-#- 
 
 n i
 

 
 A FAST GAME 
 
 BY KIRK PARSON 
 
 BOSTON 
 THE ROXBURGH PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 ( INCORPORATED )
 
 Copyrighted. 1910 
 By The Roxburgh Publishing Co. (Inc.) 
 
 All Rights Reserved
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I THE ANTHRACITE 1 
 
 II NAOMI 11 
 
 III THE BLACK DIAMOND COMPANY . . . 31 
 
 IV SUMMER TIME 43 
 
 V AN ENEMY 61 
 
 VI MuTTERINGS 77 
 
 VII THE OTHER SIDE 98 
 
 VIII INTIMIDATION 112 
 
 IX PRINCE ARTHUR 136 
 
 X DISASTER AND DEATH 152 
 
 XI WHITE AND BLACK SLAVES .... 169 
 
 XII SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS .... 184 
 
 XIII A COLD WAVE 196 
 
 XIV THE SUSPENSION 208 
 
 XV UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 227 
 
 XVI THE TRAIL OF A STRUGGLE .... 247 
 
 XVII CRIMSON-EBONY 263 
 
 XVIII WHERE Two WAYS MEET .... 278 
 
 XIX A CLASH AT THE MINES 294 
 
 XX SEVERAL SURPRISES 308 
 
 XXI PEACE 327 
 
 2137S57
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The playground of "A Fast Game" is in north- 
 eastern Pennsylvania a few months previous 
 to and during the suspension of the anthracite 
 mine workers in the Spring of 1906. The causes 
 and the effects of the battle between the giants 
 Capitalism and Labor-unionism are so dis- 
 cussed, that in the warp of a stirring story is 
 woven the woof of some of the best ideas on the 
 labor problem, advanced by some of the brain- 
 iest men radical and conservative on both 
 sides without destroying the interest in the 
 narrative. 
 
 Readers not familiar with those coal regions 
 may consider some of the scenes overdrawn, but 
 we think not. The prayer in the saloon; the 
 refugee daughter sleeping on the grave of her 
 parent; the death of Mrs. Morgan and her new 
 born babe, and many other incidents are not 
 fiction but cold facts. 
 
 The growth of that part of the state, from 
 rural districts to thriving centers of industry, 
 has been rapid; a period to be spanned by a 
 lifetime as told in the tale. The players in the 
 game are the saints and the sinners who go to 
 and fro in the earth the only two divisions of 
 the human kind since the days of Adam, or ever 
 will be, for that matter, so long as this old world 
 shall be the arena.
 
 We hope that the readers of this volume will 
 not only be interested but also inspired to play 
 the fast game of life fairly and without prejudice, 
 and to use the Golden Rule as the authoritative 
 law of the game. We have tried to point out 
 the way to win and the way to lose, ever keeping 
 in mind that : 
 
 "There is so much bad in the best of us, 
 There is so much good in the worst of us, 
 That it hardly becomes any of us 
 To talk about the rest of us." 
 
 K. P.
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ANTHRACITE 
 
 "Another bumper, Tom. It's not time to 
 play quits yet." Richard Morgan carelessly 
 leaned against the bar of The Anthracite saloon, 
 his head beclouded in smoke from a half burned 
 cigar that he held tightly between his teeth, 
 and urged his companion to drink with him 
 again. "Come on, old man; it's up to me this 
 time," he continued banteringly, grinding out 
 his words. 
 
 "No, Dick, I thank ye." 
 
 "Jest this one on me fur luck's 'ake." 
 
 "I've had enough, a'ready." 
 
 "You, enough?" he sneered. "Who ever heard 
 of an Irishman gettin' enough? What ye think, 
 gentlemen?" 
 
 The last remark was directed to the loafers 
 who sat around the barroom and to the drinkers 
 who stood at the bar. They all broke into a 
 loud laugh while one of them shouted above 
 the din, "You'd better set 'em up on that, Tom!" 
 
 "Yes, that's it," laughed Dick as he crossed 
 the room and took Tom by the arm; "I'll set 'em 
 up now, gents, but Tom'll follow suit." 
 
 Chairs rattled and banged, heavy shoes scuffed 
 across the sawdust floor, glasses rang over the 
 bar and husky voices broke into coarse laughter,
 
 2 A FAST GAME 
 
 senseless profanity, vulgar jokes or ribald con- 
 versation, as the crowd swung round for the 
 treat. Dick pulled the half intoxicated Tom 
 to his feet, flung his right arm about Tom's waist 
 and waltzed the helpless fellow across the room, 
 singing to the top of his voice: 
 
 "For tonight we'll merry, merry be, 
 For tonight we'll merry, merry be, 
 For tonight we'll merry, merry be, 
 Tomorrow we'll get sober." 
 
 In spite of the protest, the drinks went round 
 and Tom, with the others, drank from the flowing 
 bowl. To tell the truth, it was just what his 
 appetite craved. Unlike Dick, a would-be friend, 
 he could drink but little before showing visible 
 signs of intoxication. At present, he rapidly ap- 
 proached the state of maudlin indifference where 
 to drink or not to drink meant all the same to 
 him; while, on the other hand, Dick had but 
 crossed the line of hilarious carousing. 
 
 "Now it's on Tom, boys," cried Dick, who 
 produced a roll of bills from which he drew one 
 and threw it toward the bartender; then, lifting 
 a mug of beer high above his mouth, exclaimed, 
 "Here's lookin' at ye, fellows, and here's to the 
 health o' the members o' the Diamond Union! 
 Long live the Union!" 
 
 The toast ended, the room resounded with the 
 clink of glasses, rim to rim, the gulping of strong 
 liquors, the thump of many a heavy glass on 
 the heavier oaken bar and a dozen voices shout- 
 ing, "That's the article!" while the many steady 
 and unsteady feet shuffled back to their accus- 
 tomed positions. The confusion of the moment
 
 THE ANTHRACITE 3 
 
 had drawn attention away from Tom, who, 
 leaning against the bar, declared that he would 
 buy no drinks for a toast in favor of any union 
 on the face of the earth. 
 
 "Scab!" cried a number of voices. 
 
 "Call me what ye please," retorted Tom, 
 steadying himself by holding on to the back of 
 a chair, "I'm no union man and I'll stay by my 
 principles. Every man has a right to 'is own 
 opinions, and if I be non-union, why, that's my 
 business, an' if you be union, why, that's your 
 business. Union or non-union, I don't pay for 
 any union drinks, and that settles it." 
 
 "Sure, ye will, so, Tom," put in Dick as he 
 playfully hauled his protesting companion back 
 to the bar. "Chuck it out here like a little man." 
 Then waving his hand at, and bowing to, the 
 bartender, he continued, "Mr. Bartender, allow 
 me to introduce ye to me friend, Mr. Boland, 
 who will now chalk up fur the crowd to the tune 
 of a dollar an' a half!" 
 
 "And I'll do nothing of the kind for any bloody 
 union in Onaway or any other way, so help 
 me Shakespeare!" 
 
 Two individuals in the rear of the room stole 
 quietly out at the door. Others arose and cir- 
 cled around the disputants. Had Tom been 
 sober he would not have been so outspoken 
 against the union. Every one who knew him, 
 however, knew equally well of his non-union 
 tenets, though he was tolerated, yes, even sought, 
 by union men on account of his genial compan- 
 ionship and profligate generosity. Moreover, 
 unionism was rapidly rising to the point of fever
 
 4 A PAST GAME 
 
 heat in the anthracite coal fields of northeastern 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 The lines of separation between capital and 
 labor, union and non-union, grew tighter daily. 
 Dissatisfaction floated in the air. The mine 
 owners sniffed it, the breaker boys inhaled it 
 with the clouds of coal dust that rose from the 
 chutes, the driver boys and the door boys heard 
 it in the rumbling coal cars through the dark 
 gangways, the bosses saw it rising in the bread- 
 winner's barometer, the laborers felt it in the 
 straining social timbers, and many a miner lived 
 on it for a steady diet. Ill omens hovered over 
 the industrial field like buzzards over a field of 
 battle. Onaway, one of the chief cities of that 
 region, ebbed and flowed with the tide of agita- 
 tion and dissaffection. 
 
 "See here, Bolan'," coarsely interrupted the 
 bartender, "shell out! We don't do business 
 on tick." 
 
 "Not a red cent fur any union!" Tom exclaimed 
 unsteadily shaking his purse before the crowd. 
 
 The long arm of the dispenser of hell-fire cuffed 
 the wallet from the half paralyzed fingers and 
 sent it whirling across the room. One of the 
 bystanders instantly picked it up and lay it 
 before the bartender who deliberately emptied 
 its contents out upon the bar. Counting the 
 money rapidly he pushed it into the till and 
 flung the empty pocketbook back at its owner 
 exclaiming with an oath, "Take yer old pouch 
 an' git out o' here! Ye hain't got enough to 
 pay yer bills." 
 
 "Gi-ive me back my money! I pay for no 
 un "
 
 THE ANTHRACITE S 
 
 "Git, I say. We don't want old bums 'round 
 here." 
 
 "I'm jest wat ye made me. For two days 
 ye wanted me, but now ye've robbed me o' my 
 month's pay, and drive me " 
 
 The last words were lost in the hum of many 
 shouts and the scuff of many feet as the inmates 
 of the saloon crowded and surged around the 
 helpless Tom Boland. The bartender had al- 
 ready started for the unfortunate victim and 
 was shoving his way through the crowd to throw 
 the delinquent debtor into the street, when the 
 door opened and in walked a handsome young 
 man, well dressed, well-bred and wearing a broad, 
 good-natured countenance. The rough men fell 
 back and let the newcomer approach the bar. 
 His quick eye took in the situation at a glance. 
 Slapping Tom heavily on the shoulder he ex- 
 claimed in a round jubilant tone, "Hello, old 
 sport! Full again are ye?" 
 
 "Yes, an' he won't pay 'is bill, either," put 
 in the bartender. 
 
 "Oh, never mind a little thing like that. Tom's 
 dead broke, I guess," said the young man. "I'll 
 pony up for him tonight." Then turning to 
 Tom he seized his coat and started across the 
 room waltzing and repeating: 
 
 "Come, and trip it as you go, 
 On the light fantastic toe." 
 
 Poor Tom's legs twisted and bent, absolutely 
 unmanageable. But the strong arms of his 
 tormenter held him up and forced him to reel 
 about in dizzy circles to the rending of every 
 seam in his coat and to the delight of the on- 
 lookers. In three minutes, Tom was carelessly
 
 6 A FAST GAME 
 
 flung into a chair in the corner, hatless, coatless, 
 apparently friendless, and his shirt sleeveless. 
 
 He no sooner struck the chair than he at- 
 tempted to rise, protesting the while, "Lemme 
 'lone, er I'll " 
 
 "No you wont, Tom. Saw your dad down in 
 Nancy's patch a little while ago looking for you. 
 He had a jag of Green-Valley Rye on. Better 
 go tell him his wanderer is returning. Go home, 
 Tommy, to your daddy to old Ras Boland." 
 
 The speaker took the barroom's devotee by 
 the bare arm, forced him to the open door, gently 
 shoved him into the darkness and closed the 
 door. Then the young man strode toward the 
 bar, saying, "It's on me, boys. Come up and 
 take a nip of the o-be- joyful." 
 
 The heavy phalanx of loafers again fell to with 
 a will and lined up along the bar; some were 
 there for a night's carousal, others, sots and 
 chronic spongers, for what they could get out 
 of an occasional treat. Again liquors gurgled 
 and glasses clinked while all drank to the health 
 of Edwin Slocum. 
 
 It is well to pause a moment to take a look 
 at the man who acted as peacemaker in The 
 Anthracite when it was about to enter on one of 
 its familiar, free-for-all fights. The man of the 
 hour stood six foot two in his stocking feet, square 
 built and well proportioned. The left corner 
 of his large mouth slightly drooped and an un- 
 steady cunning twinkled from the brown eyes, 
 otherwise, Edwin Slocum's face was handsome. 
 His movements were graceful, except for a slight 
 swagger in his gait; his clothing was cut from 
 the latest pattern, fitted jauntily and hung
 
 THE ANTHRACITE 7 
 
 lightly, except for the hat which lopped slouchily 
 on the right side of his head; his language was 
 faultless, except its admixture with slang and 
 obscenity; the whole bearing of the man denoted 
 a cultured gentleman, percolated with alcohol 
 and impregnated with the active principles of a 
 "tough." He came from one of the best families 
 in Onaway and had received a diploma from one 
 of the best universities in the land. 
 
 Never, in any sense of the word, had he known 
 the pleasure of toil or the energizing quality of 
 responsibility. He feathered his nest with home 
 affections and parental indulgence and floated 
 at ease among the rich and poor alike. He was 
 equally at home at the elite balls and the common 
 dance, the excellent clubs and the questionable 
 gangs, the gilded saloons and the vice-teeming 
 dives; everywhere, in fact, that he cared to go he 
 was hailed with delight, simply because he adapted 
 himself to the position of everyone with whom 
 he came in contact, carried a well filled purse 
 and used its contents generously. 
 
 His generosity not only extended to the widows 
 and orphans and common people in general, but 
 just as lavishly did he treat the boys to drinks, 
 minors or otherwise, and the habitual drunkard 
 who had spent his last cent for drink when his 
 family needed all his earnings to buy the actual 
 necessities of life. The world of honor lay at 
 Edwin's feet for the taking but he had chosen 
 otherwise and had become deceitful to the ex- 
 treme and desperately conceited. It was his 
 boast and the barroom talk, that he could drink 
 more of any or all kinds of liquors than any other 
 man in the city without being visibly affected
 
 8 A FAST GAME 
 
 by it. It is not surprising, then, that the "boys" 
 rallied round the young man of twenty-four 
 when he entered the precincts of The Anthracite 
 and said "Come!" 
 
 "I say, fellows," cried Slocum, as he took from 
 his pocket a roll of bills and nonchalantly slid 
 one toward the bartender. Then he deliber- 
 ately lighted a cigar and, taking a half dozen 
 whiffs from it, threw the match into a cuspidor 
 and continued, while all waited to hear what 
 their oracle would say. "My policy is, that 
 those who have the means should divide them 
 with those who have none. I'm a socialist, I 
 guess, boys. Eh?" 
 
 At once pandemonium was let loose. Cries 
 of " 'E's the man!" "That's nice wark, old 
 man, nice wark!" "That hits me!" and "Right 
 ye be!" filled the stale atmosphere. One old 
 grizzled miner in the corner shouted above the 
 rest. "If aal the capitalis' ware like young Slo- 
 cum we'd 'ave no use fur unions!" 
 
 Ed raised his hand and quiet returned. "No 
 man has a right to accumulate wealth by keep- 
 ing his employes working at starvation wages 
 any more than a lazy lout has a right to spend 
 the hard earned wages of an honest workman. 
 You laboring men are bone workers, to be sure, 
 but 'a man's a man for a' 'that.' ' More shouts. 
 "I happen to have the cash " 
 
 "Who guve it to yez?" piped out a voice from 
 behind the screen which stood before the door. 
 A hush fell on the listeners while a slight flush 
 of the cheeks expressed inner fires of an otherwise 
 cool speaker.
 
 THE ANTHRACITE 9 
 
 "Yuse be slingin' yer dad's mon, and no thanks 
 to yez!" 
 
 With a frown, Mr. Slocum turned to the bar- 
 tender and said, "Can not a gentleman speak 
 in your house without being insulted?" 
 
 The man addressed made for the door but 
 too late to catch the bird. Some one remarked 
 that it was Ras Boland's kid, Ned, who had made 
 the uncomplimentary insinuation. The abrupt 
 interrogation had done its work, however, for 
 the speech, so effectively begun, ended in the 
 middle. The wind no longer bellied Ed Slocum's 
 oratorical sails. He lay becalmed. Turning to 
 the bartender again, he ordered him, almost 
 in a whisper, to call up the boys. While the 
 motly company circled the bar and drank their 
 several potions with many a guttural, "ahem!" 
 and many a satisfying smack, Slocum took Dick 
 Morgan by the arm and, winking slyly to a couple 
 other young men, led the way to the side door 
 through which the quartet disappeared. 
 
 In ten minutes the barroom was empty, save 
 of the vile stench of intoxicating odors, the stul- 
 tifying fumes of nicotine, and the spirits which 
 gormandize on the souls of deluded men. Dark- 
 ness of midnight and the stillness of the grave- 
 yard brooded over The Anthracite, but a bril- 
 liantly lighted and closely screened apartment 
 in it, from whence came the sound of tinkling 
 glasses, rollicking laughter, shuffling tricks and 
 spat, spat of cards, told all too true, that the 
 game of life and death had yet its devotees, 
 and that the players played on with a recklessness 
 of children at marbles. Three hours passed 
 and the nerve of three of the revelers could no
 
 10 A FAST GAME 
 
 longer stand the strain. The ridicule of their 
 leader or the fascination of the game did not 
 arouse their waning senses. 
 
 The stupid sleep of the carouser put the luck- 
 less trio to the wall. Ed saw the situation and 
 with a smirking smile phoned for a cab. It 
 was but a matter of a few minutes until he had 
 the three on their way home. The night air 
 and the jolting conveyance aroused them some- 
 what, so that their guardian experienced no 
 difficulty in getting them safely housed in their 
 several places of abode. This done he drove 
 directly to his own home. 
 
 At one of the most palatial residences of the 
 city the cab stopped. Its occupant agilely sprang 
 to the curb, strode up the steps like a giant and 
 applied his key. The heavy door responded to 
 the touch, opened and closed behind Eddie Slo- 
 cum the pride of a mother's heart and the 
 cancer of a father's who quietly and steadily 
 ascended the oaken stairway, glided to his elegant 
 room, disrobed and retired to slumber, till honest 
 laborers had completed half their day's tasks 
 and God's sun had passed the meridian.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 NAOMI 
 
 Poor Tom Boland stumbled down the half 
 dozen steps and landed against a telephone pole 
 across the sidewalk. The sudden stop not only 
 restored his equilibrium but also set his mind 
 working. He clung to the pole like an old friend 
 yet with no more tenacity than his thoughts 
 clung to the wasted years of his checkered life; 
 wasted because he had yielded to selfish appetite 
 the possible destiny of anyone who yields to it 
 even once and because he had courted the 
 favor of companions who had jilted him when 
 his money was spent and turned him into the 
 streets at the mercy of the law and the lawless. 
 
 There was no influence in his poverty stricken 
 home to help him to reform. The police station 
 was no more inviting. To sleep in the gutter 
 or in a secluded alley held out no inducement 
 to his trembling body, and as far as his maudlin 
 memory could recall, he had no friend who cared 
 a straw whether he was ever heard of again or 
 not. Only a couple of blocks further down the 
 street ran the river, sulphurous and black with 
 mine water and culm. It told no tales and covered 
 many woes. Shoving loose from the pole he 
 staggered down toward the bridge. 
 
 "Will it cover my woes?" he cogitated as he 
 11
 
 12 A FAST GAME 
 
 fetched up against the corner of a. building that 
 projected into the meandering road he was making. 
 
 "Go-od!" involuntarily slipped from his lips, 
 expelled by the abrupt impact. "Is there a 
 God who cares for a poor devil like me?" he 
 thought in a more serious vein as he ricochetted 
 on down the sidewalk. " 'F there is a is a 
 God why don't 'e hike 'round one o' his saints 
 to give a duffer like me a a boost sky i-" 
 
 This time he fetched up against an empty 
 fish stand and sprawled all over the slippery 
 boards, righted at last and leaned, hugging a 
 post of the fishmonger's shed. The avenue 
 was silent and shadowy. The lights were haloed 
 by a dense fog from the river. The night was 
 chill. 
 
 "Br-r-r-rsh," chattered the solitary pedestrian 
 while he shivered from head to foot, shaking 
 the post and rattling the warped board roof. 
 "Who said 'e was a mershiful God? 'Ere 's 
 'e 'e bridge," he muttered, letting go his hold 
 and shuffling on toward the fated structure, 
 into the iron rods of which he slouched like a 
 rag blown into a bush. "Nobody '11 mish Tom 
 Bolan' Mish-Mish 'Locum, I-I beg yer pardon." 
 In the act of backing through the meshes of the 
 railing he recognized the face of Miss Naomi 
 Slocum who grasped his shoulder and firmly 
 drew him back. 
 
 "Somebody will miss you, Mr. Boland," the 
 young woman said kindly. "I will miss you, and, 
 besides, God cares for you." 
 
 "You mish me, Mish 'Locum?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "God cares fur drunken Tom Bolan'?"
 
 NAOMI 13 
 
 "He gave His Son for just such men as you 
 are." 
 
 "Yes, I've heard about it, but but 'e can't 
 save a sot." 
 
 "He will make a sober man of you." 
 
 "I don't want 'o drink, but I can't help it." 
 
 "God sent His Son to help you." 
 
 "Sent you, his angel, t' 'elp me," answered 
 Tom who made an awkward attempt to doff his 
 hat and bow to his savior, in the mean while 
 tears streamed from his bloodshot eyes. 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Boland, if you want it that way. 
 Come with me and I will help you." 
 
 "With you, Mish 'Locum? No, Tom'll never 
 disgrace you by his company. Let mis'ble Tom 
 Bolan' go. Thanks fer yer yer int'res in me. 
 Goo-ood night, Mish "Locum!" 
 
 "No, I'm going to take you with me," and she 
 put her arm through his and firmly held him 
 as they slowly staggered together across the 
 bridge. At the other end she hailed a passing 
 cab into which she assisted her half helpless 
 companion. No cabman in the city of Onaway 
 no teamster for that matter ever passed by 
 the elegant home of Naomi Slocum without 
 breathing a prayer for her protection over him 
 as fervently as any Romanist could implore the 
 guidance of the Blessed Virgin. "Home," she 
 said to the driver, and followed Tom into the 
 cab. 
 
 Tom protested, apologized, and wept, to be 
 left alone but to no purpose. "Promise me 
 one thing, Mr. Boland, if you want to be a sober 
 man."
 
 14 A FAST GAME 
 
 "O, Mish 'Locum, yes, but I'm not fit 'o be 
 in yer comp'ny at all at all." 
 
 "You are not to say any word till I tell you 
 to, if you desire to be a sober man again. Not 
 another word, now. I will care for you and you 
 must trust me." 
 
 Poor Tom groaned and sobbed like a child. 
 The easy roll of the vehicle over the asphalt and 
 the soothing words of his friend rapidly quieted 
 him so that before the end of the journey was 
 reached, he had subsided entirely and become 
 perfectly submissive to his guardian. When 
 the cab stopped at her door, with the assistance 
 of the driver, Naomi had no difficulty in taking 
 Tom up the steps, through the door and up the 
 long stairs by which Edwin Slocum ascended 
 to his room several hours later. 
 
 The Hon. Benjamin Slocum kept no boarding 
 house nor was his home open to the public as 
 one might conclude from the various characters 
 which entered by his front door at such unsea- 
 sonable hours of the night. The only son, of 
 course, must be allowed admittance at any time, 
 and the same privilege must be granted his only 
 daughter. Naomi Slocum was known by every 
 one in the city, who had resided there for any 
 length of time, and everywhere she went, the 
 right of way was accorded her. Not a dissipated 
 workman, an oily-tongued debauchee or a rough 
 foreigner, lived in the city, who would not cease 
 his carousing, his profanity, his vulgarity or his 
 fighting at the approach of this angel of peace; 
 yes, he would even expose his life if the slightest 
 insult should be offered her in his presence. 
 
 Her control over the roughest men was magical.
 
 NAOMI 15 
 
 She received respect alike among the roughest 
 element in the slums and among the elite of the 
 aristocratic circles. Not only was she safe to 
 walk alone along the darkest and most danger- 
 ous streets of the city but her very presence in 
 the haunts of vice, like Pippa passing, sheathed 
 the gleaming stiletto, smothered the passion of 
 the sensualist and hushed the ribald shout of the 
 thoughtless. The purity of her character was 
 like sunshine, never out of place. Darkness 
 and the light were the same to her for: 
 "He that has light within his own clear breast 
 May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day: 
 But he that hides a dark soui and foul thoughts 
 Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; 
 Himself is his own dungeon." 
 Refreshed by the same dew, drenched by the 
 same rain, twisted by the same wind, cheered by 
 the same sunshine and pinched by the same 
 frosts, the gariic and the rose grow side by side, 
 rooted in the same soil; the one is not ugly to 
 look upon, its flower is never attractive, its odor 
 is offensive and, when it is broken, it gives out 
 a positive stench, and its taste is pungent and 
 acrid; the other is no more beautiful in appear- 
 ance and even thorns bristle about it, the blossom 
 attracts and cheers, its fragrance is an expansive 
 cloud of drifting delight, and its taste is mild 
 and meditative. Children of the same parents, 
 reared with equal care and advantages, exposed 
 to similar temptations and housed by the same 
 Christian home, Edwin and Naomi Slocum grew 
 up together; the one, handsome and cultured, 
 cunning and deceitful, unscrupulous and sensual 
 and pickled in alcohol, nicotine and vice; the
 
 16 A FAST GAME 
 
 other, plain and refined, frank and scrupulous, 
 modest and thoughtful and saturated with char- 
 ity, virtue and good works and clothed with 
 garments that smelled "of myrrh, and aloes 
 and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they 
 have made" this old world to rejoice. 
 
 Naomi was a study for her parents. They 
 urged her to appear more in aristocratic social 
 functions as well as to entertain others in like 
 manner but her tastes were rather in the direction 
 of helping the needy and distressed than to whirl 
 in formality and to please the "fat and flourish- 
 ing." When an allowance was received from 
 her father for additions to her wardrobe, she 
 invariably used the half or less on herself and 
 spent the remainder in her various charitable 
 enterprises. But, in spite of this peculiarity, 
 her mother had to admit that her daughter never 
 appeared out of style in her dress always a 
 model of elegance and grace. When solicited 
 to invite her girl associates home with her to 
 spend an evening or night, her parents were often 
 surprised and even disgusted to have her bring 
 home with her one of the worst characters in 
 the city not always of her own sex either, as 
 shown by Tom Boland's admittance under the 
 Slocum roof. 
 
 At first, they protested, then tolerated her 
 acts and finally congratulated themselves on 
 having such a daughter, a veritable princess of 
 nobility. Now, at the age of twenty-two, Naomi 
 is never questioned concerning her next move 
 nor is she criticised in the least for whomsoever 
 she brings into their house, at whatever time 
 of night or day, or in whatever condition or cir-
 
 NAOMI 17 
 
 cumstances. Never yet, has she taken a des- 
 perate case into her hands that she has not re- 
 formed it and accomplished the work she set 
 out to do. By her fruits she was judged. No 
 one ever questioned her motive where ever he 
 found her or with whomsoever she associated 
 for the time being. Like a low drifting cloud 
 envelops a mountain side, obscuring its rugged- 
 ness, refreshing its verdure and passing on as 
 pure and as light as ever, leaving behind a trail 
 of itself, tinted with a sunburst; so Naomi floated 
 about Onaway an angel of mercy in and out 
 the homes of the poorest miners, through the 
 wards of the hospitals and the disease tainted 
 patches, alike, visiting the saloon, the Salvation 
 Army and the cathedral, Everywhere she went 
 she left a benediction that the recipient cherished 
 more and more with the advancing years. 
 
 The place of the morning mist that hovered 
 over the Lackawanna had been taken by the 
 flying coal dust of the breakers and the curling 
 smoke from the numerous stacks and chimneys 
 in the valley; the raw edge of the night air had 
 been tucked under and folded away by the morn- 
 ing sun; and the silent streets had long resounded 
 with the rattle of wheels and the patter of hasten- 
 ing footsteps, when Naomi heard the first stir 
 in the room where she had left the besotted Tom 
 Boland. She immediately phoned to her pastor, 
 Rev. Henry C. Needman, to come. The clergy- 
 man had been expecting the call because Naomi 
 had informed him of the circumstances and re- 
 quested his assistance at a moment's notice. 
 
 Scarcely had the receiver of the telephone 
 clicked in its accustomed hook when the reverend
 
 18 A FAST GAME 
 
 gentleman entered the room. Naomi led him 
 to the door and the two went in where Tom was. 
 He sat on the edge of the bed with his face in 
 his hands. His drunken stupor had left him. 
 One could read his thoughts by the touseled 
 hair that bristled from the top of his head and 
 hung in knots through his finger tips. He did 
 not raise his head when they entered. They 
 stood a moment and gazed in pity on the forlorn 
 object before them. In the silence that ensued 
 tears trickled from under his hands and dropped 
 noiselessly to the carpet. The fidgety body 
 began rocking to and fro. A shudder passed 
 over it and an agonizing sob revealed the des- 
 perate struggle going on in a drink weakened 
 brain and a sin blighted soul. 
 
 Naomi lay her hand on his shoulder and said 
 kindly, "Mr. Boland, we are here to help you." 
 
 With a scream of horror he leaped for the door, 
 shouting, "Let me go, this is worse than hell!" 
 
 Mr. Needman blocked the way by putting his 
 arm about Tom. The frantic man clenched his 
 fist and drew back to strike his benefactor, at 
 the same time hissing through his teeth, "I say, 
 dominie, let me go or I'll knock " 
 
 Before he had finished his threatening sentence 
 Naomi grabbed his fist in both her own hands 
 and said, ' You would not strike a friend, would 
 you? Mr. Needman and myself are here to aid 
 you to be the man you would like to be. There 
 is a friend who is better than either of us and 
 who will help you to reform." 
 
 While she spoke Tom sank to the floor in a 
 quivering heap of depraved humanity. "O, Miss 
 Slocum! It's too late too late!"
 
 NAOMI 19 
 
 "Never too late, Tom," spoke up the clergyman. 
 
 "I'm lost! Let me go!" 
 
 "If Miss Slocum will do what she has already 
 done for you, what of Jesus Christ who gave 
 His life for you?" 
 
 Instantly he lifted his head and exclaimed in 
 an angry tone, "He wouldn't do half so much as 
 Miss Slocum has." 
 
 "Why, Mr. Boland, you must not talk like that. 
 Yes, He will," broke in Naomi. 
 
 "Why ain't 'e here, then?" petulantly asked 
 Tom. 
 
 "I hope he is in me. I do this for his sake 
 ''and for your sake, and not because I like to do 
 it, simply for the doing's sake; and yet, I would 
 delight to see you a happy, clean man again." 
 
 The poor fellow had quieted down and sat 
 on the floor, erect, and, with bloodshot eyes, 
 drank in every word Naomi uttered. She paused 
 a moment. His head dropped in shame. 
 
 "It's too late," he moaned. 
 
 "O, no, Mr. Boland. If you believe in Jesus 
 Christ, and Mr. Needman and myself pray for 
 you, God, our Heavenly Father, will send the 
 Holy Spirit who will take away your appetite 
 for liquors." 
 
 "He'll have to be a different dad to me than 
 old Ras Boland." 
 
 Naomi was at her wit's end to know what to 
 say at this unexpected turn of Tom's thought. 
 Her earthly father meant almost everything 
 good to her; to Tom, his father meant everything 
 bad. Mr. Needman came to her rescue. 
 
 "Your father is not what you think a father 
 ought to be, is he?"
 
 20 A FAST GAME 
 
 "Not by a not by any means." 
 
 "He has not treated you as you think he ought 
 to treat a son, has he?" 
 
 "Well, I should say, not." 
 
 "Your Heavenly Father " 
 
 "Mine?" interrupted Tom. 
 
 "Yes, yours; and He is what a father should 
 be and so loved you as to give His Son for you." 
 
 "The old man 'd give me away quick enough 
 if he c'd find any one to take me." 
 
 "He has already given you away, to the devil, 
 and you have accepted him as your father, when 
 you lead the life you have been leading." 
 
 "Guess that's no joke." 
 
 "Our Heavenly Father " 
 
 "Do you mean ours, Miss Slocum?" Tom 
 interrupted when Naomi attempted to explain 
 more fully. 
 
 "Yes, our Father. An Almighty Father gave 
 an Almighty Son to save sinful, imperfect man." 
 
 "You don't mean to class yourself with me, 
 Miss Slocum? You are way off, there." 
 
 "That is just what I mean." 
 
 Tears began streaming down his cheeks as he 
 pathetically put his question of doubt. 
 
 "But, Miss Slocum, I'm not fit to touch such 
 as you be; you're so pure and good and " 
 He could go no farther. The arrow had hit his 
 heart. 
 
 "If I am better than you, Mr. Boland, it is 
 because I follow God, our Heavenly Father, 
 while you follow the devil as your chosen father. 
 We follow the one we choose." 
 
 "I see! Oh, God, help me!" he exclaimed.
 
 NAOMI 21 
 
 "Take this fire out o' me; it's burning me to 
 death!" 
 
 "Will you promise me one thing, Mr. Boland?" 
 
 "Anything, Miss Slocum, if you can take this 
 furnace out o' me, and and the guilt and the 
 shame." 
 
 "Then you will remain in this house till the 
 appetite is gone and you are satisfied that your 
 sins are forgiven." 
 
 Never was there a more dejected object than 
 Tom Boland. A night of drunken sleep after 
 many days of strenuous debauch will make the 
 most abstemious of men an object of pity, 
 how much more a rough careless miner? His 
 clothing scarcely covered his body. The effects 
 of alcohol were passing away, leaving him ner- 
 vous and weak. He was unkempt from head 
 to foot. The absence of soap and water, and 
 the presence of tobacco and beer and dust and 
 tears, made a combination that would be an 
 excellent object lesson for all youth who desire to 
 have a rounder with the boys just for the fun of it. 
 To add to his physical and external miseries, the 
 poor fellow's moral nature was in a cyclonic whirl. 
 Between the prayers of the minister of the Gospel 
 and the faithful Naomi, he begged for a bracer 
 to steady his nerves. The afternoon wore away 
 and as evening shadows crept over the earth, 
 intellectual darkness settled over the drunkard. 
 
 "That's 'o, dominie, but don't you see the 
 little devil?" he screamed. "Hell's tapped, and 
 they're all let loose. Yi-i-i! Pull 'em off! E-e-e! 
 O, God!" 
 
 "No, Tom, there is nothing there. You are
 
 22 A FAST GAME 
 
 among friends. No one can harm you as long as 
 you remain with us." 
 
 "O-o-o-o!" he shrieked at the top of his voice. 
 "That one's long 's me crowbar and sneaking 
 round the pillar at me. Where's a sprag to fling 
 at the cuss?" feeling for something to throw. 
 He imagined he was in the mine and that serpents 
 were after him from every quarter. Delirium 
 tremens had him in its strong embrace. Neither 
 the quietus of prayer nor the Holy Spirit could 
 operate on a maddened mind. Tom Boland 
 raved and howled. 
 
 "Some more of Dick's funny business," said 
 Dr. Evan Morgan, who had been summoned and 
 now stood before the patient, watching him in 
 his demoniacal maneuvers. Naomi had not been 
 in the room for some time but, at the approach 
 of the doctor and on overhearing his remark, 
 she hastened to his side and, partly to herself 
 and partly to him, said, "I surmise that my 
 brother had as much to do with this case as your 
 brother had." 
 
 "Too true, too true," he slowly murmured, 
 while he opened his. medicine case and prepared 
 to deal out a dose of chloral hydrate. 
 
 "He needs kind treatment and indulgence 
 more than anything else. You administer this 
 first dose and explain to him that he is among 
 friends. He will heed more of your advice than 
 one would naturally think, however incoherent 
 his talk or violent his paroxysms." 
 
 "The gangway's full of 'em, I tell ye!" he 
 shouted as Naomi advanced to obey the physician, 
 though she experienced no difficulty, whatever, 
 after the first burst of passion. In a few minutes
 
 NAOMI 23 
 
 he was left in charge of a nurse and Mr. Needman, 
 and before midnight Tom slept soundly, to awake 
 in the morning much improved, though weak and 
 emaciated. His mind cleared, though its action 
 was more like that of a child than that of a man. 
 
 The emotional nature of the patient, unrestrained 
 by the exercise of sound judgment and the con- 
 trolling influences of the will, effervesced like an 
 individual who wavers between laughter and 
 weeping. Tears of joy and tears of sorrow 
 flowed together from the same source the ebb 
 and flood of the human life different tides of 
 the same sea. Gratitude and shame surged 
 through poor Tom's imbeciled manhood. He was 
 unfit for conversation, too weak to work, too 
 nervous to think and too exhausted to assist 
 himself at all a helpless wreck drifting, drifting, 
 only God knew whither. The game had reached 
 a pivotal point. 
 
 Absolute quiet and patient nursing, however, 
 repaired his spent forces so rapidly that by the 
 third day he was able to walk about the room. 
 His trials had just begun. With the return of 
 physical strength, came also the furious appetite 
 for drink; and, to make matters worse for the 
 moment, conviction of sin aroused his long dormant 
 spirit. Yet the silver lining of his storm cloud 
 was nearer than he dreamed. Had not the 
 poignant sin pled for a cure, Tom would have 
 gone directly to the saloon to quench his fiery 
 thirst; and, on the other hand, had it not been 
 for the raging thirst, he would have gone home 
 unsaved. Between the two fires, and he scarcely 
 knew which was the hotter, he waited for God 
 to open a way of escape. That way had already
 
 24 A FAST GAME 
 
 opened to the intended suicide. 
 
 At the end of five days his mental and physical 
 forces had so far recovered their normal status, 
 that, by the aid of Mr. Needman and Naomi, his 
 guides and intercessors, Tom grasped the secure 
 cable of saving faith. That evening he sat at 
 the table of Benjamin Slocum, a man "clothed 
 and in his right mind." 
 
 At the opposite side of the table sat Ed Slocum, 
 gracious, genial, genteel. No one questioned 
 Tom's right at the family board, for he was there 
 as Naomi's guest and as such he was treated by 
 the other members of the household. His presence 
 in the house had been known since the morning 
 of his first day there. He had occupied one of 
 the many rooms in the mansion and had received 
 every attention needful for his speedy recovery. 
 Although Naomi was the only member ,of the 
 family, who directed the care of the patient and 
 ordered the necessary means for his comfort, 
 the parents had a sympathetic interest in his 
 ultimate reformation; the son had none whatever. 
 
 Of the relation existing between the two young 
 men, no one knew so well as they themselves. 
 Naomi surmised, her father had his misgivings, 
 and the mother would not have believed had 
 she been told the whole truth concerning them. 
 How often we dine with Dr. Jekyll and never once 
 dream that Mr. Hyde is present. It is a merciful 
 providence that forbids teacups to tell whose 
 lips touch their rims. To the casual eye, the 
 circle beneath the dining-room electrolier em- 
 bodied a picture of exhilarating refreshment 
 and the intellectual harmony of kindred spirits. 
 
 But what of the true picture as seen by the eye
 
 NAOMI 25 
 
 "that neither slumbers nor sleeps?" Now we 
 know in part but there will come a day when we 
 shall not only know as we are known but we shall 
 be known as we are. The divine X-ray will reveal 
 all the panoramic misunderstandings and deceits 
 which are behind the screen of life, flood with 
 light the secrecies of the human heart, and pene- 
 trate the far reaching vistas of human conscious- 
 ness. Our bump of curiosity will be fully sat- 
 isfied, for we shall become cognizant of every- 
 body else's business; the phrenological protuber- 
 ance of secretiveness will pass to the state of 
 annihilation, for all the precious scraps of knowl- 
 edge and diminutive deeds which we have so 
 deftly covered from mortal vision, will become 
 the subject of public gossip unless, perchance, we 
 are so fortunate as to reach that felicitous realm 
 where gossips never come. 
 
 "I say, Puss, I'm going down to the Salvation 
 Army barracks with you tonight," soberly sand- 
 wiched in Ed, while he sipped his tea and squinted 
 at the vapor that curled from its surface. "You 
 will have no objections to spending an hour 
 there with us, will you, Tom?" he went on, ad- 
 dressing himself to the only guest at the table. 
 The speaker knew from past experiences and 
 moral certainties that his sister intended to take 
 Tom to that place of holy resort though she had 
 not so much as intimated such a thing to him. 
 
 "Not in the least," replied Tom, blushing and 
 shifting awkwardly on his chair. 
 
 "We will be glad to have you accompany us," 
 pleasantly answered Naomi. She had often in- 
 vited her brother to go with her but he had as 
 often refused. That he should now offer his
 
 26 A FAST GAME 
 
 companionship surprised her, to say the least; 
 yet, without displaying the slightest astonishment, 
 she had replied to him in her ever sweet constancy. 
 No one knew her brother better than she, and, 
 even then, she knew not whether he was in jest 
 or in earnest. 
 
 The hour came, however, and the three set 
 out together for the place of worship. Naomi 
 felt perfectly at ease in the plain surroundings, 
 so also did her brother, except that he took no 
 active part in the service, though he listened in- 
 tently and behaved reverently. Not so with Tom. 
 He had seldom, if ever, been in a place of worship 
 before. His other brothers had been trained, to 
 a limited extent, in the forms of the Roman 
 Catholic church, but he had been too obdurate 
 and too fond of his immoral practices to receive 
 even that much spiritual discipline. He twisted 
 restlessly and squirmed in his pew.as if contorted 
 by pain. So persistent and active was he in 
 his physical antics that Ed once overstepped the 
 bounds of propriety, and, in an opportune moment, 
 whispered in his ear, "Tom, if you don't stop your 
 corkscrewing around so, the captain will be down 
 here after you; he'll think you have a jag on." 
 
 The warning passed unheeded, in fact, unheard. 
 Tom's ears heard things which stirred him in 
 other than physical directions. His soul feasted 
 on the well creamed milk of the Gospel, heard 
 spiritual strains of ravishing music and experienced 
 ecstatic emotions beyond the utterance of human 
 tongue, all of which, fell on the cultured sensi- 
 bilities of Ed Slocum, un tasted, unheard and 
 unfelt. As the interest increased and the personal 
 testimonies dropped from lips which had been
 
 NAOMI 27 
 
 fired by the divine coal, Tom chaffed like a leashed 
 lion. Involuntarily he clenched his hands and 
 stiffened his muscles, uttering audible grunts of 
 acquiescence and approval, whenever his senti- 
 ments were expressed by someone else. But 
 mere acquiescence would never satisfy Tom's 
 excessive nature. He, too, had a story to tell. 
 
 Though unaccustomed to speak in public, ex- 
 cept in the barroom, and then under the influence 
 of poor whiskey and sour beer, he could keep his 
 silence no longer, and, springing to his feet, 
 under the influence of the new wine of the Gospel, 
 broke out with, "Fellow citizens, you all know 
 Tom Boland. Well, he's dead; died last night at 
 sunset and I hope the devil will give 'im a good 
 funeral for he's worked for him twenty-three 
 years and never lost a day. But a baby was 
 born to take 'is place. I am that baby or, as 
 you might say, child. I don't know anything 
 about Bible things, but I'm going to learn 'em 
 like a kid. My friends tell me that I'm saved. 
 I don't know about that, but I'm dead sure I'm 
 another chap. If that be what it is to be saved, 
 it's a mighty good thing and I'm going to freeze 
 on to it forever. Never fear Tom Boland any 
 more for the devil will look out for 'is chumps, 
 but the kid, what was left in his place, wants 
 your nursing and some day, when he's grown 
 big enough, come around to the christening, so 
 help me God." 
 
 By the time Tom finished his testimony, the 
 congregation grew uproarious with amens and 
 halleluiahs, while one old saint, in a lusty voice, 
 started in singing:
 
 28 A FAST GAME 
 
 "Halleluiah! 'tis done; I believe on the Son, 
 I am saved by the blood of the Crucified One." 
 On the steps of the barracks Tom said "Good- 
 night," to his friends. Ed, however, volunteered 
 to accompany him home, much to Naomi's sur- 
 prise and even her suspicion. Her confidence in 
 Tom's intentions to keep out of the way of tempta- 
 tion exceeded her faith in her brother's motives 
 in his offer to walk home with Tom. But what 
 could she do or say? She had too much common 
 sense to even attempt to thwart her brother's 
 plan, especially when it appeared to be the general 
 exercise of friendship. Quietly favoring the idea 
 with a pleasant, "That will be nice," she bade 
 them good-night, breathed a prayer for each and 
 hurried off toward home alone. 
 
 No sooner were the boys away from her presence 
 than Ed drew a couple of cigars from his pocket 
 and fraternally held them out to Tom, saying 
 in his warmest vein and in the old time congenial 
 manner, "Have one, Tom?" 
 
 In the old time way and from the force of habit, 
 Tom took the proffered fuel. Biting off the end 
 of the cigar and holding it between his teeth 
 he reached into his vest pocket to get a match. 
 There was no match there. His changed position 
 dawned upon him. The debt of gratitude which 
 he owed to Naomi for the very clothes he wore, 
 as well as for the existing pleasure in his own 
 consciousness, appeared before him like a sum 
 impossible to be paid, and yet, he felt that he 
 must, at least, make the attempt to pay it. The 
 taste aroused the old appetite, but he firmly took 
 the tobacco from his mouth and earnestly replied 
 to Ed, who then held out a match to his compan-
 
 NAOMI 29 
 
 ion, "Why, Ed, I'm not going to smoke any more." 
 "That so?" easily answered Ed as he threw 
 away the half burnt match and puffed several 
 clouds of smoke which drifted gently around 
 Tom's face. "Well, I'm sorry. You'll miss many 
 a happy hour w r ith the boys. You know we all 
 burn the weed." 
 
 "Yes, that's so, too; never thought of it before." 
 By this time they had reached The Anthracite. 
 "You will surely come in and take something 
 with me," indifferently suggested the tempter. 
 The ease of expression and the cunning insinua- 
 tion stabbed Tom like a dagger. Then, too, Ed 
 was a voluntary companion accompanying him 
 home. Tom had received many treats from him 
 already, and, for the past week, he had had every 
 kindness from his family. Ought he not to drink 
 with Ed as a matter of courtesy if nothing more? 
 He was on the point of yielding when he attempted 
 to reconcile the character and generosity of his 
 companion with that of Naomi's, in fact, the 
 whole influence of her home. Would it be the 
 square thing for him to place himself in the danger- 
 ous position from which he had so recently been 
 rescued? Who was the true benefactor, the one 
 who generously led him into temptation or the 
 one who so unselfishly led him away from it, yes, 
 saved him from self-destruction? But more than 
 that, even, the generosity of the one had made 
 the other necessary, while, if Ed and his influences 
 had left him alone, there would have been no need 
 of the expense and anxiety he had been to Naomi 
 and her parents. 
 
 "These two influences are opposites; at least, 
 I cannot see them in any other light," he cogitated
 
 30 A FAST GAME 
 
 as he stood at the saloon door. While these 
 thoughts flew through his inflammable brain the 
 two, arm in arm, had ascended the very steps 
 which, only a week before, Tom had descended, 
 almost helpless, alone and friendless, pushed out 
 by the same hand which now led him in. Till 
 then Tom had not spoken. Ed had already 
 pushed the saloon door open from which the 
 barroom fumes struck Tom full in the face like a 
 hot blast from hell. All the old thirst returned, 
 augmented a hundred fold, and fought like a 
 lioness on an enemy that would steal away her 
 young. Another crisis had come. Would he 
 yield or would he conquer? Would he win for 
 satisfaction or lose the game? 
 
 "I can't, Ed," he meekly replied. "You'll use 
 me just the same as you did the last time we 
 were in there together." 
 
 "Well, Tom, I would be either a man or a 
 granny. Take your choice. It is immaterial to 
 me." 
 
 "O-o!" groaned Tom as the barroom odors filled 
 his lungs. "If it's come to this, granny and 
 God or man and the devil, I'll be a granny with 
 God. I'm going to cut it out." 
 
 Tom was already on the sidewalk inflating his 
 lungs with heaven's elixir. Ed, still holding open 
 the door, calmly called down to his recent com- 
 panion, "Guess I'll go no farther with you this 
 time. Good-night!" 
 
 "Good-night!" answered Tom as he hurried 
 away up the street while the saloon door closed 
 behind his generous friend.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BLACK DIAMOND COMPANY 
 
 "Good-morning, Mr. Slocum!" 
 
 "Good-morning, Ransom! Did you bring over 
 the plans with you?" 
 
 "Yes, sir! 'Ere they be." The speaker briskly 
 stepped forward and spread out a roll of blue 
 prints on the desk before Mr. Henry Slocum, the 
 president of The Black Diamond Company. The 
 plans in question were for a new breaker to be 
 erected for that company. 
 
 "Do the prints seem to be what we want?" 
 
 "Yes, sir, Mr. Slocum, the harchitect 'as gone 
 according to my hinstructions. They be hall 
 right." 
 
 "Very well, then; that job is off our hands. 
 When father and Ben come in we will be ready to 
 make arrangements to advertise for bids." 
 
 "Then your father 's hable to be out hagain, 
 his 'e?" A scowl passed over the face of the 
 speaker though no trace of it could be heard in 
 the tone of his voice. "There's one thing hi'd 
 like to speak habout, while we're halone, hif 
 you 'ave no hobjections, Mr. Slocum." 
 
 '"Certainly. You are at liberty to say any- 
 thing you please." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Slocum. Hit concerns the 
 letting of the contract. You know my son, John, 
 
 31
 
 32 A FAST GAME 
 
 hof course; hand you know 'im to be 'andy with 
 men has well as with mechanics. 'Is hexperi- 
 ence as houtside foreman han' the many repairs 
 made on the hold breaker, hamply qualifies 'im 
 to build a new breaker. Why not let 'im 'ave 
 the contract without the hexpense hand delay of 
 hadvertising? 'E can do the work cheaper than 
 hanyone else, hand besides, you know 'e doos 'is 
 work well. 'E don't want to force 'imself on you 
 hin the least. 'E's modest hand would not men- 
 tion this matter to you but 'e'd happreciate the 
 honor has well as the responsibility conferred 
 hon 'im." 
 
 John Ransom, Sr., had been mine superintendent 
 for The Black Diamond Company ever since its 
 incorporation. There was nothing in coal mine 
 or the history of mines, scarcely, that was not 
 familiar to him. He had spent his early life in 
 the mines of Cornwall, England. When oppor- 
 tunities of farther advancement and increased 
 wages offered in America, to America he came, 
 shifted about for a few months and finally settled 
 down with the people of Onaway. His ambition 
 and knowledge soon attracted the attention of 
 his present employers who offered him an ad- 
 vanced position and an increase in wages. He 
 accepted, of course. In all matters relative to the 
 mines he was called into consultation, and, as 
 might be expected, his opinions had weight with 
 the company. This explains his presence in the 
 office on this particular morning mentioned at the 
 opening of this chapter. 
 
 "Why, Ransom, I have no objection to the 
 scheme. We'll bring the matter up before the 
 other members of the firm."
 
 THE BLACK DIAMOND COMPANY 33 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Slocum. That's hall can be 
 hexpected. But you'll press 'is claim has much 
 as possible for a man 'olding the position you 
 'old? Being you hare president hof the company 
 your word will 'ave great weight. You halways 
 'ave been a man of hinfluence, heven before you 
 was president of the company." 
 
 "We'll look into the matter when father comes," 
 indifferently answered Henry Slocum as he con- 
 tinued his writing. 
 
 Ransom fidgeted about the room as if dis- 
 satisfied with the answer he had received. Glanc- 
 ing out of the window he saw the Slocum auto- 
 mobile approaching, occupied by Hiram Slocum 
 and his son, Benjamin. He realized the fact that, 
 if he received a more definite promise from the 
 older son, he had but a moment to do it. Step- 
 ping up a little closer to the desk he urged his 
 son's claim again. 
 
 "Then you hare willing to 'ave my son, John, 
 take the contract? The reason hi be so hanxious 
 about the matter his that your father may hop- 
 pose me, my son, hi mean. 'E's not your father's 
 pet by hany means; for what reason, hi know 
 not. Your persuasion, no doubt, will keep your 
 father's prejudices from hinjuring the business." 
 
 "I don't think father has prejudices and especi- 
 ally any that will hurt the business of the firm or 
 any honest man, for that matter," answered Mr. 
 Slocum as if a trifle irritated by the insinuation 
 of his employe. 
 
 "Hi didn't mean that, sir, that his, just that 
 way. Your fath " 
 
 The elevator had stopped and the office door 
 opened. The word was cut in two by the entrance
 
 34 A FAST GAME 
 
 of Benjamin who walked directly through the 
 waiting-room, into the private office beyond the 
 second room. The office of The Black Diamond 
 Company comprised a suite of three rooms on the 
 fourth floor of the Exchange building. Each 
 apartment had an entrance opening to the corri- 
 dor;. only the door of the largest room, however, 
 allowed admission to the general public. In that 
 room a desk, a center table and a half dozen 
 chairs comprised the furniture; the central roomj 
 or general office, contained two desks, a high, 
 double combination table and desk, a typewriter 
 and its necessary equipment; while the private 
 room was more of a library than anything else. 
 The furnishing throughout was rich, plain, com- 
 plete. 
 
 Mr. Ransom stood in the archway between the 
 first two rooms when Benjamin entered. While 
 he crossed the floor the firm pounding of a cane 
 on the marble corridor sounded nearer and 
 nearer and ended in a muffled thump thump 
 on the heavy rugs in the office. An alert, six 
 foot figure sprightly walked into the room. The 
 shoulders were slightly bent and the legs slightly 
 bowed, just enough to suggest a well braced 
 physique. The hands were large and bony and 
 the sharp face shone like a solitary cloud at sunset. 
 The eyes twinkled and overflowed with good 
 nature and penetration so that one was often 
 in doubt as to whether the penetration meant a 
 Krag-Jorgensen bullet to take life, or an antiseptic 
 probe to save life. A silk tile covered a shock of 
 long, snow-white hair. A fringe of whiskers of 
 the same color protected the throat from ear to 
 ear.
 
 THE BLACK DIAMOND COMPANY 35 
 
 The figure stood dressed in a suit of black a 
 prince Albert, unbuttoned and slightly sagging 
 forward, the vest half unbuttoned from the top 
 and the pantaloons, an inch too long, forming 
 conventional creases over the instep of flat, sub- 
 stantial feet that roamed at large in a pair of 
 number ten, common-sense shoes. 
 
 Such was the appearance of Hiram Slocum 
 Old Uncle Hi Slocum as the people affectionately 
 called him an octogenarian Yankee of the first 
 water, the senior member of The Black Diamond 
 Company. The other members of the firm were 
 his two sons; Henry, the president and older son; 
 and Benjamin whom the father loved none the 
 less for being married. This family trio owned 
 and operated one of the largest independent 
 anthracite mines in the Lackawanna valley. 
 "The boys," as uncle Hiram called his sons, 
 figured in the board-of-trade circle as among the 
 strongest and most honorable business men in 
 Onaway. 
 
 Yet, with all their mental acumen and com- 
 mercial independence, they never took an im- 
 portant step without first consulting the father 
 whose decision always went without question. 
 Not that the father ever tyrannized or ruled 
 arbitrarily for he was no autocrat. There is no 
 question but that the old gentleman always 
 had his own way. However, he made that way 
 so plausible and bright with kindness and common 
 sense sagacity that every conscientious individual 
 gladly followed the patriarch's leadership; but 
 woe to the pretender who attempted to practice 
 any craftiness on him, or to the incipient wise 
 one who volunteered to instruct him in religious,
 
 36 A FAST GAME 
 
 ethical or commercial lore! "It were better 
 for that man that he had not been born." 
 
 For the last decade Hiram Slocum had taken 
 no responsibility in the active operations of the 
 company, merely a silent partner, yet that 
 silence furnished the dynamics to run the indus- 
 trial interests of the trio. He came to the office 
 as often as he pleased, at any time he pleased, 
 did what he pleased, remained as long as he 
 pleased, and, when gone, stayed away as long as 
 he pleased. He had no business hours and held 
 no business relations that appeared in the least 
 onerous to him. Regularity marked his physical 
 exercise and habits though the responsibility and 
 routine duties of the business in general he shifted 
 on to the broad intellectual shoulders of his sons. 
 Yet, withal, their burdens weighed so lightly that 
 no jar or friction ever retarded the corporate 
 machinery; the whole system glided along noise- 
 lessly, lubricated by the sweet spirit and judicious 
 touch of the master mind. 
 
 The sons held their father in unaffected venera- 
 tion; on the other hand, the father's relation to 
 the sons embellished a treatment of dignified 
 simplicity and paternal affection. These were 
 the composite factors of The Black Diamond 
 Company. The concrete influence of the com- 
 pany on the commercial world was that of sterling 
 integrity and "a square deal" to every customer. 
 
 At the typewriter near one of the windows sat 
 Evaline Morgan blooming sixteen the stenog- 
 rapher of the firm, a girl who heard everything 
 intended for her ears and recorded the same 
 neatly and accurately, and who was deaf to per- 
 sonal concerns a veritable typewriter, a machine
 
 THE BLACK DIAMOND COMPANY 37 
 
 which gossiped no facts, much less, the stock in 
 trade of the ordinary tattler. Eva was the pet 
 of the Morgan family because she happened to be 
 the youngest; that is, Thomas, her twin brother, 
 claimed seniority and Eva never secured the 
 evidence to prove a negation to his claim. 
 
 "Good-mornin', John! Fine monrin'?" with a 
 full tone on the final in. 
 
 "Good-morning, Huncle 'Iram. Yes, sir; hit's 
 a fine day. Hi'm glad to see you hout again." 
 
 "Yes, haf to dig out on fine days, you know, 
 like a woodchuck in March," cheerfully answered 
 the old gentleman as he stood his cane in the 
 corner. 
 
 "Let me take your overcoat, father," said 
 Benajmin, coming from the private office and 
 assisting his father to remove the garment named. 
 "Thought I'd come down and see that you 
 boys didn't play any o' yer shennannigans. We're 
 in snucks, ye know, and I haf to look after things a 
 leetle'" 
 
 Now of the three boys alluded to, Benjamin 
 was the youngest and he past his forty-seventh 
 year; the other two had passed the half century 
 line. 
 
 Up to this time his remarks had been directed 
 to John Ransom, Sr., whom he had not seen for 
 several days. He had conversed with Henry at 
 the breakfast table, for the bachelor son made his 
 home with his father; he had chatted with his 
 younger son on their way down to the office. The 
 old man now walked over to his accustomed chair, 
 smiling at the youthful typewriter and saying, 
 "Good-mornin', Evaline. You look as pink 's a 
 Maiden Blush apple."
 
 38 A FAST GAME 
 
 The girl visibly reddened with pleasure and 
 answered his kind morning saiutation in evident 
 reverence and delight. She loved the grand old 
 millionaire because he never passed her without 
 a respectful greeting. 
 
 The blue prints were examined thoroughly; 
 the elevations, excavations, masonry, timbering, 
 carpentering, power and machinery all taken 
 into careful consideration. The breaker would 
 receive the coal from a double shaft three hundred 
 feet away, for the law requires all new breakers 
 to be constructed not less than two hundred feet 
 from the shaft, and not less than one hundred 
 feet from the nest of boilers which is used to 
 generate the steam for the plant. Formerly, one 
 would as often find breakers built directly over 
 the shaft as away from them; only a few of the 
 old style yet remain. The separation of the two 
 is easily understood to be a safety in case of fire, 
 either in the mine or in the breaker. 
 
 The company and its superintendent soon 
 agreed that the plans and specifications were 
 what they desired, after which the matter of 
 advertising for bids came up. Henry laid the case 
 of John Ransom, Jr., before his father and brother. 
 They raised no objection and the outside foreman 
 was immediately summoned by phone to come 
 to the office. The gentleman soon appeared and 
 the consultation began. 
 
 "Yes, sir!" said John Ransom, Jr., "I desire to 
 express my appreciation and gratitude for your 
 personal consideration and unanimous request 
 that I meet with you for the purpose of consulting 
 concerning a the feasibility of constructing a 
 breaker according to the architectural drawings
 
 THE BLACK DIAMOND COMPANY 39 
 
 before you a and I to give my personal super- 
 vision to the construction of the same, and, I 
 may add, that I hope an entirely satisfactory 
 agreement may be consummated between us 
 whereby mutual benefit shall be attained; econ- 
 omy and facility to be your proper remuneration, 
 and an equitable compensation to be rendered 
 for my services." 
 
 "O, I see!" said Uncle Hiram, "you want the 
 job an' a fair price fur doin' it?" 
 
 "A yes, sir, Mr. Slocum," turning to the 
 venerable questioner. "Pardon me, if I am am- 
 biguous in my expression a and construct my 
 statements without perfect perspicuity. My in- 
 tentions are to make myself easily comprehended." 
 
 "I understand that you have figured on the 
 plans," put in Benjamin. "What is your bid?" 
 
 "Yes, sir, I carefully computed all the necessary 
 expense and labor, everything furnished and per- 
 formed in first-class condition, as prescribed in 
 the detailed specifications, and I have succeeded 
 in reducing my proposal to the minimum estima- 
 tion of one hundred and fifteen thousand, four 
 hundred and fifty-three dollars." 
 
 "Can't ye throw off the three dollars?" suggested 
 the senior member of the firm. 
 
 "It would be impossible, Mr. Slocum, and retain 
 a fair and equitable consideration for my personal 
 promotion and and supervision component on 
 so arduous duty and and obligation as well as 
 the considerable investment of one in so humble 
 circumstances as I " 
 
 "It's all hunky, Johnnie. I jest thought the three 
 dollars might come handy to me fur change." 
 
 "After due consideration, I will waive the three
 
 40 A FAST GAME 
 
 dollars and reduce the entire amount to the even 
 fifty. I have thoroughly and and accurately 
 determined each minute and and composite " 
 
 "You're the chap, Jonnie, but I think the job a 
 leetle more'n you ken muckle." 
 
 Henry knew what his father meant and half 
 paralyzed by the audacity of the bidder, dismissed 
 the father and son with the assurance that the 
 proposal would receive their immediate attention. 
 
 "Very well, Mr. Slocum, thank you! Of course 
 you understand that this bid cannot be considered 
 of long duration on account of the almost continu- 
 ous advance of all constructive materials, both 
 in wood and metals. Good-day, gentlemen!" 
 
 The old man chuckled to himself when the door 
 closed behind the loquacious contractor. "Well, 
 boys, I pity the chap," he said, "but it wont help 
 'im to give 'im the contract, an' I'm sure I'd like 
 to have a leetle chink left after the contractor 's 
 paid. Mebby he ain't a scalawag but he's a 
 mighty poor carculator. A leetle pinch o' common 
 sense would trim 'im up wonderfully. Guess 
 about ninety thousand would cover the cost, 
 wouldn't it, Ben?" 
 
