his progress. There were groans and catcalls, but that was all.
He looked neither to the right nor to the left, but presented his back
to them fearlessly. Chittenden, upon Bennington's advice, had gone to
New York. The strikers would have used him roughly, could they have
laid hands on him.

Arriving in town, Bennington went at once to the City Hall and
straight to the mayor's private office.

"Well, Mr. Donnelly?" he began, his hat on his handsome head and his
cane behind his back, neither offensive nor defensive.

Donnelly closed the door leading to the clerk's office and came back
to his desk. He waved his hand toward a chair. If he could bend this
young hot-head, it would be a victory worth while, politically.

"In the first place, Mr. Bennington, aren't you going a little too
hard on the men?"

"That was their lookout; they had every chance to think the matter
over, to examine all sides of the question."

"You went personally to the governor for deputy police. Why didn't you
come to me?"

"The governor is a personal friend of mine."

"I don't believe that I have been found lacking in justice," said
Donnelly thoughtfully.

"I can't say that you have. But I was in a hurry, and could not wait
for the local machinery to move."

"You have placed armed men in your shops without a justifiable cause."

"The men are mechanics, sworn in for their own self-protection."

Donnelly saw that he was making no impression.

"These men, then, are to tear down your shops?" not without
admiration.

"Well, they are there to dismantle it."

"That building must not go down, Mr. Bennington."

"'Must not'? Do I understand you to say 'must not'?"

"Those words exactly."

"It is private property, Mr. Donnelly; it was not organized under
corporation laws."

"You can not destroy even private property, in a city, without a legal
permit."

"I have that."

"And I shall call a special meeting of the Common Council to rescind
your permit."

"Do so. I shall tear it down, nevertheless. I shall do what I please
with what is my own." Bennington balanced on his heels.

"The law is there."

"I shall break it, if need says must," urbanely.

Donnelly surveyed the end of his dead cigar.

"The men will become violent."

"Their violence will in no wise hinder me, so long as they confine it
to the shops. Even then I shall call upon you for police protection."

"And if I should not give it?"

"Just now I am sure you will.