the piercing, searching eyes of the general manager swept
the very soul of his secretary. The two men looked at each other.
Instantly the shadow passed from the long, sad face of the clerk, and in
its place sat an expression of calm determination. Now the manager spoke
not a word, but reaching for the hand of his faithful assistant, pressed
it firmly, and turned away.

There was no spoken pledge, no vow, no promise of loyalty, but in that
mute handclasp there was an oath of allegiance.

At four o'clock on the following morning--Monday, February the 27th,
1888,--every locomotive engineer and fireman in the service of the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company quit work. The fact that
not one man remained in the service an hour after the order went out,
shows how firmly fixed was the faith of the men in the ability of the
"Twin Brotherhoods" to beat the company, and how universal was the
belief that their cause was just. All trains in motion at the moment
when the strike was to take effect were run to their destination, or to
divisional stations, rather, and there abandoned by the crew.

The conductors, brakemen and baggagemen were not in the fight, and when
directed by the officials to take the engines and try to run them or
fire them, they found it hard to refuse to obey the order. Some of them
had no thought of refusing, but cheerfully took the engines out,
and--drowned them. That was a wild, exciting day for the officials, but
it was soon forgotten in days that made that one seem like a pleasant
dream.

The long struggle that had been going on openly between the officials
and the employees was now enacted privately, silently, deep in the souls
of men. Each individual must face the situation and decide for himself
upon which side he would enlist. Hundreds of men who had good positions
and had, personally, no grievance, felt in honor bound to stand by their
brothers, and these men were the heroes of the strike, for it is
infinitely finer to fight for others than for one's self. When a man has
toiled for a quarter of a century to gain a comfortable place it is not
without a struggle that he throws it all over, in an unselfish effort to
help a brother on. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers had grown to
be respected by the public because of almost countless deeds of
individual heroism. It was deferred to--and often encouraged by railway
officials, because it had improved the service a thousand per cent. Th