 "Just about, I should say, father," answered 
 Ben as he began dictating an advertisement. 
 "The bids will be coming in, in less than a week, 
 and in the meanwhile, we may look over the 
 specifications more closely and arrive at a more 
 definite aggregate of the cost. Of course, we 
 don't mind a contractor making a good thing out 
 of it but we do mind being bored to death by a 
 platitudinarian. ' ' 
 
 "That's 'o, boys; we'll nab the man ruther than 
 the price he puts on the contract. Be sure, Eva,
 
 THE BLACK DIAMOND COMPANY 41 
 
 an' don't git that down," the old gentleman play- 
 fully remarked to the girl as he arose and started 
 across the room for his overcoat. "Guess I'll 
 trudge up to the house, Henry, to whet up an 
 appetite fur dinner." 
 
 The elder son was at the side of the old man 
 with his overcoat, giving him every attention 
 possible. Adjusting the garment to the powerful 
 ftame, Henry walked along and chatted with his 
 father until they had descended in the elevator 
 and the senior was safely on his way up the street. 
 
 Ten days later the second meeting of the mem- 
 bers of the company was held, this time, to let 
 the contract for the construction of the Diamond 
 breaker. The new breaker meant more than 
 double their output of coal for they intended to 
 keep the old breaker running as well as the new. 
 Tom Boland had been called in this time and 
 within ten minutes after his arrival he received 
 the contract to construct the building for the 
 sum of ninety -five thousand dollars. Other bids 
 had been less but the oldest member of the firm 
 had nabbed his man to the complete satisfaction 
 of the younger members. 
 
 "I only wish he had put on a few more thou- 
 sand," feelingly remarked Uncle Hiram, when 
 the door closed behind the fortunate contractor. 
 "Ther's a good 'eal in 'im sense 'e sobered up. 
 Wish I had a grandson like " The old man 
 caught himself but too late. A tear stole down 
 the wrinkled face. His hand trembled as he 
 put his handkerchief to his nose. Realizing that 
 he had made a stinging insinuation, he said in 
 almost a whisper and a tone full of pathos, "It's 
 not your fault, Bennie. It may be mine fur I
 
 42 A FAST GAME 
 
 once had an appetite fur the stuff. It's too bad! 
 Too bad! It's an awful thing! It's the very old 
 scratch, himself!" 
 
 Uncle Hiram had not noticed the burning flush 
 in Henry's cheek, his sudden attack of coughing 
 and disappearance into the private office. The 
 game was waxing wonderfully pathetic and inter- 
 esting to the three players.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 SUMMER TIME 
 
 Onaway blistered under a midsummer sun. 
 Clouds of coal dust drifted away from the many 
 breakers within which the breaker boys laughed 
 and picked slate and swore and fought and in- 
 haled the stifling air and sweltered in the humid 
 heat. Other clouds rose from the air pipes through 
 which the refuse culm was forced out on to the 
 dumps miniature mountains that disfigured the 
 hillsides with blackened blotches; and still others 
 flew wildly through the streets and alleys and 
 suburban patches, driven by the wind into many 
 a line of clothes fresh from the washtub, into 
 every window and shutter and door where the"y 
 coated the furniture, the carpets, the drygoods 
 and groceries and hardware and fruits and counters 
 and fixtures with a veneering of downy motes, 
 spreading their charitable folds over the drooping 
 grass by the hissing curbing as if to shut off some 
 of the sun's furnace like rays, granulating the 
 figs and dates and oranges and bananas and 
 popcorn and peanuts and candies at the fruit 
 stands; while above the city hung the aggrega- 
 tion of a thousand smokestacks, a great sleeping 
 monster writhing over its victim, smothering out 
 the sunlight and pressing the humidity until the 
 
 43
 
 44 A FAST GAME 
 
 city limits became the confines of a suffocating 
 incubator, a hatchery of ennui and dissipation 
 and disease and death. Yes, Onaway lolled, lay 
 scorching and looking heavenward for a sign of 
 rain, saw only its own sinuous pall through which 
 sifted the fiery glitter of the sun while the indus- 
 trial game played merrily on. 
 
 Long before the sun had risen, the heavy rumble 
 of the beer wagons told the tired denizens that 
 the eye that never slumbers nor sleeps had an 
 opponent equally as watchful. In the aristo- 
 cratic portions of the city many homes were 
 closed and the occupants gone to the country or 
 the seashore; in homes that represented less 
 wealth, fewer shutters were closed and curtains 
 drawn; in the mining and foreign sections, in the 
 long rows of company houses, sat many a poor 
 mother holding her babe to her breast, longing 
 for rest and quiet, and many another who scolded 
 or fretted or hurried their kitchen work or slept 
 off the effects of beer drank in the previous night's 
 revel. 
 
 In these patches a cluster of houses owned 
 by a company and rented to its employees, named 
 in honor of some notorious character, such as 
 Maffit's patch, Sweitzer's patch or Bolinski's 
 patch squalor and misery abounded, and here, 
 too often, schemes of robbery and even murder 
 were planned and sometimes executed. 
 
 Most of these dwellings snuggled in front of a 
 little garden which was fenced in by split railroad 
 ties for pickets, and faced a paveless and walkless 
 street. The thoroughfare was mottled by ragged 
 children, quacking ducks and honking geese, 
 scratching hens and grunting pigs, barking dogs
 
 SUMMER TIME 45 
 
 and bleating goats. But not everything and 
 everybody in these patches were bad. Even 
 if a member of the Black Hand society resided 
 here, his next door neighbor might be a devout 
 Christian. Like nearly every place on the globe, 
 the good and the bad dwell together. 
 
 "And so you leave the city tomorrow, do you, 
 Miss Slocum?" said Mrs. Boland to Naomi who 
 arose to take her leave. The young lady was on 
 one of her characteristic visiting tours before 
 leaving the city for the summer home of the Slo- 
 cums. The sun burned low in the west, peeping 
 over the mountains like the red eye of a monster. 
 When the girl crossed the room she slipped a five 
 dollar note into Mrs. Boland's hand. Contrary 
 to her expectation the bill was refused with a 
 smile, a thank you and the remark, "No more of 
 this, Miss Slocum. My man is as bad as ever, but 
 since Thomas reformed I have not lacked he 
 necessaries of life, and once in a while I think 
 that a few of the comforts come my way. I can't 
 tell how much I owe you for helping my son to 
 become a man. He's an awful good boy, Tommy 
 is, and has the making of a man in him and 
 oh, Miss Slocum, if you only knew!" 
 
 The woman hid her face in her apron and wept 
 like a baby. Naomi put her arms around the 
 sorrowing one and tried to comfort her but nothing 
 seemed to console her in the least. In a paroxysm 
 of grief Mrs. Boland broke out again. 
 
 "You have done so much for Thomas! I hope 
 the good God will reward you in the next world 
 if he don't do it here. Oh, if you only knew!" 
 
 While she spoke a tumult drifted up the street 
 in the form of a cloud of dust which hovered
 
 46 A FAST GAME 
 
 over a score of boys and dogs, circling and howling 
 and yelling around an intoxicated individual 
 in men's clothing, that individual lunging from 
 one side of the road to the other, now after a boy 
 who had pulled his clothing or yelled at him, 
 and now after a dog that had tried its teeth on 
 his pantaloons; the unsteady fellow all the time 
 cursing at the top of his voice and gesticulating, 
 first with one fist and then with the other. 
 
 "Here comes old Ras Bolan,' full's a goat, 
 ag'in!" were the first words which caught the ear 
 of Naomi. 
 
 "Sic 'im Tige!" yelled one. 
 
 Another youth shouldered a stick, pretend- 
 ing it to be a gun, and, marching just out of 
 reach of the enraged man, sang out, "Clear the 
 track! Chief p'lice is comin'! Skin out the 
 way yuse kids! skin " The words suddenly 
 ceased as the youngster dodged a right hand 
 swing from the tormented man. 
 
 "Shy out a bit, Ted!" shouted another who had 
 seen the impending danger. But Ted was gone 
 long before the hand could reach him. The stroke, 
 however, overbalanced Boland who fetched up 
 in a heap in the middle of the street. He had 
 stumbled over an empty powder can which had 
 been slid between his wobbling legs. 
 
 "Excuse me, Mr. Rastus," soberly shouted 
 Ted above the din of laughter and screams of 
 delight. "Jest come 'ere an' I'll pick yuse up!" 
 
 Among the hilarious participants in this scamp- 
 ering group trotted a Billy goat the pet of the 
 patch, a trained wariorr, a disciplined guard, a 
 veritable battering ram of the olden type. No 
 sooner did the inebriate sprawl in the dust than
 
 SUMMER TIME 47 
 
 he attempted to rise. Sitting flat in the middle 
 of the road he began hurling stones at his tor- 
 mentors. This defensive maneuver widened the 
 circle between him and his assialants, increased 
 the distance to be traveled by the missiles and 
 multiplied a thousand fold the ribald shouts, 
 the exquisite delight and keen satisfaction of the 
 dancing and dodging imps. But stones grew 
 scarce and other tactics had to be resorted to. 
 Boland rose on all fours and was about to straighten 
 himself to a standing position when the presence of 
 the goat in the midst of ther ing, suggested a happy 
 thought to one of the urchins. 
 
 "Take 'im, Billy!" he shouted. The obedient 
 soldier needed no second command. Then came 
 the patter of cloven hoofs, and a streak of the 
 hollow-horned ruminant of the genus capra shot 
 across the intervening opening. A terrific impact 
 followed and then frequent sickening thuds. An 
 occasional "Holy Mither, take " answered by 
 a liquid gutteural "ba-ah;" another, "I'm kilted, 
 sur ah!" and another "ba-ah," came from 
 within the dust cloud of war, while without, 
 pandemonium had been unroofed, its walls leveled 
 and every member of that demoniacal council 
 had scaled the ramparts and leaped triumphantly 
 into the fourteenth heaven of santanic ecstacy. 
 
 In as much as every battle has an end, both 
 to the vanquisher and to the vanquished, so also 
 did the fierce combat in Maffit's patch have a 
 finish, both to the butted and to the rebutted. 
 The early evening breath gently bore the dust 
 mist down the street and revealed the results 
 of the contest; a quivering mass of human flesh 
 in the gutter before Erastus Boland' s door, the
 
 48 A FAST GAME 
 
 conquered; a goat, a dozen yards away, com- 
 placently chewing the label off an empty tomato 
 can, the conquerer; and the camp followers, a 
 promiscuous file of humanity of the genus, boy, 
 marching and singing with tremendous gusto, 
 harmoniously and otherwise, 
 "They give 'im up fur gone, 
 'E's lyin' in the lane, 
 And ev'rybody knows, 
 The old man's drunk again. Tiger! Whoo-oo-oop!" 
 
 Naomi knelt at the head of the helpless object 
 in the gutter. The campfollowers simply evap- 
 orated. Absolute silence reigned except from 
 a distant home where a weary mother crooned 
 over a fretful child, and from the droning hum 
 of a mine fan near the Northwest breaker. 
 
 "Lemme be er Oi'll guve yez " the sentence 
 died on his lips for he had caught sight of Naomi's 
 face. 
 
 "May I assist you into the house?" she kindly 
 inquired. 
 
 "Furguve me, Miss. Oi'm not fitten to ba 
 teched by the likes o' yez," the man answered, 
 mumbling out his apology between parched and 
 stained lips, and on a breath that reeked with 
 the odors of sour beer, adulterated alcohol and 
 the nicotine of third grade tobacco. 
 
 "I will help father in," spoke up Tom Boland 
 who touched his hat to Naomi and at once put 
 his arm beneath the limp form of the man and 
 easily hurried him up the half dozen steps and 
 into the house. He made a thorough examina- 
 tion of the parent and found no bones broken or 
 dislocated. 
 
 "Oh! Miss Slocum, if you could only do for
 
 SUMMER TIME 49 
 
 my man what you've done for my son, Tommy, 
 I would have the happiest home in the city," 
 wailed poor Mrs. Boland. Her face wore a pitiful 
 expression, was haggered and scarred, the results 
 of pinching poverty, anxiety and abuse. In her 
 youthful days Mrs. Boland had been the blooming 
 belle of the Lackawanna valley. 
 
 "I have only done my simple duty, Mrs. Boland," 
 answered Naomi. "God has done all the good 
 work, and is able to do greater wonders if we will 
 only trust him. But I want you to come up to 
 our cottage at Chehocton some time this summer 
 and spend a few days with me. The air of that 
 high ground will make you feel like a new person." 
 Then turning to Tom she continued, "You and 
 Jennie will take care of the house if your mother 
 will only take a vacation, won't you?" 
 
 "Certainly," responded Tom and Jennie in 
 the same breath. Now Jennie was a young 
 woman of sixteen, slattern and slouchy, inherit- 
 ing her father's physical appearance as well as 
 his careless and genial disposition. Until Tom 
 reformed, the mother had been alone to stem the 
 tide of decency and morality. But what could 
 she do in the face of a dissipated husband and 
 two sons, a daughter like Jennie, and two younger 
 sons following their elders into the haunts of 
 licentiousness and positive wickedness? Poor 
 woman! though not the only one in the wide, 
 wide world, who has drunk bitter dregs from the 
 cup of an ill matched marriage. Yet, withal, 
 the Boland home now represented luxury as 
 compared with the poverty of six months before. 
 Even the father worked steadier and went on his 
 sprees less frequently.
 
 50 A FAST GAME 
 
 "Oh, I couldn't think of leaving home this 
 summer; something might happen to my folks 
 and Tom " she hesitated and sighed. 
 
 "Never fear about me, mother ; I have a stronger 
 helper than this world can give, who will keep 
 me sober whether you are here or not,', instantly 
 interrupted Tom who had divined his mother's 
 thought concerning his ability to resist tempta- 
 tion, should it come to him when there was no 
 one in the home to sympathize with him or say a 
 good word of encouragement to him once in a while, 
 
 "Yes, I know, Tom, but " 
 
 "She has no excuse, Miss Slocum," answered 
 Tom. "She will be up to Chehocton some day 
 if I have to send her up by express." 
 
 "Very well, then, I shall anticipate your visit 
 with pleasure. Good night!" 
 
 Darkness had covered Onaway when Naomi 
 stepped into the street. She had only passed 
 the line between the Boland home and that of 
 the next neighbor when Tom hurried to her side 
 saying, "Pardon, me, but I think I ought to ac- 
 company you out of this dangerous place." There 
 was but one sixteen-candle-power lamp in the 
 whole row of houses before which they passed. 
 Tom knew very well that Naomi never feared, 
 and more than that, that she was perfectly safe 
 anywhere in the city; yet he posed as her pro- 
 tector for an excuse to be in her company. 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Boland, I am quite safe 
 alone, and yet, if you wish and have the time, 
 I will be delighted to have you walk with me; 
 you are more than welcome. I really wanted 
 to speak with you privately anyway, and I am 
 glad that the privilege has come so opportune.
 
 SUMMER TIME 51 
 
 The question on my mind was, whether or not 
 I could do anything for your father in the morn- 
 ing. I would be willing to sacrifice my whole 
 summer vacation to be of permanent benefit to 
 that man. He needs God above everything else 
 and, possibly, I may be able to point him in the 
 right direction. What do you think?" 
 
 "You are able to help him if any one on earth 
 is able and, what is more, he has more confidence 
 in you than anyone else around here who poses 
 as a Christian. But don't put off your vacation 
 on his account." 
 
 "Now is the time to help him, if ever, and I 
 want to be in the field when the harvest is ripe. 
 I simply wanted to learn his attitude toward me 
 in order to determine my course of action. That 
 is very plain to me now. I will put off my leave 
 of absence indefinitely. The game of duty is of 
 vastly more importance than pleasure, you know," 
 she said in unfeigned delight. 
 
 And thus the two walked and talked on, down 
 the west side, across the bridge and up the east 
 side, through the crowded thoroughfares and 
 along the beautiful avenues where only an occa- 
 sional pedestrian journeyed, into the lights and 
 into the shadows. Neither manifested any fa- 
 tigue, though Tom had been busy at the Diamond 
 breaker since six in the morning, while Naomi 
 had already traveled miles that sultry afternoon 
 on her errands of mercy. They seemed mutually 
 agreed to practice the precept in the old adage, 
 "The farthest way around is the surest way home." 
 
 It was a "midsummer-night's dream" to Tom, 
 a repose after many hours of concentrated appli- 
 cation to numerous details and vexatious prob-
 
 52 A FAST GAME 
 
 lems; to Naomi it was a pilgrimage through an 
 orchard of blooming Christian graces terminat- 
 ing at the shrine of one congenial spirit. How 
 changed were the circumstances as compared with 
 those of eight months previous when Naomi, by 
 her virtue and kindly help, accompanied and 
 defended through the same streets a depraved 
 character that now stalked at her side a man, 
 dignified, thoughtful, clean, courageous. The 
 contrast provided a luscious menu for their mental 
 and moral appetites, to mention nothing of the 
 gravitation of each soul toward the other, in 
 sympathy, in prospect and in pleasure. 
 
 The next morning dawned, a duplicate of its 
 predecessor. Long before the sun had flung its 
 golden bars on the dingy walls of the row of 
 company houses, the hellish rumble of the beer 
 wagons re-echoed down through Maffit's patch, 
 making a similitude of sound like unto that of 
 the groans and wails of the miserable ones, united 
 with the rattle of human bones along the cor- 
 ridors of a hopeless woe. In one of the dwellings 
 of the patch a victim of the passing juggernaut, 
 writhed in the grasp of delirium and the fiery 
 touch of fever. All night Tom had stood over 
 him. 
 
 The physician, too, had labored the greater 
 part of the morning hours. Daylight brought 
 a white capped nurse. Wearied and anxious 
 Tom went to work. The new breaker was grow- 
 ing rapidly, and its contractor was meeting every 
 obligation; but prosperity and flattering recog- 
 nition among shrewd financiers did not ease the 
 pain of Tom's aching heart. To have a father 
 and brothers, who lived lives of sobriety and
 
 SUMMER TIME 53 
 
 industry, carried more weight on the side of hap- 
 piness and genuine progress to Tom than the 
 accumulation of wealth and a standing among 
 men of thought and action. 
 
 On the way to his place of toil Tom phoned to 
 Naomi that her services could avail nothing while 
 his father lay in his present condition and, what 
 was worse, the likelihood of his ever being any 
 better was a question of doubt. As to delaying 
 her departure to the country home there could 
 be no valid excuse. "Go today, by all means; 
 and if a change for the better comes, I will let 
 you know immediately," he said finally. 
 
 Tears filled the eyes of Naomi as she hung 
 the receiver in its place. Sadness shadowed her, 
 not because of her desire to remain in the city, 
 but because of the sorrowing home in Maffit's 
 patch, and especially for the member of that 
 family circle, who stood at the other end of the 
 wire. But she must go. She wanted to go, and 
 fairly flew across the street like a fairy to tell her 
 grandfather that she would be ready to go at 
 ten-thirty and remain with him as his companion 
 so long as he wanted her to remain. Then there 
 was a beautiful tableau acted behind the cur- 
 tain a tableau with two characters, an act often 
 repeated and never wearied of. 
 
 The girl's slender arm stole around the old 
 man's neck while her graceful figure slid over 
 the arm of the chair and into his lap. Youth's 
 pale cheek, without friction or guile, cushioned 
 itself in the wrinkles of old age. Loving fingers 
 crept through the long gray hair and smoothed 
 out the tangles in the collarette of whiskers. A 
 trembling arm twined round a slender waist like
 
 54 A FAST GAME 
 
 an ivy around a sapling. December and May 
 were holding a love feast. From the eyes of 
 December, fountains of pure delight, threadlike 
 rivulets zigzagged down through the wavering 
 furrows, the sheen of which danced and glimmered 
 with the light of exquisite emotion, virtue, sim- 
 plicity and genuine American royalty; in the 
 eyes of May no showers dripped, only the refresh- 
 ing and sparkling dew. 
 
 The grandfather broke the silence with, "Well, 
 Pleasant!" he preferred the English word as 
 expressing his meaning better than the Hebrew 
 word, Naomi "I kinder hankered fur you as 
 soon as I found out you couldn't go with me. 
 I'm rael glad things shaped themselves so's you 
 ken go along. But what ails my leetle chick 
 this mornin'? She's not quite so frisky 's she is 
 gen'lly." 
 
 "Oh! nothing much, grandpa; only there is 
 so much suffering and work to leave behind while 
 I take my ease up among the hills." 
 
 "I ken keep ye trippin' tendin' me if that's all 
 ye want, and I'm sure / don't suffer so much 
 when you're skippin' round me." 
 
 "It is not that, grandpa, and you know it. You 
 know I want to go up to Chehocton, and nothing 
 pleases me better than to be with you, but, grand- 
 pa, we'll have to hustle if we make our train, and 
 wouldn't mama be disappointed if we did not 
 get up there to dinner?" 
 
 The marble brow of December received an 
 audible osculation from the crimson lips of May, 
 there was a rustle of skirts, a click of a lock on a 
 door softly closed, and an old man sat in an easy 
 chair meditating. "How much like ma she is,
 
 SUMMER TIME 55 
 
 and what a sunbeam! Poor child, don't know 
 much o' this world but there's no better in it. 
 Oh, the years of suffering that await the young!" 
 
 The shaggy head dropped into his hand, the 
 elbow of which rested on the arm of the chair, the 
 eyes closed and youthful days came trooping back 
 in memory. Naomi's grandmother, Naomi's pro- 
 totype in beauty of form, in constancy of charac- 
 ter and in sweetness of disposition, stood again 
 at his side, a maiden, coy and hopeful. Hand 
 in hand they had walked for two score years, 
 sharing each other's weal or woe, triumph or trial, 
 sunshine or shadow. 
 
 For another score of years he had walked alone , 
 alone only in companionship, however, for he had 
 a model dwelling place, two devoted sons and a 
 loving daughter to comfort him in his declining 
 day. But the sunset would not be without its 
 redness of cloud, its penciled tints and its antici- 
 pation of morning a morning followed by an 
 eternal day. No, it could not be very far off, 
 just over the rim of life's ocean. He already 
 felt the ground-swell as he neared the shoreline. 
 Like all other faithful workmen, he had nothing 
 to leave behind but a clean record and unfinished 
 tasks tasks that other hands must complete, 
 other souls agonize for. 
 
 Youth's kinetoscopic pictures were sweeping 
 across the screen of his memory with such vivid- 
 ness and reality that the old man started as from 
 a wild dream, exclaiming, "Yes, Sarah Ann!" 
 the name of his long departed helpmate when 
 Naomi burst into the room saying, "It is train 
 time, grandpa, and the carriage is waiting." 
 Thus out of the house they went, chatting and
 
 56 A FAST GAME 
 
 joking together, the gilr, with all her thought- 
 fulness, never thinking that, for the moment at 
 least, she was another person in the mind of the 
 patriarch. 
 
 Naomi's home was closed during the remainder 
 of the summer. Her father tarried with the 
 family at the cottage when business permitted, 
 and while in the city, took his meals with Henry, 
 whose domestic affairs ran on as usual except 
 for the vacancy made by the absent father; the 
 elder brother, however, occasionally joined the 
 others for a day or two at the lake. Ed was 
 somewhere, no one knew just where; the auto- 
 mobile and chaffeur were gone with him, as he 
 said, for the White Mountains. 
 
 "We're joggin' along a leetle more sprightly 
 than I did the first time I went over this road, 
 Pleasant," the grandfather remarked while the 
 carriage rolled quietly over the hill and whirled 
 round the north shore of lake Chehocton. "I 
 druve an ox team then an' rode a rickety two 
 wheeled cart. Things has changed some, I 
 reckon; all except that old nigger head rock over 
 there by that clump o' brush." The old man's 
 eyes flashed as he pointed toward a large rock 
 from which a grand prospect stretched away to the 
 east, miles and miles, over lake and river, farm- 
 land and woodland, mountains and valleys, until 
 the distant blue sierra dovetailed its craggy cliffs 
 and piny plumes into the blue sky. 
 
 He was on his old stamping ground. Sixty- 
 five years before he had ended his long journey 
 from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, to this wild spot 
 in the Beech Woods "out west" as the New 
 Englanders insisted in calling the wilderness of
 
 SUMMER TIME 57 
 
 northeastern Pennsylvania. For a week they 
 had traveled slowly, crossing the Hudson river at 
 Newburg, and from thence over the Schwangum 
 mountains to Port Jervis on the Delaware river 
 by way of the Newburg turnpike a thoroughfare, 
 in those days, no doubt, more like the "rocky 
 road to Dublin." They continued toward the 
 west till they struck the Easton and Belmont 
 turnpike surely a misnomer because that rough 
 road turns neither to the right nor to the left for 
 hill or valley, as may be seen to this day through 
 many places of Wayne county. 
 
 This route brought them to their destination 
 from the south, an exceeding roundabout way as 
 may be seen by consulting a map of that part of 
 the old Keystone state. Hungry and tired, a lad 
 of fifteen, he had trudged into the small clearing 
 at the outlet of the lake one April evening and the 
 next morning, with his father and brothers, began 
 clearing the land for thier new home. Only a 
 little more than a half dozen years did he spend 
 there, however, before the rest of his family re- 
 turned to their native village and he, after pros- 
 pecting for a few months, settled finally in Onaway, 
 then a settlement of little importance. 
 
 Uncle Hiram Slocum never regretted the second 
 move although he always had a warm spot in his 
 heart for Chehocton lake and the green hills which 
 nestle around it; partly because its scenery is 
 beautiful and inviting and partly because he there 
 met Miss Sarah Ann Monroe and carried her away 
 captive to his lonely log cabin on the banks of the 
 Lackawanna. Not a brook or a bypath, ravine 
 or rivulet, dale or dingle, ridge or rocky run, for 
 miles around was there but what his active feet
 
 58 A FAST GAME 
 
 had tramped or trotted, walked or waded in the 
 seventh decade agone. 
 
 There, when but a bungling backwoods boy and 
 on that old familiar rock which he pointed out to 
 Naomi, he had wooed of a Sunday afternoon his 
 life's companion, and, when the hill tops had 
 been dipped in sunset amber and toned down to 
 twilight purple, he had walked home with her, 
 hand in hand, ambitious for mature manhood, 
 planning the ventures of coming prosperity, hold- 
 ing in check the possibilities of enduring happi- 
 ness, and, in the glimmer of the silver crescent 
 hanging in the western sky, renewed his vow of 
 eternal fidelity and bade the girl good-night at 
 the doorstep of her father's humble dwellingplace. 
 
 Today their journey by rail had been hot and 
 dusty, and by carriage, breezy and exhilerating. 
 When the happy trio grandfather, granddaughter 
 and the maid alighted from the carriage their 
 appetites needed no tonics, they craved just 
 plain, wholesome food and plenty of it. Dinner 
 awaited them, a country dinner homemade 
 bread, new potatoes and green peas, spring water 
 and fresh milk, and a shortcake buried beneath 
 the last wild strawberries of the season berries 
 sprinkled with sugar and bathed in real cream. 
 To add to the pleasures of the occasion a running 
 fire of questions and answers and reminiscences 
 played across the table. A draft of air ladened 
 with the scent of a hay field near by the lake, filtered 
 through the wiry trill of a chippy that had tucked 
 itself under a shady branch to sing its midday 
 song, strained through the shrill stridulations of a 
 harvest-bee that swung to and fro on the twig of 
 a birch tree crept noiselessly up the bank from
 
 SUMMER TIME 59 
 
 the water, turned up to the sun the under side of 
 the maple and beech leaves, swung the poplar 
 leaves like a pendulum or tilted them every which 
 way as if to inspect their peculiar construction, 
 breathed heavily through the fragrant hemlock 
 needles, bowed itself gallantly into the open door 
 and window, tossed the tablecloth back and forth 
 lifted and absorbed the vapor from the old man's 
 teacup and died away in his snow white locks. 
 
 But the dinner hour, like all pleasures, has 
 passed, the siesta taken, the afternoon worn to 
 shreds and the shreds wound up around the sun 
 and all rolled away out of sight behind the western 
 hilltop. All is silent save for the petulent call of 
 the whippoorwill from far up the glen, a full chorus 
 of frogs that held grandstand seats around the 
 watery arena and the liquid lapping of the limpid 
 wavelets over and under and around the pebbles 
 and sticks that lay scattered along the sandy 
 shore. A moonless, cloudless sky looked down 
 on Naomi, rocking lightly in her boat. She had 
 ceased rowing and sat meditating. 
 
 The trim craft drifted and grounded and swung 
 round to port at the mercy of the elements; the 
 pilot had forsaken the wheel. But there was no 
 danger. One oar ground in the sand while the 
 other swashed harmlessly at the side of the skiff. 
 
 And what of the thoughts of the silent sailor? 
 They started after the wandering automobilist 
 who raced up and down the New England coast, 
 over its macadamized roads, through its beautiful 
 villages and towns, on the boulevards of the great 
 cities and finally halted in one of the subways of 
 human frailty and dissipation. Her mind jumped
 
 60 A FAST GAME 
 
 from the Atlantic seaboard to the sweltering city 
 of Onaway. 
 
 "Yes," she whispered to herself, "Dr. Morgan is 
 somewhere doing good; he may be at the bedside 
 of a mangled miner or bedside of one who is burn- 
 ing with fever, or prescribing for some sufferer in 
 his office or poring over his books; anyway, he is 
 doing good." From the doctor her mind flew to 
 a miner's home where a miner tossed on his bed 
 while over him a whitecapped nurse and a stalwart 
 youth in his shirtsleeves bent in patience and 
 tenderness. "Poor Tom, and I cannot help 
 him!" was all that escaped her lips. 
 
 Naomi awoke from her reverie, took up the 
 oars and rowed to the dock. As she slowly climbed 
 the bank to the cottage porch there came from 
 the highway across the lake the rich voice of a 
 belated farmer boy cheerfully singing, "In the 
 good old summer time."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 AN ENEMY 
 
 Day by day the Diamond breaker climbed 
 cloud ward more than two hundred feet, a huge 
 network of timbers outlined against the sky. 
 The heavy timbering neared its completion. 
 Thomas Boland came to the growing structure 
 one morning, as was his custom, a few minutes 
 before the gang of men began work in order to 
 inspect the last that was done the night before 
 and see, too, that everything was safe and correct 
 to continue. As he climbed the dizzy height, 
 across beams and up temporary ladders which 
 were made by nailing cleats from a post to a 
 false stud, he noticed, by the slanting rays of 
 the sun yet low in the east, a small sprinkling of 
 sawdust on one of the cross beams as if it had 
 dropped there from one sawing directly above it. 
 His curiosity was aroused at once. 
 
 He immediately crawled to the suspicious place 
 for he knew well that no saw should have been 
 used there, because every timber and brace and 
 pin came up by the derrick rope and rider, framed 
 perfectly and fitted to its place without saw or 
 tool of any kind, save the pinch bar to pry the 
 tenons into the mortices and a hammer to drive 
 the pins; at any rate, a handsaw was the last 
 
 61
 
 62 A FAST GAME 
 
 tool needed in that particular place. The night 
 had been without wind else the dust would have 
 been blown away. Tom stood over the telltale 
 bits and looked directly overhead. By careful 
 and steady inspection and to his surprise and 
 horror, he detected the cut of a fine handsaw 
 where it had nearly severed one of the principal 
 timbers. 
 
 "It's the work of an enemy," he spoke half 
 audibly, "and he means my ruin, neither does he 
 regard the lives of my men." 
 
 It was true from all appearances for, had he 
 not discovered the sawcut, when the derricks 
 began to work and men stood among those tim- 
 bers, the extra strain on that particular stick 
 would break the little of it left and precipitate 
 the derrick, the men and many timbers down 
 through the lower structure, crashing, breaking 
 and destroying everything in its course, causing a 
 wreck that would cost thousands of dollars to 
 repair to say nothing of the possible loss of life. 
 But Tom drew a long breath when he realized 
 that he could repair the damage in a day. 
 
 He considered it worth a day's work of himself 
 and men and the price of another beam, to know 
 that he had an enemy mean enough to perpetrate 
 such a dastardly deed. The watchful contractor 
 made a thorough inspection of every stick of 
 timber in the massive pile. He told his men 
 what he had found and warned them to be on 
 their guard against any crooked work that might 
 be done in the future. By night the damage had 
 been repaired and the work rested just where it 
 did the night before. Thereafter, a watchman 
 remained at the breaker during the night. Evi-
 
 AN ENEMY 63 
 
 dently, two could play at that game. 
 
 While the work went busily on during that day 
 of repairing Tom studied to find a clew of the 
 criminal. Either, one who worked on the bents 
 or one who was familiar with the construction of 
 breakers, had sawed the timber, for no greenhorn 
 would have known so well where to do so little 
 and have it count for so much resultant damage. 
 Tom thought that he had no enemies in the 
 city, at least, no one who would endanger others' 
 lives rather than his own, for he seldom worked 
 on the building; and yet, he was usually in the 
 tops when the day's labor began. 
 
 That fact, too, confirmed his opinion that some- 
 one knowing these things had, either lain the 
 plot, or was a confederate with someone else, or 
 was a tool for another intriguer. While thus 
 cogitating, and at the same time, overseeing the 
 work, he noticed that one of the men on the 
 derrick had not yet come out on duty a sullen, 
 dark skinned, unprincipled, kinky haired, disagree- 
 able fellow who excelled in his line of work and 
 who went by the name of "Curley." 
 
 Tom immediately gave a passing urchin a dime 
 to find the thirteen year old Ned Boland, a brother, 
 and send him up to the breaker. Ned soon put in 
 an appearance wondering what his brother wanted. 
 
 "See here, Ned," said Tom when the boy was 
 near him, "get some buddy of yours and hunt up 
 Curley. Go down to Mrs. Koninski's old boarding 
 house first and if you don't find him there go 
 over to The Anthracite and so on around where 
 you please. Send your buddy in alone and if 
 possible don't let Curley see you; if he should 
 happen to see you, act as if you did not see him.
 
 64 A FAST GAME 
 
 Don't ask me any questions and don't ever say 
 anything to anybody about your business; to- 
 night you may report to me." 
 
 "I'm your huckleberry, Tom," laughed Ned and 
 away he went whistling and singing alternately a 
 rollicking lad with a quick wit and a big heart, 
 perfectly trustworthy and passionately fond of 
 his oldest brother. He would run a leg off for 
 Tom any time for in those days his favors all 
 came from him and his mother. 
 
 At one o'clock in the afternoon Curley put in 
 an appearance and started up to his regular posi- 
 tion. "Sick this morning, Curley?" Tom asked 
 pleasantly. 
 
 "Yaas!" he snapped out. ''Dizzy. Thought 
 I'd better stay on the ground." 
 
 "I'm sorry. Be careful this afternoon." 
 
 "Ye ken count on Curley to look out fur number 
 one every time," he answered in a softer tone 
 as he swung himself aloft, a phantom of a smile 
 flitting across his swarthy face. 
 
 It was late before Tom arrived home that even- 
 ing but his faithful servant met him two blocks 
 down the street. Ned quickly shied up and 
 seized his brother by the arm and excitedly reeled 
 off his lingo in an undertone as if the salvation of 
 the town depended on his message. 
 
 "I seed the cuss, Tom, down on the baal ground 
 boxin' wid that 'ere seme-f 'essional duffer frum up 
 Bunker Hill way. Ye know um, Tom, don't ye? 
 That same un's danged near put Billy Watkins 
 ter sleep ter stay. Me'n' Skip seed 'em trough a 
 hole in the fence an' Curley punched 'im up good. 
 I tell ye, they did larrup each odder up some. 
 Then they went ter The Anth'acite tegedder an'
 
 AN ENEMY 65 
 
 set 'em up. Skip, he shinned in ahind 'em an* 
 seed Curley sling the mon' round there ter beat 
 the band. Had dough ter burn. That wus 
 about 'leven o'clock; an' after that he went back 
 ter old Miss Koninski's, got 'is grub an' has ben 
 up on the breaker the rest o' the day, ain't 'e, 
 Tom? Did I git 'nough information ter suit ye? 
 By thumpers! it tickles me yit ter think how them 
 fellers did slug each odder, but Curley stuck it 
 tew 'im, right, just the samey!" 
 
 By this time the brothers were at their gate 
 and Ned's breath had nearly deserted him from 
 rapid talking. "Yes, Ned, you have found out 
 just what I wanted to know and here's a quarter 
 for doing it." 
 
 Tom handed him the coin which Ned whisked 
 out of the palm of his hand as quickly as a hen 
 would pick up a kernel of corn, and slipped away 
 saying soberly, "Oh! never mind a little thing like 
 that. I'll soon have anodder V ter put in the 
 bank if the ol' man don't git 'is clutches on it." 
 
 Tom then did a problem in addition, the sum 
 of which satisfied him that Curley was implicated 
 in the villainous trick. The only time Curley 
 ever had money on his person was within a week 
 after pay-day and that day had passed more than 
 three weeks. The conclusion of the whole matter 
 was that he had received a bribe from some un- 
 known individual, cut the timber nearly in two 
 and remained away from his work to save his 
 own neck. Worthless as that neck might seem to 
 many a person, Tom valued it more than he did 
 that of the snake in the grass the individual 
 who furnished the bribe. 
 
 There were just four things for him to do and
 
 66 A FAST GAME 
 
 those were, to keep the secret as far as he knew 
 it, set a watch at the breaker, use everyone of his 
 employes alike and go ahead. The truth of the 
 matter would come out sooner or later and, with- 
 out showing suspicion in anyway, the villian 
 would be thrown off his guard and caught when 
 least expecting it. 
 
 The days went by without further incident 
 until the timbering neared completion. One 
 day while hoisting a heavy stick of timber it broke, 
 the tension of the rope flinging the two pieces 
 apart and hurling the rider into the air from which 
 he alighted into a heap of rubbish. The shock 
 knocked him into insensibility, broke a leg and 
 bruised him up generally. The stick had been 
 sawed nearly in two yet with such care that, 
 in the hurry of the moment, the mark passed un- 
 noticed and by mere accident had been at the 
 top of the timber when lifted, causing the break 
 to happen where it would make the least possible 
 damage. 
 
 Tom called an ambulance which quickly took 
 the unfortunate rider to his home where Dr. 
 Evan Morgan attended to his physical needs. 
 Everything that could be done for the sufferer 
 was done. The weeks passed into months, how- 
 eve , before he could walk in the open air again 
 and even then he hobbled, destined to be a cripple 
 the remainder of his life. He had rode to the 
 dizzy heights for the last time. 
 
 Tom often called on his late employe on the 
 way to and from his work. Entering the bruised 
 man's room one day without knocking, he sur- 
 prised Dr. Morgan and Naomi. They stood 
 together in an adjoining room, absorbed in con-
 
 AN ENEMY 67 
 
 versation. The intruder modestly apologized and 
 quickly passed into the sickroom where he found 
 the patient asleep. 
 
 The doctor quietly informed him that his 
 patient rested well and improved nicely. Tom 
 remained but a moment more and left the house, 
 wondering. He held no grudge against his long 
 tried friend. He lay no blame at Naomi's feet. 
 He truly believed that no jealousy, either active 
 or dormant, lay in his heart, and yet, he knew 
 he loved Naomi with all his life. He fully realized 
 the difference between their inherent social circle 
 and that of his own, their past lives, their culture 
 and their circumstances; nevertheless, manly 
 worth counted for more than inheritance. No 
 one need remain in the social strata in which he 
 chanced to be born any more than he must needs 
 live in poverty if perchance his swaddling clothes 
 contained a coarser texture than those of his 
 wealthier neighbor across the way. 
 
 He well knew that his own life had been a failure 
 up to within the last twelve months. Dr. Morgan's 
 father mined coal for a living, so also did Erastus 
 Boland. Therefore, each inherited the identical 
 social grade. What better off was Naomi? Only 
 one generation farther up the worldly scale, for 
 her grandfather, though not a miner, tilled the 
 soil to earn his bread and butter; the only differ- 
 ence being that he labored on the ground rather 
 than in it. 
 
 The problem solved itself perfectly clear in Tom's 
 mind and whetted his determination to win the 
 hand of Naomi in the lists of worthy wooing and 
 by an open and knightly contest. True, the 
 doctor's profession ranked above his. The hands
 
 68 A FAST GAME 
 
 accustomed to doling out sugar coated tablets 
 and acrid capsules wore a smoother gloss than the 
 callous, sunburnt hands of an out-of-doors con- 
 tractor. The professional man's clothing smacked 
 of the tailor-shop, but the best of garments soon 
 become filthy rags. Furthermore, the doctor's 
 past record, both character and reputation, shone 
 in the light of public criticism as clean and white 
 as a pond lily, and what hurt poor Tom most was 
 that the same could not be truthfully said about 
 himself. And still more than all else put together, 
 he and the doctor had always been and, as far as 
 he was concerned, always would be the warmest 
 of friends. 
 
 With these thoughts running through his mind 
 he hurried out of the house and on to The Black 
 Diamond Company's office to make his report. 
 The third payment named in the contract was 
 due provided that the work had progressed to a 
 certain stage of completion. Both brothers 
 chanced to be in the office; Beniamin at the desk 
 where Tom usually reported. The contractor 
 merely passed the time of day and handed in his 
 report. The operator soon looked over the paper. 
 It appeared satisfactory for he immediately threw 
 it on the desk, took up his check book, drew a 
 check of twenty thousand dollars and handed 
 the negotiable slip to Tom with a polite , 'Thank 
 you!" 
 
 "Thank you!" answered Tom modestly and 
 left the room. Not a word was asked him whether 
 the work went easy or whether it went hard and 
 no reference was made to the work oi the unknown 
 fiend. Tom thought it a little strange, yet, so 
 long as he received that for which his contract
 
 AN ENEMY 69 
 
 called, what more could he expect? In fact, it was 
 all he cared for. He took the contract for his 
 own benefit and purpose and, at the same time, 
 he meant to benefit the company as much as 
 himself. 
 
 The interests of the two parties concerned were 
 identical. He had put in his bid without con- 
 dition, they had accepted it on the same terms. 
 The contract bound both parties alike. If he 
 completed the work before the expiration of the 
 time limit, it made two hundred dollars per day 
 extra for him for every day so gained; and if he 
 exceeded the time, it meant two hundred dollars 
 a day his forfeiture and their gain from the total 
 contract price. It was to their interest that the 
 work be done as quickly as possible; his case was 
 the same. They lost, if the work lagged; so also 
 did he. He knew the requirements of the con- 
 tract, so did they. If he said nothing but "Good- 
 evening" and handed in his report, he should find 
 no fault if they gave the same salutation and 
 handed out their report. 
 
 While striding along the street ruminating these 
 ideas the thought of Naomi and the doctor was 
 crowded out of his mind. A comfortable satis- 
 faction possessed him. He concluded that the 
 company had supreme confidence in him or else 
 they would have mentioned something to the 
 contrary. There was nothing to sav on either 
 side. Each party had its duty and duty needs 
 no compliments or praise. 
 
 The days flew by. Summer quietly lost itself 
 in abundant September. Naomi had come and 
 gone, back and forth, between the city and the 
 Slocum cottage on the shore of Lake Chehocton.
 
 70 A FAST GAME 
 
 The grandfather had spent his entire time in the 
 country since he went there in July. He had 
 lived his youthful days over again. The sons had 
 traveled back and forth, though they had spent 
 most of the time in the city. The vacation 
 season drew near its close. One evening as Tom 
 hastened home he met the doctor. They ex- 
 changed friendly twilight salutations and passed 
 on. To his surprise Tom found Naomi talking 
 with his mother and urging her to go up in the 
 country with her the next Monday morning. 
 Surely the doctor must have walked up with the 
 girl. 
 
 "She can go just as well as not, can't she?" 
 asked Naomi when Tom stepped over the thresh- 
 hold. 
 
 "Why, of course." Then turning to his mother, 
 continued, "You know you can go, mother. 
 Jennie and the rest of us can spare you a few 
 days when you are resting. Go by all means." 
 
 Poor timid Mrs. Boland scarcely knew what 
 to say or do. She had been so accustomed to 
 abuse and poverty that the possibility of spending 
 a day in the country lay beyond the rim of her 
 mental horizon. Like a weak birdling, she simply 
 had to be pushed out of the nest to recognize her 
 wings of opportunity. And out Naomi and Tom 
 pushed her. 
 
 The following week she spent "round the sand 
 rimmed pickerel pond" of the upper Moosics. 
 Those days spent with Uncle Hiram, and Naomi 
 especially, lightened her burdens, brightened 
 her future, invigorated her jaded body and re- 
 awakened the happy recollections of her girl- 
 hood; so that, by the end of the week, she re-
 
 AN ENEMY 71 
 
 turned home a new person in health and antici- 
 pation. The cruel treadmill that she had so long 
 trodden alone now appeared a shining path of 
 duty and privilege. 
 
 In the meanwhile the Diamond breaker received 
 its finishing touches. Golden October swept 
 its gilding-brush along the hilltops which stood 
 sentinel over the widening and winding Lacka- 
 wanna valley. Twenty days yet remained before 
 the first of November, the date specified in the 
 contract for the completion of the breaker. Tom 
 had planned the next day to be inspection when 
 the business would be closed and the structure 
 passed from the contractor's hands to those of 
 the owner's, provided that all was as agreed. 
 
 To be sure that no possible injury could come 
 to his work, Tom posted his father with the other 
 night watchman, the two to be located at different 
 parts of the premises in constant and instant 
 communication with each other. Unfortunately 
 for him as well as for all others concerned, on his 
 way to work that night Erastus Boland fell in with 
 an old comrade who slapped him on his shoulder 
 in the most familiar way and invited him to The 
 Anthracite. Now Mr. Boland had not been in 
 that tempter's den since the evening the Billy 
 goat came in contact with him. He had been 
 temperate in all his ways and the Boland home 
 was rapidly growing real homelike. But for old 
 time's sake he went in and came out again; went 
 in a sober and happy man and came out a creature, 
 burning and raging for strong drink. The slumber- 
 ing demon had awakened and begun lashing 
 its victim without mercy. According to custom, 
 each treated and departed, Boland to his work
 
 72 A FAST GAME 
 
 and the other to somewhere else. But under 
 cover of darkness and after an hour's fight with 
 his appetite Mr. Boland made excuse to his fellow 
 guardsman that he must return to the town on a 
 little business but would be back in an hour or 
 so. The flight of time, his responsibility to others 
 and the keeping of his promises, are never realized 
 by a man in his cups. 
 
 Tom left home the next morning before his 
 father returned. He was light hearted and con- 
 fident that all was well and that his first great 
 contract was finished in a manner to be accepted by 
 the owners with entire satisfaction. Thus rejoic- 
 ing, he entered the office of The Black Diamond 
 Company. The Slocum brothers were already 
 at their desks and greeted their employe very 
 cordially. After dictating to Evaline some im- 
 portant letters, also a few memoranda notes, 
 the trio passed out of the office and rapidly walked 
 cross lots toward the barren mountain side upon 
 which the new breaker stood out conspicuously 
 in the morning air. 
 
 Few words were exchanged while the sturdy 
 contractor led the way for the operators who were 
 more accustomed to riding than walking. Several 
 seconds before his puffing companions stood 
 beside him, Tom reached the summit of the spur 
 of the mountain that overlooked and commanded 
 the first short-range and full view of the building. 
 He staggered and sank on the ground, ashen in 
 color. The brothers quickly stood on either side 
 of him and asked in the same breath, "What is 
 the matter, Tom?" 
 
 His only answer was a groan while his trembling 
 right hand pointed toward the breaker. The
 
 AN ENEMY 73 
 
 cause of his agitation appeared at once. A hole, 
 half the size of one side of the breaker, had been 
 blown out by some explosive. The foundation at 
 that particular spot lay wrecked and scattered, 
 the timbers and boards shivered into kindling 
 wood and the whole structure, more or less, 
 wrenched and sagged out of position and out of 
 plumb. Instead of the four thousands of dollars 
 extra for the early completion of the building, it 
 would require more than the alloted time to repair 
 the damage, to say nothing of the thousands of 
 dollars necessary to rebuild the ruined parts. It 
 was no wonder that Tom sank powerless to the 
 ground. It meant his financial ruin, at least, he 
 would have nothing to show for his summer's work 
 after his contract obligations were fulfilled. 
 
 Only for an instant, however, did Tom remain 
 on the ground. He sprang to his feet exclaiming, 
 "Where are my father and Joe?" 
 
 As Tom hurried here and there among the 
 rubbish he spied the faithful watchman, Joe, lying 
 beneath some of the fragments of timbers. He 
 placed his hand on the bloody forehead. It was cold. 
 
 "But where can father be?" he groaned, hurrying 
 on. 
 
 Henry turned and hastened toward the city as 
 rapidly as possible under the strain of the moment, 
 saying in a faltering voice, "I'll go for the coroner." 
 
 No trace of the father could be found anywhere. 
 In the position where the watchman usually 
 remained the greater part of the night, Tom and 
 Benjamin discovered a pool of blood. They 
 immediately concluded that a foul game had been 
 played on the guard. That discovery also aroused 
 his suspicions that the same fate had befallen his
 
 74 A FAST GAME 
 
 father, that his body lay buried beneath the debris 
 or carried to a hiding place in the underbrush 
 nearby or, perhaps, hurled down the shaft. They 
 continued searching till the coroner and many 
 others arrived on the scene. The officer at once 
 impaneled a jury and held an inquest. The 
 evidence was clear and conclusive so that the 
 jurymen soon brought in a verdict that the victim 
 had met his death from the shot of a thirty-eight 
 caliber revolver by the hand of an unknown indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 But nothing could be found of the whereabouts 
 of Erastus Boland. Searching parties scoured 
 the mountain side. The police were notified 
 and they searched the city. The news of the 
 missing man spread so rapidly that by noon the 
 police received information that he lay drunk in 
 the stables adjoining The Anthracite. They 
 immediately conveyed the unconscious man to 
 his home and summoned medical aid. Dr. Morgan 
 diagnosed the case and pronounced it a simple 
 "drunk." Later in the day the intoxicated man 
 awoke and, when questioned, told the name of 
 the comrade who had induced him to drink. 
 They searched for the tempter, but he could not 
 be found. The devil had stolen another trick 
 and the game was lost for the time being. 
 
 In the meanwhile, Tom set a gang of men at 
 work to clear away the rubbish, placed his dead 
 servant in charge of an undertaker and ordered 
 his old foreman to make out a bill for the timbers 
 and lumber necessary to repair the damage; so 
 that, by night, he had everything in readiness 
 to commence rebuilding the following morning. 
 Within thirty days the breaker stood again ready
 
 AN ENEMY 75 
 
 for inspection. The Black Diamond Company 
 promptly accepted the edifice and paid the balance 
 due the contractor. The two thousand dollars 
 forfeiture, because the building was not com- 
 pleted till ten days later than contract time, the 
 company kindly cancelled. Tom had hoped to 
 clear several thousand dollars on the job, yet, 
 like many of our fondest hopes, Tom's had been 
 dashed to the ground. He had carried out his 
 plans but the anticipated results did not come. 
 When he paid all his outstanding bills and entered 
 the humble home in Maffit's patch on the evening 
 of the tenth of November he stood even with 
 the world even financially and socially but he 
 trusted that he had gained experience. He also 
 had learned that he had enemies who lay in wait 
 to do evil against him, and that he had friends, 
 too, who stood firmly by him and trusted in him. 
 He believed the game worth the playing. 
 
 Naomi, however, seemed farther away than ever 
 with Dr. Morgan on the inside track. His finan- 
 cial misfortune cut deepest when he thought of 
 Naomi and his mother, although he detected by 
 the public pulse that his reputation for sterling 
 integrity, honesty and genuine manly push, had 
 become fixed in the business circle of the city. 
 This alone placed him on an equal footing with 
 Dr. Morgan. Amid the discouragements investing 
 him the sunshine broke in. The unexpected 
 happened. 
 
 The following morning after he had made his 
 final settlement with The Black Diamond Com- 
 pany, that company notified him to report at the 
 office at once. He wondered what was coming 
 and went his way to report as requested. To his
 
 76 A FAST GAME 
 
 suprise, the Slocum brothers tendered him the 
 position of general superintendent of the Diamond 
 mine, a position made possible by the completion 
 of the breaker. He hesitated, considered and 
 accepted. He proposed to play the game to the 
 end.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 MUTTERINGS 
 
 Bleak November beat its storms and whistled 
 its winds through the streets of Onaway, pelting 
 its fury alike against the palatial homes of the 
 coal operators and the comfortable dwelling 
 places of the sober and industrious miners and 
 whirling around the rough boarded company 
 houses. Jack Frost and Boreas had discolored 
 and twirled the green mantle, which had so viva- 
 ciously and comely bedecked the summer hill- 
 sides, and left its frilled and russet rents flapping 
 in the autumnal gales. 
 
 Winter hovered over the city like a vulture 
 over its prey; and its prey consisted of those 
 workmen who lived as if work would always 
 be plenty, their families' needs always supplied, 
 their own wants satisfied and their employer's 
 patience and generosity unlimited. The ap- 
 proach of cold weather is sufficiently unpromising 
 to anyone but especially so to those who live 
 from hand to mouth whether in the midst of a 
 feast or a famine. 
 
 Summer needs are less than those of Winter. 
 Clothing and fuel are less expensive. So long 
 as the money lasts comes the temptation to take 
 in excursions and, with the day's outing, a general 
 gratification craze loosens purse strings of the 
 
 77
 
 78 A FAST GAME 
 
 wage earner. The unmarried man must, as 
 a matter of course, put up a good time for his 
 friend, or, if the friend is not forthcoming, he 
 must go with the crowd and not be counted 
 stingy; and should he be a man of a family, on 
 that particular day he must gratify every whim of 
 his children by purchasing every nonsensical 
 toy on exhibition, by patronizing the merry-go- 
 rounds, the chute the chutes, the roller coaster 
 and what not. Besides, he indulges the young- 
 sters \vith sweetmeats, plastering them outside 
 and in; and for his own edification, he must take 
 at least one round "with the boys," and that 
 one round, just for luck, too often terminates 
 in visible excess, and excess means disgrace. 
 
 The night after the gala day finds the poor 
 deluded fellow at home, moneyless, unrested 
 and out of sorts; all because somebody else, as 
 he contends, has not done the right thing by 
 him. This and many other ways of indulging 
 vanity and vice waste away the wages of summer 
 when actual expenses are the least, and, in the 
 dead of winter, leave the unfortunate one in 
 straitened circumstances, if he continue to 
 labor; but if work is slack or stops altogether, 
 actual poverty stares him and his family in the 
 face. In either case he becomes an easy vic- 
 tim to persuasion along the line of politics, popular 
 agitation, dissipation, graft or religion. 
 
 Without moral stamina, the tendency of pov- 
 erty is toward socialism; that of plenty, toward 
 prodigality. Prodigality is the mother of poverty. 
 Therefore, the issue of immorality is general 
 dissatisfaction; religiously, dissatisfied with the 
 so called aristocracy and hypocricy of the churches ;
 
 MUTTERINGS 79 
 
 economically, dissatisfied with the apparent com- 
 fort and happiness of the employer or rich as 
 compared with the pinch of poverty and misery 
 of the employe or poor. It is argued that wealth 
 secures happiness, and the accumulation of the 
 same, ease. 
 
 This comparison is usually made between 
 incomparable objects. For instance, wealth and 
 poverty cannot be compared, only contrasted, 
 because they are opposites; while, on the other 
 hand, the man of wealth and the man of poverty 
 may be compared, in as much as they have 
 likeness in qualities but differences in degree. 
 Each member of the human family has the qual- 
 ities that win the intelligence, the sensibility 
 and the will. The methods of development 
 and the use of these qualities may differ so widely 
 that the results obtained are opposites; hence, 
 the results must be contrasted and not compared. 
 
 Herein we make many blunders by invidious 
 comparisons. Or, in other words, the labor- 
 workman often misjudges the capital-workman 
 by the contrasts of their present positions, in- 
 stead of comparing their economical modes of 
 living, and vice versa 
 
 The miserable one goes to the frigid zone, 
 shivers and curses the sun because it will not 
 warm him; he sows poor seed in poorer soil, in 
 the wrong time of the moon, neglects the culti- 
 vation of the growing vegetation, and curses 
 the stunted crop, while, over the fence, his neigh- 
 bor's garden is abundant in product; the one 
 sets his sail, ties the rudder and curses the wind 
 that will not change so that his course may be 
 altered, while the other trims his sails, seizes the
 
 80 A FAST GAME 
 
 rudder and jams the prow of his craft into the 
 teeth of the wind and sails whithersoever he 
 desires. The one opposes law, 'the other obeys 
 it. 
 
 Andrew Morgan, a Welch miner, had brought 
 up a large family, five girls and six boys eleven 
 in all who had passed the age of sixteen, to say 
 nothing of the pain and anguish and expense 
 concomitant with the three little sodded mounds 
 on the slope of the Laurel Hill cemetery where 
 they overlooked the barren culm piles, the intri- 
 cate network of railroads and the dark waters 
 of the Lackawanna. 
 
 Andrew still worked in the mines, somewhat 
 stiffened and scarred from his dangerous and 
 arduous toil, yet withal, a healthy and hardy 
 man of fifty-five. In his declining years he had 
 no anxiety for the future, either in this world 
 or the next. He lived in his own house, owned 
 another house from which he received rent, 
 and had a nest egg of a few hundred dollars 
 laid away snugly in the savings bank. He still 
 drew his accustomed wages. All his children 
 earned their own living except Phebe a cripple 
 of a most lovable and philosophical nature. As 
 to his prospects in the next world, they even shone 
 with a more beautiful luster than those of this. 
 From the day that he and his wife, Mary, be- 
 gan keeping house in a little tumbled-down 
 company shanty, with less than ten dollars 
 worth of furniture in it, they had not failed to 
 worship daily and devoutly at the family altar. 
 
 That their son Richard caroused and gambled 
 was no fault with the home training and that 
 training was not of the Puritanical order either
 
 MUTTERINGS 81 
 
 but the personification of gentleness and sound 
 sense. Not only was Andrew a home Christian 
 but also "an every day workman for the Lord," 
 as he termed it. He attended as regularly to 
 the fires of his church altar as he did the family 
 altar, and for many years he had given the tenth 
 of his gross income to the work of the God whom 
 he worshiped. His character and work passed 
 without question. 
 
 Mr. Morgan had been a member of The Mine 
 Workers' Union ever since its introduction in 
 the valley. He thoroughly believed in the prin- 
 ciples of labor organization, and was not averse 
 to capital combination, provided that the Golden 
 Rule was the law of the combination. He meas- 
 ured his own union by the same rule. With- 
 out challenge he passed as fairminded, a man of 
 intelligence and integrity, one whose counsel was 
 worth asking for and following, a man whose 
 acquaintance was worth making and whose 
 friendship was worth cherishing. He spoke few 
 words though these words were pregnant with 
 meaning. When bantered concerning his reti- 
 cence he invariably answered in his droll humor, 
 "Why, Maary doos the chatter fur both oov us." 
 He played a winning game. 
 
 Erastus Boland, though a decade younger than 
 Andrew Morgan, had nothing in the world but 
 five children, a wife and the scantiest of furniture 
 in a rented company house. Since Tom had 
 reformed many comforts had come to the home 
 but not through any merit of the father. 
 
 For years Erastus had worked side by side with 
 Andrew, receiving the same wages and having 
 every opportunity of the other, but had wasted
 
 82 A FAST GAME 
 
 his earnings, his health and his character. Twenty- 
 five years before, had the vote of the public been 
 taken concerning the prospects of the two men, 
 the lucky lot would surely have fallen to Boland. 
 
 As a young man he was a congenial, industrious, 
 generous and brilliant Irishman, and of that 
 winning nature which captured for his wife 
 a girl from one of the best families in the neigh- 
 borhood. He never lay awake nights, however, 
 to worry over his principles. He practiced 
 honesty as the best policy provided he did not 
 get drunk and forget. He provided generously 
 for his family if he did not spend his month's 
 pay over the bar before he arrived home with 
 it. Religion, apparently, had never entered his 
 mind. Every organization under the sun he 
 opposed, hence, as one would expect, he was a 
 non-union man of the deepest dye. Would he 
 win or lose the game and why? 
 
 These families are contrasted, not because one 
 is a Welch family and the other an Irish family, 
 implying that the difference of nationality makes 
 a difference of circumstances or that one is union 
 and the other is non-union; but they are placed 
 here, side by side, to illustrate types of men and 
 families of all nationalities and to show that 
 circumstances are not all due to misfortune, but 
 are largely due to choice and the manner of 
 living of those who would pose as the fortunate 
 or the unfortunate, the lucky or the unlucky. 
 These two types may be extreme cases, though 
 we think they are not, and even if they are, they 
 prove without a question that a sober and in- 
 dustrious man may live in comfort and happiness,
 
 MUTTERINGS 83 
 
 and rear a family which will be a blessing rather 
 than a curse to the world. 
 
 However, it is a well known law of nature that 
 a tree, grown from a seed of the choicest fruit, 
 will be wild in its nature and produce wild fruit, 
 and that a choice graft must be inserted into the 
 wild branch in order to bring forth the choice 
 fruit; so also, is it well known that the best and 
 most virtuous of parents will bear offspring as 
 wild as the wildest, and that a bleeding scion 
 from Calvary's tree alone can bring forth the 
 good fruit. "By their fruit ye shall know them." 
 
 Another type of laboring man we find in the 
 army of foremen, superintendents and general 
 managers of companies and capitalists. They 
 cannot belong to the capitalists because they 
 own no stock and have no voice in the rules and 
 regulations which govern the action of the com- 
 pany they serve. They simply execute the laws 
 prescribed for them. 
 
 On the other hand, they belong to no labor 
 union as a rule because they cannot be 
 classed among those who are properly styled the 
 working men, although they are usually pro- 
 moted from that class and are more or less in 
 sympathy with it. Frequently, however, the 
 son or relative of the capitalist is appointed to 
 these supposed better positions. 
 
 John Ransom, an English miner, is a man who 
 has worked up from the ranks to the superin- 
 tendency of The Black Diamond Company. He, 
 too, is in comfortable circumstances; has three 
 sons and two daughters, all of whom are grown 
 to manhood and womanhood. He plays in the 
 same game.
 
 84 A FAST GAME 
 
 While the winter crept on those, who had not 
 laid up for themselves a store for the time of 
 need, began to murmur. Mutterings of discon- 
 tent grew louder and louder. The prospects 
 grew brighter for a strike to be declared the first 
 of April, the expiration of the agreement and 
 award of the Strike Commission. Sympathy be- 
 tween the breadwinners in their contrasted con- 
 ditions and circumstances hatched discontent. 
 Discontent bred conspiracy; conspiracy matured 
 in mischief; and mischief bore fruit, violence 
 and slaughter Discontent may originate from 
 selfish motives, such as narrowness of vision 
 and disregard for the good of others or, it may 
 grow out of long oppression and injustice. In 
 either case, on account of the few who will al- 
 ways lack breadth of views, envy and strife will, 
 to a more or less extent, result war, inter- 
 nationally; revolution or rebellion, nationally; 
 mob violence, socially; and so on through the 
 category of grievances whether they be praise- 
 worthy, petty or pertinent; the ultimate term- 
 ination of each depending on the extent of the 
 grievances engendered, the number of individ- 
 uals engaged, and the external pressure be 
 it financial, legislative, arbitrary or military 
 brought to bear upon the parties involved. 
 
