a ferment. The " hardware 
 drummer " had made another effort to start a conversa- 
 tion, and had been told to go to hell no less! 
 
 " Well, are you through now ? " Edward demanded, 
 taking out his irritation on Hal. 
 
 " Yes," replied the other. "I suppose so." He real- 
 ised that Edward would not be concerned about Edstrom's 
 broken arm. 
 
 " Then, for God's 'sake, get some clothes on and let's 
 have some food." 
 
 " All right," said Hal. But his answer was listless, 
 and the other looked at him sharply. Even by the moon- 
 light Edward could see the lines in the face of his younger 
 brother, and the hollows around his eyes. Eor the first 
 time he realised how deeply these experiences were cut- 
 ting into the boy's soul. " You poor kid ! " he exclaimed, 
 with sudden feeling. But Hal did not answer; he did 
 not want sympathy, he did not want anything! 
 
 Edward made a gesture of despair. " God knows, I 
 don't know what to do for you ! " 
 
 They started back to the hotel, and on the way Edward 
 cast about in his mind for a harmless subject of conver- 
 
380 KING COAL 
 
 sation. He mentioned jthat he had foreseen the shutting 
 up of the stores, and had purchased an outfit for his 
 brother. There was no need to thank himj he added 
 grimly; he had no intention of travelling to Western. City 
 in company with a hobo. 
 
 So the young miner had a bath, the first real one in a 
 long time. (Never again would it be possible for ladies 
 to say in Hal Warner's presence that the ^poor might at 
 least keep clean!) He had a shave; he trimmed his 
 finger-nails, and brushed his. hair, and dressed himself as 
 a gentleman. In spite of himself be found his cheerful- 
 ness partly restored. A strange and wonderful sensation 
 to be dressed once more as a gentleman. He thought 
 of the saying of the old negro, who liked to stub his toe, 
 because it felt so good when it stopped hurting ! 
 
 They went out to find a restaurant, and on the way one 
 last misadventure befell Edward. Hal saw an old miner 
 walking past, and stopped with a cry : " Mike ! " He 
 forgot all at once that he was a gentleman; the old miner 
 forgot it also. He stared for on6 bewildered moment, 
 then he rushed, at Hal and seized him in the hug of a 
 mountain grizzly. 
 
 "My buddy! My buddy! " he cried, and gave Hal a 
 prodigious thump on the back. " By Judas ! " And he 
 gave him a thump with the other hand. " Hey ! you old 
 son-of-a-gun ! " And he gave him a hairy kiss ! 
 
 But in the very midst of these raptures it dawned over 
 him that there was something wrong about his buddy. 
 He drew back, staring. " You got good clothes ! You 
 got rich, hey ? " 
 
 Evidently the old fellow had heard no rumour concern- 
 ing Hal's secret. " I've been doing pretty well/ 7 Hal 
 said. 
 
 " What you work at, hey ? " 
 
 " I been working at a strike in North Valley." 
 
 " What's that ? You make money working at strike ? " 
 
THE WILL OE KING COAL 381 
 
 Hal laughed, but did ivot explain. "What you work- 
 ing at?" 
 
 " I work at strike too all alone strike." 
 
 "No job?" 
 
 "I work two days on railroad. Got busted track up 
 there. Pav me twQ-twenty-five a day. Then no more 
 job." 
 
 " Have you tried the mines ? " 
 
 " What ? Me ? They got me all right ! I go up to 
 San Jose. Pit-boss say, '-Get the hell out of here, , you 
 old groucher! You don't 1 set no more jobs in this dis^ 
 trict ! ' " 
 
 Hal looked Mike over, and saw that his dirty old face 
 was drawn and white, belying the feeble cheerfulness of 
 his words. " We're going to have something to eat," he 
 said. " Won't you come with us ? " 
 
 " Sure thing ! " said Mike, with alacrity. " I go easy 
 on grub now." 
 
 Hal introduced "Mr. Edward Warner," who said 
 " How do you do ? " He accepted gingerly the calloused 
 paw whicn the old Slovak 'held out to him, but he could 
 not keep the look of irritation from his face. His pa- 
 tience was utterly exhausted. He had hoped to find a 
 decent restaurant and have some real food; but now, of 
 course, he could not enjoy anything, with this old gobbler 
 in front of him. 
 
 They entered an all-night lunch-room, where Hal and 
 Mike ordered cheese-sandwiches and milk, and Edward 
 sat and wondered at his brother's ability to eat such food. 
 Meantime the two cronies told each other their stories, 
 and Old Mike slapped his knee and cried out with delight 
 over Hal's exploits. " Oh, you buddy ! " he exclaimed ; 
 then, to Edward, " Ain't he a daisy, hey ? " And he gave 
 Edward a thump on the shoulder. " By Judas, they don't 
 beat my buddy! " 
 
 Mike Sikoria had last been ^een by Hal from the win- 
 
382 KING -COAL 
 
 dow of the North Valley jail, when he had been distrib- 
 uting the copies of Hal's signature, and Bud Adams had 
 taken him in charge. The mine-guard had marched him 
 into a shed in back of the power-house, where he had 
 found Kauser and Kalovac, two other fellows who had 
 been arrested while helping in the distribution. 
 
