rom his
face, and never moved a muscle of her body. She was slowly revolving in
her mind whether any information she could get out of him would be worth
the waiting for.

Crimmins relapsed into silence, and began patting the floor with his
foot. The prolonged stillness was becoming uncomfortable.

"I was tellin' ye about the meetin' we had to the Union last night. We
was goin' over the list of members, an' we didn't find yer name. The
board thought maybe ye'd like to come in wid us. The dues is only
two dollars a month. We're a-regulatin' the prices for next year,
stevedorin' an' haulin', an' the rates'll be sent out next week." The
stopper was now out of the oil-bottle.

"How many members have ye got?" she asked quietly.

"Hundred an' seventy-three in our branch of the Knights."

"All pay two dollars a month?"

"That's about the size of it," said Crimmins.

"What do we git when we jine?"

"Well, we all pull together--that's one thing. One man's strike's
every man's strike. The capitalists been tryin' to down us, an' the
laborin'-man's got to stand together. Did ye hear about the Fertilizer
Company's layin' off two of our men las' Friday just fer bein' off a day
or so without leave, and their gittin' a couple of scabs from Hoboken
to"--

"What else do we git?" said Tom, in a quick, imperious tone, ignoring
the digression. She had moved a step closer.

Crimmins looked slyly up into her eyes. Until this moment he had been
addressing his remarks to the brass ornament on the extreme top of the
cast-iron stove. Tom's expression of face did not reassure him; in
fact, the steady gaze of her clear gray eye was as uncomfortable as the
focused light of a sun lens.

"Well--we help each other," he blurted out.

"Do you do any helpin'?"

"Yis;" stiffening a little. "I'm the walkin' delegate of our branch."

"Oh, ye're the walkin' delegate! You don't pay no two dollars, then, do
ye!"

"No. There's got to be somebody a-goin' round all the time, an' Dinnis
Quigg and me's confidential agents of the branch, an' what we says
goes"--slapping his overalls decisively with his fist. McGaw's suggested
stopper was being loosened on the vinegar.

Tom's fingers closed tightly. Her collar began to feel small. "An' I
s'pose if ye said I should pay me men double wages, and put up the price
o' haulin' so high that me customers couldn't pay it, so that some of
yer dirty loafers could cut in an' git it, I'd have to do it, whether