 There is no question but that war, rebellion, 
 and even mob violence, have, in many instances, 
 brought about permanent good, though a favorable 
 result in such exceptional cases will not disprove 
 the above statement, nor will it prove that that 
 mode of procedure in each particular instance 
 was the best and only manner by which to reach 
 the desired end.
 
 MUTTERINGS 85 
 
 The prospects or the present conditions of 
 the laborer in Onaway never diminished the 
 business of The Anthracite though they did 
 disturb the other lines of business. The pro- 
 prietor of that institution had no fear about 
 fluctuations in the market for his goods or the 
 buyers for the same. As a rule, the more idlers, 
 the more he rang up his cash register. Not a 
 night passed but patrons crowded the bar. In 
 his haunts they mixed strong toddies and con- 
 cocted ingenious schemes which they intended 
 to better the condition of the toilers in the caverns 
 of rock, slate and coal, and to engender aversion 
 toward the coal operators. As the weeks passed, 
 the intoxication of unionism prevailed as con- 
 spicuously as that of the fiery liquors imbibed. 
 Slumbering fires and pent up forces of selfish 
 human nature oozed out into mutterings of dis- 
 content and agitation which, all too soon, would 
 break out into friction, fury and fight. 
 
 "Well, the time's come to get busy," said Oscar 
 Morgan, setting his beer mug down on the bar 
 and drawing his hand across his mouth. "It 
 makes me hot in the collar when I think how the 
 capitalists run things so arbitrarily. I've ben in 
 the mines ever since I could throw a sprag, an' 
 'ave handled ev'rything from a doorlatch to a 
 drill, an' I know what I'm tolkin' about, an' 
 don't ye furgit it. I've had me wages cut an' 
 me hours lengthened and 'ave ben ground by the 
 heel of oppression, while the oppressors slept in 
 their feathers which they bought with the margin 
 between what I got fur me wark an' what I ought 
 'o got. I'm in fur the union an' I'm union ev'ry 
 time."
 
 86 A FAST GAME 
 
 " 'Ere, 'ere!" shouted a half dozen. "We're 
 wid ye!" 
 
 "As I was a goin' to say," and he expectorated 
 at a distant cuspidor, /the time's come to git 'n 
 the game. Personally, I ain't got no kick comin' 
 for I hain't ben out of a job yet and I think The 
 Black Diamond Company 's good 's the best of 
 'em, an' it ain't 'n the trust either, but," clearing 
 his throat as a pretence for making his words 
 more emphatic, "in these times, ye can't jest tell 
 who's yer friends nor what minute the ones ye 
 think do be yer friends will give ye a stab in the 
 back." 
 
 "Who's that who will stab you in the back, 
 Oscar?" chimed in the pleasant voice of Ed 
 Slocum, who had entered the room unobserved by 
 the speaker. Morgan blushed to a crimson, for 
 a moment, speechless. A hush fell on the auditors 
 for they feared that the heir to the mentioned 
 company might take exception to what had 
 been said, or, at least, resent the insinuation 
 uttered in the last statement. They all knew 
 very well that Ed had heard all that Morgan had 
 said about the Slocum firm. Instead of bringing 
 war, however, Ed brought peace. He stepped 
 forward with a smile, saying, "Never fear, old 
 man, some day the fossils will be gone and then 
 you know you will have a friend who will stick 
 by you. Hey? Have a beer on it?" Then 
 turning to the crowd he called, "Come, boys, 
 what will you take?" 
 
 They needed no second invitation. The spark- 
 ling liquor flowed and foamed, glowed and gurgled, 
 while the glasses clinked and clattered. The 
 men quaffed and fell back. Ed shoved a crisp
 
 MUTTERINGS 87 
 
 greenback over the bar, and, while the bartender 
 drew out the till with a ring of the bell and chinked 
 the change on the polished oak, he turned to his 
 devotees and politely remarked, "Mr. Morgan, 
 the appointed agitator of the Mine Workers' 
 Union, will now address you." Then swinging 
 gracefully toward the gentleman mentioned, he 
 bowed low and concluded, "Mr. Morgan, you 
 have the floor." 
 
 The room rang with cheers and clapping of 
 hands and cries of, "Morgan! Morgan!" 
 
 There was but one thing for him to do, namely, 
 to gratify the wishes of his friends. Oscar spoke 
 with freedom and enthusiasm and posed as an 
 extemporaneous and amateurish orator. It was 
 not uncommon for him to address assemblies 
 similar to the one before him. He always took 
 part in the discussions of his lodges and local 
 union, and recently had been elected to the office of 
 agitator and organizer for the Miners' Union. 
 Without hesitation, therefore, he stepped for- 
 ward and, complimenting his introducer and ex- 
 pressing his appreciation for the favor conferred 
 on him, began: 
 
 "Gentlemen! if speak I must, and I'm really 
 glad o' the privilege, I'll be speakin' from the 
 subject that's nearest me heart and that subject 
 is the welfare o' me fellow man. I do not be 
 here to say that one man's better nor another, 
 whether he wark inside or outside, with grimmy 
 hands or lady fingers, but I do be sayin' that 
 the minority should not be rulin' the majority, 
 and, especially, when the few gobble the profits 
 an' leave the many to shift fur themselves on a 
 bare existence and on what the few have the
 
 88 A FAST GAME 
 
 face to say is a fair wage. Of course, we all 
 know that negotiations are open between the 
 Mine Workers and the operators for adjustment, 
 or a readjustment rather, of the differences of 
 opinion of the two parties concerned. Little 
 more nor two years ago we reached a settlement, 
 you know, and we went back to work. Times 
 has ben good sence then. They have, in some 
 respects, changed though, and now that the 
 contract between the miners and the operators 
 expires next April, it's time to get a hustlin' as 
 to whether we'll submit to the old wage scale or, 
 with the increased cost of living, ask for, and 
 receive, an increase of pay." 
 
 He stepped forward a pace and expectorated 
 profusely at a box of sawdust. Retracing his 
 step and rolling the sweet nicotinic morsel under 
 his tongue, he continued: "The demands o' 
 the Union ain't unreasonable and, I may say 
 right here as a side issue, we're goin' to have 
 'em. In the first place we're goin' to have the 
 closed shop, for if we don't have it, the same 
 old thing 'ill happen as has happened before, 
 only more so, and that is that ev'ry Tom, Dick 
 and Harry scab frum God knows where won't 
 pounce down on us like the locust of Egypt on 
 the Nile flats. Some o' the foreign breed browse 
 around like a mine mule or a goat and live on 
 two cents a day rice, rats or macaroni. They 
 live more like animals nor men." 
 
 "Notta so, Misita Morgan!" shouted a voice 
 in the crowd. 
 
 "Be quiet, Tony!" said Ed, raising his big 
 hand and smiling one of his broad, good-natured 
 smiles.
 
 MUTTERINGS 89 
 
 "We'll git the eight-hour day, too. That's 
 as long 's a man ken be in the mines fur the good 
 of his health and besides, anyone ken do "s much 
 in eight hours the year around as he ken in ten. 
 Bituminous miners an' the old country miners 
 have the eight hour system, and ain't we as much 
 entitled to it as they be? And right on top o' 
 that, too, we demand a uniform scale o' wages. 
 That's the only possible right way to pay. When 
 some men git a less wage nor others fur doin' the 
 identical thing there's bound to be discontent. 
 We do be all human and a little envy will creep 
 into the recesses of our bein' in spite of ourselves 
 an' that ev'ry man git the same treatment frum 
 'is emplyer ain't no unjust demand." 
 
 "That's the stuff!" shouted a voice. 
 
 "Of course, it's the stuff, and I'm feedin' it 
 to you right, too. Another thing that's right 
 is an increase o' wages fur the anthracite miners. 
 The operators have put up a howl about bein' 
 compelled to increase the price o' coal if they 
 increase our wages, and by that howl try to win 
 the sympathy o' the consumer. It's all rot! 
 a whole lot o' bluff! Stocks o' the coal companies 
 and the coal carrying railroads do be shootin' 
 up all the while! Yes, it looks like a famine 
 fur the poor cusses. Think we'd better chip 
 in an' give 'em a mite o' financial aid before 
 the sheriff sells 'em out under his hammer." 
 
 Cheers and loud applause. "Then, too, the 
 only fair way to pay fur minin' coal is by weight. 
 There do be a dozen different sizes o' cars and 
 varyin' differences in the bulk an' prices o' coal 
 as it comes frum the breast. The easiest an' 
 best an' the fairest scale, an' the only standard,
 
 90 A FAST GAME 
 
 is by weight. Then, last but not least, we've 
 demanded a reconstruction o' the board o' con- 
 ciliation as established by the strike commission 
 of nineteen hundred and three. Why, the present 
 board delays the settlement o' grievances till 
 patience ceases to be virtue. There do be cases 
 now before that body what have ben there fur 
 more nor two years. That's not justice. Any- 
 thing but hangin' fire fur months, and years, 
 even, fur the final decision of a case what ought 
 to be rendered in two months at the longest." 
 
 "How about the check off system?" asked a 
 listener. 
 
 "Oh, well, that's a matter o' very little import- 
 ance anyway," lowering his voice. "I wish 
 that ev'ry miner was honest enough to pay 'is 
 union dues without havin' the enemy collect 
 'em. But the operators," shouted the speaker, 
 as he got hold of another phase of the question 
 under discussion, "the operators do be puttin' 
 up a kick an' a big bag o' wind that the check off 
 system is unconstitutional. That's a hull bunch 
 o' rot an' the hull push know better nor that. 
 There ain't no use to argue the question at all." 
 
 "What's the prospects for a strike?" asked 
 another from the crowd which had continually 
 increased until standing room was at a premium. 
 Nor did all the listeners sympathize with the 
 speaker's views on the subject under discussion. 
 
 "My opinion is that the operators ain't got 
 the sand to declare a lockout, much less, let us 
 call a strike. I know they've piled up coal all 
 along their lines o' railroad, fur the railroad 
 companies an' the coal companies do be prac- 
 tically the same thing, an' claim they've got
 
 MUTTERINGS 91 
 
 enough ahead to last a year or more, but it's 
 all a bluff before the public. I want it strictly 
 understood that the union's got the mon. an' 
 a lot more o' the shiners nor it had when we 
 struck before. They may think they'll run us 
 down like the Merimac tried to run down the 
 Monitor, but they'll find that we're all there, an' 
 we'll puncture their windbags as easy as the 
 Monitor put the old Confederate boat out o' 
 business. But they won't be no strike. I tell 
 'e, the operators ain't got the sand to do it. We'll 
 give the devil 'is dues ; they know better. We've 
 prepared fur war in the time o' peace, and they 
 know it, too. They'll hang to the last rag before 
 they'll give in, but, mark what I say, before 
 April first they'll give us what we want, fur ev'ry 
 fair minded man in these regions knows we ask 
 fur only what's just an' right an' what's our own." 
 
 The climax was drowned in a roar of applause on 
 the one hand and of hisses on the other. Evi- 
 dently the speaker had warmed up himself as 
 well as his hearers; he had stirred up a hornet's 
 nest. Little knots of men formed in different 
 parts of the room and began discussing the var- 
 ious topics which had been brought before them. 
 Even warm contradictions were indulged in 
 and threats of violence made, when a voice shouted 
 above the confusion, "Do you think that now 
 is the time to strike?" 
 
 "I certainly do; that is, the time to strike do 
 be when the time of our contract expires with the 
 operators. It's no time to strike when we have 
 slack times. That was our great mistake before. 
 Wark, the supply an' demand, an' things in 
 general, was on the decline, then. We didn't git
 
 92 A FAST GAME 
 
 what we ought to got fur the simple reason I've 
 jest told ye. Now ev'rything's on the boom an' 
 now's the time to strike. But don't worry, we 
 won't, fur the operators know better nor to let 
 us." 
 
 "That's 'o!" chorused a half dozen. 
 
 "How about the consumer?" asked another. 
 
 "That's another threadbare howl. The public's 
 got nothin' to say about a bargain between indi- 
 viduals. The same rule holds good in the case 
 o' companies, an' I consider our labor corporation 
 a trifle ahead of anything on this old footstool. 
 I buy me leather an' me clothes an' me bread 
 an' me grog, an' hold me gab about the ox an' 
 the sheep an' the farmer. I put down the price 
 an' be a man. Let them what burn anthracite 
 do the same take their medicine like the rest of 
 us an' not go squealin' around like a pig with a 
 sore ear. Who ever heard of the consumer 
 pitchin' on to a flock o' sheep or a woolen mill, 
 because the slum waif stands in the street half 
 naked an' shiverin'? As if their poverty had 
 anything to do with the price o' woolen goods. 
 But, let the price o' coal go up a penny an' irum 
 the highest man in the nation to the lowest there 
 goes up a howl worse nor that o' the Egyptians 
 when their first-born got slain. As if ev'ry bit o' 
 warmth in the old earth come frum the black 
 diamond. Why, in the mountains an' the hill 
 country there's wood to burn, on the plains o' 
 the west there's corncobs to burn, and you 
 may call me Denis or Dooley or anything else 
 if in two years frum now, when the operators has 
 come to their senses an' adjusted matters with us 
 as though we was made out o' the same batch o'
 
 MUTTE RINGS 93 
 
 clay as them, there ain't money to burn frum 
 one end to the other o' this glorious old Lacka- 
 wanna valley!" 
 
 Excitement ran high by this time. Ed Slocum 
 saw the fiery factions chaffing to get at each other 
 and tried to stem the tide by saying in his most 
 genial manner, "Come, boys! all men's minds run 
 in the same channel at the ever sparkling. Come!" 
 
 The majority stepped to the front but in the 
 outskirts of the crowd an evident dissatisfaction 
 with the speakers words appeared. Several 
 nationalities pressed promiscuousyl together; some 
 after the proffered potation, others gravitated 
 toward each other because averse to drinking, 
 and still others drew back into knots on account 
 of their non-union principles; for they all knew 
 very well that the sympathy in general of The 
 Anthracite and its patrons was union to the core. 
 All could not drink at the bar at once anyway so 
 that after the first squad had quaffed the beverage 
 it fell back to make room for the others. But 
 all the rest did not come up. A few had already 
 left the room while other non-drinkers remained 
 as if to settle the differences of opinion right then 
 and there. Ed noticed the hesitancy and felt 
 its meaning, yet, desiring amity, he cheerily called 
 out the second time, "Come, fellows!" 
 
 "Notta too night, thanka!" returned a square 
 built Italian who stood in the front of his associates 
 and who went by the name of Tony Bandelli. 
 
 One of the union men present, who had more 
 fire-water than common sense, immediately 
 bawled, "Scab!" 
 
 "Comma outa door! Me showa you scabba!" 
 retorted Tony, starting for the door, followed by
 
 94 A FAST GAME 
 
 his opponent, his own gang and the majority of 
 the others in the room; but before they reached 
 the street there was a general mixup of men, 
 bottles, fists, knives, stilettos, fire-arms, curses, 
 yells, chairs and heads. The Anthracite's time 
 of travail had come and she brought forth her 
 legitimate spawnl When the struggling pile 
 reached the street the stillness of the night reeked 
 with howls of pain and anger. 
 
 The alarm brought several policemen to the 
 fray. But they found little they could do. 
 Most of the contestants had disappeared, and the 
 few, who remained, had played so unimportant a 
 part in the game and had been so lost in the 
 gathering crowd, that the officers could make no 
 arrests. Two men lay dead on the pavement and 
 three others writhed in pain, while their blood ran 
 in rivulets down the sidewalk. Among the 
 wounded lay Tony with his head on Naomi's knee. 
 The girl was in the act of administering a cup of 
 water to her patient when a policeman lay his hand 
 roughly on the shoulder of the helpless fellow and 
 said: "You are my pris'ner." 
 
 "He is my prisoner, sir!" quietly answered 
 Naomi. "I will answer for him at court when 
 the time comes or when he is able to be there." 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Miss Slocum," returned the 
 blue-coat. "Very well. We ken trust you." 
 
 Not that Tony was a favorite of Naomi more 
 than either of the other bleeding fellows; but 
 she just happened to get to him first and, finding 
 him badly wounded, she gave him her utmost 
 attention, for he bled profusely and the flow must 
 be stanched at once or the life lost. Dr. Morgan 
 answering a call in the direction of Maffit's patch
 
 MUTTERINGS 95 
 
 chanced to be passing The Anthracite at the time 
 of the row, in company with Tom who was on 
 his way home. The two men immediately lent 
 their assistance to the girl Tom to call an am- 
 bulance and Evan to put a temporary ligature 
 near the gash. Both of the other fellows were 
 more stunned than wounded, although blood 
 flowed freely from a slash over the left eye of the 
 one and a bullet hole through the right forearm 
 of the other, who chanced to be Lawrence Boland 
 and whom Tom assisted home where Dr. Morgan 
 soon after dressed the wound. 
 
 Lawrence had been one of the last to enter 
 the barroom and remained there more to see the 
 fracas end than to take an active part in it. There- 
 fore, on the promise of Tom for Lawrence's ap- 
 pearance in court, the officers let the boy go 
 home. The dead men were both non-union men, 
 one of them a brother of Tony. There were cuts 
 and bruises on some of those of the other party 
 but no one was the wiser as to their nature or 
 seriousness. 
 
 "Tony no good," murmured the bleeding 
 Italian as they hurried him along in the ambu- 
 lance. "Notta fitta for Missa Slocum tech! 
 Me badda man! Leava me go!" 
 
 "When you get good care I will let you go," 
 gently answered Naomi, smoothing back the 
 raven hair from his high forehead. 
 
 "You a Holy Virgin! Helpa badda man! 
 Tony no good!" 
 
 The broken sentences were cut short by the 
 arrival of the ambulance at the hospital. There 
 he received the needed attention and there he
 
 96 A FAST GAME 
 
 remained for several weeks before being suffi- 
 ciently recovered to appear in court or return 
 to his family. Bandelli had worked in the Slo- 
 cum mines ever since he came to America an 
 honest and industrious workman with a flash- 
 ing temper. His native fire often got him into 
 warm contests, especially in the line of union- 
 ism which he bitterly opposed. His heated 
 debates were as often with his own countrymen 
 as with others. For his radical views, as some 
 might call them, and for his seeming delight 
 in wordy jousts, he became an open target for 
 all who took exception to his opinions. Withal, 
 Tony Bandelli circulated among the citizens of 
 Onaway with the reputation of a man of sobriety, 
 of friendliness to the friendly, and of dogged oppo- 
 sition to his opponents though without treachery 
 or unfairness. He advocated personal liberty 
 but not personal license. His employers' business 
 was as sacred to him as his own; and their lives, 
 as his life. He visited no revenge or personal 
 rancor upon anyone, either in person or proxy, 
 but said everything to the face and did every- 
 thing in the open. However much his acquaint- 
 ances respected him and his fairness, they feared 
 him as an open enemy because of that unexpected 
 fairness; consequently, he often suffered intrigue 
 and injustice at the hands of his unseen foes. 
 
 But while the Italian lay in the hospital the 
 mutterings of the approaching contest grew 
 louder and louder and increased in volume and 
 number. Excessive unionism and over zealous 
 non-unionism maneuvered and scouted and 
 skirmished for advantage, much as two armies
 
 MUTTERINGS 97 
 
 
 
 marshall their forces for a deadly combat. They 
 played the game for life and they played the game 
 for death.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE OTHER SIDE 
 
 While the Mine Workers' Union planned its 
 battle and recruited its ranks the other side kept 
 busy with its defences and, perchance, when 
 the crisal moment came, it might be able to do 
 aggressive work in the form of a lockout or a 
 forward movement toward a wide open shop. 
 The immense piles of coal stored along the different 
 lines of railroad plainly informed the public 
 that the operators did not sleep on their outposts. 
 
 Of course, as might be expected, nearly every 
 colliery worked full time and with a full com- 
 plement of operatives, while commercial pros- 
 perity flourished in every line of business. But 
 to a close observer, the prospects of a permanent 
 boom displayed only ill omens. Should the labor 
 organization strike, the other side would be 
 ready for a long seige without materially depre- 
 ciating its stock, or hindering the accustomed 
 transportation of general freight, or even anthra- 
 cite for that matter. 
 
 And let it be understood that the railway trunk 
 lines not only handled nearly all the coal ship- 
 ments, but their stockholders had practically 
 the same interests in the ownership of the anthra- 
 cite coal fields as they had in the railroads them- 
 selves hence, the storage of the surplus output 
 
 98
 
 THE OTHER SIDE 99 
 
 of coal and the excessive activity of the employers 
 amounted to harvesting the summer's abund- 
 ance in anticipation of the winter's barrenness. 
 The other side was prepared. 
 
 Let it be understood, further, that an individual 
 operator stands in relation to the operators com- 
 bination or confederacy the same as the non- 
 union workman stands in relation to the union; 
 and much the same tactics are used for the im- 
 pressment of the individual into the organiza- 
 tion on the one side as are used for the same 
 purpose on the other. Boycott, personal solic- 
 itation, intimidation, threats, bribes and violence 
 constitute the principle weapons employed in 
 the bloodless wars waged between man and man, 
 man and organization, organization and organi- 
 zation, and organization and man; and, much 
 to the discredit of both sides, the wars are not 
 always bloodless. 
 
 The beginning of the year found the operators 
 of the whole anthracite coal fields in a joint session 
 at Onaway. The purpose of the meeting was 
 five fold: to increase their strength in member- 
 ship and capital; to form a more perfect compact 
 and a more wieldy organization; to study the 
 strength and plans, as far as possible, of the oppo- 
 sition; to prepare for a lockout or a strike or 
 concessions and a peaceful agreement as the con- 
 tingency might bring about by the first of April; 
 and to devise means whereby they could buy out 
 the interests of the anti-combination-individual 
 operator or drive him out of business by increased 
 freight rates, boycott or otherwise. The existing 
 corporate management held control of the situ- 
 ation, but did not have everything it wanted.
 
 100 A FAST GAME 
 
 Hiram Slocum and his son, Henry, represented 
 The Black Diamond Company in the dignified 
 assembly of the other side. A son-in-law of our 
 aged and virile friend, Uncle Hiram, also held a 
 seat in that body. Fifteen years previous to the 
 opening of our story a grand wedding took place 
 at the Slocum mansion, when Clarissa, the only 
 daughter of Hiram Slocum and his wife, Sarah 
 Ann, became the wife of Harry Norwood, a cultured 
 and congenial heir to a considerable estate, which 
 estate consisted partially of railway stocks and 
 partially of coal lands. 
 
 Since the marriage, the parents had died and 
 the son had come into his inheritance. This brief 
 explanation accounts for Norwood's presence 
 among the operators. Not that he had earned 
 his seat among them by assiduous industry, shrewd 
 business methods and mental acumen, because 
 these qualities were as far from his native or ac- 
 quired characteristics as the east is from the west. 
 That Harry Norwood was born into the kingdom 
 of social splendor, merits no more the applause 
 of men than some one else, who was born into the 
 kingdom of social degradation, merits the disre- 
 spect of public opinion. 
 
 The highest merit is to be born into the lowest 
 social grade and live up toward, and in, the 
 highest; the next higher, is to be born into the 
 highest grade and always live in it with a character 
 pure and unspotted from the world; while the 
 greatest disgrace is to be born into the kingdom 
 of wealth and opportunity, and to sink to the 
 dregs of the human aggregation. Next to a fallen 
 angel, the most pitiable sight is a fallen man 
 morally and socially, fallen and yet, moving
 
 THE OTHER SIDE 101 
 
 in society like a forlorn scarecrow in an autumn 
 cornfield, the difference being that the scarecrow 
 wears his clothes by virtue of the position he 
 holds, while the fallen man holds his position by 
 virtue of the clothes he wears. 
 
 If our eyes could only see as the Allseeing eye 
 sees, such a man would be as much out of place 
 among the pure four hundred as a fallen angel 
 in the kingdom of heaven. What has already 
 been said does not necessarily exclude the said 
 Norwood from the first families of Pennsylvania 
 though, it must be admitted, it does insinuate 
 that he circulated in a questionable guise. Be 
 that as it may, he was in attendance at the meet- 
 ing of the coal operators of northeastern Penn- 
 sylvania and took an active part in the delibera- 
 tions of the same. 
 
 Among the first speakers on the floor after the 
 session had opened for business was Harry Nor- 
 wood. He began with: "Mr. President In this 
 country of ours within the last few years many 
 mobs of various kinds have done their foul work 
 but, to my mind, the most nefarious of all is the 
 mob of organized labor. No man should object 
 to any association, labor or otherwise, whose 
 object is for lawful and beneficent activity. But 
 organized labor, as it is conducted today, stands 
 convicted by its own overt acts. It resorts to 
 physical force to override individual rights, con- 
 stantly rails at the laws of the land and the official 
 who attempts to enforce them, denounces the 
 courts for constitutional justice, and, thereby, 
 fulfills all the requirements of mobocracy. Un- 
 like the lynching bees and vigilance committees, 
 it is nothing more or less than a standing mob.
 
 102 A FAST GAME 
 
 "In its attempt to compel the recognition of its 
 pretentions to sovereignty it reposes not on reason, 
 but on coersion, intimidation and the bludgeon. 
 In its everlasting haranguing against law and 
 order and its appeal to the baser passions of man, 
 it is the principal agency for inculcating the mob 
 spirit and encourages the unfurling of the red 
 flag of anarchy " 
 
 "Puttin" it on purty thick, ain't ye Harry?" 
 interrupted Uncle Hiram. "Guess all the fire- 
 eaters hain't skedaddled into the labor union no 
 more than all the saints is corralled in the opera- 
 tors' fold, be they?" 
 
 Silence followed this break and smiles played 
 around the features of many a well fed face. The 
 speaker hemmed and blushed, at a loss to know 
 just what to do, till the presiding officer relieved 
 the embarrassing situation by saying, "You may 
 speak when your turn comes, Mr. Slocum; we'll 
 be glad to hear you. You have the floor, Mr. 
 Norwood." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. President," said Uncle Hiram. 
 "Excuse me for interrupting; I jest thought, 
 bein' Harry 's one o' my boys, I'd chip in a leetle 
 fur the good o' the order." 
 
 "During the first year," continued the speaker, 
 "the attempts to compel men to give allegiance to 
 the strike bosses in their schemes to establish 
 an oligarchy, have festered mob conditions in many 
 of our leading centers of industry. The supremacy 
 of law and order has not only received many 
 severe shocks at the hands of this octopas, but the 
 nation has lost millions of dollars from the en- 
 forced idleness of thousands of organized work- 
 men. It is time that the breadwinners of this
 
 THE OTHER SIDE 103 
 
 country realized that the investments in the 
 salaries of their agitators are mighty poor invest- 
 ments, and that their ceaseless enforced idleness 
 engenders trouble and drains them of the very 
 necessaries of life. 
 
 "The duty of the hour is not to waste time 
 negotiating with the fomenters of this anarchy 
 and insolent defiance of law, but to do as was 
 done in the early sixties, restore the majesty of 
 law, the only guardian of a liberty loving people, 
 and re-establish peace and union at any cost. 
 The government is a contemptible fiasco if it 
 can only protect the lives and property and secure 
 the comforts of the people by compromising 
 with the violators of law and the instigators of 
 violence and crime. 
 
 "Gentlemen, just at this moment, as it seems 
 to me, it is more important to teach ignorant 
 men, who dwell among us and who are misled 
 and used as tools by citizens from other states, 
 that at whatever cost and inconvenience to 
 the state, Pennsylvania's governmental power 
 will protect not only every man who wants to 
 work, but his family and home while he is at 
 work, and will punish the man who, by instiga- 
 tion or by overt acts, attempts to deprive another 
 of his right to work." 
 
 At the conclusion of his speech Mr. Norwood 
 took his seat and Henry Slocum came forward, 
 got the floor and addressed the auditors as fol- 
 lows: "Mr. President: I represent the individ- 
 ual operators, I suppose, and whether I continue 
 as such remains to be seen. I am in sympathy 
 with some of the remarks of Mr. Norwood and 
 not in sympathy with others of them. In our
 
 104 A FAST GAME 
 
 mines we employ both union and non-union 
 workmen, the majority, non-union Perhaps, 
 because we are not in the trust, as we might say, 
 that class of men would come to us in preference 
 to some of your mines. But this one thing I do 
 know, that the easiest class to get along with 
 is that of the non-union fellows though they are 
 daily annoyed and nagged by the union men 
 to join them and so consolidate laboring men 
 in order to demand and get all their desires as 
 well as rights. If I had my way about it I would 
 employ only non-union men." 
 
 "You're honest, Hen, to own the corn, but ye 
 know that ain't the square deal to ev'ry chap," 
 broke in his father. 
 
 The speaker paid no atteniton to the remark 
 but respectfully continued as if nothing had 
 happened. "Men do not all think alike any 
 more than they all look alike, likewise, there are 
 those who will join the union as there are those 
 who will not, and no power on earth can compel 
 some of the latter class to join it. Therefore, 
 if human nature is so stubborn, and we all have 
 our vein of stubbornness more or less, why will 
 one man stand over another with a club and 
 attempt to force him to do that which is against 
 his will and conscience? 
 
 "Then, too, there are other men who do not 
 want to join the union, but, either because they 
 are too timid to stand for their convictions or 
 too easily influenced by personal persuasion, do 
 finally become members of the organization in 
 which their sympathies are not merged, become 
 victims of radical leaders and believe what others 
 tell them without investigating for themselves.
 
 THE OTHER SIDE 105 
 
 And when it comes to the election of officers in 
 the union their votes help to swing the majority 
 on the side of the agitator. 
 
 "Now, as to the thousands of idle organized 
 men mentioned by the speaker who preceded 
 me I have this much to say: they are idle either 
 from their own choice or through the selfishness 
 and power of their leaders; and they will not 
 only not work themselves, but, like the dog in 
 the manger, will not let anyone else work. For 
 such men I would most sincerely advocate calling 
 out the federal troops or at least sufficient power 
 to suppress their unlawful practices on others. 
 If you offend anyone of the organization a hor- 
 net's nest is stirred up immediately, and the 
 whole swarm pounces upon you without mercy. 
 I would not mind that so much if there was any 
 reason for it. Not long ago we discovered one 
 of our petty bosses discriminating between union 
 and non-union employes, exceeding his authority 
 over some of the workmen, and, what is worse, 
 appropriating tools and mine supplies and dis- 
 posing of them at a nice little personal profit. 
 
 "When the matter came to us and we posi- 
 tively knew that he was dishonest, we promptly 
 discharged him. We received letters in less than 
 thirty-six hours from labor leaders requesting 
 us to restore him to his former position or the 
 other union men would be called out of our mines. 
 We ignored the demand and nothing has been 
 done about the matter since. 
 
 "Now, the only danger of the operators' union 
 is that instead of simply protecting ourselves 
 from the tyranny of the labor union, we exceed 
 our rights also and coerce them as they are trying
 
 106 A FAST GAME 
 
 to coerce us. They are spoiling for a fight and 
 should we form a perfect compact, the next 
 step would be to accommodate them in the 
 battle. We all know how stubborn each of us 
 is if another tries to force him against his will 
 not only stubborn but selfish and retaliatory. 
 Should the battle between labor-unionism and 
 capital-unionism be set in array and fought 
 to a finish, who would be the victor when the 
 smoke cleared away? Would we gain or lose in 
 the general average? I tell you, it's a mighty 
 precarious game to play." 
 
 No sooner had Mr. Slocum taken his seat than 
 another operator was on his feet and began a 
 heated refutation of the arguments advanced by 
 his predecessor on the floor. 
 
 "Mr. President," he began, "I am not in favor 
 of pursuing any such easy measures in dealing 
 with the Mine Workers' Union as the speaker 
 who just took his seat, and, what is more, the 
 company, whose interests are intrusted to me 
 at this committee meeting, will favor no scheme 
 that will place these red-handed desperadoes on 
 an equal basis with law-abiding citizens. It 
 has been decided on good authority that the 
 organization is illegal, and, therefore, I hand in 
 this resolution." He here read the resolution 
 which is as follows: 
 
 "Resolved, that we, the anthracite operators 
 of northeastern Pennsylvania, in convention as- 
 sembled, do ask that the civil branch of the United 
 States government taking cognizance of and follow- 
 ing the decisions of its courts rendered in litiga- 
 tion growing out of previous similar conditions, 
 at once institute proceedings against the illegal
 
 THE OTHER SIDE 107 
 
 organization known as the Mine Workers' Union, 
 its well-known officers, agents and members, to 
 enjoin and restrain permanently it and them from 
 continuing this organization, and requiring them 
 to desist immediately from conspiring, conniving, 
 aiding or abetting the outlawry and intolerable 
 conditions in the anthracite regions for which 
 they and they alone are responsible." 
 
 "Purty middlin' hash measures, Mr. President," 
 said Hiram Slocum, as he slowly rose from his 
 chair. His eyes flashed the fire of opposition, 
 and the occasional thumping of his cane on the 
 floor manifest the purturbed condition of the old 
 man's feelings, though he spoke calmly and with- 
 out trembling of voice, except the tremor naturally 
 due to old age. 
 
 "I don't s'pose I could vote on this bill if I 
 wanted to, fur I'm not in the combine yet, but if 
 I could vote, I'd vote ag'in it ev'ry time. If we 
 should try to push that thing through, we'd be 
 usin' the same weapons our well meanin' brother, 
 who jest took his seat, had been complainin' 
 about that they use on us. If this 'ere thing 's 
 goin' to be a duel to death, why, there's no harm 
 in each feller havin' the same weapon. If there 
 was only two chaps ingaged in the fracas an' they 
 was bound to fight, I'd give 'em the shootin' irons 
 and say, 'Pitch in an' have it out, boys!' But 
 there's more 'n two mixed up in the rumpus. 
 There's you fellers and us fellers, the union an' 
 the non-union, an' we make a very le.etle showin' 
 when compared with the other fellers we call 
 consumers or spectators who watch the game. 
 An' if we all got into a reg'lar ruction, wouldn't 
 we make a purty pictur' for the fureign nations
 
 108 A FAST GAME 
 
 to look at? to set on the international fence an' 
 laugh at? Our repitation is too good to spile by 
 sech animal actions. It makes my old New 
 England pride raise an" my blood bile to think o' 
 doin' sech a thing as that. 
 
 "Now one wrong to offset another wrong ain't 
 fair play when it's tit fur tat betwixt two. That 
 ain't even 'an eye fur an eye, an' a tooth fur a 
 tooth.' Fur that law don't mean that if the other 
 feller knocked your eye out, you had a right to 
 knock his eye out. To try that game ye might 
 git the other eye knocked out, too. Mind ye, 
 in the old law the third party plucked out the 
 eyes an' pulled the teeth of the offenders. An' 
 my opinion about this 'ere row we're in now is 
 that we'd better be adjourned to a higher court- 
 fur a decision, before either side tries to git the 
 other feller's teeth pulled fust. 
 
 "There's a judge before who we'll all give an 
 account an' if t'other feller gits his desarts, an' 
 he will, why, let the just judge give 'em to 'im. 
 The line of cleavage in society ain't between the 
 farmer an' the banker, betwixt capital an' labor, 
 the rich an' the poor, an' betwixt one organiza- 
 tion an' another, but, to simmer it down to the 
 pint, the line's betwixt the moral an' the im- 
 moral, the honest an' the dishonest. That brings 
 the dicker right down betwixt man an' man an' 
 not betwixt class an' class, fur in ev'ry class, 
 except the invisible church of God, there's scala- 
 wags big an' there's scalawags small. An' when 
 we deal with 'em on the square, we deal with 'em 
 one by one eev'ry time, an' not putter 'round 
 with a hull lot of 'em together. There was a 
 time when I thought I could flop anybody o' my
 
 THE OTHER SIDE 109 
 
 heft in the country an' I'm not braggin' when I 
 say I was never yit put on my back by any one 
 raster but now it's 'bout all I ken muckle to keep 
 off my back. I ain't so rambunctious now. But 
 in these four score year I've learned a thing er 
 two. 
 
 "In them days nobody could rub it on very 
 thick 'fore they'd hear frum me an' in a way that 
 would make 'em peeunk, too, but I see different 
 now. Times is changed some but the truth an' 
 right ain't changed a mite, ner they wont nuther." 
 The old man hesitated a moment. The expres- 
 sion of his eyes denoted reflection. His mind 
 swept toe past, the present and the future at a 
 glance while the moisture trickled its winding 
 way down through the wrinkles of age and integ- 
 rity. 
 
 "Boys, when ye git to the summit o' this life 
 you'll see the right standard. It's not the stand- 
 ard o' occupation, er social repitation but the 
 standard o' conduct. How ye behave yerself as 
 a man is what counts in the long run. As I see 
 frum my heith an' you'll give way to an old 
 man the ins an' outs, the ups an' downs, an' 
 the rights an' wrongs o' life, call 'em any high- 
 falutin' name ye please; I say, when these things 
 is bilt down to the gen'ine article an' sugared off 
 to the clear quill, you've got love, pure an' simple 
 love, that '11 stay by ye, love that is sweeter than 
 the honey an' the honeycomb. If we all had 
 brotherly love these hard sums would do them- 
 selves. 
 
 "But I know we ain't all got that scarce piece 
 o' goods. Some lack it because they don't want 
 it; others lack it because they don't know what
 
 110 A FAST GAME 
 
 it is; an' there's a few of us, that would like to 
 have ev'rybody else git it an' we go scot free. 
 What's sass fur the goose is sass fur the gander. 
 This human won't mix with nothin' so's to not 
 leave a bad taste in the mouth. Ye can't thin it 
 ner ye can't thicken it. I call it the balancin' 
 power. Now Rooshy, that is, her rulers, coveted 
 the arth an' was goin' to git it regardless o' her 
 peasant class specially an' the nations o' the 
 world in general; that was her license: when 
 she got walloped, as she desarved, them peasants 
 turned round an' walloped 'er ag'in; that was 
 their license. 
 
 "Now don't you think that if them two classes 
 in Rooshy had balanced up things a leetle, played 
 give an' take with the honey o' life, played the 
 game fair, that they'd ben a hull lot better off 
 all around? That's our object lesson. The coal 
 miners has organized ag'in us an' struck; that's 
 their license. Now if we git huffy an' organize an' 
 strike back that'll be our license, but there's no 
 honey in it. 
 
 "We ought to know better an' set a better ex- 
 ample, bein's we are considered in better circum- 
 stances than them. Let's balance the account 
 with the miners. Set 'em a good example by 
 takin' 'em into our confidence an' dealin' with 
 ev'ry man alike. If we organize, we're apt to 
 defend our wrongs instid o' our rights, but when 
 we stan' alone we ken defend our own rights. 
 I prefer to deal man to man as our great labor 
 Leader dealt with the fishermen, an' the ruler an' 
 the lame an' the halt an' the blind ; therefore, The 
 Black Di'mond Comp'ny won't jine the union.
 
 THE OTHER SIDE 111 
 
 We don't do business with no class but we do 
 deal with any man." 
 
 A hush fell on the convention when their "old 
 man eloquence" resumed his seat. It was not so 
 much what he had said that impressed them but 
 what he had always done. He was a living ex- 
 ample of the doctrine he advocated. His life 
 spoke even louder than his words. However, 
 the operators gradually recovered themselves, 
 continued the meeting and adjourned sine die. 
 The consensus of opinion favored a lockout unless 
 the miners came to the terms of the operators. 
 The operators wanted to deal the cards.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 INTIMIDATION 
 
 While the stirring question of the hour 
 whether or not there would be a strike of the 
 anthracite coal miners, the probabilities and 
 the results of a strike or a lockout or neither 
 was on every tongue, the pulpit naturally and 
 properly took a hand in the game and applied 
 the principles of the divine Master to the amicable 
 settlement of all clashes between man and man, 
 and especially did it discuss the momentous 
 question of Capital and Labor then pending 
 before the public. 
 
 Among other ministers of the Gospel in the 
 city, who instructed their flocks on the present 
 and personal application of the Golden Rule, 
 none was more fair in his opinions, more script- 
 ural in his application, clearer in his thought, more 
 frank in his statements, and sweeter and more 
 persuasive in his appeal, than the Rev. H. C. 
 Needman, pastor of the First Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church in Onaway. One Sunday morning 
 after he had delivered himself of a masterly address 
 on the burning question of the day, had con- 
 gratulated himself that he had finally solved 
 the problem in justice to all parties concerned, 
 and had put on his overcoat to walk home, he 
 was accosted in the vestibule of the church by 
 
 112
 
 INTIMIDATION 113 
 
 Harry Norwood with words something to this 
 effect: 
 
 "Look here a minute, elder, if you have the 
 time; I want to speak with you privately for 
 just a moment." 
 
 Now Harry was a member of the church 
 whether in good standing or not we let the reader 
 judge for himself and on excellent terms with 
 his pastor. As one would expect, therefore, 
 the reverend gentleman fraternally took his 
 parish oner by the arm, drew him aside from the 
 few who yet remained in the auditorium of the 
 church and replied with this cordial word: "Why, 
 certainly, brother Norwood; you may have me 
 for a minute or for an hour, if you like." 
 
 "Why a, what I was going to say a " 
 wisely and fawningly began the interviewer who 
 had gotten beyond earshot of the public, "I 
 was now, of course, I am not dictating what 
 you shall preach or what you shall not preach, 
 and this is a friendly conversation between man 
 and man. I liked your sermon this morning, 
 in the main, but being an operator," and a sickly 
 smile sauntered over his features, "and in direct 
 touch with all phases of our dealings and de- 
 mands, I thought you would not object to a 
 few pointers that, perhaps, you in your position 
 had not observed." 
 
 "Thank you, brother, for your compliment 
 and for the frankness you manifest," pleasantly 
 responded the divine. "I will only be too glad 
 to gain any information from you at first hand. 
 My object is to be fair and try to see as others 
 see from their standpoint." 
 
 Put more at ease by this cordial reception of
 
 114 A FAST GAME 
 
 his proposition, Norwood continued: "For you 
 to say that the operators are retaliating with 
 the same selfish weapons as the miners' union is 
 using, may sound well to many individuals and 
 may appear well on paper, but it is not in har- 
 mony with the facts in the case. In the first 
 place the principle is not advantageous from an 
 operator's standpoint nor would its application 
 be practical in the business and social constit- 
 uency, and I will tell you why. For us to use 
 the same selfish weapons as the miners are using 
 
 "Did I say, 'the same selfish weapons?' " in- 
 terrupted the elder. 
 
 "Why a, yes, or words to that effect." 
 
 "This is what I said, brother: 'The operators 
 are retaliating with selfish weapons, the same as 
 the union is doing.' ' 
 
 "It all amounts to the same thing, practically." 
 
 "Oh, no! At least I did not mean it in that 
 way; but I did mean to say that both miners 
 and operators are using selfish weapons. They 
 are not the same, though the principle involved 
 is the same." 
 
 "You do not comprehend the situation from 
 our point of view. If we encouraged and prac- 
 ticed intimidation, black hand secrecy, mob 
 violence and depredation as they do, it would 
 be nothing short of inviting in the reign of anarchy 
 and chaos. They stand for everything that 
 destroys while we stand for constructive prin- 
 ciples." 
 
 "Constructive, according to your own ideas, 
 but widely differing from those of the unionist. 
 His opinion from his position is as good as your 
 opinion from your position."
 
 INTIMIDATION 115 
 
 "It is impossible and unjust to compare them 
 with us in any way. There is nothing in common 
 with them and us any more than there is between 
 hell and heaven. They would rob us of our 
 rights and legitimate increase in our business to 
 satisfy their own greed for personal profits and 
 power. They are selfish, regardless of the sacri- 
 fice entailed on us. They demand an increase 
 of wages and a decrease of hours." 
 
 "And you demand a decrease of wages and an 
 increase of hours, the same principle though 
 not the same weapon." 
 
 By this time Mr. Norwood's sabbatic composure 
 evidenced signs of perturbation. The color of 
 a Crimson Rambler flushed his face and the 
 sense of defeat agitated his already nervous 
 condition. 
 
 "Now, see here, elder, you perfectly under- 
 stand my position in the city and my financial and 
 social status in this church." 
 
 "Perfectly, brother Norwood; and your re- 
 ligious status, too." 
 
 "My advice to you, is to go slow in your pulpit 
 utterances in regard to the operators of whose 
 interests you know but little, or you will feel their 
 influence in a way that will not be agreeable to 
 you." 
 
 "Now, you see here," earnestly, though friendly, 
 put in the pastor of the First church, as he looked 
 his opponent square in the eye, "You insinuated 
 a moment ago that the unionists did all the in- 
 timidating. What are you doing now but trying 
 to influence me to hush up wrong on your side 
 for a few paltry dollars and a little social flattery ? 
 Please understand that neither you nor any other
 
 116 A FAST GAME 
 
 man can modify my pulpit enunciations or de- 
 nunciations which I consider in harmony with 
 what is commonly called, The Holy Scriptures. 
 I will sacrifice neither my conscience nor my con- 
 victions for anything I deem contrary to the Word 
 of God." 
 
 "You know that my pew is one of the best in 
 the church and my family relations carry weight 
 in the official board. If you will be so unwise as 
 to continue to flaunt your invectives against the 
 conservative and substantial element of the 
 church, why, you will have to suffer the conse- 
 quences, that's all!" 
 
 "Let us be frank, brother Norwood," pleasantly 
 continued the dominie as a pitying smile spread 
 over his handsome features pity for the deluded 
 man before him; "I understand your relation 
 with the Slocum family, the backbone of the 
 church, and I also know that your influence with 
 them would be lost in a child's thimble; and, 
 furthermore, the sooner you discontinue courting 
 such uncharitable business principles as you are 
 now advocating, the better it will be for your 
 spiritual welfare. Won't you come over to my 
 study and have a word of prayer with me?" 
 
 The irate coal operator could not stand that 
 kind of fire. Burning with anger and chagrin, he 
 turned on his heel and strode out of the building, 
 sarcastically flinging back through his blue lips, 
 "No, thank you; I'll pray with no bigot and 
 support no fanatic." 
 
 The room was empty. The dignified pastor 
 knelt beside one of the pews and threw back the 
 curtains of his heart's window that faced toward 
 Calvary. The light immediately streamed in.
 
 INTIMIDATION 117 
 
 He rose with moisture in his eyes and the con- 
 sciousness of triumph and right in his bosom. In 
 that frame of mind he hurried home to find his 
 wife and her brother, Oscar Morgan, chatting 
 pleasantly together and waiting dinner for him. 
 The trio at once repaired to the diningroom and 
 partook of their light Sunday luncheon. Oscar 
 often dropped in of an evening or a Sunday after- 
 noon and spent an hour or two with them. Today 
 they passed the midday meal delightfully and 
 shoved back from the table satisfied in the inner 
 man. 
 
 The sister and wife excused herself and went 
 up to her room for her siesta. The gentlemen 
 retired to the sitting room and began to chat 
 in their old time friendly and informal manner 
 when Oscar, his brothet-in-law and member 
 of his church, broached to the minister the sub- 
 ject of the morning discourse. 
 
 "Well, what was the matter with it?" enquired 
 the preacher. 
 
 "Why a, it was first rate, but don't you think 
 you gave it to us labor unionists pretty strong, 
 yes, and unjustly, I may add?" 
 
 The wary man of the cloth lounged on the 
 couch and with half shut eyes and drawling voice 
 made answer. "I hope not, Oscar. I did not 
 intend to be unjust. What did I say that gave 
 you that impression?" and he snuggled down into 
 the heap of sofa pillows about his head. 
 
 "When you said that the union was a feeder to 
 the mob spirit, a menace to law and order and a 
 sprag in the wheels of industry." 
 
 "Well, what about it?" Deeper into the pillows. 
 
 "There is this about it; it ain't so. Did not
 
 118 A FAST GAME 
 
 John Wesley's preachin' stir up mobs and law- 
 lessness?" 
 
 "To be sure." Still deeper into the pillows. 
 
 "And didn't permanent prosperity result from 
 the agitation?" 
 
 "Yes, most assuredly." Anything but sleep 
 among the pillows. 
 
 "And didn't the Master stir up the mob spirit? 
 I contend that this kind of agitation that we're 
 doing, though I do not approve of open violence, 
 to be what will arouse the thinkin' classes to sense 
 their duty and bring about permanent industrial 
 prosperity and a reformation of the civil and 
 moral laws as much as the reformation instituted 
 by our Lord or by John Wesley." 
 
 The pillows scattered like a bevy of quail. The 
 pretender was very much awake, sitting up with 
 both eyes wide open, and, with a light laugh, 
 spoke in the popular phrase of the times: "Why, 
 Oscar, you're way up in the air. You can no 
 more compare your work with that of Wesley's 
 than you can compare the running of a locomotive 
 with driving a mine mule. In the first place, you 
 have wrested my pulpit statement from its context. 
 When you add to your statement the remainder 
 of my statement 'Unless the leaders and agita- 
 tors are controlled by a Divine power' you have 
 my meaning and I stand by it yet. 
 
 "When Wesley and our Master incited mobs 
 they presented something to fill the heart as well 
 as the mind, but when capital and labor clash, 
 each gives enough to fill the mind of the other, 
 while, on the other hand, each fills his own heart 
 with hatred and selfishness toward the other. 
 Jesus conquered the mob by His love and His
 
 INTIMIDATION 119 
 
 life. Peter wanted to go at them with a sword. 
 The Peters and the Judases are the ones who raise 
 the devil. Peter was a loyal defender of his cause 
 at any price; Judas was an agitator for the price 
 he got. Peter had to recant before he became a 
 ( loyal member of his Master's cause, but Judas was 
 'too stubborn to allow himself the same privilege. 
 I understand that you have the position of solicitor 
 and agitator in the union now. Be careful how 
 you use your authority." 
 
 "I'll 'tend to me own loaf without any theo- 
 logical leaven to raise it. You measure every- 
 thing with your biblical yardstick an' yer about 
 as consistent with the use of it as a grocer would 
 be, who sold his molasses by the yard. You 
 haven't the faintest conception of what the 
 miner receives at the hand of the oppressive 
 operators an' fur you to avow from the pulpit 
 the assertions that ye did this morning do be a 
 disgrace to your profession an' an open confes- 
 sion o' yer ignorance. You may know something 
 about the Scriptures but ye do be an ignoramus 
 concerning the economic principles o' the labor 
 problem." 
 
 The lion, having become thoroughly aroused, 
 rose to his feet and shook himself for the finish. 
 With his magnificent personality under perfect 
 control and his voice clear and musical he began: 
 
 "We are not going to argue this question any 
 longer, nor are we going to get excited over the 
 matter. As your pastor, and from a sense of 
 duty, I must inform you of a few things that I 
 do know and I apologize to you for not having 
 the courage to tell you before. You remember 
 that fatal row over in The Anthracite a few
 
 120 A FAST GAME 
 
 weeks ago. Had it not been for my influence 
 in the Municipal League you would have been 
 fetched up for the part you played in the fray. 
 Had it not been for your agitation, the disgrace- 
 ful event would not have occurred. 
 
 "When I found out that you were in the saloon 
 at the time, I was mortified and humbled to 
 think that a member of my church would bring 
 reproach upon the cause of Christ by affiliating 
 with such a class and in such a place and be the 
 chief entertainer of the evening. Mary don't 
 know anything about it yet. I know she would 
 be heartbroken to find it out. Dick gives her 
 enough occasion for anxiety without knowing 
 that her pet brother is following in the same 
 road, though more under cover." 
 
 An occasional tear trickled down the cheek 
 of the divine as he spoke, and his voice had a 
 noticeable pathetic quaver. His whole bearing 
 indicated the deepest solicitude for the brother 
 before him. "Now, Oscar, for your own good, 
 the good of your position, both in the labor union 
 and the church, keep away from the saloons 
 and speak more on the line of arbitration and 
 less on that of agitation." 
 
 "You seem to know so much about me business 
 and me whereabouts, I wonder how you'd con- 
 trol the drinkin' class o' the miners if ye didn't 
 go to their haunts," said Oscar with a dogged 
 insinuation. "You don't understand the posi- 
 tion of the brow-beaten laborin' class in the 
 least. They'd go crazy if the saloon didn't fur- 
 nish a relief from their hardships. And there's 
 where you ought to go to influence 'em to a better 
 life an' better circumstances."
 
 INTIMIDATION 121 
 
 "Not to drink with them and incite them to 
 violence, though." 
 
 "Who said I drank with em'?" quickly snapped 
 Oscar. 
 
 "I did not say that anyone said you did, but 
 you know that you did, and after the treat, you 
 were introduced by Ed Slocum as the speaker 
 of the evening. Ed's influence seems to hold a 
 magic spell on you. Is that leadership on your 
 part?" 
 
 "I want you to understand that we do be in this 
 game to win, an' I'll go to the saloons or any- 
 where else I please to recruit our forces, and, 
 what's more, we do be going to win out over the 
 grindin' o' the operators. And as a warnin' to 
 you, a friend an' brother-in-law, ye must be 
 less radical in yer preachin' hereafter or ye'll 
 incur the ill will o' the union and then, perhaps, 
 ye'll know somethin' o' its power." 
 
 "Do you mean to say that I must preach ac- 
 cording to the whims of the Mine Workers' Union?" 
 
 "No, I didn't say so," hesitatingly answered 
 Oscar, "but words to that effect. You know 
 that the majority of your official board are union 
 men and what the majority o' the board says, 
 goes. Your financial support comes largely from 
 them, too. An' besides, if you insist on followin' 
 the course ye marked out this morning, there'll 
 be other influences, brought to bear on ye besides 
 the church influences. Not that I'll do nothin' 
 o' the sort but I give ye fair warnin', as a friend. 
 I ain't able to control all the union forces." 
 
 "Look here, Oscar, you are using the carnal 
 weapons of the world to intimidate me to preach 
 a lopsided Gospel to suit a few, or a certain clique.
 
 122 A FAST GAME 
 
 What kind of spiritual pabulum would that be 
 for all classes? I would sooner go to heaven 
 with dynamite under my house and my duty 
 done to God, than to walk the streets of Onaway 
 as a pet of a certain class and in ill favor with God 
 Almighty. You better save your words. You 
 know just where I stand and where I live. My 
 throne is yonder pulpit and there I shall reign 
 as a free servant of God and preach the Gospel 
 to all men, at least, to as many as will stay in 
 the pews to hear me, union, non-union, operators 
 or consumers, so long as I am physically able 
 and the Conference sees fit to keep me here." 
 
 "Of course, it's immaterial to me what ye 
 preach but there do be others what don't think 
 so. I simply want to put ye on yer guard. No 
 one can tell just what will happen in these tryin' 
 times," as he arose to put on his overcoat. "I 
 thought it best to have an understandin' with 
 ye so you might know what to expect." 
 
 "Well, I'm glad you brought this question to 
 my mind. I think I understand your position 
 and I hope you understand mine. Come up 
 again," and the front door of the parsonage closed 
 behind the union agitator. 
 
 The minister returned to the sitting room, 
 kneeled by the side of the couch for a moment, 
 rose and buried his head again in the pillows, 
 his body under the slumber robe, and was soon 
 breathing heavily in the arms of Morpheus. 
 While the golden pencilling of the winter's setting 
 sun danced on the walls of the room, the dominie's 
 eyes opened and looked up into the smiling face 
 of his wife. A few minuets of affectionate cooing 
 followed before the happy pair separated; the
 
 INTIMIDATION 123 
 
 one to the Epworth League, the other to his 
 study. The evening service passed without in- 
 cident of note save the conversion of a union 
 and a non-union man at the altar, an incident 
 recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life and by 
 eleven o'clock Needman's pulpit fever had sub- 
 sided, his nervous tension had relaxed, and a 
 soporific quietus had hushed the realm of the 
 pastoral mansion. 
 
 Among the letters in his Monday morning mail 
 the clergyman found one postmarked, Onaway. 
 He hastily broke the envelope and read as fol- 
 lows: "Reverend Sir: In pursuance of our 
 policy we hereby give you fair warning that if 
 you misrepresent or oppose the Mine Workers' 
 Union from your pulpit or otherwise as you did 
 in your yesterday morning's sermon you will 
 suffer the full penalty of this organization." 
 
 No date or signature graced the sheet, except, 
 in place of the signature, there was the rough 
 sketch of a black hand. The clerical gentleman 
 put the ominous letter where his wife could not 
 get it and went on with his usual work. And 
 thus the time passed. 
 
 In the evening the doorbell announced a caller. 
 A moment later Tom Boland was ushered into 
 the room. The three friends chatted for a few 
 minutes on the current topics of the day and 
 when the conversation began to languish Tom 
 said that he would like to speak privately with 
 Mr. Needman for a moment on a little matter of 
 business. The two excused themselves to Mrs. 
 Needman and repaired to the study the secret 
 chamber of every minister of the Gospel. When 
 the door closed behind them Tom produced a
 
 124 A FAST GAME 
 
 letter and, handing it to his pastor, asked, "What 
 would you do if you were I?" 
 
 Mr. Needman read as follows: 
 
 "Sir: 
 
 In pursuance of our policy we hereby give 
 you fair warning that you must either join the 
 Mine Workers' Union or resign your position in 
 the Diamond Mine or pay the sum of five hundred 
 dollars to a certain person on the east end of the 
 Lackawanna bridge on Wednesday evening at 
 nine o'clock or suffer the penalty of this organ- 
 ization." 
 
 Under the words sprawled the foreboding black 
 hand. Without speaking a word the pastor took 
 from a pigeonhole his threatening message and 
 handed it to Tom. When he read the note he 
 looked up into the expectant face of his pastor 
 and said with some warmth, "If it has come to 
 this, I propose to hold my job and suffer the con- 
 sequences. What say you, Brother Needman?" 
 
 "I am with you. We'll just lay low, go on as 
 if nothing had happened, trust in the Lord and 
 keep our powder dry." 
 
 "That settles it," answered Tom, extending his 
 hand. "We'll see the game through. Put it there 
 to the last," and the two brotherly hands sepa- 
 rated and the subject dropped for the evening. 
 
 When they returned to the sitting room they 
 found Naomi Slocum in conversation with Mrs. 
 Needman. The quartet conversed pleasantly for 
 some time, drank a cup of cocoa together and 
 talked of more serious subjects for a little longer, 
 after which Naomi rose to go. Tom at once 
 offered his company, which courtesy she as
 
 INTIMIDATION 125 
 
 quickly accepted, and the two left the parsonage 
 together. 
 
 "I do not know what we are coming to, Mr. 
 Boland," said Naomi after they had walked 
 half a square in silence, "if affairs continue as 
 they are going." 
 
 "What do you mean, Miss Slocum?'" 
 
 "Oh, I hardly know myself. The air seems to 
 be full of secrecy and ill omens. First, one is 
 threatened by one society if he does not obey its 
 demands and then another is warned by another 
 organization that he must submit to its peremp- 
 tory authority. One can not stir unless he is 
 watched by some one." 
 
 "You haven't, given me any definite informa- 
 tion, yet, as to the cause of your apprehension." 
 
 "Well, I know of a certain non-union man who 
 has received warning to quit his job or suffer the 
 consequences, and this morning grandfather re- 
 ceived two letters both anonymous, of course 
 the one demanding that you be discharged or he 
 must take the consequences, and, in the place of 
 the signature, a sketch of a black hand; and the 
 other, demanding him to join the operators' union, 
 or forfeit five thousand dollars or look out for 
 boycott, excessive freight rates et caetera, and 
 signed by a red hand." 
 
 "Well, what is he going to do about it?" anx- 
 iously inquired Tom. 
 
 "Do about it? Why, what can he do? He 
 would not be grandfather if he did not have his 
 own way; and father and Uncle Henry are of 
 the same opinion. The letters are already burned 
 and you need not fear about losing your position 
 so long as there is a Black Diamond Company."
 
 126 A FAST GAME 
 
 earnestly answered the girl as she kindly smiled 
 up into Tom's concerned face. "You need have 
 no uneasiness concerning your future welfare 
 so long as you are as faithful to duty as you have 
 been with us," and she hugged his arm up tightly 
 in hers & token of loyalty and confidence. 
 
 Tom choked down a lump in his throat. A 
 sense of gratitude moved his emotions when 
 he was assured of so loyal friends as his em- 
 ployers friends who had implicit confidence 
 in his integrity, ability and fidelity. Contrasted 
 feelings of anxiety also possessed him when he 
 thought of his own black hand letter, However, 
 his spirit of determination did not flinch, in fact, 
 it increased the more he pondered the subject, 
 Whatever the threat of the secret writer meant 
 Tom resolved to stand like a man to what he 
 believed to be the right and his duty. 
 
 "What would you do if you were in that non- 
 union man's position, Miss Slocum?" inquired 
 Tom. 
 
 "I believe I'd stand my ground," proudly 
 answered the little woman. "But if you should 
 get such a letter, I believe, if I were you, I would 
 resign. Wouldn't it be awful if you should get a 
 warning like that? But then you wont. The 
 very thought is presumptuous." 
 
 "Why should I submit to the demand of the 
 black hand any more than anyone else? Where 
 is the discrimination?" 
 
 "Oh, Tom, it seems different in your case." 
 
 "Seeming does not alter the principle of the 
 act, does it?" 
 
 "No-o, of course not; but I would not like to 
 have you get into any trouble."
 
 INTIMIDATION 127 
 
 "Trouble? Ought one to flinch duty even 
 if it does bring trouble? Would you?" 
 
 "No, I wouldn't, if it took my life," quickly 
 replied the thoroughly aroused girl. 
 
 "Why would it be different in my case, then? 
 Am I to be favored above other men?" 
 
 A moment of silence followed as they neared 
 Naomi's home. She walked with her head down 
 as if struggling for self control. Tom could 
 easily feel the tremor of her arm as it lay in his. 
 It was her turn now to swallow the rising passions 
 which contended for utterance in the one direc- 
 tion and for a burst of tears in the other. 
 
 "Don't ask me, Mr. Boland. It's altogether 
 different in your position. Good-night!" 
 
 The last words were spoken under superior 
 restraint and with a plaintive, suppressed voice. 
 A moment later Tom stood alone on the steps 
 of Benjamin Slocum's mansion. The diverse 
 thoughts that rapidly followed one another 
 through Tom's mind, and vied with each other 
 for consideration, are better suggested to the 
 reader than enumerated in words. Whether 
 or not the consciousness of manly determination 
 and devotion to duty, the solicitude for the wel- 
 fare of his employers or his guileless love for 
 Naomi, secured the supremacy in his contem- 
 plations and his emotions we also leave to the 
 candid judgment of the reader. 
 