 Mike detailed the experience with his usual animation. 
 " ' Hey, Mister Bud,' I say, i if you going to send me 
 down canyon, I want to get my things.' ' You go to hell 
 for your things/ says he. And then I say, i Mister Bud, 
 I want to get my time.' And he says, ' I give you plenty 
 time right here ! ' And he punch me and throw me over. 
 Then he grab me up again and pull me outside, and I see 
 big .automobile waiting, and I say, .* Holy Judas! I get 
 ride in automobile! Here I am, old fellow fifty-seven 
 years old, never been in automobile ride all my days. I 
 think always I die and never get in automobile ride!' 
 We go down canyon, and I look round and see them moun- 
 tains, and feel nice cool wind in my face, and I say, 
 \ Bully for you, Mister Bud, I don't never forget this 
 automobile. I don't have such good time any day all my 
 life.' And he say, i Shut your face, you old wop ! ' Then 
 we come out on prairie, we go up in Black Hills, and they 
 stpp, and say, ' Get out here, you sons o' -guns.' And 
 they leave us there all alone. They say, ' You come back 
 again, we catch you and we rip the guts out of you ! ? 
 They go away fast, and we got to walk seven hours, us 
 fellers, before we come to a house! But I don't mind 
 that, I begged some grub,^ and then I got job mending 
 track; only I don't find out if you get out of jail, and 
 I think maybe I lose my buddy and never see him no 
 more." 
 
 Here the old man stopped, gazing affectionately at Hal. 
 " I write you letter to North Valley, but I don't hear 
 nothing, and I got to walk all the way 011 railroad track 
 to look for you." 
 
THE WILL OF KING COAL 383 
 
 How was it? Hal wondered. He had encountered 
 naked horror in this coal-country yet here he was, not 
 entirely glad at the thought of leaving it ! He would miss 
 Old Mike Sikoria, his hairy kiss and his grizzly-bear hug ! 
 
 He struck the old man dumb by pressing a twenty- 
 dollar bill into his hand. Also he gave him the address 
 of Edstrom and Mary, and a note to Johann Hartman, 
 who might use him to work among the Slovaks who came 
 down into the town. Hal explained that he had to go 
 back to Western City that night, but that he would never 
 forget his old friend, and would see that he had a good 
 job. He was trying to figure out some occupation for the 
 old man on his father's country-place. A pet grizzly! 
 
 Train-time came, and the long line of dark sleepers 
 rolled in by the depot-platform. It was late after mid- 
 night ; but, nevertheless, there was Old Mike. He was in 
 awe of Hal now, with his fine clothes and his twenty- 
 dollar bills ; but, nevertheless, under stress of his emotion, 
 he gave him one more hug, and one more hairy kiss. 
 " Good-bye, my buddy ! " he cried. " You come back, my 
 buddy ! I don't forget my buddy ! " And when the 
 train began to move, he waved his ragged cap, and ran 
 along the platform to get a last glimpse, to call a last 
 farewell. When Hal turned into the car, it was with more 
 than a trace of moisture in his eyes. 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Prom previous experiences the writer has learned that 
 many people, reading a novel such as " King Coal," de- 
 sire to be informed as to whether it is true to fact. They 
 write to ask if the book is meant to be so taken ; they ask 
 for evidence to convince themselves and others. Having 
 answered thousands of such letters in the course of his 
 life, it seems to the author the part of common-sense to 
 answer some of them in advance. 
 
 " King Coal " is a picture of the life of the workers in 
 unorganised labour-camps in many parts of America. 
 The writer has avoided naming a definite place, for the 
 reason that such conditions are to be found as far apart 
 as West Virginia, Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, and 
 Colorado. Most of the details of his picture were gath- 
 ered in the last-named state, which the writer visited on 
 three occasions during and just after the great coal-strike 
 of 1913-14. The book gives a true picture of conditions 
 and events observed by him at this time. Practically all 
 the characters are real persons, and every incident which 
 has social significance is not merely a true incident, but a 
 typical one. The life portrayed in " King Coal " is the 
 life that is lived to-day by hundreds of thousands of men, 
 women and children in this " land of the free." 
 
 The reader who wishes evidence may be accommodated. 
 There was never a strike more investigated than the Colo- 
 rado coal-strike. The material about it in the writer's 
 possession cannot be less than eight million words, the 
 greater part of it sworn testimony taken under govern- 
 ment supervision. There is, first, the report of the Con- 
 gressional Committee, a government document of three 
 
 384 
 
POSTSCRIPT 385 
 
 thousand closely printed pages, about two million words ; 
 an equal amount of testimony given before the U. S. Com- 
 mission on Industrial Relations, also a government docu- 
 ment; a special report on the Colorado strike, prepared 
 for the same commission, a book of 189 pages, supporting 
 every contention of this story; about four hundred thou- 
 sand words of testimony given before a committee ap- 
 pointed at the suggestion ' of the Governor of Colorado ; 
 a report made by the Rev. Henry A. Atkinson, who 
 investigated the strike as representative of the Federal 
 Council of the Churches of Christ in America, and of 
 the Social Service Commission of the Congregational 
 Churches; the report of an elaborate investigation by the 
 Colorado state militia; the bulletins issued by both sides 
 during the controversy; the testimony given at various 
 coroners' inquests ; and, finally, articles by different writ- 
 ers to be found in the files of Everybody's Magazine, the 
 Metropolitan Magazine, the Survey, Harper s Weekly, 
 and Collier's Weekly, all during the year 1914. 
 
