and sneaks--skulkers and sneaks," he shouted, and the crowd
roared approval. Out through the densely-packed mass of humanity across
the tracks something came shoving and surging, and presently, welcomed
by a cheer, a dozen burly men burst into view and came striding out upon
the right of way, Jim Wallace among them. Pale with excitement and
apprehension Fred sprang towards him.

[Illustration: "JIM, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE TAKE NO PART IN THIS RIOTING!"]

"Jim--brother--think what you're doing! For Heaven's sake take no part
in this rioting! Go to mother and the girls. They're all alone."

"Go yourself, Fred," answered the elder, thickly. To Fred's dismay he
saw that his big brother, his pride and protector for many a boyish
year, had been drinking, and was flushed and unbalanced as a result. "Go
yourself and keep out of harm's way. I'm in this to stay now. I'm not
the man to see my brothers wronged and abused and robbed of their
rights. You go to them, Fred. Why are you not at the office?" he added,
with sudden suspicion in his glittering eye.

"I'm here to find you," said Fred, evasively. "Mother is crying because
of her anxiety about you. Father has been searching. Do come out of
this, Jim, and home with me."

But a yell of wrath and defiance drowned the boy's words, and as though
with one simultaneous impulse the mob heaved and surged and broke into a
run. The engines had switched to the side tracks a block away, and,
protected by armed guards on the tender, the pilot, and footboard, were
coupling on to the standing trains. Fred felt himself swept along,
tugging at his brother's arm. Half a dozen agile men edged out of the
crowd and dove under the cars to which the foremost engine was now
attached. Shriek went the whistle, clang the bell, back leaped the
guards, some of them swarming up the freight-car ladders. The engine
jetted smoke and steam and backed promptly away, but a roar of triumph
and derision went up from the mob. Only one car followed it. The
strikers had drawn the coupling-pins of the rest.

Two of the deputies, Winchesters in hand, had clambered to the roofs of
the second and third cars, and now as their comrades were trundled away
there they stood irresolute. Instantly those cars were the centre of a
jeering, howling mob. Instantly stones, coupling-pins, and mud began to
fly. Throwing themselves flat upon their faces, the luckless fellows
sought to escape the storm. Missiles hurled by the mob on one s