 Suffice it to say that Tom passed through the 
 streets of Onaway safely and arrived at the door 
 of his humble dwelling which he called home, 
 scarcely cognizant of the stones on which he 
 trod or the buildings that lined either side of the 
 thoroughfare. A few flakes of frost sifted here
 
 128 A FAST GAME 
 
 and there through the wintry air, the electric 
 lamps on the corners swung silently back and 
 forth by the gentle touch of the night wind, and 
 the deserted streets played with the flitting 
 shadows thrown from the swinging censers of 
 light, when the door closed behind Tom Boland. 
 
 Nearly two weeks later than the events recorded 
 above, the Saturday morning and evening papers 
 announced that the pastor of the First Methodist 
 Episcopal Church would preach at the following 
 Sunday morning service on the subject of "Fra- 
 ternity, or the Individual Rights in Relation to 
 Capital and Labor." A hum of excitement went 
 through the city and instead of a boycott and 
 empty pews, the auditorium was crowded to 
 the doors. 
 
 Both sides and all sides waited the sermon with 
 expectancy, wondering which side would be 
 the favored party; each member of the congre- 
 gation believing, to a certain extent, at least, 
 that his own opinions were unprejudiced and that 
 he must necessarily be one of the favored few. 
 No one expected invective or undue fervor, 
 for the Reverend Needman never indulged in 
 diatribes and acrimonious denunciaiton. His ar- 
 gument was always clear; his style, ornate; and 
 his delivery, dignified and forceful. We do 
 not intend to give a verbatim report of the ser- 
 mon he delivered on that occasion, only an out- 
 line of the ideas propounded, sufficient to clearly 
 express the import of his argument and thought. 
 After giving his text: "Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself," he mentioned the fact 
 that influences had been brought to bear upon 
 him by his friends to keep silent on the delicate
 
 INTIMIDATION 129 
 
 subject that, just at present, seemed in every- 
 body's mouth. 
 
 Well aware that he had already, unintention- 
 ally of course, offended some with his former 
 utterances he thought best, in justice to the 
 importance of the subject, in justice to those 
 whom he had already displeased, and in justice 
 to himself and the Gospel he preached, to treat 
 the question, to the best of his knowledge and 
 conscience, impartially, prayerfully and ex- 
 haustively, so that all might know his position 
 and understand that he was a true friend to every 
 individual. 
 
 Individual rights are the sacred inheritance of 
 every American citizen. As Judge Andrews puts 
 it in one of his addresses of recent date: "Nothing 
 is more valuable; nothing so much to be desired; 
 nothing that can so develop the heart and mind 
 as the full measure of individual liberty. Freedom 
 to move from place to place; freedom to avail 
 one's self of all the opportunities for improvement 
 of body or mind, and of all conditions, social or 
 physical, that can minister to our happiness; 
 freedom to work or not to work; in short, the 
 right to enjoy personal freedom to any extent 
 that does not interfere with the like right of 
 enjoyment in every other member of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 "This personal and individual freedom, this 
 civil liberty thus denned and described, was a 
 great achievement of our fathers, and is the glory 
 of all our constitutions and forms of government, 
 state and national." Any person, therefore, if 
 he be an employe, has the right to work or not to 
 work, to begin or quit his job, to hire out his
 
 130 A FAST GAME 
 
 services to the individual or the corporation he 
 chooses and at a certain scale of wages the em- 
 ployer and the employe agree upon; if he be an 
 employer, he has the right to hire or discharge 
 whom he pleases and when he pleases, to join an 
 operator's union or not and to pay the wage as 
 agreed upon with his employe. 
 
 The corporate rights are the same. It must be 
 conceded that incorporated companies have the 
 same right to join a union of such companies for 
 their own protection as the individual may have 
 to join a union for his own protection. The right 
 to hire and discharge are the same in each in- 
 stance, whether corporation or individual, whether 
 the corporation be composed of employers or 
 employes, whether of incorporated employers' 
 unions or of incorporated employes' unions. 
 
 As Judge Andrews again says in regard to the 
 opportunities: "Purging themselves of every 
 anti-social and unworthy element, recognizing in 
 others the rights they claim for themselves, with 
 malice toward none and charity toward all, 
 subordinate to law, with a full sense of their 
 responsibilities as American citizens, and making 
 their appeal to the public opinion of the country, 
 they will be held in time to come, by employer 
 and employed, as powerful coadjutors in the 
 maintenance of American ideals of free govern- 
 ment among men." 
 
 The limitations of power apply to the individual 
 and the corporation alike, as do their rights. 
 Neither party can use compulsory measures upon 
 the other or upon one of his own craft. When 
 one even interferes with the rights of another he 
 exceeds his limitations and deprives the other
 
 INTIMIDATION 131 
 
 of what he deems most valuable to himself 
 namely, the freedom of choice or personal liberty. 
 No individual has a right to coerce another in- 
 dividual into membership in a union, nor has the 
 union, composed of corporate or unincorporate 
 individuals, a right to exceed those of the individ- 
 ual. No man, or company of men, may be re- 
 garded as possessing the right to quit his job 
 and hold it at one and the same time, nor prevent 
 another from taking up the work where he volun- 
 tarily laid it down ; nor has he the right to call in the 
 aid of others, who have no personal grievance, to 
 take up his trouble and join him in an effort to 
 destroy another or another's prospects in business 
 or labor. 
 
 The principle of discrimination, so called, is 
 unjust, intolerable and un-American. Applied 
 to the uniform wage scale that is, every person 
 who labors at the same kind of work for a given 
 time, should receive the same wages fosters 
 laziness and incompetency. If two employes 
 work side by side at the same kind of work for the 
 same number of hours, the one shiftless and 
 shirking in his duties, the other careful and indus- 
 trious, it is an unjust discrimination to pay each 
 the same wages. It tends to discourage care- 
 fulness and encourages carelessness. 
 
 The closed shop may be termed as discrimina- 
 tion and is as hard a nut to crack as the old time 
 predestinarian views. That an old employer 
 should be forced to turn out an old and faithful 
 employe to make room for another who is less 
 competent and a new employe, simply because 
 some party or parties demand the change, is not 
 only discrimination with a vengeance, but it is
 
 132 A FAST GAME 
 
 overstepping the bounds of reason and right, 
 and establishing tyranny in the place of liberty. 
 
 On the other hand, capital must recognize the 
 right of labor to organize for its own protection 
 and benefit, and such laborers should not be 
 discriminated against so long as they do not 
 interfere with the rights of others. Employers 
 and employed should not be hostile forces but 
 allies and partners in production. They prosper 
 together; they suffer together. To tolerate dis- 
 cord between these great interests is not only 
 unjust but suicidal. 
 
 Whoever wins the game, be he playing it alone 
 or in partnership, wins it on individual merit. 
 "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all 
 men are created equal; that they are endowed by 
 their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that 
 among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
 happiness." In closing the sermon the speaker 
 quoted the above sentence from the Declaration 
 of Independence and concluded with: 
 
 "As our own beloved President of this liberty 
 loving nation said in a recent address touching 
 on this subject of so vital interest to the laboring 
 man, the operator and the consumer alike: 'The 
 consistent policy of the national government, so 
 far as it has the power, is not only to hold in cheek 
 the unscrupulous man, whether employer or 
 employe; but to reusfe to weaken individual 
 initiative or to hamper or cramp the industrial 
 development of the country. We recognize that 
 this is an era of federation and combination, in 
 which great capitalistic corporations and labor 
 unions have become factors of tremendous im- 
 portance in all industrial centers.
 
 INTIMIDATION 133 
 
 " 'Hearty recognition is given the far-reaching, 
 beneficent work which has been accomplished 
 through both corporations and unions, and the 
 line, as between different unions, as between dif- 
 ferent corporations, is drawn as it is between 
 different individuals; that is, it is drawn on 
 conduct, the effort being to treat both organized 
 capital and organized labor alike; asking nothing 
 save that the interest of each shall be brought 
 in harmony with the interest of the general public, 
 and that the conduct of each shall conform to 
 the fundamental rule of obedience to law, of 
 individual freedom, and of justice and fair deal- 
 ing toward all.' 
 
 ' 'Whenever either corporation, labor union, 
 or individual disregards the law or acts in a spirit 
 of arbitrary and tyrannous interference with 
 the rights of others, whether corporation or 
 individual, then where the federal government 
 has jurisdiction, it will see to it that the miscon- 
 duct is stopped, paying not the slightest heed 
 to the position or the power of the corporation, 
 the union or the individual, but only to one 
 vital fact that is, the question whether or not 
 the conduct of the individual or the aggregate 
 of individuals is in accordance with the law of 
 the land. Every man must be guaranteed his 
 liberty and his right to do as he likes with his 
 property or his labor, so long as he does not 
 infringe the rights of others. No man is above 
 the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask 
 any man's permsision when we require him to 
 obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as 
 a right; not asked as a favor.' 
 
 "Therefore, we are driven to the conclusion,
 
 134 A FAST GAME 
 
 by the law of our land as interpreted by our 
 Chief Executive, which is in harmony, yes, 
 based upon the law of Almighty God as inter- 
 preted by His Chief Executive, Jesus Christ, 
 that all difficulties existing between capital and 
 labor, between individual and individual, be- 
 tween man and man or man and men, or the 
 differences which may ever arise between them, 
 can be settled, and settled right, only by follow- 
 ing the admonition of the King of Kings and the 
 Lord of Lords, Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
 as thyself.' ' 
 
 The pastor pronounced the benediction and 
 followed his usual custom of standing at one of 
 the doors to shake hands with the members of 
 his congregation as they departed from the build- 
 ing. Many hands that morning refused the warm 
 grasp of the divine; some wore the blue powder 
 marks of the miner, others the horny callous 
 of the rockmen and runners, others the soft 
 greasy palm of the oilers and engineers, and still 
 others the velvety hands of the pompous operator. 
 Many of the disgruntled ones held their member- 
 ship in the First Church and the parson's pre- 
 science scented trouble in the ranks, not only 
 against him but disaffection and disunion among 
 themselves. 
 
 Some congratulated him and bade him god- 
 speed. He had cast the die. The declaration 
 of his convictions had gone forth and he could 
 not recant. A half hour in his study on his 
 knees produced the necessary quietus for his 
 agitated nerves and anxious soul. The vigorous 
 parson had declared only the simple teaching of 
 the Master whom he served day and night, he
 
 INTIMIDATION 135 
 
 had done but his duty opened his window 
 toward Jerusalem. He cast the consequences 
 into the hands of the Lord and waited patiently 
 for Providence to assert his decrees and carry 
 out his designs. 
 
 The following afternoon Needman sallied out 
 upon the streets as he had ever done and bent 
 his steps to the home of the unionist and the 
 operator alike, in either instance carrying the 
 message of consolation and sympathy to the 
 troubled heart. He opened his lips in prayer 
 at the bedside of Phebe, the crippled and now 
 feverish sister of Oscar Morgan, and hurried on 
 to the palatial home of Harwood, where he had 
 been summoned to the bedside of the master of 
 the house, who had imbibed too freely at his 
 club the night before and who tossed in the 
 agonies of a nervous collapse. He received a 
 welcome everywhere he went as the bearer of 
 comfort and Christian encouragement. He played 
 his game like a man.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PRINCE ARTHUR 
 
 The snow lay deep in the streets of Onaway. 
 The storm had continued for twenty-four hours. 
 The thermometer stood only a little above zero 
 when the ice dust began to fall but the storm 
 concluded with the temperature above freezing. 
 Big flakes filled the atmosphere, flung away their 
 white wings, and doused into the snow in drop- 
 letts which were sozzled around by a warm shower 
 and a final downpour. The wind in its wanderings 
 caught the breath of the south and blew it into 
 the dripping clouds. 
 
 A half hour later every patch of nimbus had 
 fled from the field of blue, leaving no trail of the 
 battle of the elements which had been fought so 
 recently. The sun reigned in his glory. He 
 whirled through the sky on his monocycle of gold, 
 the sparks from which shining chariot set the 
 eaves of every building adrip and flushed the 
 gutters and sidewalks with the sloshiest slush 
 that ever graced the streets of a city. With the 
 scrape of the snow shovel mingled the laugh of the 
 shovelers, punctured now and then by the spat 
 of a snowball to break the monotony of the toil 
 and to remind the neighbor, by the little love 
 tap, that he was relegated to the list of the un- 
 
 136
 
 PRINCE ARTHUR 137 
 
 forgotten. The February thaw had arrived in 
 earnest. 
 
 Schools were out and the good Lord only knows 
 what public school pupils will not do at such a 
 time. From one of the passing trolley cars 
 Harry Norwood, the coal operator, issued to 
 walk the remaining two blocks home, along which 
 street the trolley track did not run. For several 
 days Mr. Norwood had grappled with business 
 relative to the church, the coming lockout or 
 strike. His nerves burned a little and conscience 
 more; consequently, his nervous system rebelled. 
 To put down the rebellion he imbibed beyond the 
 limit of his customary potation of fat wine on 
 the leas. That overindulgence easily led to the 
 back parlor of The Anthracite, where stronger 
 neurotic potions gratified his increasing and capri- 
 cious appetite. The indulgent landlord saw the 
 drift of the tide and the ultimate haven of the 
 drifter and prepared to remove the inspirited 
 man from his cups and companions to an un- 
 disturbed retreat where he might sleep off the 
 slowly developing somnolent stupidity. But the 
 subject of so indulgent kindness was not so easily 
 disposed of. 
 
 When the landlord attempted to remove Nor- 
 wood's watch, that it might not be stolen by 
 anyone, and, of course, return it after the slum- 
 berer awoke, the slight movement disturbed the 
 dozing operator who sprang unsteadily to his 
 feet and demanded an explanation for so uncere- 
 moniously appropriating his personal effects. 
 No explanation explained, however, and the 
 insulted man left the room in a fit of anger and 
 threats of arresting the proprietor with so ductile
 
 138 A FAST GAME 
 
 fingers and so adhesive a touch. The sudden 
 vent of passion balanced him sufficiently to gain 
 the street and safely, if not gracefully, board a 
 passing car just as the last bit of filmy mist van- 
 ished in thin air. 
 
 He no sooner stepped out into the slush on 
 the crossing than his feet plunged unnecessarily 
 over shoe tops into the gutter. The wideawake 
 school boys instantly detected the outward effect 
 of an inward and spiritual power. 
 
 "Look a thar, boys," shouted Norman Boland, 
 as the intoxicated man fetched up against a 
 trolley pole. "See the old monkey shin up a 
 tree!" 
 
 "Can't make it, old man!" yelled another lad 
 as he hurled a snow ball. "Take that fur luck!" 
 
 "Who's the rube, anyway?" called another 
 from the fast gathering crowd. 
 
 The foremost of the youngsters drew a little 
 nearer and, identifying their victim, wheeled 
 and shouted back, "It's the Old Harry, hisself!" 
 Then hurrying to the group he told who it was. 
 A low whispered consultation followed, inter- 
 spersed by many a grin and giggle and punctured 
 by many an ejaculatory "gee!" while the boys 
 threaded in and out among themselves like a 
 bunch of water bugs in an eddy of a woodland 
 stream. Occasionally they stopped in their cir- 
 culatory motions to pack their snowballs harder 
 by squeezing them across the knee. When they 
 had carefully planned the advance and every 
 pocket fairly burst with ammunition, the squad 
 deployed and charged, yelling at the top of their 
 voices. 
 
 "Feed it to 'im, now!" shouted Ned above the
 
 PRINCE ARTHUR 139 
 
 din. He had assumed command by virtue of 
 his chest expansion and strength of vocal chords. 
 "Feed it to 'im, right!" 
 
 "Soak 'im a couple!" screamed another as he 
 flung his missiles with a rapidity and accuracy 
 that would do credit to a baseball twirler of pro- 
 fessional renown. 
 
 Volley after volley of the snowy bullets merci- 
 lessly pelted the retreating figure. Once the 
 assaulted operator attempted to turn on his 
 assailants but he could not stand the fire. The 
 shells had no respect for person or place, but 
 struck and exploded on the bridge of his nose or 
 on the butt of his ear or landed on his jaw as 
 impartially as they spent their force in the loose 
 folds of Norwood's heavy beaver overcoat or in 
 the soft snow of the street. It was no use; he 
 could not face such a galling fire. So on up the 
 street he staggered, angered and weak and blinded. 
 Once he shook his fist at the boys but with his 
 back toward them. It served its purpose, how- 
 ever, by inviting the assaulting party to renew 
 the attack. 
 
 "He's hot 'n the collar!" shouted the leader. 
 
 "I'll cool it fur 'im, then!" answered the nearest 
 charger as he landed a well soaked ball in the 
 back of the neck, just above the sleek, velvet 
 trimmed coat collar. 
 
 The blow put the fleeing one entirely at the 
 mercy of the boys. His unsteady legs swaggered 
 too near the curbing over which his right foot 
 tripped and Mr. Norwood landed head foremost in 
 the gutter, at the moment that his son, Arthur, a 
 lad of five years, burst out through the gate of 
 the Norwood mansion and rushed at the howling
 
 140 A FAST GAME 
 
 crowd, simultaneously hurling his little snow balls 
 and his passionate invectives into the victorious 
 legions. 
 
 "You leave my papa be," after he had delivered 
 a half dozen balls and stood squarely and de- 
 fiantly with a ball in each hand. "I'll plug ye 
 one if ye come any nearer!" 
 
 This unexpected enemy checked the advance 
 and lulled for a moment the din of battle, but 
 only a moment, for Mr. Norwood, rolling uneasily 
 on his moist couch, solicited another onset. But 
 Prince Arthur stood his ground like a good sir 
 knight of the Round Table. He was on his 
 mettle with his blood up. He displayed courage 
 that brooked no defeat. His very boldness and 
 diminutive size caused the firing to cease, though 
 the jeers went on. 
 
 "Don't hit the kid!" commanded the sym- 
 pathetic Ned, "but plug 'is dad!" 
 
 The boys formed a semi-circle around the 
 father and son; the former sitting and draining 
 on the curbstone, the latter darting from one 
 side to the other as an invader approached too 
 near his self-intrusted charge. Arthur shook his 
 fists at the mob of youngsters and stamped his 
 foot. 
 
 "Git out o' here," he shouted. "I'll call the 
 p'lice! Stop, now, I say, or I'll sling this inter 
 yer snoot!" and he dove after one of the chaps, 
 who had ventured to pick up the helpless man's 
 crushed and drabbled hat. At this exigency a 
 carelessly thrown snowball hit the little hero in 
 the face. He covered his face with his hands for 
 a moment as if wondering whether or not he had 
 better cry. In the slanting rays of the sun could
 
 PRINCE ARTHUR 141 
 
 be seen on the reddened cheeks trickling drops of 
 melted snow and tears mingled together, and a 
 little streak of blood across his upper lip which 
 quivered like his voice. Again he looked his 
 antagonists straight in the face and commanded, 
 "Now, quit, I tell ye! I'll snowball ye to deff if 
 ye hit me ag'in or put a han' on my papa. Goo 
 off, now!" 
 
 Just then one of the boys whispered loudly 
 "cop!" The company of lads dispersed like 
 magic, leaving the entire field to the big police- 
 man, the little hero and the hero's father. The 
 blue coat assisted the boy's father into the house 
 and left him there, shut out from the curious 
 world. Mrs. Norwood did not relish the conduct 
 of her husband. Though not accustomed to 
 come home in his present condition, especially 
 the gutter ducking and the hapless victim of a 
 young mob, his pitiable plight and swollen face 
 aroused no sympathy in his wife. She held her- 
 self aloof from him and paid no more heed to him 
 than if he had not been present. No more 
 faithful wife ever lived than she, but her spotless 
 character came not so much from the practice of 
 virtue as from inherited temperament. She was 
 naturally proof against temptation and, hence, as 
 naturally cold and unsympathetic in nature 
 white and cold as the driven snow. 
 
 "Mama, tome an' help papa, quick! He's sick!" 
 exclaimed Prince Arthur, opening the door and 
 rushing in ahead of the policeman and his father. 
 "Tome, mama!" 
 
 "Guess he isn't dangerous, Arthur," coldly 
 responded the mother rocking back and forth and 
 never looking up from her reading.
 
 142 A FAST GAME 
 
 "Yeth, he be too, mama; he can't walk," 
 urged the little fellow, tugging at his mother's 
 arm. 
 
 "Now, Arthur, don't bother me. Your papa 
 made himself sick and now let him make himself 
 well again." 
 
 "Do you know what ails him, mama?" pleaded 
 the little intercessor. "Has he got the fiford 
 fever?" 
 
 "No! he's drunk. Go away and let me alone." 
 
 The innocent hero rushed back into the hall 
 shouting at the top of his voice, "Papa's dwunk, 
 Mr. P'liceman, an' mama won't tend to him. 
 I t'n do it, though!" and away he hustled up the 
 stairway whither the officer of the law had con- 
 ducted the partially sobered parent. 
 
 The wife continued her reading as if nothing 
 had happened while the son threw off his wraps 
 in a heap on the floor of the room in which his 
 father was making a desperate effort to remove 
 his own clothing. 
 
 "I'll help ye, papa, if mama won't. I t'n take 
 off yer shoes." 
 
 Suiting the action to the word he got busy as 
 a bee. He tugged and bustled around, keeping 
 his body in constant motion and his tongue just 
 as lively as his fingers. 
 
 "There's one shoe off. Can't I hustle, papa? 
 What would you do wivout your little boy? I'm 
 most a man, an'it I, papa? I'll take yer coat an' 
 vest," and before one could say "scat," he had 
 hauled them off the left arm and heaped them in 
 a corner of the room. The father attempted to 
 remove his collar and, while he fumbled with the 
 tie, Arthur noticed the utter failure of the process,
 
 PRINCE ARTHUR 143 
 
 and, springing on to the bed beside his father, 
 began to take off the troublesome article. 
 
 "I'll do that, papa!" 
 
 In an instant the little fingers were at work. 
 When the cravat was nearly off the sharp eyes of 
 the lad noticed the swollen cheeks and the red 
 eyes. 
 
 "Why, papa, dem naughty boys has hurt your 
 cheek awful, ain't dey, papa? I fro wed snow- 
 balls into 'em an' I bet day got bigger cheeks 
 den you. It made ye cry, didn't it, papa? Your 
 eyes be awful red an' here turns a tear." 
 
 The midget leaped from the bed and was back 
 again in an instant with a handkerchief, wiping 
 the face of the sorrowful father for the words of 
 the son began to penetrate his heart and the 
 shame and disgrace got hold upon him. His 
 example before his son dawned on him like a 
 sword penetrating his vitals. Drunk enough to 
 be slow in his movements he had sufficiently 
 sobered to realize where he was, who talked to 
 him and worked over him, and to feel the twinge 
 of conscience. 
 
 "Pa-pa's shick, dear!" he murmured with 
 groggy tongue. 
 
 "No, yer dwunk, mama says. You fordot, 
 didn't ye, papa?" laughed the little fellow. "Mans 
 det dwunk, don't dey, papa? I ain't a man yet, 
 be I, papa? I'm most a man, ain't I, papa? 
 My! dat shirt sleeve sticks awful, don't it, papa? 
 Dere it turns an' here's yer nightshirt. When 
 I get to be a big man, I'm going to get dwunk, 
 can't I, papa? You'll help me to bed den, wont 
 you, papa? It's big to get dwunk, ain't it, papa? 
 I'll be big some day an' turn home dwunk, but
 
 144 A FAST GAME 
 
 I'd lick dem boys if dey snowballed me an' got 
 me in the ditch, wouldn't I, papa? Why, papa, 
 what you cry so for? There, now, you t'n go to 
 sleep, now, can't ye, papa?" 
 
 And the youthful nurse wiped all the tears 
 from his patient's eyes, tucked the bedclothes 
 around him and dragged the wet and soiled under- 
 clothes into the bathroom, cheerfully whistling 
 "Old Kentucky Home," his favorite tune. Five 
 minutes later the happy son appeared before his 
 mother, capped and coated again, asking for the 
 privilege to go over and see his grandpa. 
 
 "No, dear, not tonight," she replied. "It will 
 soon be bedtime." 
 
 Without further ado the contented Prince 
 whistled his way through the house to the back 
 yard where stood his old drygoods box which he 
 had made and unmade a dozen times into a house, 
 a barn, an office, a store, a railroad station and 
 many other buildings too numerous to mention. 
 
 That evening the mother, son and daughter, 
 Ina, just entering her teens, ate their supper in 
 silence, except now and then an interruption by 
 Arthur the life of the home and a chatterbox 
 without a peer. When the trio had adjourned to 
 the sittingroom and the hour for Arthur to retire 
 for t^ie night approached, his cousin Ed Slocum 
 dropped in to spend a few minutes with his aunt 
 and the children, but, incidentally of course, to 
 learn the condition in which his uncle arrived 
 home and the reception he received on his arrival. 
 No sooner had he hung his overcoat and hat in 
 the hall than Arthur had him by the hand, led 
 him to a chair and climbed onto his cousin's
 
 PRINCE ARTHUR 145 
 
 knees as soon as that personage had seated him- 
 self in a comfortable position. 
 
 "I'm awful glad ye turn over, cousin Ed. 
 Mama'll let me stay up a little longer, now. I 
 don't like to go to bed, do you, cousin Ed? Oh 
 say! would ye b'lieve it? Papa got dwunk to- 
 day and dest mopped the gutter wive his best 
 suit. My, but he was a sight! Dest dobbed wive 
 dirt an' soppin' wet. I helped 'im to bed. Mama 
 wouldn't touch 'im a single bit. Why, he couldn't 
 walk a step. The p'liceman had to git 'im in the 
 house. I wish ye could a seed 'im, cousin Ed." 
 
 "Yes, I would liked to have seen him. Great 
 sport, wasn't it?" 
 
 "Well, I should say so! Dess I'll soon be a 
 man and den I t'n get dwunk too. Say, cousin 
 Ed, what makes dem red streaks in your eyes 
 dest like papa's?" The boy had swung round on 
 his cousin's knees and had begun to finger his 
 eyes and nose and ears in true childish fashion. 
 His face was very close to that of his cousin 
 when he exclaimed in a sort of suppressed tone, 
 at the same time drawing his face to one side, 
 "Your bref don't smell very dood, cousin Ed. 
 It's dest like papa's is. Be you dwunk too?" 
 
 "Oh, no, Arthur, I'm sober as a judge. You 
 don't suppose I would do such a thing as that, do 
 you Arthur?" 
 
 "I don't know. It would spoil dem good 
 clothes an' mus dat nice tie, awful." His chubby 
 fingers had already been nearly all over the piece 
 of neckwear mentioned. "Now, honest, cousin 
 Ed, did you ever get dwunk?" 
 
 The young man blushed a little and made be- 
 lieve he did not hear the question put to him but
 
 146 A FAST GAME 
 
 he turned and remarked to Mrs. Norwood, "What 
 a change in the weather we have had today, aunt 
 Clarissa! It seems like a summer night as com- 
 pared with this morning." 
 
 "Yes, the change has been very acceptable," 
 she calmly replied. "We had a beautiful sunset 
 this evening." 
 
 "Now, cousin Ed, you dest answer my question," 
 broke in Arthur as he added pursuasive force to 
 his appeal by twisting the nose of his inattentive 
 listener. "Did you ever get dwunk?" 
 
 "Arthur! Stop your questions now or I will 
 put you to bed," sharply spoke up his mother. 
 
 "I'll be dood, mama," cheerfully responded the 
 little question-box, sliding out of his cousin's 
 arms, scampering across the floor, climbing into 
 his mother's arms and snuggling close up in her 
 loving embrace. 
 
 "Do you fink it's nice to put a little boy all alony 
 in a dark room by hisself, mama?" murmured 
 the darling as the sleepy powders began to take 
 effect and the tired little legs hung listlessly over 
 his mother's knees. The jabbering mouth opened 
 with a yawn while the sandman shook his box of 
 dust into the sticking eyelids. But the honor of 
 being up an hour later than usual bedtime, parti- 
 ally, at least, overcame the somniferous tendency 
 of the body and he began again, 
 
 "Mama, does cousin Ed get dwunk like 
 papa?" 
 
 "Hush, dear, you must not ask such questions." 
 
 "W-h-y?" with another yawn ending in a little 
 hum. 
 
 "Oh, because!" slowly answered the fond 
 mother.
 
 PRINCE ARTHUR 147 
 
 "But, does 'e, mama?" 
 
 "There, be still, now and don't ask any more 
 questions." 
 
 A hush fell on the occupants of the room, 
 broken only by the easy movement of the rocking 
 chair on the carpet and the slight friction of the 
 leaves in the post-card album at which Ed was 
 looking. The little eyelids closed and the elder 
 occupants of the room began to breathe easier 
 when, to their discomfort, the question-box 
 opened again and piped out, "Mama, did Jesus 
 get dwunk? " 
 
 "No, dear. Now go to sleep." 
 
 "Why didn't he, mama?" quickly asked the 
 full awake boy, sitting bolt upright and looking 
 squarely into the face of his instructor. 
 
 "Jesus was a good man and never did anything 
 wrong." 
 
 "Is it naughty to get dwunk, mama?" The 
 little eyes opened widely now and the active mind 
 drew its logical conclusions. 
 
 "Yes, dear." 
 
 She pulled the diminutive reasoner back to 
 her bosom where he nestled for a moment, then, 
 turning up his innocent face to that of his mother, 
 murmured, "Mama?" 
 
 'What, dear?" 
 
 'Did you say dat Jesus didn't get dwunk?" 
 
 'Yes, dear." 
 
 'Dood mans don't get dwunk, do dey, mama?" 
 
 'No, darling. Now hark!" 
 
 'Papa ain't a dood man, be he, mama?" 
 
 'Arthur, I say, hark your noise." 
 
 'An' cousin Ed ain't a dood man, eever, be he, 
 mama?"
 
 148 A FAST GAME 
 
 "Now I shall take you right upstairs to bed. 
 You have pestered us long enough with your 
 questions." 
 
 Suiting the action to her words the little fellow 
 was half led and half dragged out of the room 
 and up the stairway. When he passed his cousin 
 he sleepily drawled out, "Dood-night, cousin Ed; 
 I shan't get dwunk when I get big." 
 
 A few minutes later, after he had breathed his 
 trundle-bed prayer, he sprang to his feet like a 
 rubber boy, threw his arms around his mother's 
 neck, gave her a final hug and good-night kiss 
 and bounded into bed, murmuring, "I'm going 
 to be like Jesus, mama, an' not get dwunk." 
 
 Though the mother thought nothing of the 
 solemn vow of her son the words did not fall on 
 deaf ears. The heavenly Father heard with 
 pleasure the promise of his child while the earthly 
 father, in the adjoining sleeping apartment, 
 rolling in wakefulness and shame, felt the innocent 
 words cut his heart like a cold blade in the breast 
 of a soldier. The remainder of the night the 
 watches were long and sleep went from his eyes. 
 
 While Mr. Norwood read his paper before the 
 open grate the next morning and while he waited 
 breakfast, the newsy headlines of the sheet 
 danced before his eyes, and the impressions of 
 the substance therein read, lay vague and indis- 
 tinct in his mental consciousness. In those quiet 
 moments of confused meditation he heard "pittypat 
 and tippytoe" stealing over the soft carpet. His 
 paper was pulled back like the flap of a miniature 
 tent, and a pair of bright eyes peeped up from 
 under his arm. But the father seemed completely 
 absorbed in his reading; so much so, that the son,
 
 PRINCE ARTHUR 149 
 
 without being invited, gripped into the elder's 
 clothing and, by dint of pulling and climbing, 
 succeeded in gaining the coveted position of his 
 sire's lap. But the reader read on. There was 
 stillness for a minute or two until the young 
 hopeful could endure the stress no longer. He 
 wiggled around on his knees, getting his face 
 toward his father's, and began to finger hair and 
 ears alternately, with an occasional twinge of the 
 nose to attract attention. But failing in these 
 tactics he finally addressed the attentive peruser 
 of the morning news. 
 
 "Be you dwunk, now, papa? Jesus never got 
 dwunk an' I want to be like Jesus, don't you, 
 papa? Way, way up in heaven where Jesus is 
 dey don't have dwunk mans, an' no naughty 
 boys lives dere to frow snowballs at dwunk mans, 
 eever, do dey, papa?" 
 
 The paper shifted to the left and the boy to 
 the right where the little prattler got a better 
 hold with one hand in the longer hair above the 
 left ear, while with the other hand he patted and 
 rolled and tossed paddy cakes from the bald spot 
 on the top of the paternal head. From this 
 vantage ground and at this stage of the game he 
 continued his ethical dissertation in earnest and 
 in a soliloquizing manner. 
 
 "I dess up in heaven dey don't have any snow 
 an' no rain an' no trolly tars an' no p'licemans 
 an' naughty boys an' dwunk folks." Then with 
 an extra slap on the hairless oasis and with a 
 considerable more zest, he joyfully exclaimed, 
 "Oh, up dere dey have candy an' merry-go-wounds 
 an' dancin' bears an' an' monkeys, too, wive 
 little red coats an' funny little flat noses an',
 
 ISO A FAST GAME 
 
 an' candy to eat an' popcorn balls an' an' O! 
 lots o' nice fings an' an' papa will have hair on 
 his head den an' an' papa, what ye got skin 
 on the top o' yer head for? Why don't ye have 
 hair? Do dwunk mans have skin on der heads 
 like you, papa?" Then dropping into the medi- 
 tative tone he went on, "Jesus had hair on his 
 head because he didn't get dwunk. I wish Jesus 
 was my papa." 
 
 His chubby fingers ran up through his own 
 touseled hair to experiment and, making a dis- 
 covery, he chattered on. "Dess Jesus is my papa 
 tause I have got hair on my head. If papa was 
 my papa I would have skin on my head. I'm 
 Jesus' little boy an' I'll never get dwunk. Wish 
 papa was Jesus' little boy, too. Papa, do you 
 love Jesus?" 
 
 The little bundle of moving muscles slid down 
 across his father's knees and faced the paper. As 
 he did so he exclaimed again: 
 
 "Where dat rain tome from? A great big 
 drop hit me on my hand. O! dere's anozer on 
 my face!" and he drew his sleeve across his moist 
 cheek and looked up to find the cloud from whence 
 came the shower. His movement was so quick 
 and unexpected that he caught his father looking 
 down on his darling with eyes swimming in tears. 
 The sympathetic child sprang up, at once, threw 
 his arms around his father's neck and, hugging 
 him with all his might, whispered softly in his 
 ear, "Papa, what makes you cry so? Naughty 
 old paper!" 
 
 He struck the paper from his father's hands 
 and said spitefully, "Naughty old fing, to make 
 papa cry!"
 
 PRINCE ARTHUR 151 
 
 The next instant he mounted to the paternal 
 breast and a tight hugging followed with many 
 whispered words of wisdom and love and loyalty 
 into ears that heard and heeded. The splendid 
 physique of Harry Norwood never reeled through 
 the streets after that morning's interview with 
 his son, and with his own conscience and with 
 the Holy Spirit. The cold, feelingless virtue of 
 his wife, the warning words of his pastor and the 
 righteous life of his father-in-law, had appealed 
 in vain to him, but his own child's prattle, his 
 loyalty and wisdom, melted his heart and brought 
 him back to his Father's house where he ever 
 remained, a true and obedient son. It is true 
 O! God, that "Out of the mouth of babes and 
 sucklings hast thou ordained strength." That 
 morning Prince Arthur made a master diplomatic 
 stroke for his King Jesus and for his King's 
 kingdom. He won the game.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 DISASTER AND DEATH 
 
 The March winds whistled around the chimney 
 tops of the city and through the naked limbs of 
 the trees and swept up the bleak mountains, 
 freighted with the final pinches of the frost king; 
 while, below the surface of the ground in the old 
 Slocum mine, the fatal firedamp, fired, shot 
 from chamber to chamber and through gangway 
 after gangway, freighted with scorching flame 
 and sore destruction. The explosion shook the 
 mountain from base to peak and filled the inhabi- 
 tants of the valley for miles around with conster- 
 nation, fear and anxiety. 
 
 Busy men and women and playing children 
 rushed into the streets inquiring what mine or 
 powder mill had been blown up. Nearly every 
 family in the city had either a representative or 
 representative interests in some one or more of 
 these many dangerous places of labor. The 
 suspense, however, lasted but a moment. A 
 cloud of coal dust burst from the fated shaft, 
 and, almost instantly a sheet of flame following 
 it, told the news to the people in sight of the 
 breaker, while the telephone did the rest. The 
 old Slocum breaker was of the old type, built 
 over the shaft. 
 
 Those, who had loved ones in the mine, rushed 
 152
 
 DISASTER AND DEATH 153 
 
 to the burning breaker and timbers in the shaft; 
 many idlers and loafers followed at a slower pace; 
 others stood watching and discussing the burning 
 pile from their several view points; but the great 
 majority of the inhabitants heard the news with 
 interest, listlessly heard the fire engines pass 
 their home or place of business and returned to 
 their work as if nothing had happened out of the 
 ordinary. And, in fact, such an event, though 
 by no means an everyday occurrence, has become 
 altogether too common in the anthracite regions, 
 because a mine accident, leaving death in its 
 track, is a frequent happening. 
 
 "A study of the reports of the inspectors for 
 the four anthracite districts in Lackawanna county 
 for the year 1903 abounds in interest to all con- 
 cerned in the huge industry, both operator and 
 miner alike, in as much as it reveals two impor- 
 tant facts, a material increase in the output and 
 a deplorable shrinkage in the number of tons 
 mined per fatal accident." 
 
 The latter is the more remarkable feature, 
 demonstrating that coal mining in that county 
 is becoming more perilous, notwithstanding the 
 numerous safeguards in the shape of legislative 
 enactments and life saving appliances. During 
 the above named year the average number of 
 tons mined per life lost was one hundred and 
 sixty-one thousand eight hundred and eighty- 
 nine while in the previous year the average was 
 two hundred and forty-three thousand six hun- 
 dred and ninety-three. In justice, however, to 
 all parties it is a fact that about one-half of the 
 accidents are due to carelessness in the fall of 
 roof and coal. Even at this figure, the mortality
 
 154 A FAST GAME 
 
 rate is alarming, to say nothing of the minor 
 accidents which maim, mar and cripple their 
 victims for life. The blue scars on the miners 
 are more common and far more conspicuous and 
 honorable than the India ink prints on the bodies 
 of the sailor boys. 
 
 While anxiety and excitement and indifference 
 and business prevailed above the ground, what 
 of the poor fellows caught beneath? If they had 
 escaped the scorching firedamp, could they escape 
 the chokedamp which always follows? The first 
 named gas burns to death, the second chokes to 
 death. In either case the mode of death is 
 horrible, unless, in case of the firedamp, when 
 the violence of the explosion hurls its victims 
 against the walls of the chambers, causing in- 
 stantaneous death. The jar from the explosion 
 in the Slocum mine disabled the fan. This cut 
 off the supply of fresh air. There was another 
 opening into the mine farther up the hillside 
 through which the unfortunate men might escape; 
 provided, that they were able to reach the smaller 
 shaft and had sufficient strength remaining to 
 climb the long ladders which reached up to day- 
 light; and, provided, that the ladders had not 
 been thrown down or fired and the air in that 
 region had become vitiated as well as in the 
 other parts of the mine. 
 
 While the gathered throng watched the slow 
 but sure fire, burning more in the breaker than 
 in the shaft, it suddenly increased in violence 
 and burned as if fanned from the forge of Vulcan. 
 The draft up the shaft was tremendous. In spite 
 of the efforts of the firemen, in less than a half 
 hour the breaker, the trestling and a part of the
 
 DISASTER AND DEATH 155 
 
 timbering in the shaft, smoked in heat and ruins. 
 The progress of the fire had been phenomenal 
 under any circumstance but especially so, when 
 the explosion had filled the mine with the non- 
 combustible carbonic chokedamp. In the mean- 
 while, when all hope of rescue had been cut off, 
 the anxious watchers received the intelligence that 
 a rescue party had already entered the mine and 
 found their comrades, some alive and some dead. 
 
 This news brought a wail of heartbreaking 
 agony from the wives and mothers and sisters 
 around the burning breaker. The possibility that 
 some were alive and that some were dead, gave 
 to each hope mingled with suspense as to which 
 ones must be left in loneliness and which ones 
 would receive their loved ones back safe and 
 sound. John Ransom, Sr., the superintendent of 
 the mine, ran about frantic with excitement, 
 bewailing the misfortune and avowing that all 
 were lost and that the emergency shaft and 
 timbers had been crippled. Under such distress- 
 ing prospects, news of a rescue and in so short a 
 time were incredible, nevertheless, even though 
 it were a false rumor, it revived hope, yet hope 
 born of fear. 
 
 At this stage of wild excitement and suspense 
 the rapid driving of several ambulances towards 
 the new Diamond shaft confirmed the rumor, or, 
 at least, proved that more than one person from 
 somewhere in the immediate vicinity would re- 
 ceive speedy medical aid. No sooner had the 
 ambulances passed out of sight up the hill than 
 two men came in sight down, the one leading 
 the other. Mrs. Andrew Morgan screamed and 

 
 156 A FAST GAME 
 
 ran toward them shouting, "Oh, Onie, my son, 
 Onie! Lost and found! Thank God!" 
 
 When the strong mother hugged her staggering 
 son to her breast the crowd knew that he had 
 been working in the ill-fated mine and had been 
 rescued. A shout of triumph rent the air. The 
 half frantic multitude rejoiced to see Owen Morgan 
 still alive. The stalwart son swooned in his 
 mother's arms. His companion then told the 
 inquiring people that the escape had been made 
 through the Diamond mine. The fact was this. 
 For several weeks Tom Boland had pushed the 
 work along a certain gangway which, from cer- 
 tain surveys and calculations, he knew would 
 open ere long into the same vein of coal then 
 being mined in the old Slocum mine. For reasons 
 of safety and emergency to both mines, he had 
 forced the work in that certain breast. 
 
 When the explosion took place in the old mine, 
 the partition between that and the new workings 
 was so thin that it partially blew in, shaking up 
 the miners to a limited extent and allowing some 
 little gas and dust to enter, but it did no damage. 
 The wrecked partition was at once told to Tom 
 who chanced to be within easy call. He immed- 
 iately ordered the speed of the fans increased 
 and the workmen to enlarge the opening. Within 
 ten minutes from the first alarm the entrance 
 from the new mine to the old had been enlarged 
 to a third the size of an ordinary gangway and 
 the pure air forced through it with a terrific 
 current. The fire in the woodwork naturally 
 made a chimney of the shaft. The chokedamp, 
 though heavier than pure air, was more or less 
 forced up the shaft and the mine emptied of the
 
 DISASTER AND DEATH 157 
 
 death dealing gas and filled with the ozone of 
 life. 
 
 And is it any wonder that the timbers and 
 breaker burned so rapidly under the pressure 
 of so extensive a blower? Tom knew full well 
 that there was no salvation for the woodwork, 
 anyway, unless, perchance, a downpour of water 
 from the fire engines might save some timbers 
 in the shaft and there could be no possible harm 
 done in pursuing the course he had commenced so 
 long as human life could be saved by so doing. 
 His knowledge of the old mine, his familiarity 
 with the new, and his quick and cool judgment, 
 made him the emergency man of the hour. At 
 the crucial moment he proved his worth and added 
 new laurels to his rapidly increasing reputation. 
 
 No sooner had the hole in the partition been 
 sufficiently enlarged and the draft set in from 
 the Diamond to the Slocum mine, than rescuers 
 crawled through the opening and followed up 
 the fresh air in search of their comrades. It 
 was some little distance before the miners of 
 the new mine came to the breasts where the 
 miners of the old mine had been actually engaged. 
 Without difficulty, however, they reached the 
 several places. Then the awful disaster began 
 to show itself. 
 
 Here they found a man stark dead with cloth- 
 ing burned and body scorched; here another, 
 mangled to death, hurled against a pillar of coal 
 by the terrific force of the explosion; over yonder 
 another without a mark on his body, choked to 
 death by the afterdamp; and from some jagged 
 crag near the roof came an ominous voice in the 
 darkness, informing the searching party of a
 
 158 A FAST GAME 
 
 more fortunate fellow who had been able to 
 throw himself on his face before the hot tongue 
 of flame licked him and who afterwards was able 
 to rise and climb out of reach of the heavy after- 
 gas which settled and crept along the gangways 
 like a fiend of death. Perhaps three fourths of 
 the mine workers, all of whom had been given 
 up by their friends as lost, survived the awful 
 disaster. Some were able to walk, others con- 
 scious but helpless, and still others entirely over- 
 come by the gas. Among the latter group Tom 
 found Erastus Boland with many bruises about 
 the body. With the other disabled ones they 
 hurried him to the surface and thence to the 
 hospital where he lingered a few days and died, 
 never regaining consciousness. 
 
 Poor old Ras Boland had gone to his reward 
 a sober man, denounced by the union as a scab, 
 called a jolly toper by his associates, missed by 
 a sorrowing and speechless family, and his name 
 crossed off the time book of the Slocum colliery. 
 He had played his game. 
 
 "Some one had blundered." Disasters may 
 be providential but a careless or otherwise human 
 hand presses the button that starts the machinery 
 of devastation. The Slocum mine calamity could 
 be no exception. "Who must bear the blame? 
 Or who could be so indifferent to duty or evil in 
 purpose as to put his fellow man to death and 
 bring destruction of property to his employer? 
 Certainly the crime lay at the door of a responsible 
 party and he an employe. 
 
 The duty of a fireboss is to inspect the mine 
 before the miners enter to their daily tasks and 
 to see to it that no gas is present in dangerous
 
 DISASTER AND DEATH 159 
 
 quantities, and should there be any present, to 
 clear the chambers of the fluid. Frank Ransom 
 was the fireboss in the Slocum mine. The follow- 
 ing day he appeared before The Black Diamond 
 Company, at their summons, to render an account 
 of the performance of his legitimate duties pre- 
 vious to the dire fatality. The superintendents 
 of both mines, some of the foremen and bosses 
 and a few miners were also present at the hearing. 
 
 Frank was no favorite among the men. They 
 naturally believed that he held his position by 
 virtue of his father being superintendent rather 
 than by competency and desert. Therefore, 
 it is not surprising, that many of the fellows 
 secretly hoped that he would be found guilty 
 of negligence and be dismissed from further service. 
 But they could find no evidence sufficient to 
 condemn. On the contrary, his own testimony, 
 and that of his brother John, who had that very 
 morning accompanied him on his round of in- 
 spection, cleared him from all responsibility 
 in the case, as both bore corroberative testimony 
 that the chambers were free from gas at the time 
 of their visit. 
 
 "No combustion of gas manifested itself by our 
 safety lamp during our entire perambulatory 
 examination," said the fluent John Ransom, Jr., 
 "Frank, my brother, inspected every breast 
 with careful consideration and scrutiny allowing 
 no detail of his occupation to escape his scientific 
 investigation." 
 
 "What was you skylarkin' around with Frank 
 fur, anyway?" inquired Uncle Hiram Slocum. 
 
 "Pardon me, Mr. Slocum, but Frank and I are 
 exceptionally ^affectionate brothers and conse-
 
 160 A FAST GAME 
 
 quently associate together as much as possible 
 and practicable." 
 
 "Hugh! I don't see nothin' very practical 
 about taggin' after a feller when you've got no 
 business with 'im an' he's got 'nough to tend to 
 without a trailer." Then as if disgusted with 
 his witness he turned to the engineer and asked, 
 "Joe, did you let the fireboss down the mornin' 
 o' the explosion?" 
 
 "I can't swear to it, Mr. Slocum. I dropped 
 the carriage from a signal at the usual time for 
 the fireboss," replied the honest man. 
 
 "Then ye didn't see what ye let down, whether 
 it was a man, a what er a nothin'?" 
 
 "No, sir, I couldn't say. All I know is that 
 I lowered and histed accordin' to the reg'lar 
 signals fur that purpose and fur that time." 
 
 "Did ye see John taggin' 'round that mornin'?" 
 
 Before he could answer, for the engine man 
 was slow of speech, John interrupted by saying 
 with noticeable fervor, "I infer from your interro- 
 gations, Mr. Slocum, that the veracity of Frank 
 and me is under suspicious apprehension." 
 
 "I can't help yer inference, John, ner my 
 thoughts jest now." Continuing in the same 
 tone though more addressed to the company 
 than to any individual, he added, "I s'pose ye 
 've all heerd the old saw that runs somethin' 
 like this, 'One boy's a boy, two boys is half a 
 boy an' three boys is no boy 't all?' That's 
 'bout to the pint when ye want a job done by 
 boys an' sometimes some on us older chaps don't 
 git over our boyish capers." Straightening up 
 as if to recall his straying thoughts he abruptly 
 remarked, " 'Nough said, John!". Turning to
 
 DISASTER AND DEATH 161 
 
 the engineer with a bow, he concluded, "Go on, 
 Joe." 
 
 "I didn't see nobody but Curley. I ketched 
 sight o' his head jest after I stopped histin'." 
 
 "That is sufficient, men. You are excused 
 for today," coolly put in Henry Slocum. 
 
 While the men filed out of the room Tom noticed 
 changeable colors flit over the face of John Ran- 
 som, Jr., that fully satisfied his own mind of a 
 black handed game played at the Slocum disaster. 
 He arose and was about to pass out with the 
 others when he caught the eye of Henry Slocum 
 who artfully beckoned him to his desk and then 
 turned his back to the door. Benjamin retreated 
 to the private office, while Tom leisurely ap- 
 proached the desk and Uncle Hiram exchanged 
 pleasantries with Eva Morgan. 
 
 "Come inside, Tom," abruptly spoke out 
 Henry, deftly slipping the glasses from his nose 
 and setting a chair in the center of the circle. 
 "Sit down." 
 
 Tom obeyed. Benjamin came up on the left 
 and sat down on the edge of his writing desk; 
 Uncle Hiram sat on Tom's right; and Henry, 
 leaning carelessly against his desk, stood before 
 him and acted as spokesman for the little company. 
 
 "We regret that Erastus Boland was a victim 
 in our late misfortune, more than the loss of 
 property. You have our sympathies," hesitat- 
 ing a moment, he went on, "and our confidence. 
 You, of course, understand that you are the 
 superintendent of the Diamond mine and that 
 you rendered us invaluable aid when Mr. Boland 
 was killed. We have decided, however, that 
 your services are no longer required; or, a better
 
 162 A FAST GAME 
 
 way to state the case, they are desired in something 
 of more importance, at least, to us. Your name 
 will stand on our payroll, and you will pass in 
 the eyes of the public, as our superintendent, 
 but not in fact. 
 
 "Your recent family sorrow makes an excellent 
 excuse for us to give you a well earned leave of 
 absence, which we propose to do. Much as we 
 would like to grant that time for your rest and 
 freedom from responsibility, we feel compelled 
 to add more responsibility." Nervously twirling 
 his glasses and crossing and recrossing his legs 
 he went on while Tom wondered what new scheme 
 was on foot. "There is a mysterious problem 
 to be solved concerning matters around the mines. 
 Recent developments have aroused our suspicions 
 as never before. You, we think, are the best 
 qualified man to solve the problem. Do you 
 understand what I mean?" 
 
 "I think I do, Mr. Slocum, but I had much 
 rather remain in my present position than under- 
 take to unravel this snarl, and besides, you are 
 placing a whole lot of responsibility on a pair of 
 inexperienced shoulders. I surely appreciate past 
 favors but feel entirely incompetent to carry out 
 your wishes in this matter." 
 
 "We assume all risk, Mr. Boland. No necessities, 
 which you may desire, will be lacking and your 
 time and location are at your own disposal, but 
 we do consider ourselves obligated to commission 
 you to do the work." 
 
 "Ye ought to take it as a leetle honor/' broke 
 in Uncle Hiram, with a smile, "that The Black 
 Diamond Company picks ye out o' so many in
 
 DISASTER AND DEATH 163 
 
 this world o' graft an' greed as a young chap o' 
 grit an' gumption." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Slocum. I fully appreciate 
 the compliment." 
 
 "We make but one request," resumed Henry, 
 "and that is, that you attempt the task. Will 
 you do it?" 
 
 Everything in the room was motionless and 
 silent except the rapid clicking of the typewriter 
 and Tom's fingers nervously and rapidly drum- 
 ming on the arm of his chair while he looked 
 thoughtfully at the floor. He saw no floor, how- 
 ever, for his mind's eyesight completely enveloped 
 his physical vision. He shrank from the enter- 
 prise, shuddered at the thought of the risk and 
 responsibility incurred, philosophized on the course 
 to be pursued and the ultimate issues, reasoned 
 from suppositional premises and drew his logical 
 conclusions in flashes. 
 
 Uncle Hiram had shifted his elbows to his 
 knees and sat drumming his cane between his 
 feet. Henry had begun again to twirl his glasses, 
 Benjamin prodded his pencil through and through 
 an ink blotter, the typewriter rattled away and 
 Tom's fingers drummed on. The trio willingly 
 and patiently granted their time to get their 
 man and the man cogitated the scheme that 
 would best benefit the trio. Another pause. 
 Tom finally lifted his eyes to those of Henry. 
 He flushed and under strong emotion, made 
 answer, "I'll try." 
 
 "That is sufficient," he quickly responded, 
 taking his secret agent by the hand. "Go! 
 You have your freedom, your commission and 
 your secret."
 
 164 A FAST GAME 
 
 Tom arose, warmly grasped the offered hand 
 and went out of the room without another word. 
 Early twilight hung over the city. Heavy storm 
 clouds settled lower and lower and massed them- 
 selves more and more compactly. Even while 
 he hurried along the half deserted streets, mist 
 began to fall with an occasional drop of rain that 
 splashed the walk and froze where it fell. The 
 weather was gloomy enough but no more so than 
 the mood of Tom Boland. He might have taken 
 a car for home and saved much time and weariness 
 but his mental perturbation counseled him to 
 walk, which advice he heeded and strode on into 
 the deepening darkness. 
 
 The crape on the door of his dwelling place 
 brought him to his senses. He paused a moment 
 on the steps, turned the knob and entered. His 
 mother rocked back and forth, nervous and 
 fidgety, and near her sat Naomi holding her hand 
 and talking softly and cheerfully and sympathet- 
 ically. Sorrow could not live long in Naomi's 
 presence. Her words and manner acted on Mrs. 
 Boland's clouded life like sunshine after showers. 
 Care seemed to flee from the tear-stained cheeks, 
 new light and hope to beam from the reddened 
 eyes, and a faint smile play over the sad face. 
 Fresh wounds slowly but surely yielded to the 
 healing qualities of the balm of love. 
 
 When Tom entered the room Naomi arose and 
 greeted him with the cordiality of a sister. He 
 felt her angelic manner, appreciated it and passed 
 on to his own room where he might overcome 
 his own multitudinous feelings which had been 
 aroused by his many kindnesses from friends 
 and their confidence in him. Once in the room
 
 DISASTER AND DEATH 165 
 
 and the door shut, he fell on his knees and relieved 
 the anguish and tumult of his soul in an earnest 
 conversation with his Heavenly Father his friend 
 and counselor at all times. The solace came 
 and also did the plan for his future course of 
 action. Instead of confusion of thought and 
 surging emotions, a conscious conception of 
 divine leadership directed him and a peaceful 
 presence pervaded his entire being. He felt 
 that he not only lived but that he lived with a 
 fixed purpose to carry out the plans so definitely 
 laid before him. 
 
 He carefully arranged his toilet and descended 
 to the women in the sittingroom under perfect 
 self-control and in his accustomed congenial, 
 though more serious, manner. Naomi had al- 
 ready risen to go and stood with her hand on the 
 door knob when he entered the room. Night 
 and storm and slippery sidewalks prevailed 
 outside an excellent excuse for Tom to accom- 
 pany the fearless girl home or see her safely on 
 board a car. He, therefore, promptly excused 
 himself from his mother and offered his services 
 to Naomi, which graciousness she as promptly 
 accepted. 
 
 "Mr. Boland, I am so glad you have come with 
 me. I wanted to just tell you how deeply I feel 
 for you in this your grief, and also to congratulate 
 you on your thoughtful and heroic work for the 
 salvation of the poor fellows who were caught 
 in the old mine," earnestly spoke Naomi as soon 
 as they had reached the street. "Papa and 
 Uncle Henry and grandfather are loud in your 
 praise and declare that you saved the lives of 
 those who escaped. I am quite sure they think
 
 166 A FAST GAME 
 
 there is foul play somewhere but they are very 
 quiet in expressing themselves. Oh, Tom, these 
 times are awful! You can hardly trust your 
 best friends. It is so refreshing to find someone 
 once in a while in whom you may have full con- 
 fidence and which confidence will not be betrayed." 
 
 While she spoke in a subdued voice she drew 
 up closer to Tom and hugged his arm to hers as 
 if to express herself in the strongest language 
 possible that she trusted him above all others 
 outside of her immediate family, yes, even more 
 than she trusted her brother, Edwin. 
 
 "I am very grateful to you for your kind and 
 encouraging words, prizing their value more 
 because I believe them to be spoken without 
 flattery or vanity. And besides, I want to signify 
 my esteem for the character behind the words 
 a character, in my humble judgment, which is 
 worthy of confidence to the utmost but here is 
 the street-car line and the car is coming yonder." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Boland, for your helpful 
 expressions of fidelity as well as your company 
 thus far; and, perhaps, I transgress the law of 
 feminine modesty, when I say that I would rather 
 walk in trustfulness tonight than to ride in 
 distrust." 
 
 "Pardon me, Miss Slocum, for my unintentional 
 discourtesy. I meant well," fervently replied 
 Tom. "Nothing will give me more pleasure than 
 to see you safely at your door. If I understand 
 your intimation I am positive that the pleasure 
 of this walk and talk will be both confidential and 
 mutual." 
 
 Thus, arm in arm, the happy two passed down 
 the west hill, by The Anthracite and the fish stand,
 
 DISASTER AND DEATH 167 
 
 across the Lackawanna river bridge and up the 
 other side, perfectly oblivious to places or pedes- 
 trians. Three blocks above the bridge a stalwart 
 man emerged from the shadows and accosted Tom. 
 
 "Mr. Bolan', kin I git a job in the Di'mond 
 mine? I'm off now an' want work." 
 
 Tom and Naomi slowed up in their rapid walk 
 and the unknown man strode along beside Tom. 
 
 "Oh, good-evening, Curley! It is you, is it? 
 Come up to my office tomorrow and we can fix 
 you up. Good-night!" coolly replied Tom while 
 he noticed the agitated condition of his friend 
 of the dark visage and caught the gleam of shining 
 metal in one of his hands. 
 
 Naomi saw nothing of the kind but did wonder 
 why her companion hurried her along without 
 further conversation. Once out of earshot the 
 girl remarked, "What an ugly looking fellow he 
 is! Is he a friend of yours?" 
 
 "Why, I guess so. I have known him for some 
 time; in fact, he worked for me on the Diamond 
 breaker," meditatively responded Tom. 
 
 The conversation on the part of Tom lagged 
 for the remainder of the way and Naomi was not 
 a little surprised at the evident change in his 
 mood and bade him good-night with a strange 
 foreboding of evil and intense anxiety for Tom's 
 welfare. 
 
 Tom went home this time by trolley. Wrapped 
 in thought and yet on the alert he caught sight 
 of the dark figure at the corner as the car hummed 
 by. He realized the disappointment Curley would 
 have when no Tom returned that way, congratu- 
 lated himself on his providential escape and 
 settled on the future detailed procedure.
 
 168 A FAST GAME 
 
 Curley did not appear at the office of the Dia- 
 mond mine the next day, nor the next, but on the 
 third day he came and with him a companion in 
 hard luck, Mike Ruhlin by name. Tom was not 
 in at the time but by order of his assistant, who 
 had been instructed to give Curley a job if he 
 came, both received employment Mike as a 
 miner and Curley as his helper or laborer.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 WHITE AND BLACK SLAVES 
 
 The afternoon of the day on which Erastus 
 Boland was buried John Ransom, Jr., entered 
 the office of The Black Diamond Company and 
 humbly requested a few minutes of their valuable 
 time, stating that he had important business to 
 lay before them. They, of course, granted his 
 request and bade him present his scheme or reveal 
 his plot or whatever he had in mind. 
 
 "Of course, Messrs. Slocum, you are alive to 
 the fact that these are times of strenuosity and 
 uncertainty in the realm of industry, in the field 
 of capital and labor, as I may say," commenced 
 the loquacious son of his father. "It may be an 
 imposition of my presence before you this after- 
 noon and of my immature suggestion in com- 
 parison with your mental and commercial acumen, 
 inasmuch as your successful career in the field 
 of industrialism testify to your business sagacity." 
 
 "We usually attend to our own affairs and 
 consider ourselves capable to continue the business 
 at the old stand," interrupted Benjamin after 
 the speaker's labored effort. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, Mr. Slocum; I perfectly under- 
 stand the import of your remark. I am neither 
 here for self-aggrandizement nor for self-emolument 
 but solely in the interest of the company I have 
 169
 
 170 A FAST GAME 
 
 the honor to serve. Now to the subject in hand; 
 perhaps it has not occurred to you that my 
 position in the industrial category, more especially 
 the anthracite, is unique and that I might be of 
 invaluable assistance between you and the labor- 
 ing classes. You see that I am neither an operator 
 nor a laboring man, in the colloquial meaning 
 of the term." 
 
 "You mean, Johnnie, a kind of a go-between!" 
 interrupted Uncle Hiram, who had quietly entered 
 unheard by the intense talker. "Ye 're on the 
 fence, I take it!" 
 
 "Why, good afternoon, Mr. Slocum!" exclaimed 
 John, Jr., jumping up from his chair and bobbing 
 around it in that sort of confusion common to 
 those who hold an exalted opinion of themselves 
 and their abilities and are invulnerable to a bit 
 of sarcasm. "I beg your pardon, but I did not 
 intend to assert, or intimate even, that I sat on 
 the fence, to use the common parlance. My 
 exact meaning evidences itself in the more dig- 
 nified word, mediator. To resume where the 
 interruption occurred, I further affirm, without 
 ambiguity I hope, that I have men under my 
 authority, yet, I am under your authority, and 
 in this essential midway position I may be of 
 incalculable usefulness to your company." 
 
 "You draw your salary from that company, 
 do you not?" somewhat curtly asked Benjamin. 
 
 "Most assuredly, Mr. Slocum, and the check 
 from that firm passes in the financial market 
 as good as the gold from the government mint." 
 
 "What ye paid fur, anyway?" put in Uncle 
 Hiram. 
 
 "Why, to look after the interests of my employ-
 
 WHITE AND BLACK SLAVES 171 
 
 ers, most indubitably," answered John, Jr., with 
 a slight feeling of uneasiness percolating his 
 general system. 
 