 The writer prepared a collection of extracts from these 
 various sources, meaning to publish them in this place; 
 but while the manuscript was in the hands of the publish- 
 ers, there appeared one. document, which, in- the weight of 
 its authority, seemed to discount all others. A decision 
 was rendered by the Supreme Court of the State of Colo- 
 rado, in -a case which included the most fundamental of 
 the many issues raised in " King Coal." It is not often 
 that the writer of a novel of contemporary life is so fortu- 
 nate as to have the truth of his work passed upon and 
 established by the highest judicial tribunal of the com- 
 munity ! 
 
 In the elections of November, 1914, in Huerfano 
 County, Colorado, J. B. Farr, Republican candidate for 
 re-election as sheriff, a person known throughout the coal- 
 country as " the King of Huerfano County/ 7 was returned 
 as elected by a majority of 329 votes. His rival, the 
 
386 KING COAL 
 
 Democratic candidate, contested the election, alleging 
 i malconduct, fraud and cormption." The district .court 
 found in Farr's favour, and the case was appealed on 
 error to the- Supreme Court of the State. On. June 21st, 
 1916, after Farr had served nearly the whole of his term 
 of office, the Supreme Court handed down a decision 
 which unseated him and the entire ticket elected with him, 
 finding in favour of the opposition ticket in all cdses and 
 upon all grounds charged. 
 
 The decision is long about ten thousand words, and 
 its legal technicalities would not interest the reader. It 
 will suffice to reprint the essential paragraphs. The 
 reader is asked to give these paragraphs careful study, 
 considering, not merely the specific offence denounced by 
 the court, but its wider implications. The offence was 
 one so unprecedented that the justices of the court, men 
 chosen for their learning in the history of offences, were 
 moved to say: "We find no such example of fraud 
 within the books,, and must seek the letter and spirit of 
 the law in a free government, as a scale in which to weigh 
 such conduct." And let it be noted, this " crime without 
 a name 77 was not a crime of passion, but of policy; it 
 was a crime deliberately planned and carried out by profit- 
 seeking corporations of enormous power. Let the reader 
 imagine the psychology of the men of great. wealth who 
 ordered this Crime, as a means of keeping and increasing 
 their wealth ; let him realise what must be the attitude of 
 such men to their helpless workers ; and then let him ask 
 himself whether there is any act portrayed in. "King 
 Coal ".. which men of snch character would shrink from 
 ordering. 
 
 The Court decision first gives an outline of the -case, 
 using for the most part the statements of the counsel for 
 the defendant, Farr ; so that for practical purposes the 
 following may be taken as the coal companies 7 own ac- 
 count of their domain : " Round the shaft of each mine 
 
POSTSCRIPT 387 
 
 are clustered the tipple, the mine office, the shops, sheds 
 and outbuildings; and huddled 'close by, within a stone's 
 throw, cottages of the miners built on the land of, and 
 owned by, the mining company* All the dwellers in the 
 camp are; employes of the mine. There is no other in- 
 dustry. .This is .'the camp.' Of the eight . ' closed 
 camps 7 it appears that practically the same conditions 
 existed in all of them,, ,and, those conditions were in gen- 
 eral that members of the United Mine Workers of Amer- 
 ica, their organisers or agitators, were prevented from 
 coming into the camps, so far as it was possible to keep 
 them out, and to this end guards were stationed about, 
 them. ' Of the eight ' closed camps ' one of them, ' Wai- 
 sen/ was, , and at the time of the trial still was, enclosed 
 by a fence erected at the beginning of the strike in Octo- 
 ber, 191.3s,; Rouse and Cameron were partly, but never 
 entirely, enclosed by fences. It is admitted that all per- 
 sons entering these camps and precincts were required by 
 the companies to. have passes, and it is contended that this 
 was an ' industrial necessity.' " 
 
 The Court then goes on as follows: 
 
 " The Federal troops, , entered the district in May of 
 1914, and the ^testimony is in agreement that no serious 
 acts of violence occurred thereafter, and that order was 
 preserved up to and subsequent to the election, and to the 
 time of this trial. 
 
 "It. was under this .condition that in July, 1914, the 
 Board of County Commissioners changed certain of the 
 election precincts so as to constitute each of such camps 
 an election precinct, and with Lut one exception where a 
 few ranches were included, these precincts were made to 
 conform. to the fences and lines around each camp, pro^ 
 tected by fences in some instances and with armed guards 
 in all cases. Thus each election precinct by this unparal- 
 leled .act of the commissioners was placed exclusively 
 within and upon the private grounds and under the pri- 
 
388 KING GOAL 
 
 vate control of a coal corporation, which autocratically 
 declared who should and who should not enter upon the 
 territory of this political entity of the state, so purposely 
 bounded by the county commissioners. 
 
 " With but one exception all the lands and buildings 
 within each of these election precincts as so created, were 
 owned or controlled by the coal corporations ; every person 
 resident within such precincts 'was an employe of these 
 private corporations or their allied companies, with the 
 single exception: every judge, clerk or officer of election 
 with the exception of a saloon keeper, and partner of Farr, 
 was an employe of the coal-companies. 
 