 "Well, what do you want, then?" queried 
 Henry, "an increase of wages or are you afraid 
 that the financial bottom has fallen out of our 
 company?" 
 
 "Nothing of the kind, Mr. Slocum; on the 
 contrary, I am positive that your financial basis 
 is as substantial as the rock of Gibralter, and, 
 as to insufficient salary, I am your servant at 
 the present stipulation, in fact, a slave if need 
 be, a but if there should be a remunerative 
 advancement I could be of immeasurable service 
 as an agent for you among the miners." 
 
 "Look a here, Johnnie," sadly spoke Uncle 
 Hiram, approaching and laying his hand on the 
 shoulder of the mine foreman, "take a bit of 
 advice frum an ol' man. We don't keep ser- 
 vants 'round us, much less, slaves, 'specially 
 slaves to greed. You say that ye git 'nough 
 pay but ye could do more if ye got a leetle more. 
 How do ye make the parts o' yer argiment jibe? 
 If I fig're it out right, yer after a bribe a hunk 
 o' our money to do a leetle dirty job fur us. 
 We don't do that kind o' work an' we don't pay 
 nobody else to do it, if we know it." Turning 
 to his boys he concluded, "Guess we got one o' 
 the coons treed." 
 
 The sweat stood in beads on the face of John 
 Ransom, Jr., yet the senior member of the firm 
 put the advice to him stiff and to the point. 
 
 "We hain't got no positive evidence ag'in ye 
 but we ken feel a mighty lot o' things that we 
 can't swear to. You're a slave to Johnnie Ran-
 
 172 A FAST GAME 
 
 som. You'll never be a man till ye quit 'im an' 
 work fur somebody else. Yer young, yit, an' 
 mebbe ye ken be sombody if ye'll only try. I 
 could put ye in jail fur tryin' to git bribes frum 
 us but I'll let ye go this time. Don't ye ever 
 let me ketch ye at it ag'in though; if ye do it'll 
 go hard with ye. Don't ye ever ag'in try to bait 
 the old fox with any o' yer nasty, leetle tricks 
 er ye'll git yer goose cooked an' cooked done, too." 
 
 Reaching for a paper which Henry handed 
 him Uncle Hiram continued as he handed the 
 slip to Mr. Ransom. "Take this 'ere to the 
 timekeeper an' frum him go to the cashier an' 
 git yer stipend, the last pay ye'll ever git frum 
 us. God pity ye, poor boy!" 
 
 While the old gentleman interviewed his em- 
 ploye like a father would counsel a son, the under- 
 ling made several attempts to protest and ex- 
 plain his conduct, but without avail. He might 
 as well have tried to talk against a full fledged 
 cyclone. When Uncle Hiram had finished his 
 admonitory peroration, however, Ransom found 
 an opportunity to speak, or rather, took one. 
 
 "You have misapprehended the significance 
 of my utterances and I sincerely apologize for 
 the ambiguity of my language. It appears an 
 injustice to dismiss an humble servant without 
 conclusive evidence of fraudulent practices and 
 without conceding to him the inalienable priv- 
 ilege of self defence under the laws " 
 
 "Holt, Johnnie! I've give ye fair warnin' like 
 a friend an' I carcalate my words make my meanin' 
 clear. Ye got to go, but ye go with my prayers 
 fur yer greedy, leetle soul. I can't help ye no
 
 WHITE AND BLACK SLAVES 173 
 
 other way. Ye've stepped over the line beyond 
 human help." 
 
 The long fingers and trembling hand pointed 
 toward the door and a sad cadaverous look pro- 
 pounded an argument that could not be refuted 
 or misunderstood. Nothing, now, remained for 
 the dismissed foreman to do but to retire grace- 
 fully and unconditionally. It is true that no 
 positive evidence of playing two games at one 
 and the same time could be brought against 
 John, Jr., or by his circumlocution could one 
 really know whether he asked for a bribe or not, 
 yet, the eagle eye of Uncle Hiram, his honest 
 heart and mental vision, penetrated the cover- 
 ing of the rogue. He had not guessed, he knew. 
 
 "Boys," said the father when they were left 
 alone, "I never expected to be a slave driver but 
 I have ben. I jest drove a black slave out o' 
 my sight. His skin's white 'nough but 'is heart 
 's blacker 'n a nigger any nigger that ever hoed 
 corn. He's an awful slave to himself. His 
 principle ain't bigger 'n a gnat but his greed an' 
 gall 's bigger 'n an elephant. I wouldn't take 
 on so about it if he was the only midget in the 
 town, but, ah, me! Times ain't what they was 
 once. We hardly know who to trust. We don't 
 know what minit to expect a pistol pinted at 
 our heads. It's nothin' now days to have folks 
 ask fur pocketbook er yer character. Human 
 life 's wuth jest about 's much 's a gold dollar 
 or an ol' shinplaster. I'm mighty glad I ain't 
 got to be judge o' human affairs fur I'm 'fraid I'd 
 be hasher 'n the just Judge." 
 
 Scarcely had he concluded his meditative
 
 174 A FAST GAME 
 
 remarks when Naomi rushed in followed by the 
 reverend Needman. 
 
 "Oh, grandfather and papa and uncle Henry, 
 have you seen the morning paper?" she exclaimed 
 almost out of breath. 
 
 "Why, of course, Puss," answered her father 
 as she affectionately nestled on his knee and up 
 into his right arm. "It looks like a strike for 
 the first of April and then where will The Black 
 Diamond Company be?" 
 
 "Oh, I don't mean that at all," she answered 
 disappointedly. "Didn't you notice an account 
 of a raid of the police on the dens of the city and 
 the awful things that are happening almost at 
 our own door? Then that strong editorial on 
 the white Slave Traffic? Papa, it's awful!" 
 
 "I must have overlooked the article, dear. 
 I wouldn't worry myself about it if I were you. 
 You know that what the reporters write for the 
 papers is more than half false." 
 
 "You looked at the status of the money market, 
 the report of the stock exchange, the results of 
 the meeting of the Scale Committee and the 
 liklihood of a strike of the coal miners, didn't 
 you? Do you believe half you read about them!" 
 
 "You do not understand the making up of a 
 daily paper what is reliable and what is un- 
 reliable nor do you look at such matters from 
 a business standpoint." 
 
 "I know that, papa, nor do I think you look 
 at these matters from a moral standpoint. I 
 consider one of those foreign girls who are now 
 in the police station, worth more than all the 
 minted money in the United States," earnestly 
 contended Naomi.
 
 WHITE AND BLACK SLAVES 175 
 
 "Oh, yes, I do, child. Perhaps my mind is not 
 so engrossed with the moral and religious prob- 
 lems of the day as it is with the secular ones. 
 However, I am in sympathy with them and will 
 do all I can for the maintenance of churches and 
 the advancement of their work." 
 
 This lengthy discourse lengthy for Benjamin 
 Slocum, especially on the subject under discus- 
 sion no doubt, was partially prompted by the 
 presence of his pastor. We must not for a moment 
 think that Benjamin Slocum was a mercenary 
 man; far from it. Yet, like most of men in his 
 position, he sowed the seed, cultivated the crop 
 and reaped proportionately more of this world's 
 harvest than he expended on, and received from, 
 that of the world which is yet to come. 
 
 "I am glad you think so," smiled Naomi, 
 glancing roguishly at Mr. Needman and slyly 
 winking at her grandfather. "If you feel that 
 way about the work of the churches you will be 
 delighted to furnish the means by which Mr. 
 Needman and I can do the work. That is just 
 what brought us here this afternoon," she ex- 
 claimed, hugging her father's cheek tightly against 
 hers and springing lightly from him to her grand- 
 father. The indulgent father knew that she 
 loved him, not simply because he granted nearly 
 all her requests but because of himself, her own 
 father; for that very reason, therefore, he gave 
 her more than he could have done on any other 
 condition. The grandsire also recognized her 
 affectionate insinuation and accosted her with a 
 cheerful: 
 
 "Well, Pleasant, it takes 's much to run you 
 's it does to run a bank. Ye 're a prodigal daughter
 
 176 A FAST GAME 
 
 instid of a prodigal son." He hesitated a moment 
 while the vision of Naomi's brother passed before 
 him. Gravity mingled in the tone of his voice. 
 Benjamin's head dropped low over his desk. 
 All seemed to feel the emotional stress of the 
 moment. The tender tension of that instant 
 vanished like morning mist, hugged to death by 
 sunshine, and every soul seemed as refreshed 
 as the lush pasture of Galilee is revived by the 
 dews of Hermon, when Henry turned to the 
 clergyman and fraternally asked: "How much 
 would you like to have for the enterprise, Mr. 
 Needman?" 
 
 The man of the cloth named a modest sum. 
 A minute later a check lay in his hand for twice 
 the amount asked for. He looked with surprise 
 at his friend who divined his gratitude, and, 
 before an apology could be given or an expression 
 of thanks given, the giver warmly said, "You 
 are perfectly welcome to it. I think you will 
 be able to use it in your business. Hereafter, 
 do not hesitate to let your wants be known." 
 
 With a cordial farewell the grateful man bowed 
 himself from the room, followed by Naomi. They 
 went into the street rejoicing at how easily they 
 had gained the essentials with which to promote 
 their material project; the spiritual triumph 
 would come later by means of prayer and pa- 
 tience, time and tension, working and waiting. 
 They had devised a scheme to establish a sort 
 of labor and entertainment bureau for the bene- 
 fit of the working women who were strangers 
 in the city or who had no certain home or friends 
 near by. 
 
 In the shadow of the church they would pur-
 
 WHITE AND BLACK SLAVES 177 
 
 chase a dwelling house and, under the super- 
 vision of a competent matron, turn it into a 
 Bethel for the homeless and outcast women and 
 girls of the town. And is it not a shame that 
 in the large cities of this "land of the free and 
 the home of the brave," such an institution should 
 exist, or rather, that the immorality of the slums 
 should make the existence of it necessary for 
 the good of the morals of the community? Before 
 nightfall they had bought the required building, 
 secured the matron and visited the police station 
 to get their first inmates. 
 
 But the problem developed more complex- 
 ities than they had ever dreamed of. May it 
 not be said, and said truthfully, that no human 
 mind and heart can fully conceive of all the 
 intricacies and ramifications of sin plain, every 
 day sin? Without the aid of the allwise and the 
 almighty Creator man stands helpless to cut the 
 cancerous roots of sin from his own heart or 
 from that of his fellow mortal. Though with 
 God "all things are possible," God's creatures 
 often, in striving after the best things for the 
 greatest number, are baffled in their well meaning 
 efforts and heap up blunders through their near- 
 sightedness. 
 
 On the other hand, let it be understood that 
 fully as many attempts at reformation fail on 
 account of the pride and selfish ingratitude of 
 the degraded as through obduracy of heart. 
 Sincerity, kindness and "tears harden lust, though 
 marble wear with raining." When our two 
 friends of humanity visited the police station 
 late that afternoon they found these several 
 conditions of heart and the degrees of licentious-
 
 178 A FAST GAME 
 
 ness to which the culprits had descended. 
 
 In one of the apartments they found a beautiful 
 young woman alone, a Swede by birth, who flung 
 herself on the shoulders of Naomi and burst 
 into a paroxysm of grief. She could not express 
 herself in the English language though she poured 
 out her sorrow in her native tongue. Neither 
 of her friends knew what she meant by her words 
 though by her motions and emotions they per- 
 fectly understood that she desired to leave the 
 life she had been leading. Naomi kissed the tear 
 stained cheeks and departed, promising through 
 various signs that she would return and release 
 her from her imprisonment. In the mean while 
 Mr. Needman telephoned to a young Swede to 
 come to the station and act as interpreter for 
 them. The young man could not come until 
 the whistle blew for quitting time but then he 
 would come. 
 
 In another room three women and a girl of 
 twelve awaited the action of the police court. 
 These three bore the unmistakable marks of vice. 
 They glowered upon Mr. Needman and Naomi 
 in defiance of their good intentions and without 
 a blush. Two of the unfortunates admitted 
 that they had voluntarily entered the alley dive 
 several months previously, but the third claimed 
 to have been abducted on the promise of easy 
 employment and good wages. At first, when she 
 had learned her real position, the abducted girl 
 tried to escape but without success. They kept 
 her under a secure guard until she gave up all 
 hope of ever living a life of purity again; the 
 sense of guilt gradually wore away, and, at present, 
 she was perfectly reconciled to follow the course
 
 WHITE AND BLACK SLAVES 179 
 
 she had pursued for so many months. 
 
 As she glibly chatted on, her language savoring 
 of the lowest vulgarity and slang, the quick per- 
 ception of Naomi detected the fatal ravages of 
 pulmonary tuberculosis, and, from indirect ques- 
 tions, she learned that the girl came from a country 
 home and respectable parents. With this sug- 
 gestion for a starter Naomi began to picture the 
 old home in imagination with all its beauties 
 and its environment so conducive to rugged health. 
 The hard heart softened. The lewd woman's 
 pretentious indifference faded away. The white 
 slave expressed by her lusterless eye which had 
 caught a glimpse of the far away cottage among 
 the hills, by her dilated nostrils which had evi- 
 dently scented the fragrance of apple blossoms 
 and lilacs, and by the tears which dimmed the 
 sight, that she would like to be free once more. 
 
 Her pent up feelings broke out into a flood of 
 tears. She made a complete confession of her 
 sins and heartily repented for their remission. 
 A week of rest and care at the Bethel wrought 
 wonders with her physical appearance though 
 the consumptive finger marks still remained. 
 With the changed life came the longing for home 
 and the loved ones from whom she had not heard 
 for months and to whom she had never divulged 
 her whereabouts. Another week more and Naomi 
 had the satisfaction of seeing the wanderer return 
 to her father's house, shorn of her health and 
 her beauty it is true, but reclaimed by a father's 
 tender love. A letter three months later recorded 
 the sad news that the girl had gone to her final 
 home, at peace with her Maker, and invoking 
 prayers and blessings upon the head of the one
 
 180 A FAST GAME 
 
 who had befriended her in her dire distress. 
 "That one reclaimation," said Naomi, while 
 joy and tears shone in her eyes, "is worth all 
 our trouble and time together with the cost of 
 the whole enterprise." 
 
 But the other two women were what they 
 were from choice. No persuasion or entreaty 
 could swerve them from their chosen path of 
 iniquity. "We prefer the police station to your 
 charity home an' its long faced hypocrisy!" 
 exclaimed the two duplicates of Herodias when 
 the alternative was placed before them. "An" 
 we'll keep the kid, too!" continued the mother 
 of the girl. The little creature sidled toward 
 Naomi apparently choosing her protection to 
 that of her mother. 
 
 The case went before the proper authority. 
 The magistrate bit his lips and replied that she 
 would never go back to the den of vice with her 
 mother if he could hinder it; and he did hinder 
 it. The mother begged for the daughter and 
 explained that she was after some clothing when 
 arrested, and that her board and lodging were 
 provided for elsewhere. But no interpretation 
 of her presence at the time mentioned, or any 
 material burst of passion, prevailed with the 
 officer of the law. 
 
 "You are not a fit person to care for children 
 and, therefore, I shall take the child from you!" 
 warmly retorted the magistrate after the virago 
 had exhausted all her wiles and arguments to 
 retain the daughter. 
 
 The case dropped there. The women paid 
 their fines which were heavy, served their sen- 
 tence in the city bastile and, as far as is known,
 
 WHITE AND BLACK SLAVES 181 
 
 went back to their life of sin and shame. Naomi 
 took the child with her, and after keeping her 
 for a few weeks, sent her to a charitable and 
 reformatory institution. 
 
 While these closing scenes were transpiring in 
 the court room the young Swede was hastening 
 toward the police station. He was not a member 
 of Mr. Needman's church but the two had become 
 well acquainted in the Young Men's Christian 
 Association work. The three at once repaired 
 to the lonely woman. They all stood behind 
 the keeper when he opened the door, the inter- 
 preter in the rear. No sooner had the door 
 opened than the girl shrieked for joy while the 
 young man rushed between his companions. 
 The two met in the center of the room locked in 
 each other's arms. 
 
 "Oh, my brother! my brother!" cried the girl, 
 mingling her tears and her kisses on his face. 
 Instinctively the spectators withdrew and left 
 the brother and his lost but found sister alone. 
 In a few minutes, however, the reunited ones 
 invited the others to participate in their joy and 
 to learn the cause of the unexpected, though 
 nevertheless happy, meeting. 
 
 Four months before the girl had sailed from her 
 native country and in due time landed in New 
 York where she had hoped to meet her brother. 
 Sickness of the young man prevented him from 
 fulfilling his engagement so that the poor girl 
 stepped on a foreign shore without a familiar 
 face to greet her. The beauty of the forlorn 
 woman immediately attracted the attention of 
 an agent of the white slave traffic. With his 
 suave manner, glib tongue and knowledge of
 
 182 A FAST GAME 
 
 her language he drew from the girl her plight 
 and her destination. Of course he knew her 
 brother and would be glad to escort her to him 
 for he was going that very way. 
 
 The way out of her predicament seemed prov- 
 idential and the helpless immigrant fell into the 
 wilily set trap. Once in the city of her brother 
 she was given all sorts of excuses why her brother 
 did not appear. Later on, her street clothing 
 disappeared and she found herself a prisoner at 
 the mercy of her heartless taskmasters and a 
 forced devotee at the shrine of licentiousness 
 a white slave in the midst of a Christian city. 
 
 The brother had traced her to the landing 
 but further than that her tracks were hidden. 
 Is it any wonder that the unexpected meeting, 
 even under morally clouded circumstances, proved 
 so happy a meeting? But the greater wonder 
 is that, not only in Onaway but also in many 
 other cities of these United States, this under- 
 ground traffic in human souls is carried on under 
 the very eaves of the churches and in defiance of 
 law. 
 
 The victims of the white slave traffic are some- 
 times to be pitied but not always, depending 
 upon whether or not they are involuntary or 
 voluntary slaves ; the black slave system is always 
 voluntary and deserves no toleration whatever. 
 The masters, which each serves whether a 
 voluntary or an involuntary service are self- 
 indulgence and personal greed. The black slaves 
 are males, undeserving the name of men; the 
 white slaves are women. The latter, oftentimes, 
 are inveigled into disorderly houses at a fixed 
 price, or by misrepresentation or intimidation.
 
 WHITE AND BLACK SLAVES 183 
 
 Once in the business and it is a business 
 though foul with immoral stench there seems 
 but slight chance for the reformation of the 
 slave. "Very rarely does one have the subse- 
 quent courage to inform to the authorities; and 
 even in police raids, the remedy is slight, since 
 society has not yet arranged adequate provision 
 for the reclaimation of unfortunates of this char- 
 acter, including a process of distinguishing be- 
 tween real penitents, with a chance for restora- 
 tion, and the more hardened class that are hope- 
 lessly wrecked in morals or in health or in both. 
 At present, too, raiding throws the burden of 
 penalty chiefly on the unfortunate women vic- 
 tims and does not reach the rascals that are 
 actually responsible. 
 
 "More stringent legal penalties for abduction 
 and procuring are demanded, as one of the steps 
 necessary to righting this evil. But more than 
 that, there is need of expanded charity and of 
 charitable machinery to reach a hand of help 
 into these lower stratas and lift up the fallen. 
 It is to be feared that many comfortable people 
 living away from the knowledge of these rougher 
 edges of the world are ignorant of the need of 
 larger effort in this humane 'direction, and, being 
 ignorant, are idle when knowledge of the truth 
 should or would spur their dormant benevolence." 
 What a game! A game to make angels weep 
 and mortals pale with shame.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS 
 
 While the humane and Christian work pro- 
 gressed the first of April drew near, the end of the 
 period granted by the award of The Strike Com- 
 mission of nineteen hundred and three. The 
 scale committee had diligently labored toward 
 the adjustment of wages; the committee of the 
 operators had stood firm for the old agreement 
 and had made no concessions to the union; the 
 labor union delegates had also met, demanded 
 increases and made some concessions from their 
 original demands; and the joint committee had 
 met, parlied and adjourned without an agree- 
 ment. 
 
 Later on, each committee of the joint committee 
 met, reconsidered and readjusted the demands 
 and concessions of the other; then the two re- 
 convened, rearranged and readjourned, and still 
 no settlement. In the meanwhile, the proba- 
 bility of a strike grew more and more evident. 
 Men of authority in the state and the nation in 
 particular, and the consumers in general, prayed 
 and advised peace; the operators continued to 
 store coal and to work their mines on full time; 
 the miners recruited and equipped for resistance 
 to the last. The all-absorbing topic of the day 
 was The Anthracite Coal Situation. 
 184
 
 SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS 185 
 
 The Anthracite saloon, however, ran a rousing 
 business at the old stand. Every night the floor 
 resounded with the tread and scuffing of heavy 
 feet, the bar dripped with the foaming liquors, 
 and the atmosphere reeked with the fumes of 
 poison and vibrated with the grossest profanity. 
 Ed Slocum drank and talked as of yore though 
 the new development in his case was a more 
 general appearance of the American bummer. 
 His clothes were still of excellent quality, though 
 untidy in arrangement; his face was yet hand- 
 some and winning, though traced with dissipa- 
 tion; his gait blended the gentleman's carriage 
 with a careless swagger; and his conversation, 
 though still grammatically correct, bore a combi- 
 nation of brilliancy, obscenity and profanity, 
 reminding one of a mountain spring tinctured 
 with poison. 
 
 He spent his money less freely at the bar than 
 when we first met him; the reason, perhaps, 
 because of his change of luck at the gambling 
 table or, perhaps, his father had curtailed his 
 monthly allowance or, perhaps, other things 
 kept his purse well drained. These changes 
 cannot, however, be technically called new devel- 
 opments; their classified position falls more in 
 the line of the course of nature a result anyone 
 must expect, who follows the life that Ed Slocum 
 followed. 
 
 But the most prominent phase of his character 
 which loomed up in the horizon of his activity 
 was his withdrawal to a private room in secret 
 consultation with John Ransom, Jr., and Oscar 
 Morgan, the agitator. The reimbursement of 
 his depleted treasury apparently constituted the
 
 186 A FAST GAME 
 
 sole purpose of his life; how or whence, never 
 crossed his mental or moral vision. 
 
 "I have a position with the operators' combi- 
 nation, now," remarked John, Jr., when they 
 had shut and locked the door behind them, "and 
 I secured it on the strength of the recommendation 
 you gave me, Ed." 
 
 "That is good enough," blandly replied Ed. 
 "You may be able to work them for the several 
 thousand dollars my old granddad failed to let 
 slip through his fingers for us. Better keep out 
 of the way of Harry Norwood for a while, though, 
 for he has taken a fresh start in the Christian life. 
 He is morally too honest now to approach on this 
 subject. There are others, though." Turning 
 to his other confederate Ed continued, "And how 
 have you succeeded. Morgan?" 
 
 "First rate!" replied the miner and labor agi- 
 tator. "I can wark the black hand racket to 
 perfection. Curley'll do anything I ask 'im an' 
 he's got jest as big a devil with 'im now as he do 
 be himself. Where threats an' persuasion fail 
 other things will be doin', hereafter." Taking a 
 roll of bills he deposited it on the table, saying 
 with a smile, "There's a cool hundred I extracted 
 last night an' there do be more in sight." 
 
 "You're the duck!" cheerfully spoke up Ed, 
 taking half of the pile for his share and dividing 
 the other half equally between the other two. 
 "We are all O. K. if we can keep the cards out 
 sight of the Slocum family and from that devil of 
 a Tom Boland. But the talk is that the fellow 
 has gone away and has not been seen for a long 
 time, ever since his old dad died. While he is 
 away we may do a whole lot if we get busy. I
 
 SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS 187 
 
 think, though, if the truth was known, that Tom 
 is on one of his old time periodicals and when he 
 shows up, if he ever does, he will be one of us again, 
 at least, he will be harmless if we keep him under 
 the grog." 
 
 "That is my exact opinion," put in John, Jr. 
 "The last I saw of him he appeared to be under 
 the influence of intoxicants. It was the evening 
 after his father's funeral. He looked haggard 
 and emaciated and I am confident I detected the 
 odor of spirits about him. Then, too, I am quite 
 sure that he and the Slocum brothers are on the 
 outs. He hung behind the day of the hearing 
 concerning the Slocum mine disaster and talked 
 with them privately. When he came out he 
 looked like a whipped cur. He has returned to his 
 cups and no mistake." 
 
 "I think, myself," said Oscar, "that Tom's 
 reformation is ended. Ye recollect two years 
 ago when he an' Dick got on a spree fur a hull 
 month, an' the month before he had been sober 
 something unheard of before. He's ben sober 
 now fur more nor a year an' I do be dead certain 
 there ain't no risk in his case. Another reason 
 fur me opinion is, that me brother, Evan, the 
 doctor, an' yer sister do be on better terms than 
 before. It looks like Naomi has given up the 
 reformation business of the wily Irishman." 
 
 "Oh, we are safe enough as far as that is con- 
 cerned," said Ed, "but right now we'll put in our 
 best licks, all the same, while the miners and 
 the operators are sparring for the best position. 
 The next month will tell the story. That's all 
 tonight. Oh, no, John! I understand that your 
 family pew has been vacant lately, since your
 
 188 A FAST GAME 
 
 break with the Slocums. Supposing you persuade 
 the other members of the family to return to 
 their former church affiliations as if nothing had 
 happened. You have as good a position now 
 as you had before and your father is yet with 
 the old firm. Try it in a Sunday or two. Work 
 a grand bluff on the church public. That's all 
 anyway. Au revoir!" 
 
 The triumvirate closed its secret cabinet ses- 
 sion and adjourned to the barroom. 
 
 The church bluff came off on the following 
 Sabbath, and it came off on this wise. John, Jr., 
 had some difficulty to persuade the other mem- 
 bers of the offended family to attend divine 
 services in their home church, but he finally 
 succeeded. He played his part well, but their 
 morning session at the church proved of brief 
 duration and void of spiritual pabulum, ending 
 very abruptly and conspicuously as well as adding 
 humor and sensation to the occasion. The entire 
 family of Ransoms to the number of six, ex- 
 cepting James, the attorney, who had married 
 Anna Morgan and who rented an individual 
 pew, entered the church and were ushered to 
 their pew, well to the front, while Mr. Needman 
 was reading the first hymn. The hymn chanced 
 to be that old familiar one beginning, "Blow ye 
 the trumpet, blow, etc." Just as the sextet 
 filed into the pew the pastor read the closing 
 lines in fact, these lines are the same in every 
 stanza 
 
 "The year of jubilee is come! 
 Return ye ransomed sinners, home." 
 
 The words did not strike the ears of the Ran- 
 som family as familiar, but more applicable than
 
 SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS 189 
 
 appropriate, and still more embarassing than 
 edifying. They took offence immediately. One 
 by one the ransomed sinners retraced their steps 
 from the auditorium as they had entered, with 
 measured tread and dignified bearing, except 
 that the file order was reversed, the usher follow- 
 ing the procession to the door. Thus ended 
 the second ecclesiastical chapter of the Ransom 
 family to the disappointment, as well as to no 
 little inner merriment, of Ed Slocum who chanced 
 to be in his family pew on that sacred Sabbath 
 morning. 
 
 Another new development projected itself into 
 the world of gossip in the form of the increasing 
 intimacy between Dr. Morgan and Naomi Slocum. 
 As mentioned in the above lines, Oscar Morgan 
 had merely repeated the current gossip when 
 he said that Tom was out and Evan was in. 
 The many cases of coughs and colds and grip, 
 as well as the more serious cases of pneumonia, 
 kept the doctor more than busy, yet, through 
 his long working hours and the nervous tension 
 and anxiety for his patients, he found ample 
 time to visit Naomi. 
 
 Whether by chance or charm, they often met 
 in the homes of the suffering poor where each 
 ministered to the physical, and often to the 
 spiritual, needs of the inmates. The mutual 
 satisfaction of following their chosen work and 
 the conscientious thoroughness with which each 
 performed the duties in that line, naturally threw 
 them together and as naturally busied the idle 
 tongues respecting the probability of a matri- 
 monial alliance in the elite society of the city. 
 Nor was the gossip entirely groundless. The
 
 190 A FAST GAME 
 
 case that worried the doctor the most was Naomi's 
 case. His solicitude on the part of the other 
 cases lay in the probability of his effecting a 
 complete annihilation of the malady; but in her 
 case, all depended on his ability to court the 
 disease until it became so deeply seated as to 
 require his entire lifetime to alleviate its insinu- 
 ations. 
 
 So seriously did he consider the case of his 
 patient that a formal consultation, not of physi- 
 cians but of lovers, seemed the only expedient 
 method of procedure. With this object in view 
 and during a forced temporary cessation of his 
 professional duties, he wended his way to the 
 mansion of Benjamin Slocum. He determined, 
 under the stress of his amateurish duty, to know 
 his fate at the hands of the only daughter. 
 
 Naomi received him most cordially. Accus- 
 tomed to diagnose his cases as soon as possible 
 he proceeded, in this instance, according to habit. 
 Their relations had been of the most friendly 
 for years but at this particular decisive moment 
 the doctor evidenced signs of agitation and doubt 
 as to the proper course to pursue. On the one 
 hand, he studied the delicate approaches by 
 which he could lead up to the subject in hand, 
 and, on the other, he wondered what would be 
 the ultimate consequences of this, his most subtle 
 and complicated case, at the same time, the 
 most interesting and infatuating one. 
 
 When Naomi attempted to withdraw her hand 
 after their formal and mutually warm greeting, 
 he held it the tighter and drew her to the piano 
 against which he awkwardly leaned and as awk- 
 wardly began the seige of the coveted citadel
 
 SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS 191 
 
 he hoped to conquer, by saying, "My dear, Naomi!" 
 He had never called her by her given name before. 
 That fact, together with the serious tone of his 
 voice, brought a blush to Naomi's cheek and 
 warned her that a crisis had come. "I came 
 here today to tell you of my love to to offer 
 myself to you and and to get your consent to 
 to be my wife." 
 
 An awkward pause followed, partly because 
 the doctor thought he had asked a question that 
 could be answered by yes or no, and partly be- 
 cause Naomi did not know just how to answer an 
 unasked question, especially when the indirect 
 question bore so weighty a sentiment and was 
 spoken under so strenuous circumstances. In 
 the mean while, the man of medicine gently drew 
 the girl toward him and she as gently drew herself 
 away from him. 
 
 "Will you consent to be my own, Naomi?" 
 he abruptly asked with a voice choked and husky. 
 Naomi stood with her head slightly fallen to one 
 side and her eyes fixed on the floor. Her left 
 hand dallied with her watch cord, her right hand 
 lay in his. Another silence followed the direct 
 interrogation. Morgan waited, looking down at 
 the woman at his side. She slowly raised her 
 eyes to his. Moisture glistened on the lifted 
 eyelashes. The doctor then knew that she 
 understood his meaning and that for him to 
 bide her time to answer was the better part of 
 valor. Each delved for the other's inner thought 
 and self, and each consciously perceived the 
 sincerity, the purity, the worth and the love 
 of the other. 
 
 Why, then, should there be any hesitation on
 
 192 A FAST GAME 
 
 the part of either? The occult mysteries of 
 intuition could not be explained, but by its 
 reasoning Evan Morgan discerned that Naomi 
 said "Yes" in her heart, though, to his surprise 
 and sore disappointment, she made answer, 
 "I appreciate your love, Doctor Morgan, and 
 cannot say that it is not reciprocated, but you 
 will pardon me if I ask for two months in which 
 to make my final answer. You know me well 
 enough to understand that I am not requesting 
 time for any trifling purpose, and that I do not 
 want to cause you any unnecessary apprehen- 
 sion. Our lives and our work shall move on in 
 the same routine as they have heretofore, but 
 before the two months are passed you shall know 
 my final decision. Is it agreed?" 
 
 Without any hesitation, whatever, Morgan 
 consented to her proposal, well knowing that 
 she had substantial reasons of her own and that 
 persuasion or argument would not and could not 
 swerve her from her proposed course of action. 
 They separated under slightly more sensitive 
 circumstances than they met though each held 
 the other in higher esteem than before and each 
 felt that a better and a more definite understand- 
 ing lay between them. Naomi went to her duties 
 more thoughtful and quiet than formally, if such 
 could be possible, while Morgan went to his office 
 with no less love for the woman of his choice, 
 at the same time jealously confident that his 
 chances of spousal success lay in the power of 
 Tom Boland. He loved Tom more than he 
 loved any other man. 
 
 What if Tom had asked the hand of Naomi 
 in marriage and, having been refused, he had
 
 SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS 193 
 
 declared he would go back into his old ways 
 of dissipation? Which loss could he the better 
 endure, the loss of the man or the loss of the 
 woman? In either case the doctor would be 
 brought face to face with intense pain and sorrow. 
 Let it be said in all fairness, however, that the 
 thought of Tom's fall flashed through Evan's 
 mind though he did not cherish the thought 
 in the least, but, in the depths of his soul, he 
 sincerely hoped that, to overcome his rival, 
 that rival must not return to the haunts of vice. 
 In this state of mind the physician entered his 
 office and, for the time being, became lost in 
 administering to the ills and pains of his fellow 
 man. 
 
 Two phases of the black and red handed work 
 appeared as new developments in the public 
 eye. Let it be said that not all the miners, not 
 even a majority of them, were in the blackhanded 
 gang. Neither can it be said that the labor 
 union, or its leaders, countenanced the acts of, 
 or held complicity with, that secret organiza- 
 tion. The same is true in reference to the rela- 
 tion between the operators and the red handed 
 aggregation. And yet, to the consumer in gen- 
 eral, to the labor unions and to the operators, 
 the diplomatic sparring and the commission meet- 
 ings between capital and labor, only added fuel 
 to the flame already kindled a flame that each 
 side's selfishness would ultimately fan into a 
 strike conflagration which would separate the 
 contending elements the farther. But to a 
 keen observer of the signs of the times, as well 
 as to some members of the gangs, there was 
 only one gang and over that body the devil in-
 
 194 A FAST GAME 
 
 carnate held the reins of leadership and drove 
 both parties to suit his devilish wiles, knowing 
 that as long as he kept the two classes at war 
 with each other, just so long would he reap his 
 devilish harvest and gloat over the blood of his 
 victims. 
 
 There was but one hand and that a devilish 
 hand, changing its color like a chameleon from 
 black to red and from red to black, to suit his 
 convenience and to execute his nefarious devices. 
 
 The new developments along these lines, summed 
 up in a few words, are that the contestants were 
 fighting men of straw and imaginary enemies, 
 while the consumers stood aghast and beheld 
 their own interests crippled and the slowly wast- 
 ing ranks of the contestants who fought against 
 their own prosperity as well as against that of the 
 opposing forces. The consumers also saw the 
 members of the gang in general and the leaders 
 of the gang in particular, sit behind the screens 
 and manipulate the wires that kept graft flowing 
 into their own coffers, while they laughed at 
 the inconsistency and asininity of the battling 
 hosts. 
 
 Perhaps it is a misnomer to call this double- 
 handed device of human selfishness-at-any-cost 
 a new development, though we leave it here in 
 that class. It is simply "that old serpent, called 
 the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole 
 world," the same old deceiver that insinuated 
 himself into the garden of Eden, left his poisonous 
 venom in the tents of Israel, has often trailed 
 his slimy scales through palace halls and peasant 
 cottage, wound his deadly coils around purity 
 and personal liberty, and, by his charms, fasci-
 
 SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS 195 
 
 nated pulpit utterances and pageant pleasure 
 the same old serpent, only in a newer dress, 
 playing the role of a modern dramatist with an 
 ancient drama on an up-to-date stage with an 
 out-of-date character. My God! what a hellish 
 game he plays!
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A COLD WAVE 
 
 Zero weather prevailed. Through the Wyom- 
 ing valley, up the Susquehanna river, from town 
 to town, a solitary individual, footsore and sick, 
 wended his weary way on up the Lackawanna 
 valley toward Onaway. Andra Nolinski had 
 been in the United States but a little more than 
 a year. Like many another foreigner he little 
 knew of the vastness of our great nation, her 
 wonderful cosmopolitan population and her man- 
 ners and customs which are so different from 
 those of countries beyond the seas. 
 
 Andra had labored in a mine at Nanticoke 
 during most of his stay in this land, getting ac- 
 quainted with a few of even his own people and, 
 naturally of a reserved nature, mingling none 
 at all with those who were not of his own nation. 
 About holidays he had been injured in the mines, 
 the injury later on developing into protracted 
 illness. What compensation he had received 
 for his work soon disappeared into the hands 
 of his doctor and his boarding mistress. 
 
 Money gone and, as a natural consequence, 
 scanty clothing, a member of no organization, 
 having made no friends and no one having made 
 friends with him, poor Andra tramped his un- 
 known journey over the hubby ground, friendless, 
 
 196
 
 A COLD WAVE 197 
 
 homeless, cold and hungry, scarcely knowing 
 whither he went and to what purpose, only that 
 he had a brother in Onaway, far or near, big 
 or little, as that place might be. Heartless Jack 
 Frost spared neither his feet nor fingers; in fact, 
 he chilled the wanderer from head to foot. No- 
 linski knew that in the old country the village 
 tavern was a sort of bureau of information for 
 everybody. With this idea in mind he staggered, 
 chilled and exhausted, into The Anthracite. 
 
 "What have we got here?" remarked Ed Slo- 
 cum, when the new comer awkwardly crossed 
 the floor toward the bar. 
 
 "Perhaps he do be an import or one o' their 
 advance agents," answered Dick Morgan, "here 
 to be on hand when we declare the strike the first 
 of April." 
 
 "More apt to be a walking delegate for the 
 Pinch and Poverty Union," complacently an- 
 swered Ed, tipping back his chair into a cloud 
 of smoke that he had made from his own burning. 
 
 "Git out o' here!" growled the bartender to 
 the stranger whom he took to be intoxicated 
 rather than sick and shivering. "Can't 'ave 
 nothin' 'ere!" 
 
 Andra understood the meaning of the bar- 
 tender's gestures but not his words. He made 
 no pretence toward going. On the contrary, 
 he leaned against the bar and attempted to speak 
 while the cigars in the room rested either be- 
 tween teeth or fingers without draft. The lights 
 burned brilliantly compared with the shadowy 
 streets from which their strange guest had come. 
 Andra was dazed and chilled. His first attempted 
 utterances became audible in a pitiful wail and
 
 198 A FAST GAME 
 
 chattering teeth. His body quivered with cold 
 and weakness. 
 
 "Hout wid ye!" commanded the dispenser of 
 evil. 
 
 The figure at the bar did not move but made 
 another attempt to make his wants known. 
 This time he had better success. 
 
 "Hey, meester!" he said, "you know ma brud- 
 er, Mike Nolinski? Me want find heem." 
 
 "He's not drunk, Jim!" exclaimed Ed, jumping 
 to his feet and flinging a dime on the bar. "Give 
 the poor frozen devil a hot whiskey. That will 
 loosen his tongue." 
 
 While the bartender obeyed Andra turned to 
 Ed saying, "Me want find ma bruder, Mike No- 
 linski." 
 
 "I don't know anything about your brother, 
 old man. Where have you come from ?' ' demanded 
 Ed. 
 
 " 'E's a 'obo, hall right!" exclaimed a bystander. 
 "You're hin fur the drinks, Hed!" 
 
 "He's no union man! Don't waste yer money 
 on 'im," said Dick. 
 
 "Union or no union, hobo or no hobo," cried 
 Ed, "the poor cuss is nearly frozen and I am 
 paying for the drink." Then turning to the 
 unfortunate man and taking the hot sling which 
 had been brought in, went on, "Here, my friend, 
 down this and then tell us what you want." 
 
 "Me no money, meester," the shivering man 
 protested, pushing the glass from him. "Me no 
 can pay. Me want ma bruder!" 
 
 But they insisted that he drink which he did, 
 though slowly and after much urging and many 
 explanations that the toddy would not cost him
 
 A COLD WAVE 199 
 
 anything. A newspaper man chanced to enter 
 at this stage of the game and ordered a dish of 
 hot soup to be set before the famished stranger. 
 It was done and after the same urging as before, 
 he ate with a relish. The second bowl followed 
 the first and while he ate the last in a side room, 
 the bystanders withdrew and left him alone. 
 
 The Anthracite made no pretentions to being 
 a religious institution, much less a charitable 
 soup house, therefore, the game played in its 
 precincts at this time, savored of the novel and 
 sensational. The sorry plight of the stranger 
 had to be discussed in detail. While the dis- 
 cussion went on in the barroom the subject of 
 their charity disappeared. Where could he be? 
 
 "Hit's up to you ag'in, Hed," called out one 
 of the party. "You've cast yer pearls afore 
 swine, this time, sure!" 
 
 "It's not the first time," answered Ed, making 
 for the door in order to catch his supposed fleeing 
 victim. But when he turned behind the screen 
 which stood before the door, he fetched up as 
 suddenly as if he had come upon a corpse. He 
 took off his hat reverently and threw up his 
 left hand a signal for silence. 
 
 The barroom hushed to the stillness of a tomb. 
 The voice of prayer sweetly echoed through the 
 stifling atmosphere. There upon his knees with 
 his hands clasped across his breast and partially 
 hidden by the lattice screen, Andra Nolinski 
 poured out his heart to a present Friend a God 
 who could understand his language. His many 
 tears bore evidence of his sincerity and spoke a 
 language that the bystanders could understand 
 without an interpreter. The praying Polander,
 
 200 A FAST GAME 
 
 the unknown tongue and the environment, made 
 a spectacle of contrast and impressiveness seldom 
 if ever witnessed anywhere before. The com- 
 pany bowed in humble reverence through the 
 remainder of the prayer. 
 
 When the voice ceased and the petitioner rose 
 from his knees, the outside door opened, letting 
 in a gust of frosty air and a well dressed miner 
 who stood for an instant, face to face, with Andra. 
 The cards changed rapidly in the game. The 
 lookers on had their tenderest feelings for a 
 praying and friendless stranger whisked to the 
 union of two brothers who fell into each others 
 arms and wept like children. They jabbered 
 for a minute in their native tongue. The well 
 groomed brother then offered Ed a dime which 
 he promptly refused; likewise a quarter to the 
 reporter, which he also refused. Both brothers 
 bowing a low courtesy of gratitude to the two 
 benefactors and then to all the others in the 
 room, they left the place, hand in hand. 
 
 The cold wave, that swept across the barroom 
 when the brothers went out, increased in intensity 
 a moment later when John Ransom, Jr., entered 
 and announced that the operators had rejected 
 every demand made on them by the Mine Worker's 
 Union. The entrance of the outside foreman 
 scattered and dispelled the religious aroma of 
 the place like a summer breeze blows off the 
 pollen from a corn tassel; yet, like the pollen 
 on the corn silk, the sacred influences of the 
 moment had their fecundating touch on the 
 socialistic arguments and discussions that fol- 
 lowed. No sweetness can be wasted on the
 
 A COLD WAVE 201 
 
 desert air though its divine purpose may be 
 perverted. 
 
 "It'll be a colder day nor today," began Oscar 
 Morgan, the agitator, "before the operators '11 
 have a better opportunity to concede to the 
 proposals of the Union. I, fur one, do be in 
 the game to beat." 
 
 "Considering the feasibility of the circum- 
 stances concerned," interrupted John, Jr., "the 
 Union has apparently, and wisely I may add, 
 made extreme demands " 
 
 "Nonsense with yer extremes! I " 
 
 "Just be patient till I am through, Mr. Morgan! 
 As I was about to remark when interrupted, the 
 excessive demands of the Union, no doubt, were 
 first spread before the operators in order that, 
 if rejected by that body, there would yet remain 
 ample occasion for large concessions and still 
 receive the required advance for which the Union 
 is contending. I consider the movement as a 
 diplomatic stroke of primary importance. In 
 the first place it intensifies the cupidity of the 
 operators that they are winning their point, 
 and in the second place, when the Union makes 
 the concessions, the sympathy of the public is 
 enlisted on the side of " 
 
 "To the devil with the sympathy of the pub- 
 lic! We've got that an' will have it, so long 
 as the world stands," hotly broke in Oscar, who 
 chafed to have free speech. 
 
 "I demand silence," retorted the speaker who 
 had the floor. 
 
 "Let the Englishman have his say," good- 
 naturedly put in Ed. "He is like the cold wave 
 we are having outside now; it must have its
 
 202 A FAST GAME 
 
 blow out before it can have a let up. Go on, 
 Mr. Ransom; the floor is yours." 
 
 The evident good humor of the company and 
 the suave manner of its monitor, took the wind 
 out of the oratorical sails of the loquacious har- 
 anguer. His concluding effort began with a 
 light puff, after which he lay becalmed and help- 
 less. 
 
 "On the side on the side of the Union, and 
 and the the religious element will will also " 
 
 "Great Scott!" yelled Oscar, jumping into 
 the middle of the room mid cheers and laughter, 
 "Ye garrulous numbskull, ye, with constipated 
 idees, ye do be nineteen hundred years behind 
 the times. The idee of the laborin' men enlistin' 
 the sympathy o' the public! I tell 'e, an' I say 
 it with me head up, the laborin' class is the pub- 
 lic. I want ye know, Mr. Longwords, that we 
 do be it. What d'ye know about the Union? 
 Yes, and what d'ye care about it? Ye ain't 
 neither in it nor out of it, an' unless ye sing a 
 different song, ye'll never be in it. Ye ken set 
 on the fence an' see us go by ; an' we do be goin' 
 by fur fair, too. An' if ye don't git on to the 
 bandwagon pretty soon ye'll git left by the per- 
 cession; an' when ye've come to yer senses an' 
 find yerself alone, ye'll begin to chirp like a swal- 
 low on the first day o' September. About that 
 time ye'll want a bit to stay yer stomach an' 
 ye'll git off yer high perch, trot round to the 
 blessed operators peace to their ashes an' ask 
 'em fur bread an' they'll give ye a stone, an' right 
 'n the neck, too, jest as we've got it, many an' 
 many a time. Now! I want it understood, 
 we've had stone fur steady diet long enough."
 
 A COLD WAVE 203 
 
 The speaker or his inner stimulant, or both, 
 were warming up to the subject in hand. The 
 auditors knew very well that his bantering toward 
 Ransom was done goodnaturedly and that, 
 though Ransom might feel somewhat chagrined 
 for the moment, he would soon recover from the 
 shock and be at peace with his comrades. More- 
 over, the listeners enjoyed the glib tongue of 
 the agitator, and urged him on Ed, by treating 
 the crowd, the speaker included; and the crowd 
 by drinking his toast. 
 
 "That's the proper caper, Mr. Slocum," ex- 
 claimed the excited agitator, "me throat was 
 gittin' dryer nor a coal chute in July an' I was 
 about to expectorate a bale o' cotton when ye 
 set 'em up. Here goes to Ed Slocum an' the 
 Union an' the last o' the aridity o' Sahara!" and 
 he drained his glass at one gulp. 
 
 "Whew! that hums like a sheave wheel!" he 
 exclaimed when he had recovered his breath 
 and rinsed his throat with water. "That alienates 
 all enemies an' all disturbin' influences, an' con- 
 geals the brotherhood o' the buddies about the 
 bar. It may be that the likes o' this put old 
 Noah to shame, nevertheless, it's the likes o' 
 this that whiles many a happy hour away; lubri- 
 cates the artistic taste o' good fellowship; strikes 
 the human lyre with many a soft refrain; distills 
 the evenin's murmurin's like sunlit mornin' dew; 
 and glides a fellow over the rough paths o' this 
 unfriendly world with gentle jolt an' jollity. The 
 chariot wheels of Bacchus roll as smoothly through 
 a fellow's sensorium as the wheels o' Neptune 
 through the sea. 
 
 "Hem-m! There do be no question but that
 
 204 A FAST GAME 
 
 the social problem do be the leadin' topic o' the 
 day. Talk about the public's sympathy! The 
 vast majority o' the population o' the globe 
 ain't nobody but wage earners. Wark do be 
 the secret o' happiness an' them what will not 
 wark hadn't ought to be allowed to eat. The 
 first Scripture injunction was that man should 
 eat his bread in the sweat o' his face. I consider 
 it an honor to be a laborin' man. Talk about 
 the sympathy o' the church! Why, the church 
 has always ben on the side o' the warkin' man 
 an' always will be. What few rich duffers there 
 do be in the church do be there fur nothin' more 
 nor less than fur patronage from their employes. 
 It's the same old song o' the Pharisee an' the 
 sinner, the rich man an' Lazarus. You ask me, 
 'What would Jesus do if he was here in these 
 times?' I ken answer without a blush that he'd 
 be one of us. He drove out the money changers 
 an' he condemned the rich men an' he lashed the 
 scribes an' the Pharisees. The very fact that 
 he put it to the capitalists was why they put 
 him to death. If he had catered to 'em they'd 
 'ave clothed 'im in purple an' fine linen an' dined 
 'im sumptuously every day. But, no; because 
 he was a poor warkin' man, a carpenter by trade, 
 an" would not submit to their rule, they put 'im 
 out o' the way. They'll put us out o' the way, 
 too, unless we stan' fur our rights. If that 
 Galilean was here now he'd be an agitator jest 
 as I be." 
 
 A smile played around the features of several 
 of the listeners while a slight titter of ridicule 
 rippled through the company. The silent sar- 
 casm touched the speaker's sensibilities and
 
 A COLD WAVE 205 
 
 flung a slight color into his face, though he con- 
 tinued with somewhat modified expressions. 
 
 "I don't mean to say that Jesus Christ would 
 say jest exactly what I do be sayin', nor do I 
 class meself as no where near his equal in nothin' 
 that's good " another ruffle of merriment 
 "but I do mean to say that he'd be on me side 
 in the game against capitalism an* greed. He 
 did champion the cause o' the downtrodden 
 an' he do be do it yit; an' if he was here in person 
 now, he'd be on the side o' the miners in the 
 greatest game ever played on this old planet. 
 We ain't goin' int' it with the sword. We give 
 the operators a fair chance t' arbitrate er deliver 
 up the goods to us in a square deal an' play a 
 fair game; but if they try to give us an upper 
 cut er a left hand swing, we'll show 'em that our 
 great army o' brain an' brawn ken use the shootin' 
 iron as handy as the drill or crowbar. 
 
 "I declare ag'in, that the masses do be on our 
 side an' loyal to our leader. He's not in the 
 game fur blood but he'll have to take it if the 
 masses demand it; an' they'll demand it, too, 
 if the operators don't take back some o' their 
 highfalutin gab. Ev'ry local I've visited stands 
 on tiptoe to hear the news what has come to us 
 tonight, an' it's no good news by no means 
 specially fur the operators. 
 
 "I tell 'e fellows, we're sure of our rights simply 
 because the right do be on our side. This gov- 
 er'ment do be in fur the square dela an" we do be 
 a Christian gover'ment. That means that the 
 gover'ment is fur the majority an' not fur the 
 minority; an' that means that the war kin' men 
 rules. That's sound logic an' sound sense, an' I
 
 206 A FAST GAME 
 
 do be here not only to advocate the doctrine 
 by me mouth but by me life, if it coomes to that. 
 Therefore, I do say, an' I say t iemphatically, 
 down with the rich demagogues an' down with 
 the capitalists, the destroyers of our liberty!" 
 
 He had only warmed up to his subject and 
 paused for oratorical effect when Ed Slocum 
 calmly said between his teeth he held an ex- 
 tinguished cigar in his mouth "Say, Morgan, 
 did not your boasted labor leader and agitator, 
 the Galilean, as you call him, once look upon a 
 certain rich young man and love him?" 
 
 The thirsty crowd instantly broke into an 
 uproar, not so much that it comprehended the 
 philosophical import of the question and the 
 weight of argument it contained, but because 
 the words came from their patronizing pet and 
 generous gauger. The listeners sympathized with 
 the sentiments of the harangue but would forsake 
 principle any time for a glass of grog. By intui- 
 tive genius they already saw the coveted potion 
 and fell to without further invitation when Ed, 
 the rich young heir, waved his hand to come 
 forward, turned his face to the bar and reached 
 for a match to light his extinguished cigar. 
 
 The cold wave had struck the city in earnest. 
 The joint regency of the frost king and the coal 
 king controlled the situation and pinched the 
 players in the game of life. The March lion lay 
 dying, though with many a groan and tremor, 
 nevertheless, he lay dying before the warm breath 
 of the south wind; but the gold lion increased in 
 intensity and grappled death with a tenacity that 
 meant its final overthrow. 
 
 However cold the night or cold the employers'
 
 A COLD WAVE 207 
 
 treatment of the employes, The Anthracite re- 
 echoed with the chink of coin and the rustle of 
 crisp banknotes. Mothers and children shivered 
 beneath scanty bedclothes, shivered partly from 
 cold and partly from fear of an approaching un- 
 steady step; honest, abstemious working men 
 slept under their own roofs with their families 
 and in comfort and peace; the coal barons, en- 
 sconced in downy counterpanes, slumbered in 
 contentment: out of doors, the frost heaved and 
 snapped and bit; within, behind closed doors and 
 drawn curtains, in an atmosphere blue with 
 tobacco smoke, and over many a mingled wine, 
 the red hands and the black hands played the 
 game.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE SUSPENSION 
 
 The operators' flat refusal of all the demands 
 of the Union necessarily put a damper on the 
 resumption of negotiations between the two 
 contending parties. It was only temporary, 
 however, for the Union gathered up its reins of 
 disappointment, remassed its forces, took a long 
 breath and got busy again gnawing on the several 
 bones of contention. It called another conven- 
 tion to perform the arduous task of rearrange- 
 ment and readjustment of all the details of dis- 
 agreement. The scale committee began revising 
 the wage scale also, especially the day wage scale, 
 from the highest paid company miner to the 
 lowest paid jigger boy. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the portents in the industrial 
 skies indicated a strike. The business men and 
 the miners, in fact, the public in general, expected 
 to hear that the operators had refused some of 
 the demands made on them by the Union and 
 had gone so far as to request a modification of some 
 of the others, but they read with deep concern 
 and surprise the announcement that every re- 
 quest made by the Union had received a prompt 
 refusal by the operators. Grave faces appeared 
 in the streets. 
 
 The business of the city slumped. The wheels 
 208
 
 THE SUSPENSION 209 
 
 of the stock exchange ceased their steady hum 
 and the financial circles held their breath. The 
 industrial lull loomed up like the hushed sights 
 and sounds of nature before an approaching 
 storm. Only the mines and the anthracite trans- 
 portation railroads worked on full time, even 
 extra time appeared occasionally on the payrolls. 
 But this increased activity in only one branch of 
 industry all the more aggravated the furor of the 
 coming calamity. 
 
 Not only did the stress of the times touch the 
 local financial interests but wherever the anthra- 
 cite product was habitually consumed, there the 
 infectious uncertainty pulsated through every 
 capillary of marketable and business stock. 
 Producers and dealers in bituminous products 
 hoped for a strike in the anthracite regions, 
 provided their own mine workers did not initiate 
 a sympathetic strike. Inasmuch, then, as the 
 nation's great manufactories and transportation 
 companies, both by land and water, primarily 
 depended on one or the other of these fuels for 
 their activity, every commercial concern stood 
 on the qui vive watching the financial weather- 
 vane swinging in the changing winds of the con- 
 ferences and committee meetings of the miners 
 and the operators, and awaiting the final change 
 which would concentrate the uncertain puffs and 
 flurries of mercantile air into a steady trade wind. 
 
 Retired men of means, who participated but 
 little in the hurley-burley of traffic, whose com- 
 forts would neither be increased nor decreased 
 by the ebb and flow of the financial tide, cogitated 
 and wondered why the men in authority in the 
 commonwealth or the nation or both did not take
 
 210 A FAST GAME 
 
 a hand in the deliberations of the contentious 
 game and insist on arbitration, declaring that it 
 was an outrage for two selfish parties to tie up 
 the nation's entire industrial system in order to 
 satiate their own personal pique and ruinous 
 revenge. 
 
 Rarely is a nation so thoroughly aroused as was 
 our nation on this question, except in time of 
 civil or foreign war; indeed, our nation was pass- 
 ing through an industrial war upon which the 
 kingdoms of the world looked with interest, and 
 studied with scientific sagacity. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the preparations for war 
 went on. The cool headed officers of the laboring 
 columns augmented their ranks, tightened the 
 lines of organization, looked well to their treasury, 
 counted the cost, steadied their solid phalanx, 
 floated their banners to the breezes and kept busy 
 at their signal stations. In this battle array, 
 Saturday night, March thirty-first, nineteen hun- 
 dred and six, found them. At midnight the 
 agreement fixed by the arbitration commission 
 would be at an end. The Union had said in terms 
 louder than words that certain grievances must 
 be righted or it would order a strike; and the 
 operators had spoken just as loudly when they 
 flatly refused every demand made by the Union. 
 Quitting time came on that eventful night and 
 the Union miners and laborers took their tools 
 from the mines. They also received orders not to 
 return to work until further notice. 
 
 The other side had not slept while its enemy 
 maneuvered. It increased the police force to guard 
 property, or initiated or arranged for one. The 
 operators retained non-union men, hired others
 
 THE SUSPENSION 211 
 
 and procured, secretly or openly, imports and 
 strike-breakers. As far as possible they intended 
 to open the mines on Monday morning. But 
 Monday morning came and no strike. A suspen- 
 sion had taken its place time for the opponents 
 to negotiate, parley, disagree, half-agree, confer, 
 consult, demand, refuse, readjust, rearrange, re- 
 commit and, if possible, finally settle. 
 
 At first, the operators appeared to the Union 
 like a wall of consummate obstinacy and un- 
 mitigated selfishness, while the operators con- 
 sidered the Union as a compound of rapacious 
 audacity, egotistical ambitions and opinionated 
 conceits. The ten per cent, advance in wages and 
 the shorter day demanded by the Union were on 
 the ground that the miners were underpaid and 
 that their labor was so arduous as to necessitate 
 shorter days for the physical good of the workers ; 
 on the other hand, an argument came from the 
 opposition and was published in a certain journal 
 of the state to this effect that if "the workers in 
 the anthracite region are underpaid, attention 
 should be directed to the old fashioned truth that 
 a people's prosperity is measured by the amount 
 expended for luxuries. On this basis not much 
 can be said for the miners' contention. 
 
 "In Pennsylvania there is a high license law 
 and the cost of running a liquor saloon is very 
 considerable. Nevertheless, in the town of Shen- 
 andoah there are one hundred and eighty-three 
 licensed saloons, or one saloon for every sixteen 
 voters ; and in Mahanoy City there are one hundred 
 and sixty-three licensed saloons, or one to every 
 fifteen voters. In some places, like New Phila-
 
 212 A FAST GAME 
 
 delphia, there are as many as one saloon to every 
 six voters . 
 
 "A recent report of the Law and Order Society 
 of Schuylkill County, in the heart of the anthra- 
 cite region, contained this utterance: Our county 
 stands first among the sixty-seven counties of the 
 state in the number of the saloons to the popu- 
 lation. In the last five years a license has been 
 granted to every one hundred and seventy-three 
 persons in the county. This one hundred and 
 seventy-three includes men, women and children; 
 deduct the women and the children and there is 
 a liquor license issued in this county for every 
 fifty adult male persons." Therefore, "it can 
 hardly be maintained that a community which 
 can support the liquor traffic on this extraordinary 
 scale is underpaid." 
 
 It is not strange in the least that bodies of men 
 see and treat similar bodies of men as individuals 
 see and treat one another. The weak points and 
 narrow views of the other fellow or fellows are 
 glaring faults, even outrages, in the opinion of 
 the other fellow or fellows' opponent, and should 
 be treated with a thorough course of publicity, 
 a lifting of the lid of investigation to be followed 
 by a general exposition of classified and criminal 
 minutiae. 
 
 We, individually and collectively, forget some- 
 times that once upon a time in a certain place 
 and under certain circumstances a certain teacher 
 said to His class, "He that is without sin among 
 you, let him first cast a stone" at the condemned 
 party. That teacher holds the same position in 
 the world's education today that He held when 
 He spoke the above words that is, supreme
 
 THE SUSPENSION 213 
 
 authority. He has held His infinite patience 
 through all these years and still pours out His 
 perfect precepts and practices of fraternity and 
 fellowship to a perverse, passionate and avaricious 
 generation of human ambitions, indulgent frailties 
 and thoughtless follies. 
 
 The old Slocum shaft was yet in ruins, there 
 having been no time to rebuild it since the disaster, 
 but the Diamond mine opened for work on Mon- 
 day morning. The company was not certain that 
 all the employes would return to work but, relying 
 upon the honor of the miners to do the square 
 thing by their employers who treated them with 
 honor and justice, it opened the mine as usual. 
 That the individual company was not in the 
 combine, however, made no difference. The 
 union workers, to the man, remained from then- 
 posts of duty, though their idea of the post of 
 duty was to obey the command of the Union rather 
 than to exercise the right of individual liberty. 
 
 The non-union workers reported for work with 
 the exception of a few who dared not venture into 
 the mine for fear of violence. During Sunday, 
 the first day of April, the black hand notices had 
 been profusely distributed, intimidations used, 
 and, in a few instances, threats made. These 
 means had lessened the forces in the non-union 
 ranks. Also, the fact that the combined opera- 
 tors had imported some strike-breakers, instead 
 of augmenting the force of the non-union men, 
 only drove them from their positions in the mines, 
 either because they did not desire to be classed 
 with the imports, or from fear of violence which, 
 sooner or later, would come, for the imports and 
 the union according to the laws of human nature,
 
 214 A FAST GAME 
 
 and both parties held diplomas from that school 
 must necessarily clash. The Black Diamond 
 Company, however, smuggled no imports into its 
 mine. 
 
 The business of the company continued on the 
 old established principle of dealing with the 
 individual. On account of this well-known prin- 
 ciple more applicants for work came to the inde- 
 pendent company than to any other in the valley. 
 Yet the number was insufficient to operate the 
 one mine. 
 
 The union men knew very well the sentiment 
 of The Black Diamond Company on the subject 
 of unionism and they also knew that the company 
 would operate its mine if men enough could be 
 secured, whether the combined transportation 
 companies would haul the product or not. That 
 company's reputation in the city stood on a solid 
 independent basis ; that being the case, the opera- 
 tion of that particular mine would be a bone of 
 contention between the two industrial forces. 
 
 The Slocums held the confidence of every in- 
 dividual business man in the valley; whether or 
 not he would acknowledge it, was another question. 
 One's personal principles are often suppressed or 
 held in the background when those of a collective 
 body to which he belongs are advanced, even 
 though the principles of the collective body are 
 not exactly in keeping with his views, especially, 
 when it appeals to his inner pride to adhere to the 
 postulates of the majority or when it may seem to 
 advance his own interest for the time being. 
 