 " The polling places were upon the grounds 1 , and in the 
 buildings of these companies; the registration lists were 
 kept within the private offices or buildings of such com- 
 panies, and used and treated as their private property. 
 
 " Thus were the public election districts and the public 
 election machinery turned over to the absolute domination 
 and imperial control of private coal corporations, and used 
 by them as absolutely and privately as were their mines, 
 to and for their own private purposes, and upon which 
 public territory no man might enter for either public or 
 private purpose, save and except by the express permis- 
 sion of these private corporations. 
 
 " This right to determine who should enter such so 
 called election precincts, appears from the record to have 
 been exercised as against all classes; merchants, trades- 
 men or what not, and whether the business of such person 
 was public or private. Indeed, it appears that in one in- 
 stance the governor and adjutant general of the state while 
 on official business, were denied admission to one of these 
 closed camps. And that on the day of election, the Demo- 
 cratic watchers and challengers for Walsen Mine precinct, 
 one of which was Neelley, the Democratic candidate for 
 sheriff, were forced to seek and secure a detail of Federal 
 soldiers to escort them into the precinct and to the polls, 
 
POSTSCRIPT 389 
 
 and that such soldiers remained as such guard during the 
 day and a part of the night. . . . 
 
 " But if there was any doubt concerning the condition 
 of the closed camps and precincts, and the exclusion of 
 representatives of the Democratic party from discussing 
 the issues of the campaign within the precincts compris- 
 ing Hhe closed camps, it is entirely removed by the testi- 
 mony of the witness Weitzel, for contestee (Farr). He 
 testified that he -was a resident of Pueblo, and was man- 
 ager of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company; that Rouse, 
 Lester, Ideal, Cameron, Walseu, Pictou and Morally are 
 camps under his jurisdiction. That he had general 
 charge of the camps and that there was no company of- 
 ficial in Colorado superior to him in this respect except 
 the president ; that the superintendent and other employes 
 are under his supervision; that the Federal troops came 
 about the 1st of May, 1914, and continued until January, 
 1915. That in all those camps he tried to keep out the 
 people who were antagonistic to the company's interests; 
 that it was private property and so treated by his com- 
 pany; that through him the company and its officials 
 assumed to exercise authority as to who might or who 
 might not enter; that if persons could assure or satisfy 
 the man at the gate, or the superintendent that they were 
 not connected with the United Mine Workers, or in their 
 employ as agitators, they were let into the camp. That 
 ' no one we were fighting against got in for social inter- 
 course or any other 7 ; that he and officials under him 
 assumed to pass upon the question of whether or not any 
 person coming there came for the purpose of agitation. 
 That Mr. Mitchell, the chairman of the Democratic com- 
 mittee, as he recalled it, was identified with the agitators, 
 ran a newspaper and was connected either directly or in- 
 directly with the United Mine Workers ; that Mr. Neelley, 
 Democratic candidate for sheriff, was identified with the 
 strikers, and that he would be considered as an objection- 
 
 26 
 
390 KING GOAL 
 
 N 
 
 able character* That when the Federal troops came, they 
 restored peace and normal conditions; there was no riot- 
 ing after that, there was - no fear on the part of the com- 
 pany when the Federal soldiers were here, except fear of 
 agitation. Asked if he guarded the camp against discus- 
 sion, against the espousal of the cause of the company, he 
 replied, ' We didn't encourage it/ The company would 
 not encourage organisers to; come into the camp, no matter 
 how peacefully they conducted themselves.; that the com- 
 pany did not permit men to come into the camp to discuss 
 \vith the employes certain principles, or to carry on, argu- 
 ments with them; or to appeal to their reason, or to discuss 
 with them things along reasonable lines, because it was 
 known from experience that if they were allowed to come 
 in they would resort to threats of violence. . They might 
 not resort to any violence at the time, but it might result 
 in the people becoming frightened and leaving, and they 
 were anxious to hold their, employes. He , was asked 
 whether or not one had business there depended upon the 
 decision of the official in charge; he replied that the super- 
 intendent probably would inquire of him what his busi- 
 ness was. That any one that Farr asked for a permit to 
 enter the camp would likely get it. . . , 
 
 " There was but one attempt to hold a political meeting 
 in the closed precincts. Joseph Patterson, who attempted 
 to hold this meeting, testifies concerning it as follows : 
 
 "Was at a political meeting at Oakview. Had been 
 a warm, personal friend of Mr. Jones, the assistant su- 
 perintendent of the Qakview mine,, and had written him 
 a letter asking the courtesy of holding a political meeting. 
 On Saturday evening received a letter that he could hold 
 such meeting. On the day previous to the meeting wit- 
 ness received a ' phone" message from the assistant super- 
 intendent, in which the latter inquired whether witness 
 was coming up there to cause any trouble, and witness 
 replied, certainly not, and if the superintendent felt that 
 
POSTSCRIPT 391 
 
 way they would not come. Had advised the superintend- 
 ent that he and others were going to hold a political meet- 
 ing for the Democratic party. Jones, the superintendent, 
 stated that witness should come to the office that night 
 before he went to the school house for the purpose of the 
 meeting; when witness arrived at the meeting there were 
 about six or eight English speaking people and a dozen 
 to fourteen Mexicans. The superintendent, Mr. Morgan, 
 and Mr. Price, were outside of the door most of the time. 
 Witness noticed that the first few fellows that came 'to- 
 ward the school house, the superintendent stopped and 
 talked with them and they turned back to the carnp. ;This 
 happened several times : as soon as they talked with Mor- 
 gan they turned back. After lie saw that, witness went 
 into the school house and said that it 1 was no use to hold 
 any meeting; that it seemed that nobody was allowed to 
 come. This meeting was supposed to be in a public 
 school house on the company property. Had to get per- 
 mission from the superintendent of the Oakview mining 
 Company to hold said political meeting." . . . 
 
 " It appears that the number of registered voters in the 
 closed precincts was very largely in excess of the number 
 of votes cast, and this of itself was sufficient to demand 
 an open and fair investigation as to the qualifications of 
 the alleged voters. 
 
 " It appears from the testimony that in these closed 
 precincts many of those who voted were unable to speak 
 or read ;the English language, and that in numerous in- 
 stances, the election judges assisted such, by marking the 
 ballots for them in violation of the law. Again, it ap- 
 pears that the ballots were printed so that . . . (The 
 decision here goes on to explain in detail a device whereby 
 the ballot was so printed that voting could be controlled 
 with the help of a card device.) Thus such voters were 
 riot choosing candidates, but, under the direction of the 
 companies, were simply placing the cross where they 
 
392 KING COAL, 
 
 found the particular letter R on the ballot, so that the 
 ballot was not an expression of opinion or judgment, not 
 an intelligent exercise of suffrage, but plainly a dictated 
 coal company vote, as much so as if the agents of these 
 companies had marked the ballots without the interven- 
 tion of the voter. No more fraudulent and infamous 
 prostitution of the ballot is conceivable. . . . 
 
 " Counsel contend that the closed precincts were an 
 /industrial necessity/ and for such reason the conduct of 
 the coal companies during the campaign was justified. 
 However such conduct may be viewed when confined to 
 the private property of such corporations in their private 
 operation, the fact remains that there is no justification 
 when they were dealing with such territory after it had 
 been dedicated to a public use, and particularly involving 
 the right of the people to exercise their duties and powers 
 as electors in a popular government. 
 
 "The fact appears that the members of the board of 
 county commissioners and all other county officers were 
 Republicans, and as stated by, counsel for the contestees, 
 the success of the Republican candidates was considered by 
 the coal companies, vital to their interests. The close re- 
 lationship of the coal companies and the Republican offi- 
 cials and candidates appears to have been so marked both 
 before arid during the campaign, as to justify the conclu- 
 sion that such officers regarded their duty to the coal com- 
 panies as paramount to their duty to the public service. 
 To say that the closed precincts were not so created to 
 suit the convenience and interests of these corporations, 
 or that they were not- so formed with the advice and con- 
 sent of these corporations, is to discredit human intelli- 
 gence, and to deny human experience. The plain purpose 
 of the formation of the new precincts was that the coal 
 companies might have opportunity to conduct and control 
 the elections therein, just as such elections were con- 
 ducted. The irresistible conclusion is that these closed 
 
POSTSCRIPT 393 
 
 precincts were so formed by the county commissioners 
 with the connivance of the representatives of the coal com- 
 panies, if not by their express command. 
 
 " There can be no free, open and fair election as con- 
 templated by the constitution, where private industrial 
 corporations so throttle public opinion, deny the free ex- 
 ercise of choice by sovereign electors, dictate" and control 
 all election officers, prohibit public discussion of public 
 questions, and imperially command what citizens may and 
 what citizens may not, peacefully and for lawful purposes, 
 enter upon election or public territory. . . . 
 
 " We find no such example of fraud within the books, 
 and must seek the letter and spirit of the law in a free 
 government, as a scale in which to weigh such con- 
 duct. . . . 
 
 " The denial of the right of peaceful assemblage, can 
 have been for no other purpose than to influence the elec- 
 tion. There was no disturbance in any pf these precincts 
 after they were created, up to the time of the election, and 
 up to the time of this trial. The Federal troops were 
 present at all times to preserve the peace and to protect 
 life and property. There" was no reason to anticipate any 
 disturbance. Therefore this bold denial was an inexcusa- 
 ble and corrupt violation of the natural and inalienable 
 rights of the citizens. 
 
 " The defence relies not upon conflicting evidence, but 
 upon the contention that the conduct of the election was 
 justified as an ' industrial necessity.' 
 
 " We have heard much in this state in recent years as 
 to the denial of inherent and constitutional rights of citi- 
 zens being justified by * military necessity,' but this we 
 believe is the first time in our experience when the viola- 
 tion of the fundamental rights ,of freemen has been at- 
 tempted to be justified by the plea of { industrial neces- 
 sity.' 
 
 " Even if we were to concede that there may be some 
 
394 KING COAL 
 
 palliation in the plea of military necessity on the theory 
 that such acts purport to be acts of the government itself, 
 through its military ami and with the purpose of preserv- 
 ing the public peace and safety: yet that a private cor- 
 poration,, with its privately armed forces, may violate the 
 inost> sacred right of the citizenship of the state and find 
 lawful excuse in the plea of private i industrial necessity ' 
 savours too much of anarchy to find approval by courts of 
 justice. 
 