 Under these very circumstances many a miner 
 would have gladly gone to work in the Diamond 
 mine had it not been for the sting it might incur
 
 THE SUSPENSION 215 
 
 from his union fellows' ridicule and the fear of 
 violence from them as well as his final expulsion 
 from the mines, should the Union triumph in the 
 fight. Of course, there are always a sacred few 
 who fear nothing but the loss of personal liberty 
 in the exercise of their conscientious scruples. 
 Such men found employment in the Diamond 
 mine on that memorable Monday morning. 
 
 John Ransom, Sr., was not a union man and 
 did not go out with the suspension. He was 
 temporarily transferred to the superintendency 
 of the mine in the place of Tom Boland who had 
 really disappeared to nobody knew where. Tony 
 Bandelli, the Italian who had dared to stand 
 alone for his principles in The Anthracite, went in 
 as fire-boss. He was no special friend of the 
 senior Ransom, but the company insisted on the 
 promotion and it had to go. The first night after 
 he became fire-boss Tony received a black hand 
 letter containing a threat of his life if he did not 
 quit the mine or pay the sum of three hundred 
 dollars; and he was given three days in which to 
 decide the matter. He said nothing about it to 
 anyone and determined to play his own part in 
 the game in spite of all threats. 
 
 The third morning, while he went his lonely 
 round of inspection, he felt positive several times 
 that he heard footsteps in distant chambers of 
 the mine. When the mine opened and all the 
 laborers busy at work, Tony visited the stables 
 and enquired if any of the mules had been loose 
 the night before. They had been found secure. 
 He concluded that some unknown person had 
 been in the mine and that his presence meant 
 evil to the fire-boss. For safety, therefore, he
 
 216 A FAST GAME 
 
 called at the company's office, told his story and 
 asked for a guard. The company granted his 
 request, stationing an additional police at the 
 entrance of the shaft. Nothing suspicious occurred 
 again for a week. On that morning when Tony 
 came from his work and when he was not more 
 than a hundred yards from the shaft some un- 
 known person shot him from a clump of bushes 
 above the path. 
 
 The fire-boss yelled with pain, leaped into the 
 air and fell to the ground. Two of the police 
 gave chase, but to no purpose. They could not 
 locate the would-be assassin for he had used 
 smokeless powder. Another guard ran to the 
 wounded man. The report of the gun brought 
 a score of men on the spot at once. The non- 
 union miners were on their way to work and many 
 of the union men hung on their flanks to intimi- 
 date, persuade or jeer them, or to look on in si- 
 lence. The news of the attempted murder spread 
 like wildfire. In five minutes more than a hun- 
 dred men rushed to the scene. 
 
 Tony lay unconscious, bleeding from a bullet 
 wound in the forehead how seriously the wound 
 was, no one knew. The little group of non-union 
 men surrounding him was too afraid for their 
 lives to examine him. A half dozen police sur- 
 rounded the group, and, in turn, they were sur- 
 rounded by a mob of union men, that jeered and 
 swore and threatened and shouted, "It's good 
 'nough fur 'im!" "There's more'll git the same 
 dose if they don't quit work." 
 
 Excitement ran high while the mob pressed 
 closer and closer to the inner circle. "Scab!" 
 came from all sides. The police drew their revol-
 
 THE SUSPENSION 217 
 
 vers and threatened to use them if the crowd did 
 not disperse. 
 
 "Shoot, if ye dare!" came the defiant answer 
 while a dozen other revoverls gleamed from the 
 other ranks. "We'll take 'are of ourselves. 
 Shoot, damn ye! We want the honor o' buryin' 
 a lot o' scabs!" 
 
 A stone came from the crowd and dropped 
 among the non-union men. A policeman fired 
 into the air and shouted, "Back!" 
 
 The shot was answered by a score of shots in 
 the air, some so close to the ground that the 
 smaller group heard the whistling bullets. The 
 game opened then in a general fusilade with an 
 occasional shout from first one and then the 
 other as the flying missiles took effect. The 
 battle became desperate and no one knows what 
 the result would have been had not just at this 
 time a woman appeared in the midst of the fray. 
 Where the bullets flew the thickest she stood and 
 waved a white hand Th.e firing ceased at once 
 and a hush fell on the disquieted combatants. 
 
 "Don't, friends!" said Naomi, her voice being 
 heard by every man. 
 
 They obeyed. The union men slunk away in 
 groups one or two limping; several others, sup- 
 ported by friends; and two whom their comrades 
 carried. Naomi walked into the little squad of 
 defenders and began to assist the wounded. None 
 had been killed. The other party had suffered 
 more because their shots had gone through the 
 non-union ranks and occasionally had taken 
 effect among their own men on the other side 
 of the circle. 
 
 She called an ambulance and sent three men
 
 218 A FAST GAME 
 
 to the hospital; among them lay Tony who had 
 regained consciousness. His wound was not 
 serious the effect of a bad aim for the brain 
 though the bullet on'y grazed the skull. 
 
 By the time the riot ended the superintendent 
 appeared on the scene and counseled the miners 
 to quit work. They were about to obey, some 
 willingly and some reluctantly, when Henry 
 Slocum walked into the group. He conversed 
 a moment with the superintendent and, judging 
 by his manner, he did not agree with his employe. 
 Turning to his workmen he said, in a calm voice 
 though with a sincerity which they all felt 
 for they had confidence in the man: 
 
 "Men, I am sorry that this unpleasantness has 
 sprung up this morning and that some of you 
 have been called, not only to stand for, but also to 
 suffer for principle. I am here to thank you for 
 so doing. I think I understand your position 
 and I assure you that I heartily sympathize with 
 you in this situation. You have been attacked 
 by others when you were peaceably carrying 
 out your own conscientious ideas; the company's 
 property and its men have been endangered when 
 it tried to carry out its own ideas of right and 
 wrong. 
 
 "Our positions are similar. I am here to coerce 
 no one into my employ. When I speak of myself 
 I also mean my brother and my father for they 
 are with me in opinion, in justice and in sympathy. 
 You know that I have always dealt personally 
 and fairly with you and that no grievance has 
 ever come to me which has not had consideration 
 and a satisfactory adjustment." A murmur 
 of assent ran through the assembled laborers.
 
 THE SUSPENSION 219 
 
 "I propose to keep on doing business at the 
 same old stand and in the same old way. All 
 of you who wish to enter the mine under the 
 present pressing circumstances are at liberty 
 to do so. Each shall be remunerated accordingly. 
 I cannot guarantee you absolute safety. There 
 are certain personal risks that you must run and 
 that against powers over which I have no control. 
 I will guarantee, however, that, should any injury 
 come to you from the opposing party while in 
 my employ, your time shall go on while you are 
 disabled and, should more serious mishap befall 
 you, your families shall not suffer for the neces- 
 sities of life so long as I have a crust to share 
 with them." 
 
 These words simply carried the listeners with 
 them. Many shouts of approval came from the 
 honest miners. "That's 'o! That's 'o!" and 
 "We'll stand by ye! We'll stand to the last 
 ditch!" came from all those present. Even 
 John Ransom, Sr., bustled around as if heartily 
 in sympathy with the movement. 
 
 "One more word, men! I want to thank you 
 for your loyalty to, and your hearty co-operation 
 with, the company, in this trying hour. You, 
 or some of you at least, have received black hand 
 notices threats on your life or an opportunity 
 to receive or give bribes but you have laid them 
 aside to work for me; please also remember, 
 that I have received red hand threats if I did 
 not discharge some of you or pay the price. You 
 see that our cause is the same. I am here not 
 only to defend my rights and duties but to defend 
 yours as well. I give you my hand on this mutual
 
 220 A FAST GAME 
 
 contract. Our mutual interests stand or fall 
 together. Are you agreed?" 
 
 A hearty "Yes!" followed the question. After- 
 ward, every man filed by his employer and gave 
 him his callous hand as his oath to the compact. 
 The superintendent, however, held aloof until all 
 had passed. Then he stepped up to Mr. Slocum 
 and said fawningly: "It is not necessary for me 
 to extend to you the right hand of fellowship at 
 this time, you are already assured of my loyalty 
 to your service and to your cause. I advised the 
 men to quit work because I deemed it the best 
 for the good of the company, but since you have 
 decided otherwise I remain at my post as usual. 
 Perhaps a little advancement in wages would 
 encourage the men to do better work and be 
 more faithful to duty." 
 
 Henry Slocum looked at the superintendent in 
 blank astonishment. A frown passed over his 
 brow. The underling wavered before his X-ray 
 glance. 
 
 "Look here, John!" he calculated, "are you 
 speaking one for the men and two for yourself? 
 That is the very principle at stake and you are 
 the first one to shatter it. As to their loyalty I 
 have no fear and I will reward them accordingly 
 but justly, mind you; but if it takes more wages 
 to make you loyal, you receive no more. Your 
 hesitancy and equivocation in your present utter- 
 ances are proof positive to me that you want an 
 increase in wages and want it worse than the 
 men in whom I have implicit confidence. Please 
 remember, Mr. Ransom, that loyalty is always 
 to principle and not to purse. After so long a 
 term of service, if you have no more confidence
 
 THE SUSPENSION 221 
 
 in my justice than to make such an assertion as 
 you have just made, you are not a safe man to 
 whom to trust my men in these times. Come to 
 the office with me and we will have a settlement 
 at once." 
 
 Mr. Slocum turned on his heel and strode away 
 toward the street car line at a rate of speed that 
 suggested that the work could not be done any 
 too soon. Mr. Ransom trotted, rather more than 
 walked, on behind. The employer stood six 
 feet in stature while the superintendent was a 
 little above five and rather corpulent at that. 
 It is no wonder, then, that the latter wheezed 
 when they stood on the corner a few minutes 
 later waiting for the car. He had toiled hard to 
 keep pace with his pedestrian leader. Ransom 
 had several times expostulated with the irate 
 Slocum but the only answer was a wave of the 
 hand. 
 
 In silence, therefore, save for the. grinding of 
 cinders beneath soles which went on business of 
 importance, the two entered the office of The 
 Black Diamond Company . 
 
 Benjamin Slocum and Eva Morgan were the 
 only occupants of the rooms. The younger 
 brother arose with anxiety and greeted his brother 
 warmly. He was about to ask concerning the 
 fray at the breaker when he detected his brother's 
 agitated condition. He took in the situation 
 at once and returned to his desk, more to meditate 
 than to work. The elder brother returned the 
 salutation in a kind though a hasty manner and 
 proceeded to settle matters with the superin- 
 tendent. It was but a period of five minutes or 
 less when John Ransom, Sr., left the office of The
 
 222 A FAST GAME 
 
 Black Diamond Company, to return to it no more 
 forever. 
 
 When the door closed behind the discharged 
 man the brothers faced each other with a most 
 fraternal confidence and began a long consultation 
 in regard to the wisest methods to adopt in order 
 to continue the operation of the mine, to guard 
 the rights of their employes, to protect their own 
 property and lives and to select a superintendent 
 to take the place of the one just discharged. 
 
 "I say, Hen!" thoughtfully suggested Benjamin, 
 "if only Tom Boland was here now, where he 
 ought to be, he would fill the bill exactly." 
 
 A slight flush crept over the face of the senior 
 brother as he replied; "I know it, Ben. I had 
 him in mind." 
 
 "But my impression is that he will never come 
 back for his job. He may be doing what he said 
 he would try to do but I don't believe it and, 
 even if he is, he ought to make known to us his 
 whereabouts. He has been most reliable since 
 he straightened up a year or so ago but I honestly 
 believe that he has gone back to his old way 
 and will turn up in the lockup when he does 
 turn up." 
 
 "I hardly think so, Ben. I haven't the slightest 
 idea where he is or what he is doing, though I 
 have confidence that he will be back in a few days 
 ready to take his place with that he had before." 
 
 Henry spoke with noticeable emotion, his 
 eyes having that far away visionary expression 
 so characteristic of one in meditation on a subject 
 of the gravest importance. 
 
 "One thing that convinces me that my opinion 
 is correct is that he and Naomi have been on the
 
 THE SUSPENSION 223 
 
 most intimate terms. He often frequented my 
 home in her company. Since he went away she 
 has not been herself. I would not be surprised 
 if he had been so foolish as to ask for her hand in 
 marriage. Of course she would refuse him. That 
 would drive him to dissipation and disturb her 
 peace of mind. For a girl of her sensitive con- 
 science, after what she has done for him, she 
 would condemn herself for doing a thing that 
 would give an occasion for his fall. She says 
 nothing about him but she courts the favor of 
 Dr. Morgan more than usual. Perhaps I am 
 mistaken in my inference, though I do not believe 
 I am. Tom is a good business man and perfectly 
 trustworthy, but I am afraid that Cupid's shafts 
 have poisoned him. If he had some of your 
 grit in his veins he might stand the shock." 
 
 The last sentence conveyed a slight ripple of 
 banter in it respecting the elder brother's matri- 
 monial ventures and his present state of bachelor- 
 hood, but it did not have the effect intended by 
 the speaker. Instead of the little pleasantry 
 passing as such it seemed to strike the other in 
 an entirely different manner. Henry flushed, be- 
 came choked and agitated. For a moment 
 there was silence between them. 
 
 "You have no business to bring such flippant 
 suggestions into the discussion of this question 
 of so great importance," at last began Henry 
 with some heat. "One's sympathies should al- 
 ways be on the side of the prisoner until he be 
 found guilty." 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Hen!" quickly put in 
 Benjamin when he perceived how his brother 
 received his kindly meant insinuation. "You
 
 224 A FAST GAME 
 
 are right and I was wrong in speaking as I did. 
 I promise you I will never allude to the question 
 again." 
 
 Henry a*rose and spoke in a firm tone, still 
 having that far off expression in his eyes as if 
 he had not heard the last remarks: "I'll tell you 
 what I'll do, Ben, I will act as superintendent of 
 the mine till Tom shows up. I have no excuses 
 or reasons to offer for his absence when we so 
 much need him but I have confidence enough in 
 him to take his place till he returns, and returns 
 like a man!" 
 
 Ben was on his feet in an instant and protested 
 against such an action on the part of his brother. 
 "Why, Hen, that would never do. You might 
 lose your head in such a foolhardy undertaking. 
 I might better go than you. In fact, I will take 
 Ransom's place through this stress of circum- 
 stances." 
 
 "Never, for an instant. I am just the man for 
 the place. You have no business there for two 
 reasons and they are good valid reasons, too. 
 In the first place, you have a family and belong 
 to them and have no business to run unnecessary 
 risks to save a few dollars ; I have no one dependent 
 upon me and my neck is of little importance 
 anyway. In the second place, you never worked 
 in the mines much and have always been in some 
 other department of our affairs than that con- 
 nected with the superintendency ; I know the 
 ropes from one end to the other. Father will 
 give his consent and I give myself as well as my 
 consent, therefore, you are the minority of the 
 firm and have nothing to do but acquiesce." 
 
 "But look here, Henry; this is all uncalled for.
 
 THE SUSPENSION 225 
 
 We might better close down the mine rather 
 than for you to risk yourself in a place where 
 there is likely to be a clash greater than the one 
 this morning. Don't think of such a thing. We 
 have not got to work the mine to get our bread 
 and butter." 
 
 While he spoke the door opened softly and 
 their father entered leaning on the arm of Naomi. 
 The old man appeared worried about the safety 
 of his sons, for he immediately said, "I see ye'r 
 safe, boys!" 
 
 "Yes, father," answered Henry. "Everything 
 is all quiet now. I have proposed to act as 
 superintendent of the Diamond mine till Tom 
 returns." 
 
 "John ben in another muss?" asked the old. 
 gentleman, looking from beneath his shaggy 
 eyebrows. "Time the scamp got out!" 
 
 "But, father, don't you think it better to shut 
 down rather than to have Henry run such risks?" 
 
 "Shet down? What fur? Guess we ken run 
 our machine yit a while! If I was young ag'in I'd 
 show these frisky chaps a thing or two. No! let 
 Henry go. Might better die in the right than 
 to live in cowardice." 
 
 "Well, don't you think it more expedient for 
 me to take the position than Henry?" 
 
 While he spoke Naomi sidled up to him, twined 
 her arms in his, and cuddled up close to his breast. 
 The act bore witness to filial love and solicitude 
 as well as to a sacred sense of paternal protection. 
 The patriarch observed the trinity of graces in 
 the young woman and answered the son entirely 
 in keeping with the lesson of so beautiful a picture. 
 
 "With them arms 'round ye, Bennie? Henry
 
 226 A FAST GAME 
 
 knows the tricks o' the trade, too; you don't!" 
 
 During the silence which followed the acute 
 ears in the office heard the elevator boy sing out 
 cheerily, "That room, there!" A moment later 
 a timid knock on the door announced a visitor.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 
 
 Naomi immediately opened the door and a 
 man of perhaps seventy-five years of age stood 
 before The Black Diamond Company. To the 
 practiced eye he was "a down east Yankee" and 
 no mistake, whole-hearted, puritanic, conservative, 
 industrious, frugal to the extent of parsimony 
 and. in this particular case, savoring of the fields 
 there could be no mistaking him from other 
 than a prosperous New England farmer. From 
 the wide brimmed hat to the broad common 
 sense shoes he was clothed in black, except the 
 flaring stand-up collar and the white shirt front. 
 His face shone with honesty and good-natured 
 curiosity; his chin lay partially hidden behind a 
 bunch of whiskers which were streaked with iron 
 gray. 
 
 In his right hand he firmly held a stout walking 
 stick, in his left, he carried a good-sized, serviceable 
 telescope with an overcoat and umbrella snugly 
 tucked under its straps. His shoulders were 
 slightly stooped with a corresponding upward 
 trend of his chin. Standing squarely and firmly 
 on his feet, indicative of a vigorous body and a 
 forcible character, and filling the whole doorway, 
 he faced the Slocums with an eagerness and 
 penetration which meant nothing short of absolute 
 227
 
 228 A FAST GAME 
 
 identity of the individuals before him. Uncle 
 Hiram took but one look at the stranger and, 
 spryly for his years, started for him with out- 
 stretched arms, saying in a voice of mingling 
 surprise and joy: "Well, Zeke, is that ye-oo?" 
 
 " Tain't nobody else, Hi," quickly answered 
 the visitor whisking his cane from his right hand 
 to his left in which he still clung to the telescope, 
 as if fearing its sudden flight. "Thought I'd 
 hunt ye up." 
 
 The two brothers clasped hands and held 
 them awkwardly like two delighted playmates 
 who are so pleased to meet each other after a 
 long separation that words are inadequate to 
 express their joy until the eyes are satisfied with 
 drinking in the familiar features of the other and 
 the hands have caressed the familiar and friendly 
 form. 
 
 "I'm awful glad to see ye, Zeke." 
 
 "Yes, Hi, it's kinder betwixt an' between hay 
 an' grass an' I couldn't do nothin' on the place, 
 so I thought I'd come out an' scrape a'quaintance 
 ag'in." 
 
 Ezekiel Slocum still stood in the door, his eyes 
 taking in everything in sight while his older 
 brother apparently blocked the entrance in his 
 absorbing gratification over the unexpected meet- 
 ing. Naomi quietly relieved the traveler of his 
 baggage, took his left hand in hers, put her right 
 arm around his neck and kissed him, saying, 
 "I, too, am real pleased to see you, Uncle Ezekiel. 
 I am Naomi." 
 
 The old man looked down into the sweet up- 
 turned face and most tenderly said, "This is 
 Ben's girl I've heered so much about, is it? It
 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 229 
 
 makes an ol* bushwhacker like me tickled all 
 over to have such a girl as you be, hug 'im." 
 
 Henry and Benjamin then came forward and 
 greeted their uncle. Many years had passed 
 since either of them had seen him, not because 
 they did not love him or that they were too 
 aristocratic for his station in life, but more be- 
 cause of preoccupation in business and a desire 
 for seclusion and rest rather than visiting, when 
 the opportunity offered a leave of absence from 
 their cumulative duties. As the years crept on 
 over the brothers, the one in Connecticut and the 
 other in Pennsylvania, writing became a burden, 
 traveling a wearisome task and home a place of 
 refuge and comfort, hence, communication be- 
 tween them became more and more neglected 
 until it had well nigh ceased except on occasions 
 of unusual family sorrow or misfortune. It is 
 not strange then that the younger brother should 
 surprise the older one by his unexpected appear- 
 ance. 
 
 "Ben forty odd year sense you've ben out in 
 the Beech Woods, ain't it, Zeke?" asked Hiram, 
 his mind naturally falling into the years when he 
 last entertained his brother. 
 
 "Fifty-four year ago las' fall, Hi; that fall, 
 don't ye recollect, ye had sech a whoppin' crop o' 
 pertaters. I'd jest turned twenty-one then an' 
 come out here to show my authority an' see the 
 country. Yew lived up to Chehoc'on then. 
 Yew was gittin' toler'bly oneasy to move. Quite 
 a town ye got here, Hi. Bigger'n I had an idee 
 it was," concluded the old man as he peered out 
 of one of the windows over acres of house tops 
 and streets.
 
 230 A FAST GAME 
 
 "Yes, Zeke, it's quite a place to what it was 
 when I come to these diggin's." Turning to his 
 sons he went on, "Boys, guess Zeke an' me'll 
 mosey along up t' the house. Ev'rything '11 be 
 all right to the mine, now. Pleasant will pilot 
 us, won't ye?" 
 
 He spoke the last words to Naomi who imme- 
 diately consented and led the way. The fort- 
 night that followed was freighted with many a 
 stirring event but the companionship of the two 
 brothers, who so seldom met in their declining 
 years, is of so unique a character, so simple and 
 childlike, so humorously pathetic and beautiful, 
 that we must pause for a while in our story to 
 enjoy their society, sit at the feet of these old 
 children and learn of them. Naomi hovered 
 around them like a guardian angel, administered 
 to their every want, anticipated their needs and 
 withheld from them everything possible that 
 would mar their happiness and comfort. 
 
 April smiled one day until the city, the moun- 
 tains about it and the river sympathetically 
 laughed with sunshine. The air quivered and 
 bathed in it; roofs, pavements, glass and steel 
 rails reflected it; nature absorbed it; and faces 
 and hearts, readily susceptible to the infection, 
 mirrored it. The spring fever sprayed the entire 
 city with its innocuous and volatile tincture 
 until the lazy breeze bore it to the uttermost 
 parts of every inhabitant, into every chamber 
 and cellar and around every street corner and 
 smokestack; even the rapidly revolving fans 
 those which did not hang motionless on account 
 of the suspension caught the soporific influence
 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 231 
 
 and whisked it down the shafts and into every 
 gangway, breast and chamber of the mines. 
 
 Smoke from the furnaces languidly coiled itself 
 into nothingness while the escaping steam from 
 hundreds of boilers and engines never even opened 
 its eyes to look upon the awakening summer 
 but invisibly stole away up the sunbeams to their 
 downy clouds beds. The rumble of drays, the 
 clatter of horses' hoofs, the clang and jungle of 
 bells, the hum of the trollies and the roar of in- 
 dustry that was not connected with the anthracite 
 trade, seemed to be muffled by the listless atmos- 
 phere and its delightful, dreamy touch. In fact, 
 nature apparently sympathized with the spirit 
 of the suspension by making hazy all her sights 
 and hushing all her sounds, save where the English 
 sparrows chirp their discordant note, "and drowsy 
 tinklings lull the distant folds." 
 
 "Won't you and Uncle Ezekiel come out on the 
 balcony, grandfather?" asked Naomi of the two 
 old men who contentedly conversed or sat in 
 silence in the sittingroom. Naomi spent more 
 of her time with her grandfather now than she 
 did at her own home. 
 
 "Don't mind, Pleasant. Come on, Zeke, an' 
 take a sniff o' Pennsylvany air. We don't have 
 none o' yer saltwater wind tainted with wooden 
 nutmegs here." 
 
 Hiram Slocum, with boyish pride for his city 
 which he had seen grow from a country cross- 
 road, led the way to a couple of easy rockers on the 
 west balcony; Ezekiel, equally proud of his native 
 Connecticut soil, followed closely behind critically 
 sniffing, looking and listening with all the powers 
 of those three senses, in order to detect some
 
 232 A FAST GAME 
 
 detracting influence inferior to his New England 
 environment. 
 
 "Jocks! Hi, I'd jest as soon an' a leetle sooner 
 snuff the smell o' fish an" nutmegs 's the stink o' 
 yer smokestacks an' back yards. I'd give a 
 quarter this minute fur a good whiff of air frum 
 my back lots; none o' yer contaminated stuff." 
 
 "That's 'o, Zeke, but ye can't touch yer feller 
 man there like ye ken here." 
 
 "Well, I'd ruther be Abraham in 'is country 
 tent than Lot in 'is city castle; an' I guess the 
 Almighty thought jest as much of Abraham as 
 he did o' Lot, an' I think a dumbed lot more, 
 tew, Hi." 
 
 The old man gave a satisfied chuckle at his 
 remark and gazed off over the valley. The 
 balcony was in the rear of the house and from it 
 could be seen the greater part of the city with 
 its surrounding mountains. 
 
 "That's not sayin' that Sodom didn't need 
 Abraham more'n it wanted Lot. A man's duty 
 don't allers give 'im the softest snap by no means. 
 I like the hills 's well 's yew do, but I'd feel 's guilty 
 to desert the poor people in this city 's I would 
 if I deserted my fam'ly. Not all the folks, who 
 need help most, are poor folks neither. I may 
 feel like playin' Joner once in a while but I'll be 
 hanged if I'll pay my fare to a gentile ship owner 
 to shirk my duty." 
 
 "I say, Hi, what kind o' hills be them over 
 there across the brook them black heaps like?" 
 
 "Them's collum piles." 
 
 "Collum piles? What's collum?" 
 
 "It's dirt an' slate frum the mines, the leavin's
 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 233 
 
 say; coal dust an' stuff that ain't no good 
 was bin's." 
 
 "Washin'? Well, by jocks! What they want 
 'o to wash it fur? They can't make it white, 
 ken they?" 
 
 The elder brother chuckled to himself to think 
 that his own brother should get such an idea in 
 his mind as to wash a culm pile white. 
 
 "When we fust begun to mine coal we was 
 wasteful an' dumped out lots o' good coal with 
 the leavin's. Now we've got more sense an' 
 don't throw away nothin' we ken use. We even 
 wash the ol' collum piles he, he! that is, git 
 the smallest sizes o' coal out by runnin' the 
 collum in water over screens of different sizes." 
 
 "Then, did they dig them piles out o' the mines?" 
 
 "Yes!" 
 
 "Wasted a lot o' good ground to dump their 
 scatterin's on. I wouldn't have that on my wust 
 lot er the wust acre o' pastur' I got fur the best 
 hunderd dollars they've got in Pennsylvany." 
 
 The old man's mind wandered to his New 
 England home and its simple comforts which 
 he had accummulated througth he long years of 
 thrift and toil. In all his three score and fifteen 
 years he had not spent more than six years off 
 the little farm where he had been born, and that 
 was at Chehocton with his father. His frugality 
 had gradually merged into stinginess, narrowed 
 his experience and shut in his mental vision. He 
 had never heard the call of the wilds, the hum of 
 the city or the cry of humanity, yet, withal, he 
 was a good neighbor, odd and strictly upright, 
 and without an immoral stain. 
 
 "I carcerlate, Hi, I'm 'bout 's well fixed 's
 
 234 A FAST GAME 
 
 most o' men, considerin' what I've had to dew. 
 The ol' humstead 's neat 's a pin an' I've got a 
 few shiners in the bank besides." He stroked 
 his chin with evident complacency. "Reckon I 
 ken look my feller cre'tur's in the face an' say, 
 'I'm wuth a cool ten thousan'.' ' 
 
 The last words revealed an innocent pride in 
 his well earned prosperity. Hiram sat quietly 
 for a while, thinking what he had better say. 
 He did not wish to be conceited nor did he, in 
 any way, wish to belittle his brother's conception 
 of the great world's marketplace, yet he did 
 desire to show to him the contrast of environment 
 between an anthracite mining city and a country 
 farm. While he hesitated his brother scanned 
 the immediate premises and, from what he had 
 seen in the interior of the house, ventured a 
 guess at the value of the property. 
 
 "My house ain't 's big 's yourn but they ain't 
 a cent ag'inst it. Frum the looks o' things this 
 'ere buildin' must be wuth clus on to ten thousan'." 
 
 That quiz started the entering wedge to Hiram's 
 thought and he, therefore, answered simply. 
 "Twice that wouldn't kiver it, no, ner thrice it. 
 I give 'way mor'en that ev'ry year an' have 
 ben, too, fur more 'n a score o' year." 
 
 "Well, by gosh! Hi, that beats the Dutch! 
 Yew must make slathers o' money er ye couldn't 
 afford to sling it 'round like that. What d'ye 
 give tew? the dominie an' the missionary cause?" 
 
 "Yes, a leetle. There's a hunderd an' one 
 things here to give tew where yew don't git the 
 one. The trouble is, there's so much to do that 
 a feller wishes "e was in ballyhack." 
 
 "I shud think 's likely, if that's the way things
 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 235 
 
 pan out. Wages hain't very high here, be they, 
 if there's so many poor to tend tew?" 
 
 "I have miners who git more 'n a hunderd an' 
 twenty-five dollars a month fur less 'n six hours 
 a day's work, an' youngsters down in their teens 
 gittin' a dollar an' a quarter a day." 
 
 "Ten shillin' a day's rattlin' good wages seems 
 to me. 'F I was young an' strong 's I was once 
 I'd think I was well paid to hire out by the month 
 on a farm fur twenty- five dollars an' my board 
 an' it 'ud be mor'n six hours a day, tew. Can't 
 git nobody to work fur ye now that's wuth nothin'. 
 Ain't one out of a dozen that's wuth a straw on 
 a farm no more. I never see the beat. I don't 
 know what we're comin' tew. Ev'ry Tom, 
 Dick an' Harry's crazy fur the city, an' I don't 
 wonder if they pay sech allfired big wages as 
 yew tell on." 
 
 "Yes, wages is high but other things is jest a 
 leetle bit higher an' the devil's a leetle sharper an' 
 betwixt the two it's purty hard sleddin' fur a 
 poor man. An' I guess, if the truth was known, 
 it's jest about the same thing with the rich; 
 six o' one an' half dozen o' th' other." 
 
 "Tew turn the subject, Hi; what makes that 
 water er stun er somethin' else there t' the right 
 o' that collum pile look so yaller?" 
 
 "Oh, that's a stream from the Hill Top Coal 
 company's mines. The water's, got lots o' sulphur 
 in it an' makes ev'rything yeller it touches. When 
 the mine water strikes the river it soon stops its 
 colorin'." 
 
 "River? That yer Lackawanny river. 'Tain't 
 bigger 'n the brook runnin' through Sandy Hook." 
 
 "Oh, yes, 'tis, Zeke, quite a consider 'ble."
 
 236 A FAST GAME 
 
 "Now, Hi, I've got purty good eyes fur an ol' 
 coon an' I'm no slouch in judgin' distance, an' 
 I'll bet ye a quart o' cider ag'in a peck o' peas 
 that yer river ain't twenty yard wide there by that 
 'ere slope wall." 
 
 "Mebbe yer right, but it's bigger 'n yer Sandy 
 Hook crick." 
 
 "Nothin' to brag of. What makes the water 
 look so tarneled black?" 
 
 "The collum in it. Gits purty nigh thick in 
 dry times." 
 
 "Hain't that somebody in swimmin' there 'n 
 the eddy?" queried Ezekiel as he noticed some 
 white specks darting hither and thither in the 
 water where the stream flowed around the foot 
 of a culm bank. The eddy was nearly a half 
 mile away. 
 
 "Breaker boys an' chaps play in' hookey. If 
 the truant officer gits after 'em ye'll see a scat- 
 terin.'" 
 
 "Swimmin' down in that black hole? I couldn't 
 let my ol' sow waller in sech a place. Say, Hi, 
 speakin' about swimmin'," and the namesake of 
 the great visionary prophet shook with delight 
 and pounded his cane on the floor in the outward 
 expression of his feelings, "reminds me o' the 
 time when father ketched me an' yew in swimmin' 
 down b'low the village, jest above where the rubber 
 fact'ry is now. Ha, ha-a, He-he-e-e-, Hi!" 
 
 The narrator of boyish pranks and capers went 
 off into a fit of laughter a tonic superior in 
 every way to any apothecary's tonic compounded 
 in the land. The two old men were children 
 again and for half an hour they smothered with 
 rollicking merriment and boyhood reminiscences.
 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 237 
 
 "He knowed jest as well 's I knowed that yew 
 coaxed me off down there. I ken hear yew say in' 
 yet, 'Aw, Zeke, come on, pa won't know nothin' 
 'bout it!' He, he! Hi, he did though but! 
 Jest 'bout the time ye got yer trousers off an* 
 was onbottonin' yer striped hickery shirt he, he! 
 father come sneakin' down the bank with a 
 waterbeech sprout 'bout three foot long. He, he, 
 he-e-e! Hi! Mebbe yew didn't git 'bout that 
 time. Father thought he'd nab ye, but 'e didn't. 
 He jest reached ye with 'bout four inches o' the 
 gad as he yelled, 'Ye scalawag!' But 'e left 'is 
 mark. An' if ever a feller peeled 'er fur hum, 
 yew did. I jocks! a yaller dog couldn't hold a 
 candle tew ye fur right down sailin'. There was 
 jest a streak o' shirt an' lages up through the 
 brush an' out o' sight. He, he, he-e! Hi, Hi!" 
 
 The happy old man stopped for an instant, drew 
 out the ample folds of a red bandana and wiped 
 his weeping eyes, weeping not from sorrow but 
 from intense joy, bordering hysterics that 
 blissful emotional condition when one knows not 
 whether he is laughing or crying, nor does he care. 
 Uncle Hiram also sat chuckling to himself even 
 if the joke was on him, though, like the most of 
 us under similar conditions, he had nothing to say. 
 
 "Mebbe / wan't scart, tew! He, he-e-e!" 
 ending with a long drawn out groan followed by 
 a hiccoughy sigh of relief. "I couldn't run to 
 save my neck unless I run frum hum an' I dasen't 
 dew that an' I couldn't if I dast. Father kind er 
 smiled his partic'lar grin 's 'e picked up yer 
 overhalls an' see yew dustin' up the hill an' out 
 o' sight. 'Guess 'e won't go fur in the clearin,' he 
 said. He turned to me then and spoke like a
 
 238 A FAST GAME 
 
 general. 'Don't ye ever run away with that 
 scamp ag'in!' I knowed what 'e meant an' 
 don't ye furgit it. He strode up through the 
 back lot a sort o' hummin' tew himself an* I 
 hobbled after 'im barefoot through the haystubble. 
 He, he, he-e-e! Hi! D'ye recollect that leetle 
 pint o' secon' growth off t' the left? Yew stood 
 in there wavin" at me tew bring ye some clothes 
 but I dasen't wiggle. I did ventur' t' ask father 
 'f I hadn't better take yer pants to ye but 'e 
 never said a word, an' I didn't neither the rest o' 
 the day. He, he, Hi! It was most sundown 
 anyway an' hotter 'n blazes. I noticed father 
 lock the back door an' then go out on the back 
 stoop an' set down. Mother fin'ly inquired 
 where yew was. Father only grinned an' give 
 'er the wink that yew'd turn up bomby. Yew 
 did, tew! 'Long 'bout half past eight er a quarter 
 to nine ye tried tew slip int' the front door without 
 bein' seen. He, he-e Hi! Ye couldn't pull 
 the wool over father's eyes a single bit. 'Hello, Hi,' 
 says 'e. 'got yer best bib an' tucker on, hain't ye?' 
 Yew never stopped but made one dive through the 
 door an' scooted upstairs lickity split." 
 
 "That ol' cord bedstid never squeaked sweeter 
 music to me ner the feather bed never set better 
 on my tanned hide than it did that night. The 
 thunder shower that follered pattered a welcome 
 lullaby on the shin'les which was jest out o' 
 reach o' my arm when I lay in bed. Well, I 
 vum, Zeke, them was purty fine ol' days jest the 
 same, but they had a leetle smart along with the 
 fun. I use t' think father purty hash then but 
 I've got many a wus wallopin' sense, an' frum 
 them, tew, who pertended to be my friends. I
 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 239 
 
 s'pose a feller's got to expect a whack now an' 
 then till ol' father time gits in the last lick." 
 
 Hiram hesitated a moment in deep meditation, 
 turned in his chair and called to Naomi, "Git 
 them verses I read the other day, Pleasant, an' 
 read 'em to us them verses o' Field's. Yew 
 know what I mean." \ 
 
 "Surely, grandfather, in just a minute!" she 
 answered. 
 
 The words had scarcely died on her lips when 
 she appeared on the balcony, book in hand, say- 
 ing, "Here they are." 
 
 "Jest read 'em to me an' Zeke, if ye please. 
 They 'bout hit the nail on the head; see 'f they 
 don't, Zeke." 
 
 Hiram's hands lay flat over the head of his 
 cane. He rested his chin on his hands and squinted 
 off over the valley of steam and smoke and dirt 
 and rushing machinery and hustling humanity; 
 Ezekiel hitched athwart his chair, cocked up 
 his head and listened with all the power of his 
 slowly deafening ears; and Naomi, with a clear 
 and full voice, read to the old men who were 
 passing through their boyhood for the second 
 time: 
 "Bill, Jim, and I, no longer boys, have 
 
 learned through years of strife 
 That the troubles of a little boy pursue the man 
 
 through life; 
 That here and there along the course wherein we 
 
 hoped to glide 
 Some envious hand has sprinkled ashes just to 
 
 spoil our slide! 
 "And, till a man has turned his face unto the wall 
 
 and died,
 
 240 A FAST GAME 
 
 He must expect to get his share of ashes on his 
 slide." 
 
 "That's it, sure pop ! If a feller happens to make 
 a cent an' git 'is slide greased a leetle so's he ken 
 slip along purty midlin' spry, there's allers some 
 ol' skinflint to fling on some ashes an' another 
 cuss to stan' there an' be rubbin' on it in. I tell 
 ye what it is, Hi, when them kind o' critters come 
 tinkerin' 'round, me I keep my ash barrel purty 
 midlin' clus tew me. They've got to git up 'n 
 the mornin' to git the worm afore me. I never 
 got the spots knocked off me but once an' that 
 was when ol' Si Miller beat me out o' ten shillin' 
 in a hoss trade." 
 
 "A feller loses lots o' time throwin' ashes an' 
 sometimes the wind 'ill blow it back on his own 
 slide er in 'is eyes." 
 
 "I ain't very pious but I ken play Job purty 
 midlin' well on my own ash heap, but jest let 
 another feller dump 'is ashes over on my pile an' 
 he'll wish he'd stayed to hum." 
 
 "Zeke, ye ken play yer shenannigans out 'n 
 the country an' in the city but I've found that a 
 feller has the best o' the game who plays fair. 
 There's more shisterin' goin' on here in Onaway 
 to the square inch than ye ever dreamed of an' 
 if ye tend to yer own business yew '11 git fewer 
 folks nosin' 'round ye than if ye poked yer nose 
 into their'n." 
 
 "What 'n the ol' Harry, Hi, give this place 
 sech a name 's Onaway?" broke in Ezekiel as if 
 wishing to change the subject. 
 
 "Oh, we got 'o be in style, Zeke! They use t' 
 call it Slocum Holler till a few years ago, with
 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 241 
 
 their highfahitin' notions, th' ol' name got out o' 
 date an' they named the place Onaway." 
 
 "After some man er what?" 
 
 "Onaway is an Injun name an' means 'awake.' 
 Slocum Holler 's tew prosy and ol' fashioned, I 
 s'pose." 
 
 "By jocks! yer well named fur I guess yer 
 'wake 'nough, accordin' to yer own tell an' by 
 the looks o' things. What few folks there be here 
 who want rest an' peace can't git it fur the roar 
 an' hubbub o' yer waggins an' cars an' all pandi- 
 monium turned loose with a tin teakittle tied tew 
 it. Sech goin's on, night an' day an' Sundays an' 
 all the time, I never see. 'Tain't fit fur law 
 abidin' an' peace lovin' folks to live here." 
 
 "One o' these warm days we'll take ye up to 
 Chehoc'on an' give ye a night er tew o' rest. Yer 
 ould eno'gh, Zeke, to stan' a leetle rough an' tum'le 
 o' the world. 'F ye want to see things lively 
 ye ought to be here when the mines is runnin' 
 full chisel an' the railroads is doin' full business." 
 
 The man from down east twisted in his chair 
 and squinted up and down the valley at the 
 numerous moving locomotives and smoking 
 chimneys and listened to the numberless and 
 various whistles in every direction and finally 
 turned toward his brother and said sarcastically, 
 "Well, by jinks! Hi, I sh'd think if things run 
 much spryer they'd git hot 'nough to siss. He 
 wouldn't do no good neither, here in this con- 
 sarned dust an' dirt. It flies here this minute, 
 right in April tew, wus 'n it does in Sandy Hook 
 on the Fourth. I sh'd think a feller's lungs 'ud 
 turn into a coalben er a smokehouse 'f 'e stayed 
 here long 'nough."
 
 242 A FAST GAME 
 
 "Dinner is ready, grandfather and Uncle 
 Ezekiel," called Naomi who led the way to the 
 diningroom. 
 
 True to his promise Hiram took his brother 
 up to Chehocton in a few days where they drove 
 and walked without din and dust. Naomi ac- 
 companied them as also did Hiram's housekeeper. 
 They opened the cottage. The haunts of long 
 ago opened a flood of memories upon the visiting 
 brothers. Full of youthful vivacity they had 
 come to the Beech Woods with the family to seek 
 their fortune but within six years Ezekeil had 
 returned to Connecticut with his father, content 
 to remain on the old homestead farm and eke out 
 a modest competence from its stony soil. There 
 he had dwelt ever since except when he visited 
 his brother a few years later, just before the 
 brother moved to Onaway. Chehocton, then, 
 furnished the connecting link between the lives, 
 ambitions and sympathies of the brothers a 
 field fertile with topics of conversation and sug- 
 gestive of reminiscences. 
 
 "Things has changed some, Hi, in fifty odd 
 year," said Ezekiel when they drove around the 
 west end of the lake on their way to the cottage. 
 "Sh'dn't 'a' knowed the place 'f I'd dropped out 
 o' the clouds. Quite a settlement now. They 
 seem to be a kind er shif'less set o' farmers, though, 
 things ain't slicked up as they ought to be." 
 
 "No, they've just begun to economize a leetle. 
 They've stripped the timber an' now have to 
 fall back on to their farms fur a livin'. Goin' 
 to be a great country, though, some day." 
 
 "Not if they waste things 's they dew now, Hi, 
 an' keep things so slipshod like."
 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 243 
 
 "Don't worry, Zeke. Guess a hunderd year 'ill 
 make these hills look as slick's them 'round the 
 Hook." 
 
 "I jocks! 'Twon't be in our day." 
 
 Ezekiel never liked to feel that he was the 
 under dog in argument or otherwise. The next 
 day Naomi rowed them along in her boat near 
 the outlet shore. They were nearing the place 
 where they began to clear away the wilderness 
 more than a half century before and to make it 
 "to rejoice and blossom as the rose" when Hiram 
 pointed to a pine stump with a twinkle of merri- 
 ment in his eyes and drolly asked, "Do ye recollect 
 that 'ere stump, yender?" 
 
 "Naw! I don't know nuthin' 'bout yer Beech 
 Woods stumps." 
 
 The elder brother chuckled to himself and, 
 nudging the other in the ribs with his elbow, 
 good-naturedly responded, "Guess ye don't want 
 'o remember, Zeke. I wouldn't want 'o neither 
 'f I's yew." 
 
 "I jocks! Hi, I ken gen'ally give 'n account 
 o' myself most anywheres but I'll be darned if 
 I know what yer drivin' at now." 
 
 "Don't ye recollect one mornin' jest when the 
 sun was peepin' 'is red face over them Beaverkill 
 mountains over yender in York state, we come 
 out frum breakfast an' yew says to me 's ye 
 stepped up to that 'ere tree, says yew, 'Hi, I 
 ken take the bird's eye o' this 'ere tree frum ye'? 
 Don't ye recollect it?" 
 
 "Oh, I do recollect somethin' about it. I know 
 I had a nick in the bit o' my ax." 
 
 "Says I, 'Zeke, ye can't dew it;' an' ye didn't 
 dew it, neither. I recollect it 's plain 's if 'twas
 
 244 A FAST GAME 
 
 but yisterday. I laid my garibaldi on a yaller 
 birch root right over there by that 'ere big 'rock, 
 took my ax an' the side o' the tree yew had left 
 fur me, and, mebbe, about that time, the chips 
 didn't fly. Yew was a good chopper, Zeke, but 
 I took the bird's eye frum ye that mornin', fair 
 an' square. The next day ye started back East. 
 Guess ye thought ye c'd tinker 'round on the 
 ol' place ruther 'n take yer chances in the wilderniss 
 an' among men. He, he! 'F ye don't believe 
 what I'm tellin' ye jest go up an' look fur yerself. 
 There on the east side ye '11 see the heart cut off 
 's plain 's day. 'F I've looked at it once I've 
 looked at it a hunderd times." 
 
 Uncle Zeke had no desire to survey a field of 
 one of his defeats and, therefore, remained com- 
 fortably seated in the boat while it passed the 
 epochal stump of his life and sped on into waters 
 more congenial to his memories. 
 
 Naomi thoroughly enjoyed the brotherly gibes 
 of these old men and their childish boasts of long 
 ago. In her more youthful imaginations, she, too, 
 lived in the pioneer days of northeastern Penn- 
 sylvania, she inhaled from the primaeval forests 
 of pine and hemlock the odors that mingled with 
 the fragrance of April fields, listened to the wise 
 words of past and present and wondered if the 
 former days were better than these, if the modern 
 improvements did improve, if the earlier simple 
 life was not the real life and if a narrow horizon 
 of living was not, after all, the happiest life to 
 lead in the world the wide, wide world. 
 
 Yet when she considered and analyzed the life 
 of her grandfather his blending of three genera- 
 tions in one, his staunch character, simplicity,
 
 UNCLE EZEKIEL'S VISIT 245 
 
 his breadth of vision and grasp of business and 
 spiritual principles how he had risen from poverty 
 to wealth and still retained a sturdy and spotless 
 manhood; how he had taken all the modern 
 responsibilities upon his shoulders without alter- 
 ing his basal ideas; and, then, contrasted the 
 narrowness of his brother, his conceit and perverted 
 opinions, she concluded that there was no time 
 like the new time, and that the opportunities for 
 living the ideal Christian life never exceeded those 
 of the present. 
 
 Much as she liked to ponder over the simplicity 
 of her grandfather's earlier days, the duties and 
 pleasures of the present far outweighed them in 
 importance and exquisite consciousness; much 
 as she enjoyed the country air nature's beauty 
 and restfulness about their country home the 
 work in the poor patches of the city, the winning 
 of souls for her Master and the carrying of the 
 Christ life into the jostling, human throng, even 
 if it sapped all her nervous energy and wearied 
 every fiber of her being, gave her entire satis- 
 faction and produced a beatific consciousness 
 never obtained in any other service and, certainly, 
 never obtained in idleness. 
 
 The fortnight of Ezekiel Slocum's visit ended 
 with a very touching farewell between the brothers, 
 for, though the years had dealt kindly with them 
 both and brought them to old age like a shock 
 of corn fully ripe, each knew that he would see 
 his brother no more in sad or joyous scenes of 
 earth, but their next meeting would be where 
 neither had had a hand in clearing the forest, 
 mining the coal or establishing a permanent 
 basis of finance and industry.
 
 246 A FAST GAME 
 
 Ezekiel went back to his material and mental 
 hermitage to meditate on the wonders he had 
 seen and relate the experiences he had passed 
 through; while his brother returned to the city, 
 plunged into the thick of the fight which already 
 raged, lent a helping hand, unbiased judgment 
 and a zealous heart to rich and poor alike, and 
 gave himself in service to his fellow men. Each 
 brother played the game of life in perfect content- 
 ment. Some might say that each played with 
 the cards which nature had dealt out to him but, 
 if every man is master of his own destiny, each 
 played with the hand he had dealt to himself.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE TRAIL OF A STRUGGLE 
 
 "War is hell." A brother at another's throat 
 is hellish. A battle would not cause half the 
 misery that it does if it affected only the com- 
 batants. Like the liquor traffic, its greatest 
 anguish lies in the breaking hearts of the wives 
 and mothers, weeping sweethearts and sisters, 
 naked and hungry innocent children, in devas- 
 tated fields and forsaken homes. It is the same in 
 an industrial struggle. The innocent not only 
 suffer with the guilty but they suffer unjustly, 
 and with agony far more exquisite. "No man 
 liveth unto himself." 
 
 If he do wrong somebody must pay the penalty 
 some reed must be bruised; if he do wrong 
 intentionally, he not only wails in his own con- 
 science, but some other heart bleeds from the 
 ignominy and shame wilfully thrust upon it. 
 Though the great Burdenbearer and Consoler 
 lightens our ioads, comforts our sorrows and 
 soothes our wounds with the balm of life, He 
 does not remove from us the pain for 
 another's sin nor the anxiety for the sinner. 
 "He weeps with those who weep" and longs for 
 and loves the wanderer who is the cause of the 
 weeping. Oh! if no trail of woe followed the 
 struggle, earth's paths would lead through song 
 247
 
 248 A FAST GAME 
 
 echoing shades, be swept by heaven scented 
 winds, adorned by blooming beauty and paved 
 with the velvet of happiness. 
 
 In proportion to the whole number of the 
 inhabitants in Onaway, only a few actually took 
 part in the struggle; every one, however, felt 
 the trail of the slimy serpent. Sometimes the 
 guilty one received his just due but more often 
 the innocent felt the poisonous sting and quite 
 frequently those, who had both contesting parties 
 in full sympathy and who strove to negotiate 
 terms of peace advantageously to both, received 
 the fire from both sides and fell while conscious of 
 doing his best for his fellow man. Had we no 
 hope of justice and an equitable distribution of 
 reward and punishment beyond this world, 
 courage would fail and honest living would be 
 at an end. 
 
 In the Diamond mine there labored a young 
 man. He believed in exercising his right to work 
 regardless of his associates who preferred to stand 
 out in the suspension. They had persuaded 
 and coaxed and dogged and threatened him, to 
 join the union or quit work. He became moody, 
 discouraged and nervously superstitious that 
 some dire calamity would come to him. Con- 
 scientious consideration of his position merged 
 into depressive brooding. He soon imagined 
 himself friendless and useless. 
 
 Instead of gravitating toward his fellow man 
 for helpfulness and sympathy, he shunned him 
 because he feared and distrusted him. The poor 
 fellow could not always retain his mental balance 
 under so great pressure of internal feelings and 
 external persuasion. Near him daily were plenty
 
 THE TRAIL OF A STRUGGLE 249 
 
 of willing and ready souls to buoy him above the 
 rising tide but no one knew his condition and 
 no one inquired, for the tension of the times 
 closed the mouth of sympathy and opened the 
 eyes of distrust. In a darkened and superstitious 
 paganism such results would not be wondered 
 at but in a Christian land such conditions must 
 have made the shadow of Calvary again hide 
 its folds in utter darkness. 
 
 The dark culm thickened water of the Lacka- 
 wanna promised a soft bed and a refuge from his 
 present tormentors. Poor Joe leaned over the 
 iron railing of the bridge that spans that stream 
 and wondered. His mind whirled. The stars 
 of heaven smiled down upon him and the moon- 
 beams shed their silvery sheen about him and 
 the April south wind kissed his cheek and he 
 was comforted. But a human foot struck the 
 planks of the bridge. Naomi walked lightly for 
 her mission was mercy. Oh! if Joe had only 
 known but he did not. Another human tormentor 
 must be on his track. He could not play the 
 game any longer. Good-bye to the shining moon 
 and the twinkling stars and the refreshing night 
 wind. Joe saw nothing but the waiting water. 
 
 A slight shuffle in the middle of the bridge 
 answered the hurrying feet near the end, a dark 
 form dropped from the iron girders and disap- 
 peared in the dark flood, a splash followed and 
 then silence, save for the wash of waves along the 
 banks, the lapping of ripples in the rift and the 
 soughing of the south wind through the network 
 of iron above Naomi's head. 
 
 A half mile below and a half hour later the 
 dark form grated on the edge of a culm bar which
 
 250 A FAST GAME 
 
 had been washed there by the recent flood, shoved 
 up and grounded. The waters gradually receded 
 so that by daylight the south wind again played 
 through the tangled and wet locks and the sun 
 kissed away the moisture from a sad white face. 
 Another soul had gone "where the wicked cease 
 from troubling." And who was to blame? 
 
 Tony Bandelli had so far recovered from his 
 recent wound that he had returned to his home 
 and lay sleeping with his wife, and his children 
 about them. Numerous black hand messages 
 had come to him demanding money. He led a 
 life of industry and economy, and, therefore, was 
 a shining mark for that dark society. Two days 
 before, he had received notice to be at a certain 
 place where a representative of the society would 
 meet him and receive the required sum or his 
 home would be blown up by dynamite. Bandelli 
 would not submit to any such unjust demands 
 nor could he believe that anybody would perpetrate 
 such an inhuman tragedy, even if he did threaten 
 to do it. In the midst of these trying straits, 
 Tony held his peace and slept soundly with a 
 clear conscience. 
 
 He awoke but not in his bed. The threat had 
 become a reality. His eyes looked again on 
 the inside walls of a hospital ward. In an ad- 
 joining cot he recognized the long black hair of 
 his wife. The awfulness of the crime slowly 
 dawned upon his shattered senses, the truth at 
 last appeared to him like indistinct objects take 
 on form and color as one stands and looks in a 
 darkened room. He had no pain of conscience 
 or thirt for vengeance, only poignant grief. Two 
 days later, assisted by friendly arms, he stood
 
 THE TRAIL OF A STRUGGLE 251 
 
 and sorrowed over a double coffin which contained 
 Mary and James two children from his own 
 loins, neither of them in the teens. 
 
 His heart wrung in agony though not a tear 
 did he shed. Bullets and knives in his flesh were 
 touches of kindness compared with the excruciating 
 tortures through which he was then passing. 
 But what could the helpless man do? Only one 
 thing remained for him to do and he did it. In 
 the spirit of humility and with a lofty purpose 
 he continued in the way of duty and of adherence 
 to righteous principle. He went back to his 
 wrecked home, repaired it, took his wife, who 
 had been crippled for life, and the only remaining 
 child, and began all over again. Could it be in 
 the same old way? No! There stood empty 
 chairs that could never be filled, breaks had been 
 made which never could be mended and an aching 
 void, which never could be supplied, wrested 
 the sunshine from his life and faded from the 
 cheek of his emaciated wife the pink that had 
 so delicately blushed under the Italian skies. 
 
 Oscar Morgan had married a wife from a well- 
 to-do union family. The arduous tasks which 
 fell to his lot in the capacities of agitator for the 
 Union and accomplice in the black hand, kept 
 him much away from home, led him to drink 
 more than usual and, when at home, made him 
 touchy and fault rinding. Two little children, 
 the older less than two years of age, worried 
 the patient mother almost to distraction. 
 
 The actual necessaries of life decreased to 
 absolute want. She plead and begged aid from 
 her husband for her children and received curses 
 and threats. She protested, and received only
 
 252 A FAST GAME 
 
 blows from a brutal husband. Naomi learned 
 her condition and carried in food for the starving 
 trio. Scarcely had she passed out of sight around 
 the corner when Oscar returned, hungry, intoxi- 
 cated and in a rage. The provisions had not yet 
 been put away in the pantry. The three were 
 enjoying the nourishing viands. The father de- 
 voured the most of the good things and lay down 
 to sleep off his wrath and poisonous potion. 
 
 He awoke later in the day and demanded more, 
 but was refused. He cursed the mother of his 
 children and searched until he found the remnant 
 of the food. This he ate like a ravenous beast 
 and departed to his labors of the devil. A day 
 passed without more food for the bairns save 
 what an infant could draw from a starving breast. 
 Naomi came again. She counseled secrecy and 
 hiding of the victuals. The wife did as directed. 
 
 That morning, for the husband did most of 
 his work during the night time then, Oscar came 
 home in better humor but he brought no food 
 except a loaf of bread. Heretofore, he had 
 been a kind father and husband and a good 
 provider for his family, but since the suspension 
 he had changed from a man to a fiend. The 
 loaf was little among so many, especially, when 
 the one who brought it ate the most of it himself. 
 
 After the meal, eaten in comparative silence, 
 Morgan went to bed. His wife intimated that 
 she would be glad when he could be home nights 
 and be as he used to be. The words were like 
 a spark to powder. He went to sleep gritting 
 his teeth. Darkness had fallen when he awoke. 
 He demanded food, protesting that Naomi had 
 been there again and that he was as much entitled
 
 THE TRAIL OF A STRUGGLE 253 
 
 to his share as any one of the family; he was not 
 to blame for the suspension and the poverty which 
 stared them in the face like a grinning skeleton. 
 The devilish operators were to blame for their 
 pinched circumstances. 
 
 His wife insisted that there was nothing in the 
 house for him to eat, that they were all starving 
 together. She deceived and finally told a blank 
 falsehood for the sake of feeding her offspring, 
 yet, under his terrific cross examination and 
 persistent nagging, he drew enough from her to 
 satisfy him that there was bread in the house. 
 This incensed him all the more. His anger knew 
 no bounds. Seizing her by the throat he hurled 
 her through the door and into the night. 
 
 She dropped on her knees and begged that she 
 might take her children with her but he kicked 
 her from the doorstep for suggesting such a thing. 
 A light rain was falling and, while the drops 
 mingled with her tears, she plead for the nurseling 
 to keep her company. The door slammed in 
 her face in answer to her request. A few minutes 
 later she gently knocked and slowly pushed open 
 the door, pleading for just a kiss from the little 
 ones who then lay asleep on a bed in plain sight 
 of the suffering mother. Oscar jerked the door 
 from her grasp. The suddenness and violence 
 of the shock sprawled her at full length across the 
 threshold of her own home. Not a word was 
 spoken, only the dull sound of a heavy shoe 
 beating against a human body, a slow slipping 
 and a dull thud, the slam of a door and silence 
 and dark and damp. 
 
 The friendly rain brought the unconscious 
 woman to herself again. She slowly rose from
 
 254 A FAST GAME 
 
 the ground, staggered into the street and tottered 
 on toward the home of a sister. The woman 
 heard the story and trembled with fear lest, if 
 she harbored her own sister under the circum- 
 stances, vengeance would be meted out to her 
 from an irate union husband. She hesitated 
 and wept and finally told Mrs. Morgan that she 
 must go; much as she loved her, children and 
 home must take first place and anything that 
 might bring danger or suffering to them must be 
 avoided. The homeless and aching woman rose 
 with a groan, opened the door softly and went 
 out into the night. And, oh, how dark it was! 
 
 At the gate of another sister she fared no better. 
 What door of mercy would open to such a for- 
 lorn specimen of womanhood? Many, if they 
 had only known. A noble soul often feels the 
 need of the vision of an archangel to recognize 
 the subjects of actual need and locate them that 
 he may be able, then and there, to administer 
 to their several and various needs. Mrs. Morgan 
 wandered aimlessly down the street and into the 
 suburbs of the city. Thoughtlessly she had 
 approached the cemetery and stood before its 
 big iron gates. Yes, her fathel and mother, 
 who slept up on the hillside, wourd not turn her 
 from their tenement of dust. 
 
 Their home was small but its shelter would be 
 a paradise to her present quarters. Thither she 
 must go. She meandered through the avenues, 
 berween monuments and tombstones to a distant 
 corner where two mounds lay side by side. Be- 
 tween them she fell on her knees and wailed out 
 her woe to parental ears that had ceased hearing 
 earthly sounds forever. Yet no voice told her
 
 THE TRAIL OF A STRUGGLE 255 
 
 to depart, no one turned a deaf ear. She received 
 comfort. From her knees she dropped to her 
 face with her right hand over the grave of her 
 mother and prayed in a subdued moan: 
 
 "Oh, mother! You know how ye love yer 
 babies. Me heart do be breakin', me heart do 
 be broke! Mother, I'll die, I'll die! An' can I 
 come to you, to you in yer narrow bed, an', 
 mother, won't ye hold me in yer arms again? 
 Oh, mother! I want to come to you. Let me 
 come! Take me hand! Ye won't turn me out o' 
 doors, will ye, mother? Oh, God! Take me to 
 mother, mother God moth-er eh eh eh 
 eh, eh, eh, h-h-h-h!" 
 
 Her head sunk low into her arm and the cold 
 rain beat pitilessly on her battered and aching 
 body when the whirling mind and murmuring 
 lips ceased their activity. A long drawn sob 
 trailed into a sigh of relief, and the weary soul slept 
 and dreamed of home and mother. 
 
 Bright and early the next morning Naomi was 
 returning home from watching at the bedside of 
 Lawrence Boland who had been injured by a stray 
 stone hurled by a member of the union. While 
 she hurried down one of the back streets which 
 overlooked the cemetery, she noticed a peculiar 
 object among the graves. Her curiosity and com- 
 passion led her to investigate. Picking her way 
 through the wet grass and shrubs and mud, she 
 soon stood in utter astonishment and pity and 
 looked down into the face of the yet sleeping 
 Mrs. Morgan a human being in a Christian city, 
 sleeping on her mother's grave through an April 
 night of rain! 
 
 She hailed a passer-by and requested him to
 
 256 A FAST GAME 
 
 summon a cab. In the meanwhile, she gently 
 awoke the unconsious form, smoothed out the 
 dripping long hair and wrung the water from the 
 saturated clothing. Within a half hour Mrs. 
 Morgan lay comfortably under Naomi's own roof 
 and her brother-in-law administering to her physi- 
 cal needs. Evan was of different stuff than his 
 brother, Oscar, and he did not hesitate to express 
 himself on the subject when he and Naomi with- 
 drew to hold consultation in the adjoining room. 
 Dr. Morgan had not been alone with Naomi since 
 he had asked her hand in marriage. 
 
 It is natural, therefore, that he should hesitate 
 in his speech and stammer somewhat when they 
 met face to face. But he choked down his personal 
 feelings for the more important business in hand. 
 They concluded that he would go at once and 
 look after the children and bring them to the 
 mother, if they were still alive. He did so and 
 the two babes soon nestled NI the gentle embrace 
 of a nurse the mother being too weak to care 
 for them at all. 
 
 But there were others for whom Naomi must 
 lend a helping hand and a sympathetic heart. The 
 trail of the struggle had just begun to manifest 
 itself in its wide spread ravages. 
 