 " This case clearly comes within another exception to 
 the rule, in that it is plain that the findings were influ- 
 enced by the bias arid prejudice of the trial judge. 
 
 " A careful reading of the record discloses the rejection 
 by the court of so much palpably pertinent and competent 
 testimony offered by the contestors, as to force the conclu- 
 sion that the trial judge was influenced by bias and preju- 
 dice, to the extent at least, charged in the application for 
 a' change of venue, and sufficient in itself to justify a 
 reversal of judgment. ... 
 
 " For the foregoing reasons the judgment of the court 
 in each case before us, is reversed, and the entire poll in 
 the said precincts of Mggerhead, Ravenwood, Walsen 
 Mine, Oakview, Fryor, Rouse and Cameron is annulled, 
 and held for naught, and the election in each of said pre- 
 cincts is hereby set aside. This leaves a substantial and 
 unquestioned majority for each of the contestors in the 
 county, and which entitles each contestor to be declared 
 elected to the office for which he-was a candidate. 
 
 " We find further, that J. B. Farr, the defendant in 
 error, was not and is not the duly elected sheriff "of Huer- 
 fano county, and that E. L. ISTeelley, the plaintiff in error, 
 was and is the duly elected sheriff of said county. It is 
 therefore ordered that the said county, and that the said 
 E. L. Neelley, immediately and upon qualification as re- 
 quired by law, enter and discharge the 1 duties of the said 
 office of sheriff of Huerfano county. . . ." 
 
POSTSCRIPT 395 
 
 . So much for the court opinion upon coal-camp politics. 
 In relation thereto, the writer has only one com- 
 ment to offer. Let the reader not drop the matter with 
 the idea that because one set of corrupt officials have been 
 turned out of office in' one American county, therefore 
 justice ; has been vindicated, and there is no longer need 
 to be concerned about the conditions portrayed in " King 
 Coal. 77 The defeat of the " King of Huerfano County " 
 is but one step in a long road which the miners of Colo- 
 rado have to travel if ever they are to be free men. The 
 industrial power of the great corporations remains un- 
 touched by this decision; and this power is greater than- 
 any political power ever wielded -by the government of 
 Huerfano County, or even of the state of Colorado. This, 
 industrial power is a deep, far-spreading root; and so 
 long as it is allowed to thrive, it will send up again and 
 again the poisonous plant of political " malconduct, fraud 
 and corruption." The citizens and workers of such in- 
 dustrial communities, whether in Colorado, in West Vir- 
 ginia, Alabama, Michigan or Minnesota, in the Chicago 
 stock-yards, the steel-mills of Pittsburg, the woollen-mills 
 of Lawrence or the silk-mills of Paterson, will find that 
 they have neither peace nor freedom, until they have abol- 
 ished the sj^stem of production for profit, and established 
 in the field of industry what they are supposed to have 
 already in the field of politics a government of the peo- 
 ple, by the people, for the people. 
 
 NOTE: On the day that the author finished the read- 
 ing of the proofs of " King Coal/' the following item 
 appeared in his daily newspaper : 
 
 COLORADO MINE WORKERS ASK LEAVE 
 
 TO STRIKE 
 [BY A. P. NIGHT WIRE] 
 DENVER (Colo.), June 14. -Officers of the United 
 
396 KING COAL 
 
 Mine Workers representing members of that organisation 
 employed by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, have 
 telegraphed their national officers asking permission to 
 strike. 
 
 At the morning session a resolution was adopted ex- 
 pressing disapprobation of the action of J. IT. Welborn, 
 president of the fuel company, for failure to attend the 
 meeting, which was a part of the " peace programme " 
 to prevent industrial differences in the State during the 
 war. 
 
 The grievances of the men, according to John Mc- 
 Lennan, spokesman for them, centre about v the operation 
 of the so-called " Rockefeller plan" at the mines. Mc- 
 Lennan said the failure of Mr. Welborn to attend the 
 meeting and discuss these grievances with the men pre- 
 cipitated the strike agitation. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Printed in the United States of America. 
 
A Proposition to Reprint 
 
 the Early Books of Upton Sinclair 
 
 All the books written by me from 1901 to 1.911 are now out 
 of print and unobtainable. These include "The Jungle," which, 
 was translated into seventeen languages and is the best 
 known American novel outside the United States ; /'Manassas," 
 which Jack London called ''the best Civil War book I've read;" 
 "The Industrial Republic." which the Countess of Warwick 
 called the best book on Socialism ever written; "Samuel the 
 Seeker," which Frederik van Eeden, the Dutch writer, con- 
 sidered my best novel; "The Metropolis," and "The Money- 
 changers," which caused a sensation in their day; "The Jour- 
 nal of Arthur Stirling 1 ," "Love's Pilgrimage," "Plays of 
 Protest," "The Fasting Cure," etc. 
 
 To reprint these books and keep them in stock means a 
 working capital of about $2,000 per book. I can raise this 
 capital, provided I have an assured mai-ket for the books. 
 Therefore, I propose to organize what for convenience I call 
 
 the Sinclair Subscribers 
 
 I propose to publish three or four books per year. One, 
 and possibly two, will be new books; the rest will be reprints. 
 Each subscriber agrees to take a copy of each book as pub- 
 lished, at the price of $1.20 clqth or sixty cents paper. Each 
 book will be sent with bill, and the subscriber will remit 
 promptly, and notify of any change of address. You may, 
 of course, subscribe to three, or ten, or twenty-five copies 
 of each book, at the quantity rates quoted for "The Brass 
 Check" and "100%." You may withdraw from the arrange- 
 ment at any time by giving notice. The books published in 
 1921 will be (1) "The Jungle;" (2) "The Coal War," a new- 
 novel, sequel to King Coal;" =. (3) "The Moneychangers," 
 a story dealing with Wall Street and the panic of 1907: and, 
 probably "The Footbinders," a book on education, companion 
 volume to "The Profits of Religion" and "The Brass Check." 
 
 If you care to come In on the above plan, please write 
 me a postcard as follows: 
 
 "Enter me as a subscriber, sending one copy of each book, 
 cloth," or "three copies of each book, paper," or whatever 
 it may be that you wish to subscribe for. Give name and 
 full address, write plainly, and mail to Upton Sinclair, Pas- 
 adena, California. 
 
A New Novel by Upton Sinclair 
 
 100% 
 
 THE STORY OF A PATRIOT 
 
 T1J7QULD you like to go behind the scenes arid see the 
 V * "invisible government" of your country saving you from 
 the Bolsheviks and the Reds'? Would you like to meet the 
 secret agents and provocateurs of "Big Business," to know 
 what , they look like, how they talk and what they are doing 
 to make the world safe for democracy? Several of these 
 gentlemen have been haunting the home of Upton Sinclair 
 during the past, three years and he has had the idea of turn- 
 ing the tables and investigating the investigators. He has put 
 one of them, Peter Gudge by name, into a book, together with 
 Peter's ladyloves, and his wife, and his boss and a whole 
 group of his fellow-agents and their employers. 
 
 The Hero of this book is a red-blooded, 100% American, 
 a "he-man" and no mollycoddle. He begins with the Mooney 
 case, and goes through half a dozen big cases of which you 
 have heard. His story is a fact-story of America from 1916 
 to 1920, and will make a bigger sensation than "The Jungle." 
 Albert PJiys Williams, author of "Lenin" and "In the Claws 
 of the German Eagle," read the MS. and wrote: 
 
 "This is the first novel of yours that I have read through 
 with real interest. It is your most timely work, and is bound to 
 make a sensation. I venture that you will have even more trouble 
 than you had with 'The Brass Cheek'-^-in getting the books 
 printed fast enough." 
 
 - Single copy, 60c postpaid; three copies, $1.50; ten copies, 
 $4.50. By freight or express, collect, 25 copies at 40c per 
 copy; 10(i copies at 38c; 500 copies at 36c; 1,000 copies at 
 35c. Single copy, cloth, $1.20 postpaid; three copies, $3.00; 
 ten copies, $9.00. By freight or express, collect, 25 copies at 
 80c per copy : 100 copies at 76c ; 500 copies at 72 ; 1,000 copies 
 at 70c. 
 
 UPTON SINCLAIR - Pasadena, California 
 
A book "which has been absolutely boycotted by the literary 
 reviews of America. 
 
 THE PROFITS 
 OF RELIGION 
 
 BY UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 A STUDY of Supernaturalism as a Source of Income and a 
 Shield to Privilege; the first examination in any language 
 of institutionalized religion from the economic point of 
 view. "Has the labour as well as the merit of breaking virgin 
 soil," writes Joseph McCabe. The book has had practically no 
 advertising and only two or three reviews in radical publications ; 
 yet forty thousand copies have been sold in the first year. 
 
 From the Rev. John Haynes Holmes: "I must confess that it has fairly 
 made me writhe to read these pages, not because they are untrue or un- 
 fair, but on the contrary, because I know them to be the real facts. I 
 love the church as I love my home, and therefore it is no pleasant expe- 
 rience to be made to face such a story as this which you have told. It 
 had to be done, however, and I am glad you have done it, for rny interest 
 in the church, after all, is more or less incidental, whereas my interest in 
 religion is a fundamental thing. . . . Let me repeat again that I feel 
 that you have done us all a service in the writing of this book. Our 
 churches today, like those of ancient Palestine, are the abode of Pharisees 
 and scribes. It is as spiritual and helpful a thing now as it was in 
 Jesus' day for that fact to be revealed." 
 
 From Luther Burbank: "No one has ever told 'the truth, the whole> 
 truthj and nothing but the truth' more faithfully than Upton Sinclair in 
 'The Profits of Religion.' " 
 
 From Louis Untermeyer: "Let me add my quavering alto to the .chorus 
 of applause of 'The Profits of Religion.' It is something more than a 
 book it is a Work!" 
 
 315 pages. Single copy, paper, 60c postpaid ; three copies, $1.50 ; 
 ten copies, $4.50. By freight or express, collect, 25 copies at 40c 
 per copy, 100 copies at 38c; 500 copies at 36c; 1,000 copies at 35c. 
 Single copy, cloth, $1.20 postpaid; three copies, $3.00;, ten copies, 
 $f).00. By freight or express, collect, 25 copies at SOc per copy; 
 100 copies at 76c; 500 copies at 72c; 1,000 copies at 70c. 
 