 James Ransom had begun his boyhood work 
 like his brothers and his father but soon wearied 
 of the mines and everything connected with 
 them. He left his mule driving and prepared 
 for college. Even while he worked in the mines 
 he attended night school. His tastes contrasted 
 strongly with those of John, Jr., and Frank. They 
 absorbed everything in the mining line that 
 would turn them a penny while James absorbed
 
 THE TRAIL OF A STRUGGLE 257 
 
 everything that would broaden his conception of 
 life and increase his usefulness to his fellow men. 
 
 Though dubbed the black sheep of the family 
 by his younger and older brothers, he gracefully 
 received the dubbing without a word and kept 
 pegging away at his own gait and in his own way. 
 When they received good salaries and dressed 
 well, he spent a little more than he could accumu- 
 late and wore rather seedy clothing in order to 
 attend school. The people in the city, however, 
 pronounced him the only white sheep of the 
 whole flock. 
 
 At the age of twenty-two James stood penniless 
 with a college course behind and a future to make; 
 now, at the age of twenty-six, he figured as one 
 of the brightest members of the local bar with a 
 reputation for wise counsel, for accurate legal 
 knowledge, for persistency and devotion on 
 the side of right and with an annual competence 
 greater than all the rest of the Ransom family 
 combined. The difficulties which had arisen 
 between The Black Diamond Company and the 
 Ransoms would naturally lead one to think that 
 the legal supervision of that wise company would 
 never be intrusted to so young a member of the 
 bar, much less the son and brother of two important 
 employes in the mines, who had so recently been 
 dismissed in disgrace from their service. 
 
 But it was not so. He had been their legal 
 authority for more than a year, or since his law 
 partner, ex-judge Mumford, their long standing 
 attorney, had died, and James had hung out his 
 shingle on his own hook. Truly, the firm had 
 kept a keen lookout for betrayal or graft but had 
 observed no signs of it; on the contrary, James
 
 258 A FAST GAME 
 
 personally deplored the penurious dishonesty of 
 his family and frankly declared that, if his own 
 kith and kin were guilty before the law, he would 
 prosecute their case as diligently and severely as 
 he would a case against any criminal. Of course, 
 that statement stood on their mental docket as 
 a case yet to be tried, or, to say the least, taken 
 with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, the company 
 had confidence in the man, both as to ability 
 and principle, and employed him as their sole 
 attorney and counselor-at-law. 
 
 The Black Diamond Company's business had 
 taken much of James Morgan's time of late on 
 account of the troubles between the mine em- 
 ployes and the union men. Arrests occurred 
 almost daily. Cases of attempted incendiarism 
 and murder, of trespass and assault, but par- 
 tially filled the list of the cases to be presented 
 before the coming court. He kept daily in com- 
 munication with his clients and wrought up to 
 the tension of nervous anxiety. In the midst 
 of these thrilling complications he received a 
 letter from the Black Hand to the effect that, 
 unless he deposited a thousand dollars in a cer- 
 tain place named, and refused to be employed 
 by The Black Diamond Company, his home 
 would be blown up with dynamite. 
 
 He immediately laid the case before his clients. 
 They offered to release from present duties and 
 even went so far as to offer him the thousand 
 dollars to pay the demand of the fiends. Thor- 
 oughly aroused over the matter he thanked his 
 clients for their confidence and consideration 
 but stoutly declared that he would do nothing 
 of the kind to favor the hellish work of the hellish
 
 THE TRAIL OF A STRUGGLE 259 
 
 society, and, as to their blowing up, why, he 
 simply bid defiance to such a dastardly deed. 
 Learning the will of their attorney The Black 
 Diamond Company approved of his method of 
 procedure and further assured him of their con- 
 fidence and co-operation. The lawyer and his 
 clients parted with mutual trust and resolution. 
 
 Mrs. Ransom previous to her marriage, Anna 
 Morgan was in a delicate condition. James 
 kept all thrilling news from her, as far as possible, 
 and retained a nurse of mental sunshine con- 
 stantly with her. She had not suspicioned the 
 threats concerning her husband until one day, 
 when the postman was late, a red hand message 
 fell into her hand. The import of the letter was, 
 that the steps of the attorney were known by 
 the red handed fiends, and that, did he not 
 withdraw his services from The Black Diamond 
 Company or deposit five hundred dollars in a 
 certain place at a given time, his life would be 
 in danger. 
 
 There was no date in the letter but the stated 
 time of the meeting had already passed, leading 
 one to suppose that the letter had been delayed 
 in delivery. Mr. Ransom had been detained 
 already beyond his usual returning hour, nor 
 had he been home to lunch according to custom. 
 The latter would have caused no anxiety what- 
 ever on ordinary occasions, for he often, under 
 pressure of business, lunched down town, but 
 under the circumstances the suspense of waiting 
 became simply unbearable. 
 
 Knowing the source of the black and the red 
 hand messages one can easily divine that the 
 prime motive of the senders lay in their desire
 
 260 A FAST GAME 
 
 for money and not that they intended to take his 
 life or destroy his property. Jealousy of a brother 
 and a brother-in-law, incited by his prosperity 
 and their greed for lucre, stimulated them to 
 dupe him if possible with their many other vic- 
 tims. These acts on the part of the secret organ- 
 ization but faintly illustrate the selfish motives 
 and thoughtless methods the player uses, and 
 the intricate complexity and the fatal termina- 
 tion of the play, in the all-absorbing and all- 
 alluring game of life. 
 
 Puerperal convulsions seized Mrs. Ransom. 
 The nurse strove to deflect her mind from the 
 cruel threat made upon her husband and to 
 convince her that his increase of work delayed his 
 coming. But no comfort came to the sufferer. 
 Her brother, Dr. Morgan, was summoned immed- 
 iately whence he had hurried from the presence 
 of his sister-in-law and Naomi who followed a 
 few minutes later. They also phoned for Mr. 
 Ransom but he could no where be found. During 
 moments of consciousness and brief intervals 
 from the most excrutiating pains she called for 
 her husband. 
 
 But he did not come. Dr. Morgan called other 
 medical assistance, the best in the city, but the 
 dread disorder could not be checked in the least. 
 Two hours passed. Despite the best medical 
 skill Naomi soon closed the eyes of Anna Morgan 
 Ransom and another wail in the trail of the strug- 
 gle went up from a bedside surrounded by physi- 
 cians and nurses and friends. One by one, the 
 occupants of the bedchamber tiptoed from the 
 room as if afraid of disturbing the dead. Silence 
 brooded save, now and then, a hushed sob quavered
 
 THE TRAIL OF A STRUGGLE 261 
 
 through the house or a door opened and closed 
 with a muffled thud or a woman's garments 
 swished almost noiselessly from room to room. 
 
 Fifty minutes after Anna's immortal spirit 
 bade adieu to its mortal abiding place James 
 Ransom alighted from a passing car and sprang 
 joyfully up the steps of his residence with his 
 arms full of fruits and delicacies for the queen 
 of his life. The door opened gently before him 
 and the vigorous young man met Naomi in the 
 hall. The expression of her face prefigured bad 
 news. He stood speechless. She could say noth- 
 ing. Taking the dainties from his arms and plac- 
 ing them on the table, she led him up the stairway 
 and into the silent chamber. A quivering groan 
 vibrated through the awful solitude for an instant 
 "and all was stiller than before." Tearless and 
 helpless and almost lifeless James kneeled by the 
 side of his wife who lay as white and as pure and 
 as cold as a snow drift and on her right arm their 
 first born son as beautiful as a lily and as cold as 
 death. 
 
 The trail of a struggle is a trail of tears; the 
 moan of a warring wind, whether industrial or 
 internecine, is a wail of woe. The musical instru- 
 ment that is the most responsive to touch, the 
 most delicate of construction, richest in tone and 
 sweetest in harmony, is the most sensitive to 
 discord; the human soul that is the broadest 
 in character, most refined in tastes and keenest 
 to pleasure, is the most exquisitely susceptible 
 to pain. The rarer the flower the more is the 
 regret that it be plucked; the happier the home 
 the more is the pity that its felicity be marred. 
 
 The brighter the light, the darker the shadow;
 
 262 A FAST GAME 
 
 the clearer the skies, the more noticeable the 
 cloud. Is there no balm to annoint our human 
 bruises? Is there no light to show the direction? 
 Is there no hand to lead the way but a black hand 
 or a red hand which leaves in its wake a trail of 
 tears? Yes, Calvary. And yet, despite the 
 beauty in blood, the power in purity, the loyalty 
 in love, and the salvation in simplicity, all of 
 which flow from the red cross on the holy hill, 
 some of us dip our hands the deeper into the 
 black pots of vice, plunge them into the red 
 pools of human anguish' and, drawing them 
 dripping to the gambling table, stake our chances 
 of immortal life over against the innocency of 
 childhood, the purity of motherhood, the no- 
 bility of manhood, the sacredness of brotherhood 
 and the solicitude of a divine fatherhood, and, 
 without a blush, play the game.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CRIMSON-EBONY 
 
 % 
 
 Crimson-ebony is neither a color of nature nor 
 the color mixed by the divine artist. The studio 
 of the good, the beautiful and the true, contains 
 no such stain. In fact, it is an unearthly dye, 
 compounded by the puny imps of the evil one and 
 smeared by the same hands under the cover of 
 darkness. Its most conspicuous daubs are boldly 
 outlined against the sunlit skies of refinement and 
 righteousness. The peculiarity of the stuff lies 
 in its dual nature to produce red or black, ac- 
 cording to the caprice of the user. The Anthra- 
 cite saloon represents the nefarious crucible in 
 which this diabolical decoction seethes; its patrons, 
 some of those who brew the malignant dyestuff 
 and who seethe it in the crucible, God or man 
 knows not why, unless it be to dance while the 
 devil pats and laughs. 
 
 "Something must be done, boys, to get more 
 spondulics," said Ed Slocum while he sat at the 
 table in the dark chamber of The Anthracite 
 and held a glass of Green Valley Rye in his hand. 
 "We have enough of the lucre on hand to run us 
 a spell yet, but while everything is red hot as it is 
 now, we ought to gather a few shekels for a rainy 
 day." 
 
 263
 
 264 A FAST GAME 
 
 He swallowed the potion at one gulp, banged 
 the glass upon the table and smacked his lips. 
 His accomplices completed the circle of the table 
 and imitated their chief. Dick and Oscar Morgan 
 were there, John Ransom, Jr., Curley, Mike Ruhlin 
 and one or two others. The transaction of im- 
 portant business had made possible a meeting of 
 the majority of the members of the crimson-ebony 
 society. 
 
 "Two things must be done," went on their 
 leader. "First, that skunk of a Tom Boland and 
 Jim Ransom must be got out of the employ of 
 The Black Diamond Company at all hazards; and 
 second, that company must shut down. These 
 are our pretences and, of course, the alternative 
 in either case will be a fat sum of money. We have 
 tried the proper colors on them already and slight 
 threats but nothing is doing for us yet. Now, 
 I propose more stringent measures. We %vill 
 try the red hand racket on Jim and see how that 
 will work." 
 
 What a measure to propose anyway! As 
 though, if crimson-ebony would not kill, ebony- 
 red would! 
 
 "We might just as well whistle as to monkey 
 with granddad any more. He's more stubborn 
 than any mule he has in the mines, and uncle 
 Hen is a close second. If we can muzzle them 
 some way I think we can work the old man all 
 right. As to Tom, why " 
 
 Everyone about the table knew what that silent 
 termination to the chief's sentence meant and a 
 sort of grunt of approval went round. 
 
 "I wish I knew where the sneaking devil is. 
 Does anyone know?"
 
 CRIMSON-EBONY 265 
 
 An ominous silence preceded a circling grunt of 
 negation. 
 
 "You are cognizant of the fact, Mr. Slocum, 
 that your uncle is acting in the capacity of super- 
 intendent in my former position, are you not?" 
 inquired John, Jr. 
 
 "No, I did not know it," answered Ed. 
 
 "An" he prowls 'round the mine a hull lot, 
 night an' day," put in Curley. 
 
 "We'll try a red letter on dad alone and see if 
 that will fetch him to terms." 
 
 He minutely informed John, Jr., the scribe, 
 what must be written in the mentioned letter, 
 then, turning toward the others, continued in a 
 voice audible to all, "But Tom is the puzzler. 
 All keep a sharp lookout for him. We meet again 
 next Friday night and if these schemes do not 
 work we'll plan some others that will. One 
 more bumper, boys, and we are adjourned." 
 
 The bumper went round, the glasses rang to- 
 gether, feet and chairs shuffled and scraped and 
 the company rose from the table and, one by 
 one, left the room through the several different 
 doors and halls to meet a little later in the bar- 
 room where the stench of "choice wines and 
 liquors" diffused itself through every cubic inch 
 of the atmosphere. It was the same old field and 
 the same old game and the same old players, 
 playing in the same old way. 
 
 No new goods adorned the show cases or lay 
 displayed before the purchaser, only a few new 
 brands and trade-marks on the same old stuff. 
 There were no cut prices. It was always bargain 
 day at the bar, the bargain counter, where every 
 buyer received more than he bargained for, yet,
 
 266 A FAST GAME 
 
 duped and duped, again and again, the customers 
 filed in day after day and night after night in a 
 ceaseless line, and went out to return and be 
 duped again. 
 
 Friday night came and the crimson-ebony 
 society, according to appointment, met to do 
 business. The principals were there, the grog 
 was there and the colors were there, too. The 
 chairman rapped his empty glass on the table 
 and the session opened. There were two con- 
 science smitten members at the session; John, Jr., 
 who felt, if it be possible for so seared a soul to 
 feel, his brother's sore trial at the loss of his wife, 
 and Oscar who deplored the loss of a sister on 
 account of their red handed business for since 
 the last session, some of the events of the last 
 chapter had taken place. 
 
 The ejection of his wife by the latter had flurried 
 the domestic tranquility somewhat, but that 
 was of minor importance, even though he re- 
 ceived cutting banter and ridicule from his asso- 
 ciates. All these events passed through the mind 
 of Ed Slocum without phasing his even temper 
 or without producing a ripple on his externality. 
 Ed's Christian environment and rearing, mingled 
 voluntarily with continual dabbling in sin, had 
 steeled his conscience to the flexibility and strength 
 of a Damascus blade, to that extent, in fact, 
 that it is doubtful if anything under heaven could 
 force tears from his eyes or cast a shadow of real 
 sorrow over his face. 
 
 "Well, what luck, boys?" spoke the sachem 
 after the liquid preliminaries had passed. 
 
 "Nit!" snarled Curley.
 
 CRIMSON-EBONY 267 
 
 "Per adventure, relative to the unexpected 
 circumstances connected with the misfortune of 
 my brother, James," answered John, Jr., "wisdom 
 would declare a cessation of pressure in that 
 direction, though I must frankly confess that he 
 is financially able to remunerate us according to 
 our meager demands." 
 
 "The worst is over," cringed Oscar, "an* we 
 might 's well put the screws to 'im now in dead 
 earnest. If I was a corporation lawyer rakin' 
 in me thousands a year a doin' nothin', I'd be 
 willin' to pony up to honest fellows what have to 
 wark fur a livin'. I say, shove 'im. He's got 
 nothin' to do with 'is money now." 
 
 "Perhaps you are not so conversant with the 
 character of my brother, James, as I am," put in 
 John, Jr. "Should we concentrate excessive 
 persuasion during his present period of lamenta- 
 tion, consequences will be the opposite from 
 what we anticipate." 
 
 "We might know that." muttered Oscar, "he's 
 a stubborn Englishman." 
 
 "Shuer, it's the son o' Wales what gives trooble 
 the go-by," broke in Mike. "But who aver 
 heered ave a Welchman what didn't shtick to 
 'is wallet schtrings loike an Irishman to a peraty ?" 
 
 "We ain't here tonight to listen to no bull- 
 headed wit frum a son of Erin," retorted Oscar 
 who was nettled by the sly insinuation of one of 
 his confederates. 
 
 "An' it's wit what 'ill git the divil out ave 
 tight scrapes whin spunk, rason an' sintiment 
 fail." 
 
 "We'll waive the case of Jim for the present 
 and take up other family affairs," interrupted
 
 268 A FAST GAME 
 
 the chairman with a chilly sense of humor. "What 
 about the Slocums?" 
 
 "No answer from them in any way," replied 
 John, Jr. "The old gentleman has been out of 
 the city for several days which fact has necessitated 
 the transaction of all the business by the sons. 
 Henry spends most of his time in and around the 
 mine but is in daily communication with the 
 office. The only feasible tactic to pursue is to 
 separate them in some manner which separation 
 might operate as a stimulus to Benjamin to re- 
 imburse our treasury, in order also, to relieve 
 his own anxiety relative to his brother." 
 
 "I have the schame," quickly responded Ruhlin, 
 "me an' Curley'll tind to the boss's hash, since 
 our frind, the wapin' an' chicken-harted Welchman, 
 shows the white fither." 
 
 The Welchman frowned as he drained his 
 mug of beer and was about to return the taunt 
 when the leader asked, 
 
 "What is your plan, Ruhlin?" 
 
 "Evidently it is not the design of this body to 
 go on record as plotting or implicating itself in 
 any measure which would take human life," 
 broke in Ransom as he glanced at their chairman. 
 
 Two reasons for speaking were uppermost in 
 his thought; first, that he might put on his guard 
 anyone in the secret presence, for they had the 
 person of their chief's uncle under consideration; 
 and second, should anyone imply in his remarks 
 the final disposal of Henry Slocum, it would not 
 be the head of John Ransom, Jr., to receive the 
 wrath of the leader. Our candid opinion is that 
 no one of the company present had more personal 
 grudges against the person in question, and would
 
 CRIMSON-EBONY 269 
 
 secretly chuckle to get even with him, than the 
 pretending advocate of lenient measures. 
 
 "Don't be after worrin' aboot Mr. Slocum's 
 relation, me Anglish frind," blurted out Mike. 
 "Me an' Curley'll tind to him." 
 
 "Never fear, fellows, you know that my uncle 
 inherits half the property of my granddad, and 
 he has no children." 
 
 "Jest yez loan me a bit ave yer toime an' ye'll 
 hear somethin' drap. It's meself what's tellin' 
 ave yez that Oi have the schame." 
 
 "Well, Mike, go on with your scheme," ruled 
 the chairman. 
 
 "Oi'm sick o' the union an' Oi'm goin' to with- 
 draw me support, an' Curley, too, bedad! We'll 
 be after nailin' a job in the Di'mon' mine an' 
 the schame do be asey. Curley knowns that the 
 boss pays next wake an' that he do pay in the 
 mine. On the day ave the pay it won't contami- 
 nate me Irish blud to enherit a small dowry ave 
 the auld Slocum astate inny more 'n 't will the 
 blud ave our young boss here be the table, an' 
 Oi'm not the lad to hisitate to hilp the schame, 
 along, along." 
 
 The scheme at once appeared plausible to the 
 entire company and was heartily approved. No 
 one had been deputized to commit murder or 
 rob, though every member of the organization 
 at the table, knowing the desperate character 
 of Curley and his accomplice, thoroughly under- 
 stood the implication of Mike's words, and yet, 
 if the execution of the plot proved a failure and 
 its active principals caught, no legal proof could 
 be brought against the action of the crimson- 
 ebony society. The bottle went round the table
 
 270 A FAST GAME 
 
 again to denote that the subject in hand had been 
 disposed of and that another would be brought 
 up before the council. 
 
 ''And how about Boland," quoth Ed. 
 
 "An" do this be the same Tom Bolan', the son 
 ave the Irishman what was kilt in the mine a 
 bit ago an' what lives up in Maffit's patch forninst 
 the hill?" 
 
 "He is the same," answered the chairman. 
 
 "Shuer, an' the case do be dead asey, thin. Yez 
 do know that birds ave a fither flock togither an' 
 a bit o' brogue between us will make f rinds." 
 
 "But he is not at home," answered Ed. 
 
 "Indade! an' Oi see him but yesternight snakin' 
 doon Murphy's alley loike a cur what had ben 
 after stalin' his master's shape." 
 
 The company received this information with 
 noticeable satisfaction and the question on every- 
 one's tongue was asked by their sachem. 
 
 "Are you sure that it was he?" 
 
 "Shuer? Do yez think me so blind 's a bat 
 not to see an Irishman in an alley?" 
 
 "Mike could smell 'is breath o' taters," inter- 
 rupted Curley who partially aroused from a 
 maudlin stupor into which his frequent pota- 
 tions were rapidly leading him. 
 
 "Was it light or dark, Mike, when you saw him?" 
 asked Ed. 
 
 "Faith, an' it was nather light ner dark, so it 
 wasn't." 
 
 "Was he drunk or sober?" 
 
 "Bedad, an' Oi didn't inquire." 
 
 "How did he walk?" 
 
 "On 'is own two feat, bejabers! Faith, an'
 
 CRIMSON-EBONY 271 
 
 do yez think that ivry paddy what hails frum 
 Cork wears cork lages?" 
 
 "Talk United States you numb skull, or stop 
 your gibberish altogether!" ordered the chief tan 
 with some irritation. 
 
 "Axcuse me, sur, but Oi always intind to con- 
 varse in the since an' brogue o' me coompany. 
 Oi didn't mane to spake in terms aboove yer 
 comprehinsion. ' ' 
 
 "You are the bagatelle of this company, Mike, 
 and you have said enough." 
 
 "Shuer, an' Oi'll be after o' tellin' narry a 
 thing o' the kind. Belave Mike Ruhlin to kape 
 'is clam shut whin it's not fur the good ave the 
 order to kape it open." 
 
 "Throw the fool out an' be done with 'im," 
 suggested Oscar in some heat. 
 
 Mike jumped to his feet like a flash and, shak- 
 ing his fist at Morgan, began, "An' yez 'ill be 
 compilled to let oout that job by contrac', Misther 
 Morgan. 'F yez dare to lay one ave them slimy 
 paws ave yez on me Oi'll lambaste that bleared 
 mug ave yez till yer mither won't know 'er dar- 
 lint, ye dirty spalpeen ave ' 
 
 By this time Ed was on his feet too, and spoke 
 in a tone not to be misunderstood. "Shut your 
 mouth, Mike, and no more of your blarney and 
 blow tonight. Sit down." 
 
 Mike meekly obeyed but muttered as he seated 
 himself, "Oi'll be sated fur the young bos but 
 Oi won't take inny back taalk frum inny bloody 
 Wilchman in Ameircy." 
 
 Curley had gone to sleep beside his wide. awake 
 companion though the senses of the other occu- 
 pants of the room received stimulus from the
 
 272 A FAST GAME 
 
 breezy altercation that had already blown over. 
 The hour was late and, judging from outward 
 appearances, what other business there was to 
 do at that session must be done at once before 
 the aroused senses of the men's minds succumbed 
 to further stupefaction. 
 
 "The only matter not already disposed of is 
 the case of Tom. From what we have learned 
 from Mike, Tom is in town again." 
 
 "Indade, 'e is," broke in Mike, but from all 
 appearances he would talk no more that night. 
 His tongue thickened and his chin slowly dropped 
 to his breast and he began snoring in company 
 with Curley. 
 
 "Tom has, no doubt, left his Sunday school 
 business," continued Ed, "like a dog has re- 
 turned to his vomit and the sooner he is blown 
 into kingdom come the better for the community 
 and the better for him." 
 
 Oscar, John, Jr., and Ed then drew up closer 
 together and began to speak in lower tones and 
 more confidentially. 
 
 "If Tom is at home at all," suggested John, Jr., 
 "he is home at night. Peradventure, if he is 
 not drinking again, he will immediately com- 
 municate with The Black Diamond Company 
 which interview will retard the execution of our 
 plans." 
 
 "That's *o," said Oscar. "I'll watch the office 
 tomorrow an' see that he don't git in an' by the 
 night I'll git Curley er Mike to use a little dyna- 
 mite." 
 
 The voice of Oscar seemed to disturb the dreams 
 of the Irishman for he shifted uneasily in his chair 
 and muttered, "Welchie lies."
 
 CRIMSON-EBONY 273 
 
 But the triumvirate paid no attention to the 
 mumbling sleeper. Their sole hope for gain lay 
 in the conviction that Benjamin Slocum and 
 James Ransom would waver before the joint 
 pressure of the ebony-red and a handsome bonus 
 be obtained from each, if the influence of others 
 could be kept from them; in other words, they 
 considered these two men weaker in character 
 than some of their fellows. Whether their con- 
 ception of weak and strong character proved 
 correct remains to be seen. 
 
 "Would it not be advisable to enlist the services 
 of your brother, the doctor?" asked John, Jr., of 
 Oscar. "He could easily incapacitate Hiram 
 Slocum for immediate counsel and yet not per- 
 manently impare the old gentleman's health." 
 
 "Hugh!" grunted Oscar in perfect astonish- 
 ment; "I'd as soon approach the devil 'imself as 
 Evan to git 'im to do a thing like that. If it do 
 be for 'im to lay out Tom I might think about it." 
 
 "Pardon me, for making the assertion," apolo- 
 getically chimed in John, Jr., "I meant no in- 
 vidious insinuation on the character of your 
 brother, only an incidental suggestion." 
 
 "Let me see," mused Ed. "Tomorrow is 
 Saturday. Supposing, Oscar, you get Mike or 
 Curley to put Tom to sleep tomorrow night." 
 
 "Very well. I will." 
 
 " 'S li-e, Wilch-ie!" came from the snoring 
 Irishman. 
 
 "Is that blubberer awake?" queried Ed, looking 
 suspiciously toward the person in question. 
 
 "No! He's been over the dam long ago", 
 answered John, Jr. 
 
 "Well, now," continued the sagamore, "to-
 
 274 A FAST GAME 
 
 morrow is the night for the escapade against Tom. 
 That is settled. Monday I will pull the old man's 
 leg for a few shiners and incidentally pump him 
 concerning the business in the mines and, if the 
 opportunity offers, suggest that the best thing for 
 him to do is to pony up to the demands of his 
 secret red handed friend. Send him another red 
 hand and set Wednesday as the time for the paper 
 to mature. Tuesday is pay day and after Curley 
 and Mike are through with Henry perhaps he will 
 be glad to settle at any price." 
 
 "That's perfectly satisfactory, Mr. Slocum," 
 assented John, Jr. "The method of procedure 
 is most admirably planned." 
 
 "And you, John, in the meanwhile, see where 
 your brother stands in relation to the tone of the 
 anonymous letters he has received of late." 
 
 "That is no easy enterprise to undertake. To 
 execute the same with so recently a bereaved 
 brother requires more intrepidity than is my 
 fortune to possess, therefore, though I fully 
 corroborate with you in the promulgation of the 
 project, it appears most unadvisable for me to 
 attempt to achieve any such design under the 
 circumstances . ' ' 
 
 "Well, now, ye do see how easy it do be fur 
 others to wark their friends," sarcastically put 
 in Morgan. "I'll wark me brother if ye'll wark 
 yours. It's a go an' put 'er there on it!" 
 
 Oscar extended his hand to seal the covenant 
 but received no response. The speaker had 
 arrived at that stage of intoxication where the 
 intoxicated is excessively daring in his advances 
 and his mind exceedingly flighty. Turning to 
 Ed, he threw down the gauntlet before Him.
 
 CRIMSON-EBONY 275 
 
 "See! John's a coward an' hain't got the 
 grit of a pup. I dare 'im, on me honor, to ap- 
 proach 'is brother, Jim. Say, Ed, whas a matter 
 with your apply in' the siphon to Norwood; he's 
 in the Slocum fam'ly?" 
 
 "To the devil with Norwood!" snarled Ed. 
 
 "Whas a reason?" 
 
 "He's in the Sunday school work again and is 
 more pious than ever. Might as well try to swing 
 Gabriel around to our way x?f thinking. I'll 
 steer clear of him if he'll only keep to himself 
 what he already knows." 
 
 "Now you understand how much fun it do be to 
 git shomeone else in a scrape that ye don't want 
 to git inter yerself. Guess we ain't all fools yit, 
 an' there's more'n one coward left, too." 
 
 How true it is that "conscience makes cowards 
 of us all." The character of the crimson-ebony 
 society had changed to a marked degree since 
 Harry Norwood belonged to it, both in its mem- 
 bership and in its object. At the inception of 
 the organization, the red hand and the black hand 
 were different hands, each using its influence for 
 the interests of its individual party. In that 
 early state of the society's existence Norwood be- 
 longed to the red hand, the legitimate issue of 
 the corporation power; the black hand played 
 the keys on another board. Ed had wormed into 
 both, and combined them, after Norwood had 
 left the red handed business forever. Therefore, 
 we readily understand why Ed wanted to be 
 relieved of any duty which would bring him in 
 contact with his uncle. 
 
 The beginning of the crimson-ebony society 
 declared for revenue only a gentle pressure be-
 
 276 A FAST GAME 
 
 tween the horns of a dilemma, either to surrender 
 some personal position or principle in relation to 
 the industrial war or pay the price. Money 
 would cover a multitude of sins in the eyes of so 
 august an assembly. Little by little the funds 
 for the spendthrifts had been forthcoming. But 
 many of the strong characters had ignored the 
 touch of these greedy hands. We all know that 
 if the smoothest devil is ignored in his work he 
 will apply his sharpest goad. Practice in the 
 devilish art makes a man a fairly good devil. 
 
 The crimson-ebony hands were not entirely the 
 colored ones represented on papeJ, for the hands 
 of some of the members had already, directly or 
 indirectly, dripped with the crimson of its brother 
 man's blood. Natural opposition from men who 
 could easily pay the price and the ease with 
 which others of less financial strength were caught 
 in the trap, aroused the latent evil energies of 
 these financial ghouls, stimulated their resourceful 
 imaginations, and spurred them on to do things 
 now that they never intended to do. 
 
 The ways of sin are always ways of de- 
 lusions so easily followed because they always 
 tend downward, and the descent is so gradual 
 that the deluded one seldom perceives his horizon 
 of righteousness closing like the curtains of night 
 till outer darkness falls upon him. To ascend, 
 one step encourages and strengthens the climber 
 for another higher step; to descend, the unfortu- 
 nate one gathers momentum constantly, the 
 speed increasing slowly and almost imperceptibly 
 to the end the fall. The members of the crimson- 
 ebony society had unconsciously sped on in their 
 wild flight till they were dangerously near to the
 
 CRIMSON-EBONY 277 
 
 point of their final leap destruction. 
 
 "I guess that completes the business of the 
 night," said Ed, handing the bottle in turn to 
 his confederates. "We'll go home and wait the 
 results and meet next Friday night unless other- 
 wise planned between now and then." 
 
 Draining his glass to the last drop he arose and 
 led the way out of the room. The other members 
 of the gang, one by one, awoke and left the secret 
 chamber, passed out into the night and went to 
 their several posts of duty and deviltry, while 
 the game played on.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 WHERE TWO WAYS MEET 
 
 Saturday night came, cold and stormy. Late 
 in the afternoon the leaden clouds began to sift 
 ice dust upon the streets of Onaway. Early in 
 the evening, however, the wind veered to the 
 northeast and moaned through the rattling 
 boards and paneless windows of many a coal 
 breaker in the valley and on the hillsides. The 
 shift of wind brought a rise in temperature and 
 a soaking rain a driving rain that penetrated 
 every crevice exposed to its terrific onset. Dark- 
 ness covered the dreary streets and by eight 
 o'clock nearly every business place closed for 
 want of customers. Only an occasional footman, 
 bent on an errand of necessity and muffled un- 
 recognizably in a storm coat and hat, hurried 
 along the sidewalk. 
 
 Now and then the clatter of horses' shoes 
 echoed along the pavement for a minute, indis- 
 tinct at first, increasing to a sharp ring and dying 
 away in the distance; while the eye might follow 
 the statue-like cabman on his noiseless rolling 
 cab whirled along by the rubber blanketed horse, 
 dimly approaching around the corner, into the 
 archlight, out through the shadow, into the 
 darkness and out of sight, like a spectral black 
 278
 
 WHERE TWO WAYS MEET 279 
 
 knight passing with his clanking armor. The 
 motormen drove their cars into the night while 
 they watched the widening rails through the 
 glass window, fluted with the etchings of the 
 storm; their conductors munched their cold lunch, 
 scanned the evening paper, whistled as they 
 watched the receding rails draw together into 
 the night and, at long intervals, rung up the fare 
 of a dripping passenger. 
 
 "Purty tough night, doctor," said one of the 
 conductors to his sole passenger whom he recog- 
 nized when he took up his fare. 
 
 "Yes, Joe, it's terrific!" answered Dr. Morgan 
 as he flung back his rain coat and shook the 
 rivulets from his hat. "It wouldn't be so bad 
 if a fellow could only carry an umbrella. This 
 is a bad night for the guards out around the 
 breakers and companies' property, though a 
 good one for the imps to work their devilish pranks. 
 I wouldn't be surprised to hear of something doing 
 before morning." 
 
 "Anything new?" 
 
 "Oh, not especially. I imagine that under 
 ordinary circumstances there would be a whole 
 lot of news but, now, we have got so used to the 
 violence and strenuosity of the fight that nothing 
 short of a pitched battle or an earthquake would 
 be considered news. The coroner is kept busy 
 taking care of the murdered men and the hospitals 
 are full of the victims of violence. I just assisted 
 in an operation on a poor fellow up at the Emer- 
 gency. Got a bad gash in the dark and danger- 
 ously near the heart, too, besides some broken 
 bones and minor contusions." 
 
 "How is your brother-in-law, James, feeling
 
 280 A FAST GAME 
 
 these days? I s'pose he's 'bout all in over the 
 loss of his wife." 
 
 "Yes, I was up there this afternoon. He's 
 not able to work any yet. He'll die if something 
 cannot be done to distract his mind from his 
 grief. If he could only weep or get right down 
 mad, he would come out all right." 
 
 "Busy?" 
 
 "Well, I should say so! Haven't had my 
 clothes off for three days and no better prospect 
 to get them off tonight, unless it be to change 
 these wet ones for dry. Tired my horses all out. 
 That is why I am with you." 
 
 The young man yawned and lopped against 
 the end of the car. Slowly drawing his watch 
 from his pocket he mused to himself, "Ten-thirty!" 
 Looking out of the window he said to the con- 
 ductor: "I want to get out at Orchard." 
 
 "All right. Got to make any more calls?" 
 
 "Only one more; up to see Uncle Hiram Slo- 
 cum." 
 
 "What's the matter with the old man?" 
 
 "Oh, old age and nervousness, more than any- 
 thing else. He worries a great deal about the 
 sons and the mines." 
 
 "The old gentleman won't last long if this 
 kind o' business keeps up. Oh, say, Doc., how's 
 yer sister?" 
 
 "Phebe is very low." 
 
 He spoke in a subdued tone and with deep 
 feeling. The loss of his sister, Anna, lay fresh 
 on his heart and the thought of his favorite and 
 crippled sister following so soon brought con- 
 tortions of pain over his handsome features. He 
 arose and buttoned his coat tightly around his
 
 WHERE TWO WAYS MEET 281 
 
 neck, took up his medicine case and, staggering 
 toward the door while the car slowed down, 
 concluded, "I am going to stay with Phebe from 
 midnight on. There'll be a change before morn- 
 ing, and I am afraid, a change for the worse. 
 Good-night, Joe!" 
 
 "Good-night, doctor!" 
 
 The last words died out in the sound of the 
 conductor's bell, the car sped on and Evan Morgan 
 faced the driving storm to the Hiram Slocum 
 mansion. Naomi met him at the door. She 
 was acting both nurse and companion to her 
 grandfather. Her own home was just across 
 the street where she might have lolled in the lap 
 of luxury to her heart's content without lifting 
 a finger to work, but she preferred to be active, 
 doing somebody some good and that somebody 
 chanced to be her grandsire. 
 
 "Good evening, doctor! Come in," she said 
 and softly shut the door behind the physician. 
 "This is a terrible night! Remove your wraps 
 here on this oilcloth," and she led him to a corner 
 of the hall and began to assist him to obey the 
 command. 
 
 "Good evening, Miss Slocum!" he answered 
 as he followed whither his conductress led. "Is 
 my patient comfortable tonight?" 
 
 "Yes, thank you; real easy. He is sound asleep 
 now and has been for a couple of hours." 
 
 "That is good. I will not disturb him. Natural 
 sleep will do him more good than all my medicine. 
 Excuse me, but I will not detain you longer." 
 
 "Oh, indeed! You are not detaining me from 
 any duty. It is a pleasure to have a congenial 
 friend with whom to chat a while. Won't you
 
 282 A FAST GAME 
 
 remove your light overcoat and sit down a few 
 minutes and rest?" 
 
 The doctor stood bewildered by the cordiality 
 with which she welcomed him. He had removed 
 one of his soaked gloves and drew out his watch. 
 His hesitation betrayed his inclination to tarry 
 but the close approach of midnight reminded him 
 that he must be hurrying home to relieve his 
 brother, Oscar, and the nurse from the bedside 
 of his sister. Replacing his watch he commenced 
 rebuttoning his coat saying the while, "I would 
 like to chat a while with you but I am due at 
 home in twenty-five minutes." 
 
 "Oh, by the way, how is Phebe now? How 
 stupid of me not to have asked before." 
 
 The grave expression on the face of the doctor 
 made answer. Naomi read his thought instantly 
 and said most sympathetically, "I am so sorry. 
 You look so weary tonight, too. I wish I might 
 relieve you of your anxiety and share in your 
 long vigil." 
 
 The doctor only thanked her in a low tone and 
 half groaned, "I wish you might." 
 
 He scarcely knew what he said. His heart 
 beat like a trip hammer until it seemed to him 
 that it would be heard by his fair listener. He 
 continued buttoning his coat, however, and 
 slowly moved toward the door, preceded by 
 Naomi who faced him directly under the hall 
 lamp. Whether it was rain or other moisture 
 on the doctor's cheek she knew not, but her 
 heart was touched. She longed to administer 
 comfort to his tired body and smooth back the 
 wet and disheveled locks from his anxious brow. 
 He, too, would linger and worship at the shrine
 
 WHERE TWO WAYS MEET 283 
 
 of Cupid and receive the encouragement he so 
 much needed and from one whom he knew to be 
 thoroughly competent to administer it. With a 
 sad face he pulled his water-soaked hat down 
 over his eyes and laid his hands on the door knob. 
 
 "Goodnight!" he murmured as he flung open 
 the door and stepped into the storm, for the 
 gale even swept the porches with its pitiless blast. 
 
 "Goodnight, with my sympathies!" answered 
 Naomi, pressing her hand on his left hand which 
 held the medicine case. The touch thrilled him 
 like a charge from a Ley den jar. The door 
 closed behind him. He was once more in the 
 rain-washed street with a touch that cheered 
 him and words that thrilled him. 
 
 "My sympathies! What did she mean?" he 
 said half aloud to himself. "Why couldn't she 
 have said, 'My love or my prayers?' Is sym- 
 pathy all she has for me?" 
 
 While he pondered over her last words his 
 mental equilibrium weltered in such utter con- 
 fusion that he hastened on scarcely knowing 
 whither he went, though the angelic touch swung 
 his body on at such a rapid rate that he found 
 himself at his father's door before he fully real- 
 ized he had been in the storm and street at all. 
 
 He entered quietly. The old clock struck the 
 hour of midnight while he removed his coat 
 and high boots. He leaned heavily against the 
 chair before he put on his slippers. In that 
 position he would have fallen asleep had he not 
 been aroused by Oscar and John Ransom, Jr., 
 who came into the hall and went out at the front 
 door. The men exchanged low greetings with 
 him as they passed. The doctor warmed and
 
 284 A FAST GAME 
 
 dried his hands and went into the sick chamber 
 to relieve the almost exhausted nurse. His first 
 glance at his sister convinced him that he was in 
 the presence of a dying girl. Poor crippled Phebe 
 would soon be where the lame shall leap as an 
 hart. He made up his mind to call his mother 
 and other members of the family before Phebe's 
 final dissolution, but not then. The nurse retired 
 and Evan remained alone with the unconscious, 
 though sometimes delirious, sister. Occasionally 
 her eyes opened as if she recognized him but 
 their familiar luster soon dissolved into a wild, 
 glassy, stare. And so an hour dragged out its life. 
 
 The patient had lain quietly for a few minutes 
 with closed eyes. The doctor had watched every 
 changing symptom and, at the moment, stood 
 leaning over her and noting the quiet natural 
 breathing. He glanced at the face. Her eyes 
 were wide open, their expression perfectly natural. 
 A smile played around the delicate mouth. The 
 kind brother returned the smile and laid his hand 
 gently upon her forehead. The expression of her 
 features suddenly changed from sunshine to seri- 
 ousness as if recalling something long forgotten. 
 She looked up earnestly into his face and said in 
 a firm and perfectly rational voice, "Evan." 
 
 "What is it, Phebe?" he asked quickly. 
 
 "What time is it?" 
 
 He looked at his watch and answered, "Ten 
 minutes past one." 
 
 "Is it Sunday morning?" 
 
 "Yes, dear!" 
 
 A smile brightened her face and she quickly 
 replied, "Oh, I am so glad! Do you know, Evan,
 
 WHERE TWO WAYS MEET 285 
 
 that they are going to blow up Tom Boland's 
 house at half past one?" 
 
 "Why, Phebe, I guess you are mistaken. What 
 got that in your mind?" 
 
 "Oh, I know they are; Oscar and Mr. Ransom 
 said they were." 
 
 The doctor hesitated for an instant. He 
 wondered whether his sister was still delirious or 
 had been dreaming or she had really heard them 
 talking over a secret plot. 
 
 "Evan, you must not wait a minute but go and 
 stop them from their awful work." 
 
 He determined to test the girl's mental con- 
 dition before he placed too much confidence in 
 what she said. 
 
 "They would not do such a thing." 
 
 "May be they would not do it but they know 
 it is going to be done at half past one tonight." 
 
 "But the nurse has been here with you all the 
 while and they would not say anything like that 
 before her." 
 
 "But, Evan, I know they said it and the nurse 
 was out of the room at the time. You will have to 
 hurry." 
 
 The mind of the watcher began to reason in 
 leaps and through glints of contending emotions. 
 He more than half believed what Phebe stated. 
 He considered her, for the time being, perfectly 
 sane and a competent witness. That was cold 
 judgment. Would his brother be guilty of murder- 
 ous conspiracy against a fellow man ? The answer 
 to the question drew some heat nito his mental 
 processes. His brother's recent conduct in his 
 home, in the union and in his social relations had 
 not been of a character to bring credit upon him-
 
 286 A FAST GAME 
 
 self or anyone else for that matter. He concluded 
 that what Phebe said might be true, and if it was, 
 the plot ought to be balked and the matter in- 
 vestigated for the sake of finding out Oscar's 
 real character if for nothing more. 
 
 Counter to these thoughts arose the possibility 
 of his being the investfgator. Phebe might die 
 within the hour. He was the attending physician 
 and his business was to remain with his patient. 
 And besides, his own physical strength was nearly 
 exhausted. He could not go; there was no one 
 else to go and no time to find any one to go. The 
 telephone was not in the house and before the 
 .nearest holder of a phone could be aroused the 
 time for the deed would have passed. More 
 heat arose, however, in his fiery reasoning when 
 he thought of his firm friend, Tom, being blown 
 to atoms and when it lay in his power to prevent 
 it. 
 
 "But Tom is not at home," he queried. 
 
 "Yes, he is, too," quickly replied the girl, 
 "they said he was." 
 
 The wild expression began to creep into her 
 face again and her solicitude for Tom and his 
 folks seemed to increase with it as if she knew 
 she would pass into unconsciousness in a moment 
 more before which she must persuade her brother 
 to save Tom. 
 
 "Oh, Evan!" she whispered, for her voice 
 diminished in volume, as she threw her arms 
 around his neck, "You will go, you must go 
 now. Never mind me. It is 
 
 Her arms relaxed and the frail little body sunk 
 back onto the bed. The awful spell had again 
 seized her. Before it was possible for her to re-
 
 WHERE TWO WAYS MEET 287 
 
 turn to rational thought again it wou d be too 
 late to save Tom. She might never recover 
 sanity in this world; the symptoms led to belief 
 in that direction. But how would he feel in an 
 hour hence to face his sister and answer her first 
 question in the negative that he had made no 
 effort to rescue his friend and carry out her re- 
 quest? He could easily avoid embarassment 
 there, however, by pleading duty to a sister before 
 duty to an acquaintance. But how would he 
 feel to meet her in the other world? There could 
 no such an excuse be made there; in fact, reasons 
 must be given at the judgment and not excuses. 
 Excuses never avail anything. Plain duty is 
 the clarion call always, everywhere and every time. 
 Was not his duty at the bedside of his patient? 
 But death is plainly stamped upon Phebe and 
 materia medica has no dealing in it for her; but 
 Tom is well and vigorous. He has no need of 
 professional skill, just a notice that he is in danger. 
 As far as Evan knows, he is the only living friend 
 who can serve that notice. 
 
 The beating storm made the physician shudder. 
 Which storm? Not one storm but two brewed. 
 Yes, raged and raged fiercely. Two ways lay 
 before him. He stood at the parting. "Which 
 way will you take?" howled the storm of the 
 night. A glance at the innocent features of 
 Phebe made answer, "The right!" 
 
 Could Tom be his friend? He believed with 
 all his heart that Tom stood between him and 
 Naomi. No one would be the wiser if the 
 whole Boland family were blown to atoms. The 
 secret remained in his heart. Secret? Are the 
 mutterings of a delirious girl sufficient testimony
 
 288 A FAST GAME 
 
 to condemn any one? Evan Morgan's mind, by 
 this time, had reached white heat, upon which his 
 conscience played like a rapidly revolving wheel, 
 emitting sparks of fiery passion. The hum of his 
 psychological machinery drowned the howling 
 elements of the night. In spite of everything he 
 fostered no motive other than to play the man. 
 He looked at his watch. It recorded one-fifteen. 
 In fifteen minutes more Tom may go into eternity. 
 The doomed house stood at least ten minutes' 
 walk from the Morgan home, but the distance, 
 by running, could be made in five. He bent over 
 and kissed Phebe's passive face. He fancied 
 that he saw a smile of approval curl around the 
 fading dimples^ His heart leaped for joy. 
 
 The good omens had appeared and made plain 
 his path. Perfect calm reigned in the bosom of 
 the man. He hastily sought the couch of the 
 nurse, aroused her and hastened to the door. He 
 had no time to clothe his body against the external 
 elements but dashed into the night with slippers 
 and smoking jacket. The violence of the wind 
 almost took him from his feet. He held on to the 
 porch post and slowly descended the steps, at 
 the same time, getting his eyes accustomed to 
 the darkness. The darkness was intense in the 
 driving downpour of water. 
 
 Evan's home was in the middle of the block so 
 that the lights from the corners shone dim and 
 treacherous. He had scarcely entered the street 
 and broke into a run when a slipper flew off. 
 He rushed on as the light increased, and dashed 
 over the crossing at a breakneck pace. When he 
 hurried on into the increasing shadow he became 
 conscious that the other slipper was gone too.
 
 WHERE TWO WAYS MEET 289 
 
 Away he sped, however, and covered the next 
 two blocks in something like his old college football 
 speed, his feet making no noise except the light 
 pat, pat along the wet sidewalk. The rain 
 drenched him to the skin before he made the first 
 crossing but it did not dampen his energy. He 
 ran for a friend and for duty and not for a prize. 
 
 Half way to the Boland home he left the main 
 avenue and dashed down a secondary street toward 
 the patch and, to his utter confusion, discovered 
 that the electric lights were out. Absolute 
 darkness prevailed. He could see nothing except 
 as he turned and looked backward toward the 
 light at the corner of the avenue. As he turned 
 to get his bearings he ran off the curbing and fell 
 headlong. Two or three cobble stones received 
 him. He sprang up in pain and took the middle 
 of the street for his runway. On he went till 
 the rear light appeared as faintly in the distance 
 as a nebula in the deep blue of the firmament. 
 But he must turn another corner from which he 
 would have no guide whatever, unless some 
 lamp gleamed from a window. 
 
 Where was the corner? When he considered 
 that he had gone far enough he turned and walked 
 to the side of the street and, to his joy, went 
 deliberately into the desired opening. He recog- 
 nized it by a peculiar mound in the middle of the 
 way, over which he stumbled and hurried on. 
 In his haste and in the darkness he veered to the 
 left, fetched up against the curbing and sprawled 
 at length on the flagstones. He then awoke to 
 the fact that he must either feel his way or lose 
 it entirely. He must go down one long block 
 to an alley and then the fifth house. He was
 
 290 A FAST GAME 
 
 confident that he had not passed the alley so he 
 crept up to the picket fence and felt his way 
 along as rapidly as possible. Could he yet make 
 the place in time to alarm the threatened family? 
 As he half trotted and half walked he bumped into 
 a belated man who started with a grunt, "That 
 you, Mike?" 
 
 Evan then became fully alive to the fact that 
 something above the ordinary was going on in 
 Maffit's patch and that more than one person 
 besides himself prowled around the place for 
 good reasons or for bad. While Evan kept silent 
 and hastened on he heard the unknown man 
 mutter to himself, "It's fixed if Mike don't come." 
 
 Just then he came to the corner of the alley and 
 without hesitation, crossed it and touched the 
 pickets on the opposite side. It was the correct 
 place for there was no stone walk, only a cinder 
 path gritted under his tender and bruised feet. 
 Around the corner he flew tapping his watersoaked 
 and blue fingers on the pickets till he struck 
 the first gate. It was open and swung across 
 his path. He went into it with such force that 
 the impact expelled a groan from his almost 
 exhausted and panting body. But what of an 
 open gate so long as he spent his energy in the line 
 of duty! 
 
 "One gate," he whispered as he swung it to and 
 trotted on as before. He received a heavy bump 
 on the wrist and called, "Two!" He quickened 
 his pace till he thought he neared the next gate 
 where he slackened up from fear of running amuck 
 another open trap. He found it closed, whispered 
 the number and ran on, repeating the process. 
 "Three! Four! Hello-o Tom!"
 
 WHERE TWO WAYS MEET 291 
 
 The next gate would be Tom's and the sooner 
 he gave the alarm the better. 
 
 "Tom! Tom! Hello-oo Tom!" he yelled as he 
 flung open the gate and staggered up the walk and 
 hammered on the door. No response came save 
 the howling gale and the water running down the 
 wooden eaves' trough into the overflowing wash 
 barrel. 
 
 "Hello-o Tom Boland!" he screamed above the 
 storm, "Wake up! Quick! Get up! Hello 
 Tom-m!" 
 
 No answer. This time a lull in the wind made 
 the darkness so dense as to be felt and the hush, 
 an ill omen that some monster lay crouched, 
 ready to spring and plunge its fiendish claws into 
 its helpless and innocent victim. Evan felt his 
 way to the nearest window and pounded on the 
 sash and casing till the panes of glass rattled and 
 the thinly sided and loosey constructed side of 
 the plank house shook from sill to plate. In his 
 eagerness and excitement, yelling at every stroke, 
 the impact of his hand shattered the sash. The 
 fragments rattled on the bare floor inside; the 
 driving downpour followed closely after. The 
 doctor paused for breath and considered what 
 next to do to arouse the sleepers. Withdrawing 
 his hand from the window he felt his warm blood, 
 mingled with the cold rain, drip from his finger 
 tips. The premises remained as dark and as still 
 as a tomb' 
 
 "O ,God!" he groaned, "What can I do more?" 
 
 The words had scarcely left his lips when a 
 brilliant light flashed through the gloom and a 
 dull, heavy boom defied the roar of the storm and 
 the earth trembled. The building rose from its
 
 292 A FAST GAME 
 
 foundation, collapsed and fell into a heap of ruins 
 and all was darker and stiller and more sepulchral 
 than before. The wind and the rain pounced 
 upon the wreck as if to beat out any life that yet 
 remained in or near it, and obliterate every vestige 
 of a track which any ghoul might have made in 
 his nightly devilishness. Lights began to stream 
 from the neighboring windows while screams 
 came from the nearest houses. 
 
 Before many minutes lanterns moved up and 
 down through the street, borne by men who mis- 
 trusted something of what had happened though 
 they did not know whose home had met its fate. 
 The crowd, however, soon collected around the 
 Boland ruins. Eager and friendly hands cleared 
 away the rubbish in search of the family which 
 certainly must lay, dead or alive, beneath the 
 pile. But they neither heajd nor found any 
 signs of a human being till a woman noticed a 
 small stream of blood trickling along underneath 
 a board. She quickly removed the board and 
 found a bleeding, white hand. In another minute 
 a half dozen strong arms bore the limp body of 
 Dr. Morgan to shelter in the nearest house across 
 the street. 
 
 "Is 'e alive?" was on every tongue. Nobody 
 knew. The searchers wondered why he should 
 be there clothed as he was and under such peculiar 
 circumstances. 
 
 "Indade! an' Oi knows why the doctor do be 
 haar," exclaimed a coarse female whose voice 
 could be heard above the storm. "He's got a 
 trate o' his own pills. He's jilous o' the Irish lad, 
 Tom, an' attimpted to blow 'im to smithereens 
 an' git Miss 'Locum frum 'im. He wasn't smart
 
 WHERE TWO WAYS MEET 293 
 
 enuff to git oout o' the way o' 'is own ixploosion!" 
 The rough guess of the rougher woman had its 
 effect on the by-standers. They entertained 
 grave suspicions that the intimation of Biddy 
 O'Toole expressed the truth. The police had 
 arrived by this time and took charge of the rescue 
 and the rescued. A little later an ambulance 
 bore the unconscious doctor through the night. 
 The hospital, from which he had so recently 
 issued in perfect health, received him into its 
 operating room as the next victim. Has he won 
 or lost the game?
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 A CLASH AT THE MINES 
 
 Sunday morning dawned over Onaway, bright 
 and clear. The April sun shone from a deep 
 blue sky. In place of the recent wet northeaster, 
 old Boreas shook his dry frosty fingers through 
 the air, making the newsboy chuck his hands 
 deep into his pockets and the early riser step 
 briskly in his closely buttoned overcoat. Where 
 the pools of water had formed during the storm 
 and slowly leaked away after the rain ceased 
 falling, the rays of the sun played peek-a-boo 
 through the skim of ice crystals that had frozen 
 in the receding flood. 
 
 Here and there a larger puddle had not drained 
 out its life and the ice had made a solid surface 
 on which Arthur Norwood carefully tried his 
 little foot to see if the ice would bear his weighr. 
 The atmosphere circulated, crisp and fresh. A 
 perfect morning had flung back the curtains of 
 night to a perfect day. 
 
 Henry Slocum did not go to church as was his 
 wont. The superintendency of the Diamond 
 mine took all his time, taxed all his ingenuity and 
 began to drain his nervous energy and to excite 
 instinctive premonitions of an approaching calam- 
 ity. He read the daily papers; posted himself on 
 294
 
 A CLASH AT THE MINES 295 
 
 the proceedings and progress of the conventions, 
 the scale committee and the joint committees; 
 kept in touch with the business and financial 
 pulse of the city; manipulated the controlling 
 influence of the working gangs inside, and the 
 policing squad outside, of the mine; and con- 
 tinuously moved about or in the mine, or slept 
 on a blanket somewhere within the limit of the 
 supposed danger line. 
 
 No persuasion could induce him to leave his 
 conscientious post of duty, for he did his work 
 conscientiously, without fear from anyone and 
 with no intention of injuring anyone. He felt 
 that he harmed no man, at least, he knew he had 
 not done so intentionally; therefore, he had a 
 right to pursue the even tenor of his way without 
 fear of molestation and to exercise his inherent 
 rights of citizenship and manhood. He had made 
 a study of man and knew his own kind like a book. 
 On the strength of that knowledge, he trusted 
 some men and mistrusted others, co-operated with 
 some and guarded against others. 
 
 Henry Slocum regarded the sweetness of life 
 the same as any other prosperous man, yet, years 
 of experience had convinced him to prize the 
 devotion to principle and duty even above life. 
 We do .not mean to say that he never blundered 
 or erred, or that his acts never provoked criticism 
 he was human and "to err is human" never- 
 theless, though his mistakes summed up below 
 the average of mankind, they were due to the 
 frailties of the carnal man and not to motive, and 
 were no more scouted by the opinionated world 
 than the acts of many other honorable men, either 
 from an ethical or from a business standpoint. If
 
 296 A FAST GAME 
 
 at fault in any way the fault came from the 
 head and not from the heart. 
 
 He admitted that he had head failures but he 
 never allowed that he had heart failures. In 
 such a spirit he promoted the interests of the 
 employes of The Black Diamond Company as 
 well as the interest of the firm. Their personal 
 safety and comfort lay as near to his heart as his 
 own personal comfort and the safety of the com- 
 pany's property. This expostion of some of the 
 traits of his character may explain his absorbing 
 concern for, and the tireless activity with, the 
 critical business of the hour. 
 
 On Monday morning Mr. Slocum stood leaning 
 against a pillar of coal by the side of the main 
 gangway in the mine. A safety lamp burned 
 dimly in his hand but it was partially hidden by 
 his body. His clothes were soiled and bagging, 
 his countenance denoted care and long vigils, 
 and his face and hands wore only a shade lighter 
 color than the coal against which he leaned; in 
 fact, his whole external appearance looked care- 
 worn and dejected. While he waited he watched 
 the miners hurrying to their several places of 
 labor. A few saw him and bade him a cheery 
 good-morning, but more of them, bent on their 
 work or absorbed in other thought, passed by 
 and never observed the slender figure standing 
 in the shadow like a statue. 
 
 In one of the hastening groups Henry noticed 
 Curley and Mike, the dark-skinned and black- 
 haired giant in the lead, though a little in the 
 rear of the group, and his miner striding closely 
 behind. By the light of the bobbing lamps in 
 their caps and in the caps of those in their front
 
 A CLASH AT THE MINES 297 
 
 he read in their faces, too plainly, that they were 
 not in the mine in sympathy with its independent 
 operation. They will bear watching mused the 
 acting superintendent when he stepped into the 
 gangway and wearily wandered toward the stables. 
 
 When the whistle blew at six o'clock that even- 
 ing, Henry took a masked position where he could 
 watch the miners file out and peg their time a 
 method of ascertaining both the time of each 
 workman and whether he was in the mine or out. 
 One by one each sturdy fellow passed out, stuck 
 his peg and either wended his way homeward or 
 returned to his bunk in the mine; for a few of 
 the miners had no home in the city and dared 
 not seek a boarding place within reach of the 
 taunts and threats of the union men. Curley 
 came along among the first, though alone, and 
 stuck in two pegs. It would not be strange, 
 however, if the miner did not accompany him; 
 in fact, the helper nearly always came out of the 
 mine hours after the miner had quit work and 
 gone home. 
 
 But the fact that Curley put in two pegs rather 
 than one on later inspection Henry found that 
 the extra peg was Mike's was out of the ordinary 
 and exceedingly suspicious. His first thought 
 was to arrest Curley on the spot. But after a 
 moments contemplation he determined to let 
 him go, guard the shaft more diligently and 
 search the mine, after all was quiet, to find Mike, 
 whether he was lying in wait to do mischief or 
 lay dead and buried at the hands of his vicious 
 laborer. Acting upon this conclusion, with a 
 couple of reliable companions, he began the round 
 of the chambers and gangways to find the missing
 
 298 A FAST GAME 
 
 miner or, at least, some trace of his whereabouts. 
 But no track whatever could be found. 
 
 The coal about the breast in which the two 
 men worked was the picture of neatness and 
 care everything was slicked up and in perfect 
 order. They found no indication of foul play 
 and no suspicious footprints led into unused 
 gangways. They hunted through the mine, in 
 every nook and corner, but in vain. Guards 
 stood picket at the principal positions in the 
 labyrinth of chambers but they heard no sound 
 in the silent darkness, save the muffled tread of 
 the searching party. Mr. Slocum could not 
 account for the strange hiding place of Mike Ruhlin. 
 
 "Either Curley is an adept murderer," he 
 said with a puzzled look, "or Mike is no novice 
 in the mine." 
 
 "Ruhlin worked a while in the Diamond afore 
 the suspension," suggested one of the police. 
 
 "I know all about it." nervously answered the 
 superintendent, scratching his head and walking 
 away. "That will do, boys." 
 
 The dismissed policemen old and trusted 
 employes who had been commissioned as tempo- 
 rary police went to their several stations and 
 thought no more of the curious incident; but the 
 wily superintendent studied and syllogized and 
 brought all his inventive genius into play though 
 he could make no satisfactory explanation. Sleep 
 went from him. His overtaxed mind longed 
 for the return of Tom Boland to take charge of 
 the mine. He considered Tom able to solve 
 the complicated problem. In this perturbed 
 frame of mind, Henry Slocum passed the remainder 
 of the night till, in the darkest hour before the
 
 A CLASH AT THE MINES 299 
 
 dawn, he received a dark form at the head of 
 the shaft, opened the guard gate, signalled the 
 engineer and immediately descended to the 
 workings with his strange guest. It was the 
 paymaster who had come in disguise with the 
 wages for the scab workmen. 
 
 Tuesday morning came, the whistle blew and 
 the carriages began their alternate ascent and 
 descent, loaded with either human freight or 
 coal. The underground workmen descended and 
 with them Curley who took with him Mike Ruh- 
 lin's peg. The mystery deepened but reached 
 its extremity when Henry visited Ruhlin's breast 
 and found him working as if nothing had happened. 
 Business of importance called the superintendent 
 away, though he determined not to allow either 
 of the two men to leave the mine until an ex- 
 planation of their suspicious conduct had been 
 given. 
 
 To secure evidence of trickery, if possible, and 
 to watch their movements, he stationed Lawrence 
 Boland in a hidden position where he could keep 
 them constantly under his eye. Lawrence had 
 scarcely left the side of his superior when a police- 
 man came down the shaft and reported an attack 
 of the union men on the breaker and the police, 
 and that a fierce fight was raging on the surface. 
 Henry immediately sounded the alarm that 
 summoned the workmen to come to the assistance 
 of the police, sprang onto the carriage with several 
 others who were near by and gave the signal to 
 hoist away. But nothing moved. He signalled 
 again but with no better result. He became 
 impatient at the delay of the engineer. Men 
 came running in to the foot, but none could
 
 300 A FAST GAME 
 
 ascend. While they waited breathlessly for the 
 carriage to rise an old miner sniffed and said 
 "The devils 'ave fired the 'eadhouse!" 
 
 Others could smell the smoke then as it came 
 down the shaft with the current of air from the 
 fans. The smoke explained why the engineer 
 did not obey the signal. He had been driven 
 from his post by the mob which had taken posses- 
 sion and fired the headhouse. Fire brands next 
 came tumbling down the shaft, a sure sign that 
 the fire-bugs meant to roast the scab miners 
 alive or smother them in a trap. 
 