 UPTON SINCLAIR - Pasadena, California 
 
Who OWES The Press, and Why? 
 
 When you read your daily paper, are you reading facts or 
 propaganda? And whose propaganda? 
 
 Who furnishes the raw material for your thoughts about 
 life? Is it honest material? 
 
 No man can ask more important questions than these; and 
 here f<jr ; the first time the questions are answered in a book. 
 
 THE BRASS CHECK 
 
 A Study of American Journalism 
 By UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 Read the record of this book to August, 1920: Published in 
 February, 1920; first edition, 23,000 paper-bound copies, sold 
 in two weeks. Second edition, 21,000 paper-bound, sold before- 
 it could be put to press. Third edition, 15,000, and fourth 
 edition, 12,000, sold. Fifth edition, 15,000, in press. Paper 
 for sixth edition, 110,000, just shipped from the mill. The 
 thiM and fourth editions are printed on "number one news;" 
 the sixth will be printed on a carload of lightweight brown 
 wrapping paper all we could get in a hurry. 
 
 The first cloth edition, 1G.500 copies, all sold; a carload 
 of paper for the second edition, 40,000 copies, has just reached 
 our printer and so we dare to advertise! 
 
 Ninety thousand copies of a book sold in six months 
 and published by the author, with no advertising, and only 
 a few scattered reviews! What this means is that the Amer- 
 ican people want to know the truth about their newspapers. 
 They have found the truth an "The Brass Check" and they 
 are calling for it by telegraph. Put these books on your 
 counter, and you will see, as one doctor wrote us "they 
 melt away like the snow." 
 
 From the pastor of the Community Church, New York: 
 "I am writing to thank you for sending me a copy 
 of your new book, "The Brass Check." Although it 
 arrived only a few days ago, I have already read it 
 through, every word, and have loaned it to one of my 
 Colleagues for reading. The boofc is tremendous. I havo 
 never read a more strongly consistent argument or one 
 so formidably buttressed by facts. You have proved 
 your case to the handle. I again take satisfaction in 
 saluting you not only as a great novelist, but as the 
 ablest pamphleteer in America today. 'I am already 
 passing around the word in my church arid taking- 
 orders for the book." John Haynes Holmes. 
 
 448 *&**' Slagfle copy, paper, 60c postpaid; three copies, 
 
 $1.50; ten copies, $4.50. Single copy, cloth, $1.20 
 
 postpaid; three copies, $3.CO; ten copies, $9.OO 
 
 j Address: UPTON SINCLAIR, Pasadena, Cal. 
 

 
Who Owns The Press, and Why? 
 
 When you read your daily paper, are you reading facts or 
 propaganda? And whose propaganda? 
 
 Who furnishes the raw material lor your thoughts about 
 life? Is it honest material? 
 
 No man can ask more important questions than these; and 
 here for the first time the questions are answered in a book. 
 
 THE BRASS CHECK 
 
 4, Study of American Journalises 
 Sy UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 Read the record of this book to August, 1920: Published in 
 February. 1920; first edition, 23,000 paper-bound copies, sold 
 in two weeks. Second edition, 21,000 paper-bound, sold before 
 it could be put to press. Third edition, 15,000, and fourth 
 edition, 12,000, sold. Fifth edition, 15,000. in press. Pap-;r 
 for sixth edition, 110,000, just shipped from the mill. The 
 third and fourth editions are printed on "number one news; 1 ' 
 the sixth will be printed on a carload of lightweight fcrov n, 
 wrapping paper all we could get. in a hurry.. 
 
 The first cloth edition, 16,500 copies, all sold; a, carlo id 
 of caper for the second edition, 40,000 copies, has Just reached 
 our printer and 6O we dare to advertise! 
 
 Ninety thousand copies of a book sold *ln six months 
 ind published bv the author, with no advertising, and only 
 ii few scattered reviews! What this means is that the Amer- 
 ican people want to know the truth about ttoir newspapers 
 Thev have found the truth in "The Brass Check" mid the/ 
 -ili'ii* for it bv telegraph. Put these books on your 
 "and you will see, as one doctor Wojte. us "the./ 
 melt away like the snow," 
 
 From the pastor of the Community Church $Tew York; 
 'I am writing to thank you for sending me & copy 
 of your new book, "The Brass Check.'? Although it 
 arrived only a few days ago, I have; already read 1 
 through, every word, and have loaned it. to one of my 
 colleagues for reading. The book is tremendous. I have 
 never read a more strongly consistent argument or one 
 so formidably buttressed by facts. You have proved 
 you.- case to the handle, I again take satisfaction In 
 saluting you not only as a great novelist, but as th* 
 ablest pamphleteer in America today. I am already 
 passing- around the word in my church ana taking? 
 orders for the book." John Haynes Holmes. 
 
 60o poftpsdd; ttorca copi*e. 
 
 91.50? test copies,' 04.SOT BlngOe copy 
 po0tpai&; tbfee copies,, $3.00 ; tea copies 
 
 Address: UPTON SINCLAIR, Pasadena,