 The men at the foot stampeded. They made a 
 grand rush for the other opening through which 
 they hoped to escape from suffocation and to 
 reach the surface. Men and boys ran pell mell 
 through the gangways and doors shouting "Fire! 
 Fire! Fi-i-re!" 
 
 Among the black streaked faces which looked 
 up at him around the foot of the shaft Henry 
 did not see those of Curley and Mike and Lawrence. 
 He fell to thinking again. In a sort of bewilder- 
 ment he soon found himself alone with only the 
 faint sound of retreating footsteps and the dis- 
 tant ominous cry of "fire!" reverberating through 
 the inky black chambers. He fell into a trot in 
 pursuit of the miners but realized, a minute 
 later, that he would be left behind entirely unless 
 he ran faster. Then, too, he was not very familiar 
 with the route to be followed in order to reach the 
 air shaft. Then he happened to think of the 
 money to be paid out that evening. He was 
 already near its hiding place. He, therefore, 
 turned aside, secured the box and started on again. 
 He ran but a short distance further when he came
 
 A CLASH AT THE MINES 301 
 
 to a fork in the gangway. Just as he turned into 
 the left branch the stalwart form of Curley darted 
 out from the gloom, and, with an oath, the laborer 
 fired a revolver into his superintendent's face. 
 
 Henry staggered forward, more frightened and 
 surprised than hurt, though he felt a sting in his 
 left cheek. Instinctively he threw up his right 
 arm to guard against the next shot and received 
 the full force of the discharge near the elbow. A 
 dazed feeling crept over him. He realized that 
 he had dropped the money' that Curley had 
 snatched it up and was making off with it. Sur- 
 rounding objects grew more and more indistinct 
 though in the dimness of his vision he recognized 
 the set features of Mike Ruhlin in pursuit of 
 Curley. He saw no more but indistinctly heard 
 several other shots fired and all was still and 
 dark and blank. 
 
 When he regained consciousness and opened 
 his eyes the set face of Mike Ruhlin hung over 
 him like a sword suspended by a hair. He felt 
 the horny hand of the miner on his forehead 
 and a torturing pain in his arm, so intense was the 
 pain that he swooned again. He revived soon 
 and opened his eyes. The same face bent over 
 him and the rough hands seemed to be minister- 
 ing to his wants. Thinking that the man had no 
 evil intent he ventured to ask "Where am I?" 
 
 "Safe in friendly hands," came the quick 
 response. 
 
 "But where am I?" 
 
 "In the Slocum mine." 
 
 "How did I get here?" 
 
 "Lawrence and I brought you here." 
 
 "Where is Lawrence?"
 
 302 A FAST GAME 
 
 "Yonder!" answered Mike pointing to the lad 
 who sat on a piece of sjate a few feet away. 
 "Why have you brought me here?" 
 "To save your life. The Diamond shaft is 
 burning. You could never have reached day- 
 light by the way the others have tried to escape. 
 Many of them will not get through the hands of 
 the union men when they get to the surface; 
 you certainly would never. You are just the man 
 they are looking for." 
 
 "Am I a wounded prisoner or am I a free man?" 
 "Both." 
 
 "What do you mean? Explain!" quoth Henry, 
 who had become somewhat irritated by the trite 
 answers he had received. 
 
 The evident tormentor and chivalrous, un- 
 known knight held in his left hand the shattered 
 arm of the prostrate coal operator and with his 
 right hand he gracefully removed from his upper 
 lip the straggling effigy of an Irish mustache 
 which had covered the well cut features of Tom 
 Boland. 
 
 The coal baron turned pale with emotion and 
 trembled like a frightened child. He threw his 
 sound arm around Tom's neck, drew the begrimmed 
 face to his own lips and kissed it over and over, 
 again and again, murmuring between the kisses, 
 in a voice that quivered with excitement and 
 love, "My son, my son! I'll keep the secret 
 no longer! Thomas Slocum, you are my son, 
 my son!" 
 
 The late Irishman, gasping for breath between 
 hugs, endeavored to extricate himself from so em- 
 barrassing a position, believing that his employer's 
 wound, together with the excitement of the hour
 
 A CLASH AT THE MINES 303 
 
 and the many days of nervous tension, had 
 thrown him into a delirium. But Tom did not 
 find his speech or his freedom till Henry Slocum 
 swooned again. He was conscious in a few 
 moments, however, and Tom said soothingly to 
 him, "You are perfectly safe here, Mr. Slocum, 
 and you shall have medical attention as soon as 
 possible." 
 
 "You think I am crazy, Tom; but I am not. 
 I was never more sane in my life. Once and for 
 all time, I own you as my legitimate son, and call 
 your half brother, there, to witness the solemn 
 affirmation. I should have done this years ago 
 when my lonely heart yearned for you in your 
 struggles against appetite and poverty and 
 adversity, but I was too insane, too proud, 
 too small, too untrue to reveal my real self. 
 Ca^l me father, Tom call me father!" 
 
 The bleeding man rolled heavily on his hard 
 bed and caressed his son's arm as tenderly as a 
 mother, while the tears streaked their way through 
 the coal dust on his furrowed face. He was faint 
 from loss of blood and incessant toiling, yet 
 happy because he had unburdened his heart to the 
 world and his only son. Turning uneasily again 
 and with much pain the father looked into the 
 eyes of his son, smiled faintly, gripped Tom's 
 hand and swooned. 
 
 Tom became alarmed at the condition of his 
 patient. He knew that the bullet had not struck 
 a vital spot, yet, other complications, conditioned 
 on the patient's present state of physical exhaus- 
 tion and mental perturbation, might arise that 
 would prove fatal. He closed the partition door 
 between the old and the new mine and made it
 
 304 A FAST GAME 
 
 as nearly air tight as possible in order to keep 
 the smoke of the burning shaft out of the old 
 Slocum mine and permit them to live in those 
 workings. This meant life to them in one way, 
 but it cut off their supply of air in another, in as 
 much as the old mine fan had not run since the 
 disaster which had wrecked the old shaft timber- 
 ing. 
 
 Tom had thoroughly ventilated the chambers 
 the night before and freed them from all traces of 
 gas. but the treacherous firedamp, quite abundant 
 in that mine, would slowly vitiate the entire 
 workings when there was no circulation from the 
 outside. In his original plan Tom had not counted 
 on the attack of the mob and the burning timbers 
 of the shaft; he, therefore, had met an obstacle 
 for which he was not prepared. And besides, he 
 had a helpless man on hands where he had planned 
 to have a well one a prisoner in the form of 
 Curley. 
 
 Fortunately, however, he had gained Lawrence, 
 who would be of no little assistance. He had 
 schemed to get the ear of Henry Slocum before 
 Curley knew it, make himself known to the super- 
 intendent, and, in conjunction with him, capture 
 Curley, hold him in the Slocum mine through 
 which they would all escape and finally capture 
 all the members of the crimson-ebony gang before 
 they were aware of a secret emissary among 
 them. Their seizure might be possible yet, 
 though a chain of unforseen circumstances had 
 hedged up Tom's way so that he was in a pre- 
 dicament, to say the least. He and Lawrence 
 could easily climb to the surface by the emer- 
 gency ladders but they could not get their dis-
 
 A CLASH AT THE MINES 305 
 
 abled comrade out unless they fired up the little 
 boiler, got up steam and hoisted him out in the 
 diminutive basket and rusty trappings. 
 
 The noise by this method would attract atten- 
 tion and bring a mob down on them more likely 
 than friends. It was only mid afternoon and 
 none of them would dare appear on the surface 
 in daylight. But they must get in communication 
 with the outside world. In the meanwhile, 
 Henry lay in a swoon and the firedamp crept 
 stealthily through the silent gangways upon 
 the men who were minus a safety lamp. 
 
 Slowly the boys bore the unconscious man 
 toward the foot of the old Slocum air shaft. 
 Along that tortuous route they frequently halted 
 to rest and bathe the forehead of their patient 
 in the running water. At last, dripping with 
 sweat, the young men lay their burden down 
 at the desired place where they could look up 
 through four hundred feet to daylight. Making 
 his bed as comfortably as possible with the means 
 at hand Tom left his father in the care of Law- 
 rence and hastened back to the door through 
 which they had come into the mine. 
 
 He did this for three reasons: first, to see if 
 the smoke still filled the Diamond mine and, 
 if so, to plug the hole securely again; second, 
 he wanted his dinner bucket in which to take 
 some water to the foot; and third, he must do 
 these things before it became too dangerous 
 to travel the gangways with an uncovered light. 
 He did all these and returned within an hour 
 to find Mr. Slocum conscious and perfectly alive 
 to their precarious situation. 
 
 "Go, my son, and leave me here to die in peace,"
 
 306 A FAST GAME 
 
 urged Henry. "I am tired of the game. You 
 will take my place in the firm and inherit 
 my wealth. Give my love to your mother. 
 I die content. Law-rence will wit " 
 
 The coal baron had fainted again. Tom 
 looked at Lawrence, then at the pale face and 
 limp body at his feet and then up the shaft. We 
 must remember that this was not a shaft where 
 coal was hoisted; only an air shaft with the old- 
 fashioned ladders and a light engine and hoisting 
 apparatus attached to be used in case of emer- 
 gency, though never for coal. The small head- 
 house obstructed the view from the foot to the 
 sky so that one could never tell whether it was 
 clear or cloudy only by the glints of sunbeams 
 through the woodwork. Near the headhouse 
 several other small, company buildings stood. 
 The peculiarity of the light attracted Tom's 
 attention. He looked up the shaft and studied 
 it long and intently; so long that Lawrence 
 finally asked, "What's the matter. Tom?" 
 
 "I don't know, but I'm afraid something is. 
 The daylight brightens and darkens as if volumes 
 of smoke curled through the timbers of the 
 headhouse." 
 
 "Do you think the comp'ny buildin's up there 
 do be on fire, too?" gasped Lawrence, turning 
 pale with fright. 
 
 "It is impossible for the wind to carry smoke 
 from the Diamond shaft to this one. It is barely 
 possible that the greedy and bloodthirsty mob 
 have fired the company buildings around this 
 shaft." 
 
 Tom stood for another moment alternately 
 gazing at the helpless form at his feet and at the
 
 "THE SMALL HEADHOUSE OBSTRUCTED THE VIEW." PAGE 306
 
 A CLASH AT THE MINES 307 
 
 ill omens above him. Desperation shadowed his 
 face and a horrible dread seized him. While 
 he stood staring at the darkening daylight above 
 him something struck his cheek. He caught it 
 in his hand and examined it carefully by the 
 dim light he still kept burning. He ground the 
 blackened substance between his thumb and 
 finger. It was a bit of charcoal from a burnt 
 shingle. There could be no mistake. Quickly 
 rising from his half kneeling posture he looked 
 up the shaft for a final decision. His keen sense 
 of smell detected a whiff of smoke. He turned 
 pale. His muscles rose in knots all over his body. 
 A giant's strength seemed to possess him. Bend- 
 ing over the unconscious body -of his father, 
 though he had grave doubts that Henry Slocum 
 was his father, he lifted him to his shoulder like 
 an Atlas and strode off into a dark gangway, 
 saying in no uncertain tone of command, "Bring 
 the lamp and pail of water, Lawrence. There is 
 only one possible way of escape for any of us 
 now and, no doubt, that way is blocked by this 
 time; if it is, the game is lost."
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 
 
 While the stirring events recorded in the last 
 chapter occurred in the mines, others of equal 
 and thrilling importance took place on the surface. 
 The mob and riot had begun when several non- 
 union foreigners applied for work at the Diamond 
 mine. Some of their own countrymen got wind 
 of their intention and determined to prevent 
 them by fair means or by foul. On their way to 
 the mine a union picket approached the non- 
 union men to persuade them not to work but to 
 join the Union. 
 
 The attempt failed. A little farther along 
 another picket threatened violence unless they 
 turned back. Stil nearer the mine, a band of 
 union foreigners stepped across their path and 
 ordered them to "right about face." The non- 
 union men, still superior in force and numbers, 
 ignored the order, pushed their fellow countrymen 
 aside and went on. The breaking point came 
 when a squad of union men appeared in the rear 
 of the scuffling crowd and, flourishing firearms, 
 demanded a surrender. The general mix-up had 
 advanced very near to the line of the policemen. 
 
 With a rush the non-union men broke away 
 from their pursuers and fled toward the breaker 
 308
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 309 
 
 and headhouse. The others gave chase, firing 
 shots into the air and shouting for them to stop. 
 The police saw the melee and, fearing serious 
 trouble, came forward and ordered the pursuing 
 party to halt. But the order was not heard or 
 purposely ignored' for the excited fellows came 
 on with a rush. The sight of opposition, instead 
 of subduing them, rather infuriated them like a 
 red rag before a bull. 
 
 The pursuers began to fire lower and one of the 
 shots took effect in a rear runner. The time 
 had come for the guards to take a hand in the 
 affray and, forthwith, they fired on the union 
 men. The shot took effect, killing one man and 
 wounding several others, besides maddening the 
 union men to desperation and revenge. The 
 battle opened in earnest. The aggressive party 
 scattered and surrounded the mining plant all 
 the while keeping up a constant fire. The onset 
 proved irresistible to the few half frightened guards. 
 Before many minutes the union party held the 
 field and controlled the situation, someone, in the 
 meanwhile, setting fire to the headhouse. 
 
 It was then that Henry Slocum had signalled 
 the engineer and failed to get a response. The 
 black hand men had not counted on this episode 
 which had, to some extent at least, foiled the 
 execution of their plans. Neither had Tom 
 reckoned on this side issue that might prove 
 fatal to himself and defeat his project. Never- 
 theless, he knew that it would not be safe for 
 Henry on the surface of the ground in daylight, 
 because some of the crimson-ebony-dyed fiends 
 lay in wait for him in case he escaped Curley and 
 their supposed trusted Mike.
 
 310 A FAST GAME 
 
 Another matter that caused Tom no little 
 anxiety was Curley's escape. He knew not how 
 badly the fellow had been hurt. If able to get 
 out of the mine with the others he would inform 
 against the traitor, Mike, and Tom's doom would 
 be sealed. The only hope of success for the 
 Slocum party was in the leadership of Tom. If 
 he got his evidence before the legal authorities, 
 secured warrants and arrested the gang before 
 they realized that they had been outwitted and 
 outgeneraled by one, Mike Ruhlin, the game 
 would be won. 
 
 Re-enforcements from the city police and the 
 appearance of the fire company turned the tables 
 in the affairs at the Diamond breaker but too 
 late to save the timbers in the shaft and the 
 headhouse. When the mob had been quelled 
 and several arrests had been made the attention 
 of the mine authorities was directed to the rescue 
 of those who had been trapped in the mine. 
 They hastened to the ventilation shaft from which 
 the miners were already escaping. When they 
 ceased to come up four were yet missing and no 
 possible way to rescue them for the smoke already 
 came up the shaft in volumes. 
 
 Hours must pass before any party could live 
 in the mine and that would be too late to save 
 the imprisoned men. The names of the missing 
 men were soon heralded throughout the city and 
 on everybody's lips. Mrs. Boland's cup of sorrow 
 overflowed when she learned that Lawrence had 
 not made his escape with the rest. No more 
 acute was her sorrow than that which came to 
 the Slocum household. 
 
 Uncle Hiram, feeble and nervous, walked the
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 311 
 
 floor and begged to be allowed to go to the mine 
 and superintend the rescue of the son of his youth. 
 Benjamin paced back and forth before the shaft, 
 chafing and waiting till it might be possible to 
 lead a party into the mine to find his brother. 
 He had no suspicion of foul play. He simply con- 
 cluded that Henry had determined to see that all 
 were saved before he saved himself and that his 
 self-sacrifice had delayed his retirement too long. 
 In this condition of mental stress and impatience 
 of Benjamin, night came on, intensifying the 
 gloom and increasing the horrible forebodings. 
 
 Two spirits moved through the blackness of 
 that night; the one of sorrow, the other of joy. 
 While some, those who felt solicitude, waited and 
 conversed in subdued tones, others rejoiced and 
 conversed in tones of revelry and triumph. Devils 
 rejoice when angels weep. 
 
 "I say, Ed, this Green Valley Rye 's the proper 
 brand o' the o-be- joyful to celebrate this victory 
 with," remarked Dick Morgan smacking his lips 
 and setting down his glass on the table, around 
 which the majority of the crimson-ebony crew 
 gathered to make merry. The Diamond shaft 
 still smouldered and no one had been able to 
 enter the mine to search for the missing men. 
 The boys around the table in The Anthracite 
 missed two of their number but the vacant chairs 
 detracted nothing whatever from their hilarity. 
 One of the members of the order that day had 
 been unusually successful in securing funds. 
 Ready cash always filled the punch-bowl for them 
 while the serpent stirred its devilish dregs with 
 the frequent swishing of its tail. The best brands 
 from the bar stood on the table and plenty of them.
 
 312 A FAST GAME 
 
 Only Oscar, Curley and Mike figured conspicuously 
 by their absence. 
 
 "Yes, Dick, it's hot stuff!" answered Ed after 
 he had sampled the before mentioned brand for 
 the third time. A shadow hung over Ed's face 
 like a curtain when he entered the room that 
 evening but it gradually faded under the soften- 
 ing massage of bacchanalian fingers and finally 
 disappeared in an exuberance of good nature and 
 familiar twinkles of his handsome blue, bloodshot 
 eyes. "This is the remedy for all the ills inci- 
 dental to humanity." 
 
 "Wonder how Curley an' Mike 'u'd relish a 
 bracer o' this kind in their smokehouse, tonight?" 
 put in one of the foreigners. 
 
 "I am afraid," said Ed, "that by this time they 
 are in a hotter place than a smokehouse where 
 their throats are so hot the whiskey would siss on 
 its way down like a laundry maid's wet finger on 
 a hot flat iron." 
 
 The company broke into a wild guffaw, clinked 
 their glasses and drank to the health of their 
 witty chief. 
 
 "Mike wouldn't drink the stuff even in hell I 
 don't believe," responded another. "I never see 
 'im take a drop o' nothin' stronger nor water." 
 
 "That so?" asked Ed. "If I had known that 
 we would have taught him better manners in good 
 company." 
 
 " 'S a fact all 'e same-e. He alers give it to 
 Curley." 
 
 "Curley deserves discipline for being a hog. 
 Perhaps they are getting their deserts now for their 
 incivility; who knows?" 
 
 "What's the old bach smokin' fur?"
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 313 
 
 The departed cloud returned and hung in the 
 face of young Slocum, but only for a moment 
 when his thought had been directed to the misery 
 of his uncle in his underground prison or vault, 
 he knew not which, and, evidently, cared less. 
 The old scintillant flash returned to his look while 
 he answered his questioner in that careless manner 
 so habitual to those steeled in sin or familiar with 
 all forms of evil or under the influence of Bacchus 
 or of all, "He's atoning for the sins of the Slocum 
 family." 
 
 "But did you converse with your father yes- 
 terday?" inquired John Ransom, Jr., while his 
 eyes twinkled with the fire of spirituous potations 
 and hung under his fawning brow like beads of 
 greed. 
 
 "Yes; across the dinner table," came the dry 
 answer. 
 
 "And may I inquire as to the success of your 
 interrogations ?" 
 
 "Sure!" came a drier answer. 
 
 "A-hem! With what success ?" 
 
 "I got another piece of beefsteak," came the 
 driest answer. 
 
 "Ye got more nor ye deserved," put in one of 
 the gang whose tongue wagged as recklessly as 
 the inebriated will that wagged the tongue. 
 
 For the first time over the social glass a flush 
 of anger flew into Ed's already reddened face. 
 If a thing is ever done there must necessarily be 
 a first time. Ed had gone in and out with these 
 men of the baser sort until familiarity and whiskey 
 bred contempt. He awoke to the fact that the 
 man was correct in his remark his father had 
 given him more than he deserved but to be told
 
 314 A FAST GAME 
 
 so in so many words and by a man who was a 
 dyed-in-the-wool criminal was humiliating to say 
 the least. Ed's pride resented. The truth stung. 
 Heretofore, he had controlled his satellites by the 
 wave of the hand or a glance of the eye. His 
 generosity and popularity had won favors from 
 his companions, but a first time had come when 
 money and a free hand could neither silence the 
 tongue of the insolent nor sooth the cancerous 
 conscience. He raised his glass to his lips, drained 
 it to the bottom and slammed it down upon the 
 table with such violence that it shivered into a 
 thousand pieces. 
 
 Every one in the room felt that something was 
 about to be done. They knew then that their 
 leader dwelt in a frail tenement of clay the same 
 as the rest of them and that wine had leveled 
 him with other wine drinkers. Ed knew it, too, 
 and burned with chagrin and indignation that he 
 should fall so low. But one step down leads to 
 the next. Casting his eyes in the direction of 
 the speaker and his eyes emitted glints of the 
 nether regions he hissed through his teeth, while 
 the bits of glass still tinkled over the table or 
 rattled to the floor, "To the devil with your 
 insolence! Another word from you tonight and 
 your head will go into as many pieces as that 
 glass. Do you hear?" 
 
 When the words left the lips of their chief no one 
 in the room dared move. If a pin had dropped 
 it could have been heard. The commander 
 commanded again but after proving his weakness 
 and worthlessness. The sound of heavy footsteps 
 approaching from the hall broke the breathless 
 silence. There was a well known rap on the
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 315 
 
 door. The chief answered with the usual call and 
 received the corresponding reply. John Ransom, 
 Jr., then, sprang to the door and admitted Oscar 
 Morgan who was the picture of happiness, sober 
 and smiling and who, approaching the table, 
 threw upon it a roll of greenbacks a wad to 
 make the eye of a miser shine with delight. 
 
 A silent flow of good feeling encircled the table, 
 though the countercurrent did not entirely sub- 
 side. Success had already made trouble and this 
 new find would not, in the nature of the case, oil 
 the tumultuous waters. Already, not the success 
 of their scheme any more than the excess of their 
 indulgence, had ignited the magazine of their 
 secrecy and fraternity. Freebooters can never 
 agree when there is abundant booty. The spoils 
 of war spoil the spoilers. The pendulum of 
 human nature swings to the extreme of the arc. 
 
 Oscar Morgan had come late, too late to make a 
 satisfactory division of the illgotten gains among 
 the individual members of the gang. His second 
 glance at the group disclosed the fact that every 
 member of the company was too drunk to do 
 business fairly. He found himself the only sober 
 man among them, not that he was better than they 
 but simply that he had missed the opportunity 
 to indulge to the extent of his companions. 
 
 "Excuse me, boys, for bein' so late, but I think 
 ye'll let me down easy after seein' this." He 
 reached over the empty chair of John, Jr., held 
 the bills up for a moment and put them back 
 into his pocket, remarking, "I thought I'd jest 
 let ye see the outside o' old Winthrcp's opinion 
 o' the red hand. It's late an', after we've toasted
 
 316 A FAST GAME 
 
 'round ag'in, we'll go home an' divide up the 
 stakes at the next meetin'." 
 
 He commenced to pour out his potation as if 
 everything rode gayly at high tide as if he pro- 
 ceeded in the regular order of the evening's pro- 
 gram. But his bluff did not work. Under ordi- 
 nary circumstances, however, all might have 
 gone well but Oscar did not know of the recent 
 tilt between his chieftain and a subordinate, nor 
 did he know of the foul fiend that ruled the sa- 
 chem's will. Everyone, who was sober enough, 
 held his breath, while the liquor gurgled from the 
 bottle. When the gurgling ceased the leader 
 shoved back from the table, reached out his hand, 
 and said: "I guess the chairman holds the 
 stakes until divided. Pony up, old man!" 
 
 Oscar smiled, lifted his glass and proposed a 
 toast to Edwin Slocum, the pride and popular 
 leader of the fair hand club of Onaway, as if, by 
 his good humor and praise, he might deflect the 
 mind of the young man from his unusual request. 
 
 "Give me that money, Morgan!" he demanded 
 in a voice that thrilled his hearers like an electric 
 shock. The glass hung in the hand for an instant 
 while its holder looked straight into the eyes of 
 the speaker. The eyes meant business and no 
 mistake while the tongue continued, "Quick, 
 or there'll be something doing!" 
 
 Oscar drew the coveted pile from its hiding place 
 and threw it on to the table. 
 
 "Be a little more civil when you hand anything 
 to a gentleman," said Ed as he pocketed the 
 money. 
 
 "Hog!" growled the offended subordinate from 
 the other end of the table.
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 317 
 
 The slow fire had reached the magazine. Ed 
 attempted to rise to his feet. His mind worked 
 clearly but he had lost partial control of his body 
 and his temper. The second effort to rise, how- 
 ever, proved more successful. With the aid of 
 his chair and the table he got to his feet, roaring 
 through his teeth as his tall and handsome physique 
 towered above his fellows, "I told you to shut 
 your head and you didn't do it; now I'll shut it 
 for you so it will stay shut for awhile!" 
 
 By the time he got the words out of his mouth 
 he had his chair raised and ready to hurl at his 
 opponent. The subordinate jumped to his feet, 
 as quickly as whiskey pickled muscles would allow 
 it, and shouted defiance, "I dare ye, ye hog!" 
 
 There was a general stagger to unsteady feet at 
 that. * At first, the men grouped around the 
 assailants to keep them apart and to avoid a 
 clash. But their efforts amounted to nothing, 
 for half of the company was too drunk to stand 
 even after it had risen. Ed saw the movement 
 of his confederates, whirled the chair about his 
 head and shouted, "Out of the way! I'll kill 
 him!" 
 
 The chair flew over the table and crashed into 
 the window beside the offender at whose head it 
 had been aimed. The broken window glass 
 had not ceased rattling when the report of a re- 
 volver rung out above the din of the shouting 
 men and Ed Slocum fell back into the arms of 
 John, Jr. The hubbub of the revelry-run-mad 
 increased when the door crashed in and a half 
 dozen blue coats entered and arrested every 
 occupant of the room except Edwin Slocum, 
 who had gone before a higher bar of justice to
 
 318 A FAST GAME 
 
 render an account of the deeds done in his body. 
 The shot fired by an unsteady hand had acci- 
 dentally pierced the heart of the leader of the 
 high handed gang and he was dead. "Look not 
 thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth 
 his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, 
 at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth 
 like an adder." 
 
 It was, indeed, the shuffle and tread of death, 
 which the officers of the law made when they 
 bore their limp burden up the stone steps of Ben- 
 jamin Slocum's home. The doorbell, that an- 
 nounced their arrival, rang the ring of doom. 
 It was some little time before the master of the 
 house could admit the dumb procession. His 
 heart had yearned many a long year for the son 
 who had so often entered that door in the dead 
 of night. He had prayed and begged the youth 
 to leave his willful ways and remain in his father's 
 house as a son. 
 
 But the indulgence of the mother had spoiled 
 the boy, alienated him from all that was good 
 and beautiful and true, and allowed his passions 
 and appetites to course their winding way down 
 the valley of evil to the pathless beyond, like 
 the mountain brook "works its weedy way," 
 ultimately, to be lost in the trackless ocean. 
 Benjamin was not surprised but heart-broken, 
 "cast down but not destroyed," when he saw 
 the stretcher between the two rows of policemen. 
 How could he break the news to the sleeping 
 mother? The officers lay the body in the parlor 
 and retired, with instructions to notify the under- 
 taker. Mr. Slocum then slowly climbed the 
 stairs, wondering what to do and what to say.
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 319 
 
 He sought the chamber of Naomi and broke 
 the news to her. He then went back to his own 
 bed where his wife awoke and inquired what 
 he had been doing at that unseasonable hour. 
 
 Naomi appeared in the doorway almost simul- 
 taneously with her father. When Mrs. Slocum 
 saw her, she rose up in bed and wildly asked 
 what had happened. Mr. Slocum took her hand, 
 sat down on the side of the bed and began to 
 break the news to her as softly and as gradually 
 as possible, but before he had uttered half a 
 sentence the quick intelligence of the woman 
 divined the truth. She clutched her beautiful 
 fingers into her long iron-gray hair, tore handfuls 
 of the silky fiber from her head, screamed and 
 fell back on her pillow unconscious. Another 
 indulgent mother's heart had been opened, pierced 
 by a dart of Bacchus; and still his befouled stream 
 of liquid hell flows on. The game Edwin Slocum 
 played had been lost and the stakes handed over 
 to the winner. 
 
 Naomi's mother has never known a rational 
 moment since that night. Day after day, she 
 sits in her chair or moves aimlessly and harm- 
 lessly about the house, mumbling the name of 
 Eddie, and fondly caressing her imaginary pet. 
 
 Naomi passed from her father to her mother, 
 then to the cold, cold brother and then retraced 
 her steps, sighing and mourning with tearless 
 eyes. For days she had bent under the terrific 
 strain of administering to the wants of the inno- 
 cent victims of the supension and of comfort- 
 ing her aged grandfather, but she had never 
 conceived of anything like this as possible. Could 
 she bear the burden alone? Only God could
 
 320 A FAST GAME 
 
 give relief and to Him she went. He alone was 
 accessible. Her father had been wounded as 
 sorely as herself; her brother was gone; her 
 mother was worse than gone; her grandfather 
 was in quite a critical condition; her Uncle Henry 
 was, no doubt, suffocated in the mine; Tom 
 was gone and Dr. Morgan in the hospital at the 
 point of death. 
 
 She sat in her cosey corner, silent and motion- 
 less, peering into the darkness across the way. 
 Her half paralyzed senses, after many minutes, 
 comprehended the fact that her grandfather's 
 house was also lighted up and that men were 
 going in and out. What could be the matter 
 over there? Sick at heart and trembling in 
 every muscle she threw a light shawl around 
 her shoulders and went over to learn the worst 
 or the best as the case might be. 
 
 The center of attraction seemed to be her 
 Uncle Henry's room, and thither she went. While 
 she ascended the stair her grandfather entered 
 the room just ahead of her. When she imme- 
 diately followed, he stood, leaning on his cane 
 and looking down into the face of his first born 
 son. At the head of the bed sat a man, be- 
 smeared from head to foot with coal dust, char- 
 coal, mud and sweat and wearing but a coarse 
 pair of overalls, an undershirt and a pair of coarse 
 shoes. He arose and left the room when she 
 came in. On the bed lay her Uncle Henry, an 
 object both comical and distressing. His right 
 arm lay swathed in bandages torn from a work- 
 ingman's shirt. The bandages were stiff with 
 blood. A smile of contentment played through 
 a thick coating of coal dust. With the black
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 321 
 
 cosmetic for a foreground the whites of his rest- 
 less eyes rolled up in the background. 
 
 "What's up now, Hennie?" queried the old 
 man when he spied the plight of his son. 
 
 "It's all right, father," cheerfully though 
 faintly replied the son. "We have had a pretty 
 hard time of it but everything has come to a 
 focus and on our side, too." 
 
 "What's the matter with yer arm? Ye look 
 's if ye'd stuck a pig." 
 
 "Oh, we got into a little scrape in the mine, 
 nothing serious." 
 
 "Ben standin' in front of a pesky shootin' iron, 
 I guess. Hope ye wasn't skedaddlin' frum it." 
 
 "No, father, I did not run but I found my son 
 tonight." 
 
 "Hugh! A son?" 
 
 "Yes, father, a son. Tom Boland is my son 
 and he has proved himself worthy the name as 
 well as the blood. I confess my wrong doing of 
 years ago though I am proud of the boy now." 
 
 "I'm s'prised ye hain't owned 'im afore this. 
 Why did ye keep puttin' on it off so long? Thought 
 as much long ago. I ain't blind 's a bat yit.', 
 
 "Then you'll own him as a grandson?" 
 
 "Guess 'e is whether I own 'im or not, ain't 'e? 
 Where is 'e?" 
 
 "Out there in the hall," he answered, slightly 
 rolling his head in that direction. 
 
 The physicians and a nurse came in at that 
 moment and proceeded to administer to the needs 
 of the exhausted and wounded man. The old 
 gentleman retired to the hall to find his grandson 
 whom he greeted in his cordial and homely manner. 
 Naomi waited patiently till her grandfather had
 
 322 A FAST GAME 
 
 satisfied himself by giving the proper reception 
 due to his new found relative. When the old 
 man finally retired to his room and Tom started 
 to leave the house to go to his own home, she 
 stole out of her hiding place and followed the 
 begrimed man to the door. While his hand rested 
 on the door knob a pair of arms stole around his 
 neck and a deep, long drawn sob from behind 
 thrilled him through and through; then a sup- 
 pressed voice murmured, "Oh, Tom!" 
 
 The arms drew his face down and Naomi kissed 
 the blackened cheeks over and over again. Her 
 tears flowed freely. The pent up sorrow found 
 relief. Tom's strong arms held her firmly, else 
 she would have fallen. 
 
 "Oh, Tom!" she sobbed, after a long pause. 
 "Ed is dead." 
 
 The news started Tom with a pang of pain for 
 he was not sure but that he might be partially 
 to blame for the cause. He knew that he was 
 responsible for sending the police to The Anthra- 
 cite to arrest the gang. In the melee that must 
 have followed Ed might have been the victim 
 of the bullet. He knew not what to say and, 
 therefore, wisely held his peace. 
 
 "Ed is dead and you are my cousin. You 
 will be my brother, hereafter, won't you?" she 
 asked with a pleading tremor in her voice. 
 
 "Yes!" he answered as he drew her to himself 
 with his blackened, muscular arms and, for the 
 first time in all his life, kissed his fair cousin. 
 Today, they are as brother and sister and will 
 remain so forever. The two passed out into 
 the early morning and crossed the street, where 
 the one entered the home of a living, though lost,
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 323 
 
 mother, and the other went on to his own home, 
 to his mother and his half-brothers and his half- 
 sister. 
 
 Let it be said in passing that the final triumph 
 of The Black Diamond Company over its enemies, 
 secret and open, rests entirely on the merits of 
 Thomas Slocum his artful schemes, their risky 
 execution and his own conscientious service to 
 his employers. He wrought for them, not because 
 he was of their family but because he was their 
 servant; not because they demanded his self- 
 denying course of operation and personal exposure 
 but, as he saw and felt, because duty demanded it. 
 He gave himself to their service and received 
 the reward accordingly. He began his leave 
 of absence as Tom Boland, the poor reformed 
 Irishman, and ended it as Thomas Slocum. Not 
 that a Yankee is better than an Irishman, but 
 Thomas Slocum had no trace of Irish blood in 
 his veins. His mother sprung from old New 
 England stock and, in her maiden days, received 
 the coveted title of "the belle of Slocum Holler." 
 Henry Slocum wooed and won her. They were 
 about to be married when Erastus appeared in 
 the village as handsome and as witty a youth 
 as could be found in all the country. His good 
 humor and dashing manners lured pretty Polly 
 Mason from her first love, and the paths of two 
 young persons diverged to run on parallel lines 
 of burning conscience, sorrow and loneliness, and 
 to converge near life's sunset where the twain 
 became one flesh in their only son Thomas 
 the joy and comfort in their old age and the heir 
 of all his father's property. 
 
 Tom had learned the gang and its doings by
 
 324 A FAST GAME 
 
 being one of its members. He played the role 
 of an Irishman to perfection and succeeded in 
 his undertaking because his former environment 
 had taught him its secrets. His month of ab- 
 sence from public view he spent in companionship 
 with Curley whom he suspected to be the tool 
 of others more cunning and devilish. Tom's 
 intimacy with the man of a dark skin and darker 
 heart drew from him the narration of many of 
 the past intrigues and petty crimes, their authors 
 and their actors. Curley boasted that he had 
 sawed the timber while the Diamond breaker 
 was building in order to kill the contractor, if 
 possible, because he was distasteful to a certain 
 Ransom family that considered Tom a rival for 
 first place in the favors of their employers. 
 
 Mike Ruhlin completely screened his identity 
 from his confederates confederates in name 
 though not in practice. They never mistrusted 
 him in the least; one or two had noticed that he 
 did not indulge in liquor drinking. Under the 
 guise of feigned foolishness and ignorance his 
 acute perception penetrated the very thought 
 of the secret schemers and learned all the work- 
 ings and every worker in the organization. He 
 remained as the tool of the gang till his plans 
 matured, when, suddenly, the first became last 
 and the last first. Mike Ruhlin had played his 
 game well. 
 
 When Thomas Slocum realized that no possi- 
 bility of escape remained for them at the secondary 
 shaft of the Slocum mine he bore his father to the 
 foot of the main shaft whose timbers had so re- 
 cently been burned and ruined. Most of the heavy 
 woodwork remained intact though all were charred
 
 SEVERAL SURPRISES 325 
 
 and weakened. He left Lawrence at the foot 
 of the shaft with his new found father and began 
 the perilous ascent. The first fifty feet he passed 
 comparatively easy. But the farther he climbed 
 the deeper the fire had burned with here and 
 there a brace or beam or girder gone entirely, 
 rendering further progress next to impossible, 
 to say nothing of the fact that, should one timber 
 give way, he wouid be dashed to death by the 
 fall that must necessarily follow. 
 
 Slowly, carefully and wearily he climbed the 
 hundreds of feet till he crawled out on the surface 
 of the ground more dead than alive and more in 
 appearance like a foul creature of the dark cham- 
 bers below than like a man. There was no possible 
 time for him to make himself look respectable 
 and still save his father and accomplish what 
 he had planned from the beginning; therefore, 
 when he had filled his lungs with God's pure air 
 he jumped to his feet and hurried away to the 
 police station. There he made known his mission, 
 gave the names of those he wanted put under 
 arrest, their whereabouts at the time and the 
 nature of their crimes. 
 
 The officers did their duty while he hastened 
 to organize a rescue party for his father and 
 Lawrence. The sun had not yet thrown one of 
 its shafts of light over the Moosic mountains 
 before every principal in the red hand and the 
 black hand society felt the power of the law. 
 Edwin Slocum met his fate at the hand of one of 
 his own kind; Curley lay in the Diamond mine's 
 gangway wounded and suffocated; the other 
 members of the gang gritted their teeth behind 
 prison bars, bewailing their ill luck and brooding
 
 326 A FAST GAME 
 
 over what might have been. They all had 
 shuffled their cards gleefully, dealt them reck- 
 lessly, played with them fiendishly and lost hope- 
 lessly; Thomas Slocum had played the man and 
 won the game.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 PEACE 
 
 The loveliness of May breathed into the two 
 contending giants Capitalism and Labor-union- 
 ism and inspired each to do better things so that 
 before a fortnight of that delightful month had 
 passed, the miner and the operator fraternally 
 shook hands over their mutual grievances. The 
 fight of three years before had been long and 
 bitter, attended with much acrimony and hatred 
 on both sides, leaving in its wake suffering, poverty 
 and a burning zeal for vengeance; the Anthracite 
 Coal Strike Commission granted the award: the 
 second fight began in much the same spirit as the 
 first, worked off its bile in a month of demands and 
 refusals, listened to the cry of humanity and 
 fraternity and got down to permanent work; and, 
 while occasional moral ghouls and grafters rifled 
 the innocent and pillaged their property, the 
 giants settled their difficulties to their mutual 
 satisfaction and to the delight and benefit of the 
 interested public. 
 
 The amicable settlement was due to great 
 leadership and healthful diplomacy, to the fact 
 that the miner and the operator sat down together 
 and got acquainted with each other. The soft 
 hand met the callous palm in the middle of the 
 table in a friendly grasp while the patent leathers 
 327
 
 328 A FAST GAME 
 
 and heavy nailed brogans rubbed together under 
 the table like purring kittens. Brain met brain, 
 propounded, reasoned, adjusted; heart beat against 
 heart, felt, sympathized, loved. Each tried to 
 see as the other saw, to feel as the other felt; 
 each talked frankly, honestly, earnestly, and 
 listened intently, eagerly and open to conviction; 
 each lost prejudice, pride and preference, and 
 gained a friend, nobility, popularity and power. 
 Princely blood was recognized and royal honors 
 duly meted out to royalty. Capitalism and labor- 
 unionism learned alike that: 
 
 "The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor 
 Is king o" men for a' that." 
 
 The article of agreement follows: "Whereas, 
 Pursuant to letters of submission signed by the 
 undersigned in 1902, 'all questions at issue be- 
 tween the respective companies and their own 
 employees whether they belong to a union or not' 
 were submitted to the Anthracite Coal Strike 
 Commission to decide as to the same and as to 
 "the conditions of employment between the re- 
 spective companies and their own employees," 
 and the said strike commission, under date of 
 March 18, 1903, duly made and filed its award 
 upon the subject matter of the submission, and 
 provided that said award should continue in 
 force for three years from April 1, 1903, and the 
 said period had expired. 
 
 "Now, therefore, it is stipulated between the 
 undersigned in their own behalf, and as far as they 
 have powers to represent any other parties in 
 interest, that the said award and the provisions 
 thereof and any action which has been since taken 
 pursuant thereto, either by the Conciliation Board
 
 PEACE 329 
 
 or otherwise, shall be extended and shall continue 
 in force for three years from April 1, 1906, namely, 
 until March 31, 1909, with like force and effect 
 as if that had been originally prescribed as its 
 duration. 
 
 "That work shall be resumed as soom as prac- 
 ticable, and that all men who have not committed 
 violence shall be reemployed in their old positions." 
 The cold words of the document do not express 
 the fraternity of those who figured in the making 
 of the agreement any more than the cold notes 
 and words of "Home, Sweet Home" express the 
 exquisite emotion of the singer of, or the listener 
 to, that universal song. Words but faintly 
 signify the universal brotherhood, anyway. More 
 and more do we recognize that the bard of bonnie 
 Scotland was a seer as well as a singer and that 
 his prophetic words of a better day are already 
 coming to pass. We see the glorious sunrise; 
 we welcome the warming sunbeams. 
 
 "Then let us pray that come it may 
 (As come it will for a' that) 
 
 That Sense and Worth o'er a' the earth 
 Shall bear the gree an' a' that! 
 
 For a' that, an' a' that, 
 It's comin' yet for a' that, 
 
 That man to man the world o'er 
 Shall brithers be for a' that." 
 On Monday morning the fourteenth day of 
 May, nineteen hundred and six, the majority 
 of the mines in the anthracite coal fields in this 
 state of Pennsylvania resumed work; only those, 
 which could not be put in order in so short a time 
 as intervened between the signing of the agreement 
 and the fourteenth day of May and two or three
 
 330 A FAST GAME 
 
 collieries that were on strike for local reasons, 
 remained idle. The Diamond and the Slocum 
 mines could not resume work because both shafts 
 had been disabled though work went merrily 
 on in preparing them for resumption. Tom 
 personally superintended the construction gangs. 
 
 He would still live with his mother, though he 
 went in and out of his father's house as a son, 
 until the time should come when her widow's 
 weeds should wither and father and mother 
 might, with propriety and legality, dwell together 
 under the same roof. His home lay in the su- 
 burban residence quarter and not in the company 
 house in Maffit's patch. The family vacated 
 that old battened, plank house the day before 
 the explosion which relegated it to the kindling- 
 wood pile. Dynamite and distress had cut 
 their stubby swath through the underbrush of 
 poverty and humility into the open fields of 
 plenty and flowers. 
 
 The May bloom had already retinted the wan 
 cheek of Mrs. Boland, her eyes sparkled with 
 some of the old time radiance, her feet caught 
 some of the alacrity of youth and her modest 
 mien some of the dignity of womanhood. Tom 
 noted the change with evident satisfaction, 
 buried as deeply as possible the wrecks and sor- 
 rows of the past, lived exclusively in the present 
 and planned large things for the future. 
 
 The Black Diamond Company held a special 
 business session on Saturday afternoon of the 
 twelfth of May. The place must necessarily be 
 at the home of Hiram Slocum for the old man's 
 ill health did not permit him to get down to the 
 office, nor was his son, Henry, yet able to leave
 
 PEACE 331 
 
 his bed. The object of the meeting was: first, 
 to reorganize the company; second, to choose a 
 superintendent; and third, to talk over things in 
 general. The things in general received hearty 
 discussion, pro and con, and were adjusted with 
 a most filial and fraternal spirit. 
 
 Tony Bandelli, who had sufficiently conva- 
 lesced to be present, succeeded to the superin- 
 tendency of the Diamond mine. They would 
 put that shaft in operation before the other. 
 The selection of a superintendent for the Slocum 
 mine they lay on the table for the next meeting. 
 The reorganization of the company took more 
 time, more nervous energy and more emotional 
 drain than all the other business put together. 
 
 "Now boys," said the octogenarian, straight- 
 ening himself in his chair by the use of his cane 
 which he held firmly between his knees, "the 
 time's come when I've got 'o quit. I'm an ol' 
 has-ben an' though I don't blush at what I have 
 done, I ain't fit fur nothin' more." 
 
 "Don't say that, father," chimed in both his 
 sons. 
 
 The old man did not hear the words of his 
 sons, at least, he paid no attention to them but 
 went on. "There was a time when I hankered 
 fur work but that day's past. I don't b'lieve in 
 silent pardnership no more 'n I do in a padded 
 payroll. You boys do all the toughest work, 
 git all the kicks an' cuffs o' the business, while 
 I tag along behind a sort o' tailender." 
 
 "That is not so, father, and you know it," 
 broke in Henry. 
 
 "Recent happenin's in the fam'ly has let down 
 the bars fur me to git out an' let somebody else
 
 332 A FAST GAME 
 
 git in," the senior member of the firm continued 
 with a husky rattle in his voice while an occa- 
 sional tear slipped out of his eyes and bounded 
 from one wrinkle to another of his saintly face, 
 to disappear in the carpet. 
 
 Henry lifted his head modestly, half divining 
 what next was coming and seriously desiring to 
 check further remarks, though he knew not how 
 to carry his point; Benjamin's head dropped 
 lower, showing a. beautiful shock of iron-gray 
 hair which had noticeably whitened during the 
 last fortnight; his mind so easily dwelling on 
 a fresh mound in the cemetery under the cold 
 clods of which all his sorrows and heartaches 
 could not be buried. Silence hung breathlessly 
 in the room, broken only by the rustle of bed- 
 clothes as Henry rolled on his pillow and turned 
 his face to the wall. 
 
 "I blame nobody fur nothin' they've done me, 
 an' I feel fur the sorrows an' sins of my folks 
 jest as keenly 's a father er gran'father ken. 
 I've blundered myself, but I've got two good 
 sons; better 'n I deserve. Things ain't jest as 
 I'd like to have them be no more 'n they suit 
 you, but so long 's they be *s they be, we'd better 
 make the best of it. That's jest what I'm gittin' 
 at." 
 
 "Oh, say, gran'pa!" broke in Arthur Norwood, 
 as he darted to the side of his grandsire with a 
 bouquet of flowers, "here's some blue vi'lets I 
 found up 'n the park an' I want you to have 
 'em." 
 
 The little fellow placed the dainty blossoms 
 into the trembling palm and threw an arm around 
 the furrowed neck. "Ar'n't they butes?" he
 
 PEACE 333 
 
 exclaimed. "Let me show you how to fight 
 roosters!" 
 
 Before one could scarcely think, Prince Arthur 
 had whipped a couple of violets from the cluster 
 of fragrance, seized a slender stem in each hand, 
 hooked the heads together and jerked, laughing 
 with delight as one of the blossoms flew from its 
 stem, "See that! That big one got it 'n the 
 neck that time, didn't it gran'pa?" 
 
 "Yes, Artie, the leetle feller was too much fur 
 the big chap!" 
 
 "We're coming over tonight; pa 'n' ma 'n' all 
 of us." 
 
 "That's nice. That'll tickle yer ol' gran'- 
 father." 
 
 "Guess I'd better skiddoo now. Don't you like 
 your vi'lets?" he asked hurriedly as he noticed a 
 few of them drop to the floor. 
 
 "Oh, yes, my dear. The posies is very nice. 
 Them few jest slid out o' my fingers like a jack- 
 knife slips out of a leetle boy's pocket. There, 
 that's all hunky, now," he added when the little 
 fellow placed the few stray beauties back between 
 the long fingers. "You ken fix 'em up 's neat *s a 
 pin. Now ye'd better scamper off to play." 
 
 "I'm a dandy, ar'n't I, gran'pa? Good-bye!" 
 and the laddie departed as spritelike as he came. 
 While he remained in the room he frisked about 
 as if no one else was present but himself and his 
 grandfather. When the cheerful whistle of Arthur 
 grew fainter up the street Hiram Slocum resumed. 
 
 "As I was sayin', I'm an old fogy now an' my 
 putterin' 'round don't 'mount to shucks. I ken 
 still mog along to suit my fancy but I don't want 
 'o be tied up to nothin' I can't handle. I like to
 
 334 A FAST GAME 
 
 drive my business an' not let that drive er carry 
 me. I've druv my business fur sixty odd years 
 an' it's time to quit. It seems that a kind provi- 
 dence, though mysterious, has raised up a man to 
 take my place. Tommie, here, has the knack 
 an' the " 
 
 "Don't mention me as your successor, grand- 
 father," interrupted Tom, springing to his feet 
 and moved by emotion, "give me something to 
 do is all I ask." 
 
 "Father will have it his way, Tom," put in 
 Benjamin, "and the less said the better." 
 
 The young man reluctantly seated himself as 
 the will of The Black Diamond Company pro- 
 ceeded. 
 
 "A man who does as Tommie has, I consider a 
 fit man to take any job an' a fit man to take my 
 place in the firm. Therefore, I, Hiram Slocum, 
 do hereby resign my position in The Black Dia- 
 mond Company in favor of Thomas Slocum and, 
 to the aforesaid Thomas Slocum, I will an' be- 
 queath all my property. Fix it up in proper 
 shape when Jimmie Ransom comes 'round." 
 
 Another silence fell, broken after several minutes 
 by the rich and earnest voice of Benjamin. "It 
 is well!" 
 
 The cane rapped nervously on the floor and the 
 old seer continued: 
 
 "I think you've all had experience enough to 
 know there ain't but one laborin' class. Some 
 work with brains an' some with muscles an' some 
 with both. They all b'long to the laborin' class. 
 Ye know, too, if a feller works fur wages only he 
 don't deserve what 'e gits; but if he works fur the 
 right an' the good of his feller men he'll git 'is pay
 
 PEACE 335 
 
 all right, not only in gold but in somethin' better'n 
 gold. Because one gits 'is clothes all dirt when 
 'e works, is no sign that 'e works harder'n the 
 one who dictates to a typewriter, ner does it show 
 he's coarser grained either. Nobody has no soft 
 snap if he's on to 'is job. 
 
 "Head work er hand work, it's all work. The 
 dif'rence comes in opinion, in clothes, in looks 
 an' in manners but when ye git right down into 
 the core o' the apple o' human life the seeds is 
 purty much alike. Strip us o' this outside toggery 
 an' all there is of any of us is jest what we don't 
 see now. 'Lectricity don't show itself but it 
 makes things go; it's that part of us under kiver 
 that makes the man an' keeps the things a hump- 
 pin'. The fingers an' toes an' lages an' backbone 
 an' arms hain't nothin' but the machinery that 
 runs when the inside man tells it to. A man that 
 uses either brain er brawn is a laborin' man; one 
 takes the power direct an' the other belts it on 
 to his machine, that's all the dif'rence. One 
 feller'll sweat jest 's much 's t'other if 'e gits in 
 the collar where 'e b'longs. Then there's heart 
 work that takes more gimp out of a feller than 
 anything else. 
 
 "Heart work 's harder'n sweat work, an' a man 
 that won't do heart work ain't fit to be called a 
 man. The heart's the biggest slice of the Al- 
 mighty we've got in our hull constitution. Now 
 what I'm gittin' at, boys, is to show ye that the 
 bigger a man's heart is the more he ken do an' 
 the better he ken do it an' the work he puts out 
 will be the most lastin'. The real dif'rence in 
 men, then, is in the size o' their heart an' the size 
 depends on the man's will an' his exercise. What
 
 336 A FAST GAME 
 
 I want The Black Diamond Comp'ny to do is to 
 hitch on to the heart current an' jog right straight 
 on in the simplest way in the world, an" the 
 simplest way is the best way. 
 
 "I know ye'll do it, boys'" the old man said 
 with a sad, earnest smile like the last pat of a 
 father's hand on the shoulder of his leave-taking 
 son, "I know ye'll do it. Barg'in with ev'ry man 
 alike an' allers put yer heart in the deal. You 
 '11 excuse me fur makin' this leetle speech. It 
 wont do ye no hurt an' mebby it'll do ye some 
 good. I hope so. It's done me good anyway. 
 We're all odd an' a trifle curious an' we never 
 ken tell what '11 pop up next an' coax us to swap 
 off the best thing we've got fur the showeyest an' 
 most wuthless truck in life's pawnshop. Ye 
 know the ol' sayin, is: 
 " 'The simplest way is allus best an' yet we pass 
 
 it by, 
 To dabble with the tinseled things that catch an' 
 
 fool the eye.' ' 
 
 And thus The Black Diamond Company com- 
 menced its second era of prosperity. The prin- 
 ciples of procedure were the same as those which 
 had characterized the company throughout its 
 existence; the methods of operation improved 
 with opportunity; the name of the firm was 
 identical, though the names composing the firm 
 had changed. Legally, a trio held the power; 
 practically, a fellowship of four was the motive 
 energy. 
 
 The court convened and the crimson-ebony 
 culprits came to trial. Thomas Slocum, the 
 prosecutor, desired to retain the services of 
 James Ransom, yet, under the attendant deli-
 
 PEACE 337 
 
 cate features of the case, he granted his friend 
 the permission to withdraw from the suit, in as 
 much as members of his immediate family were 
 the defendents. The almost broken-hearted law- 
 yer looked up into the face of his friend and re- 
 plied: "Not for the world, Tom, would I leave 
 the case unless you discharged me against my 
 wishes. I have repeatedly warned my father 
 and my brothers and my brother-in-law, but, 
 apparently, to no purpose. 
 
 "Now that they are caught in their intrigues 
 and dishonesty, I, as a conscientious man, could 
 never sanction a decree that would free them 
 from punishment any more than any other crim- 
 inal, even if they are of my own kin. 'The more's 
 the pity.' I shall always be at your service 
 in any legal business that does not involve the 
 surrender of my conscientious scruples, and I 
 am sure that such a demand will never come 
 from you." 
 
 As he finished speaking he lay his hand on his 
 client's shoulder and looked him straight in the 
 eye. The manly look received a manly response. 
 The interview had drawn the two men still more 
 closely together in confidence and fellowship. 
 
 It is unnecessary to relate all the proceedings 
 of the trial, the results are of more passing inter- 
 est. The most important witness was Curley. 
 He had told Tom confidentially that he had gone 
 into the mine alone, in the place of the fireboss, 
 the morning of the Slocum mine disaster in 
 which Erastus met his fate. This amounted to 
 criminal neglect of duty on the part of Frank 
 Ransom, the fireboss, resulting in the loss of 
 life a veritable case of manslaughter. But Curley
 
 338 A FAST GAME 
 
 was dead and the criminals did not incriminate 
 themselves. 
 
 The plot to destroy Tom's home amounted to 
 the same thing. Tom knew of the plot and 
 escaped its deadly meant blow, but the one who 
 did the dynamiting was dead. Enough evidence, 
 however, wap brought out in court to convict 
 every living member of the gang and put him 
 behind prison walls for a long term of years, and 
 to free Dr. Morgan from complicity in the heinous 
 crime. The black hands and the red hands 
 were bound and the white hands held the bands. 
 The truth had triumphed and justice had tipped 
 the scales on the side of right. 
 
 Naomi, sad, silent and tender, pursued the 
 round of her daily tasks, visited the sick, dis- 
 tributed to the necessities of the poor, cheered 
 the sorrowful, inspired the discouraged and 
 administered to the needs of her mother. But 
 the mother was gone. Her body remained in 
 the home, moved here and there about the house 
 and from room to room, but the caress, the affec- 
 tion, the recognition the mother had gone. 
 No reciprocal response whatever recompensed 
 Naomi's most filial devotion. A walking skele- 
 ton strode through the house and occupied the 
 place where highest honor sat. 
 
 The senseless and monotonous mutterings of 
 the cultured tongue but chattered a mournful 
 requiem for the departed spirit, while the body 
 moved about in its accustomed haunts. Jab- 
 bering goblins would be music compared with 
 this mumbling mother, and fantastic visions, 
 scenes beautiful, compared with those sightless, 
 seeing eyes. Naomi's presence added no com-
 
 PEACE 339 
 
 panionship to the lost one, her absence detracted 
 no pleasure. One might as well do service before 
 pagan gods to receive personal response and 
 comfort. 
 
 The middle of May came. It was visiting day 
 at the hospital. For a fortnight Naomi had 
 daily bent her steps to that institution as faith- 
 fully and as regularly as the most sincere heathen 
 devotee bends his knee before his sacred shrine. 
 Today the nurse smiled and told her that she 
 might see Dr. Morgan, for he was much improved. 
 With a light heart she tripped into his room. 
 The lightness vanished somewhat, however, when 
 she saw the face of her beloved. Across one side 
 of it a serrated scar dragged its ugly length, 
 terminating at the upper end with a sightless 
 socket. 
 
 In the other eye, however, the old time fire 
 of life and love burned like a furnace. Before 
 the visitor could speak the doctor, bolstered up 
 with pillows, extended his hand and, smiling 
 with a sad but cheerful expression, said in a soft 
 though firm voice, "How do you do, Miss Slocum? 
 I am very glad you came to see me!" 
 
 Naomi took the offered hand in both of hers, 
 saying and caressing with the tenderness of an 
 angel, "Why, how do you do, Evan? I am glad 
 of the privilege of coming to see you. I have 
 come often before but without success till now." 
 
 "Have you? Why, yes, the nurse told me as 
 much. It is so kind of you. I am sure I appre- 
 ciate your interest in me." 
 
 The sadness of his expression dissolved into 
 hopeful cheer when she called him by his given 
 name, yet he lay aside the pressing of his matri-
 
 340 A FAST GAME 
 
 monial suit to learn the doings of the outer world 
 and the fate of his friends. 
 
 "Tell me about Tom. Is he alive or dead?" 
 
 "Very much alive and safe." 
 
 "Thank God, then! I am so glad that I did 
 my duty to Phebe, to Tom and to myself." 
 
 He spoke with marked satisfaction and ear- 
 nestness at the good news. New life seemed to 
 enter his body and the shadows hasten from his 
 mind. The brightness of his face softened to 
 tenderness as he proceeded. 
 
 "Of course, Phebe is Phebe did not live long?" 
 
 "No! She went to sleep the night you were 
 hurt. Phebe is no longer an invalid." 
 
 Noiselessly a solitary tear-drop fell over the 
 pale, scarless cheek and splashed its life out on 
 the pillow. The cheerful tick of the nurse's 
 watch alone ruffled the quiet moment. Outside 
 in a near by shade tree a robin sang his sweetest 
 song. The blue eye of the patient seemed to catch 
 new inspiration when it looked through the window 
 into the deep blue sky that bent over the hazy 
 Moosic mountains in the rear of the hospital. 
 Apparently, his beloved sister remained within 
 the scope of his far off vision for he smiled and 
 turned his eye on the face of Naomi. He saw 
 love and fidelity there; so the smile expanded 
 and deepened. 
 
 "Yes, she is well; but where was Tom?" 
 
 "Disguised and after the black hand fellows." 
 
 "Did he succeed?" 
 
 "He did." 
 
 There was a moment of hesitation before he 
 asked again. 
 
 "Get all the gang?"
 
 . PEACE 341 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Another and a longer pause. 
 
 "Oscar and Dick?" 
 
 A flush of sympathy spread over the face of the 
 questioned girl. 
 
 "Don't hesitate. I suspected it." 
 
 "Y-e-s." 
 
 "Then Phebe was right. I don't regret what I 
 did even if I had lost both eyes in the attempt." 
 
 "But you were suspicioned " 
 
 "What! me suspicioned of blowing up the 
 Boland home?" the patient exclaimed before 
 Naomi could finish the sentence. 
 
 "Yes, but you were vindicated at the trial," 
 quickly answered the girl. 
 
 "I am content then. I have had an opportu- 
 nity to meditate a good deal since lying here and 
 my mind is now fully made up to what I am going 
 to do." 
 
 His eye dropped for a moment, then he looked 
 straight into the eyes of Naomi and proceeded to 
 lay bare his heart and tell the conclusions of his 
 cogitations. 
 
 "First of all, Miss Slocum, I ask your forgive- 
 ness your pardon for my proposing marriage to 
 you a few weeks ago." 
 
 "It is granted, Evan," quickly responded Naomi. 
 
 The promptness with which she answered him 
 threw him somewhat into confusion, but he 
 gathered his thoughts together and toiled on, 
 for what he was saying cost him labored effort 
 and self-sacrifice. 
 
 "I have made up my mind that, in my present 
 physical condition" in the place where a blue 
 eye once rolled with a merry twinkle, a hideous
 
 342 A FAST GAME 
 
 hole turned toward the listener "it would be 
 unjust for me to expect an affirmative answer 
 from you, much less demand it; and, therefore, 
 I willingly release you from any obligation you 
 may have entertained of ever becoming my wife." 
 
 Naomi gently pushed her arm beneath the neck 
 of her suitor, put her right hand over the ugly 
 scar on his cheek and, looking tenderly down into 
 his open countenance, firmly responded, "And I 
 have made up my mind to be your wife so long 
 as there is flesh and bone enough left of your body 
 to hold your honest, self-sacrificing soul." 
 
 Evan could not object verbally, much less in 
 spirit, to the answer he received for she covered 
 his mouth, first with her lips and then with her 
 hand, until the poor fellow fairly gasped for 
 breath. 
 
 While this dramatic scene took place behind the 
 curtains a step near the door commenced the 
 second act and the curtain rose. Tom entered 
 with a cheerful smile and, "Good-morning, Naomi! 
 How are ye, old boy?" as he took Evan's thin hand 
 in his healthful grip. 
 
 "Hello, Tom! I'm awful glad to see you. I 
 feel better already for having callers." 
 
 Naomi put her hand on the brow of the doctor 
 and said in the tenderest voice a voice dripping 
 with the fogs of pathos and the dews of sorrow 
 and love "Evan, this is my new brother, Thomas 
 Slocum." 
 
 The one eye rolled from one to the other but find- 
 ing no trace of humor or guile in the expression of 
 either, he demanded an explanation. It was 
 quickly and explicitly given and received with 
 surprise and unalloyed pleasure. To return the
 
 PEACE 343 
 
 compliment, the patient and doctor if you please, 
 congratulated Tom on his well deserved good 
 fortune and, at the same time, proudly introduced 
 Naomi as his fiancee. 
 
 The two men recognized each other' worth 
 then as never before and, if it were possible, their 
 souls were knit more closely together like unto 
 "the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of 
 David." Approaching footsteps along the cor- 
 ridor of the hospital told the visitors that the 
 nurse drew near and that the call was at an end 
 and the game played. And still "abideth faith, 
 hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of 
 these is charity." 
 
 THE END
 
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