oted with
satisfaction the scared look of appeal which he turned, for a second,
toward the men. It was good to know that Grady was something of a coward.

Bannon nodded to him pleasantly enough. "How are you, Grady?" he said.

Seeing that he was in no danger, the delegate threw back his shoulders,
held up his head, and, frowning in an important manner, he returned
Bannon's greeting with the scantest civility.

Bannon walked up and stood beside him. "If you can spare the time," he
said politely, "I'd like to see you at the office for a while."

Convinced now that Bannon was doing everything in his power to conciliate
him, Grady grew more important. "Very well," he said; "when I've got
through up here, ye can see me if ye like."

"All right," said Bannon, patiently; "no hurry."

During the full torrent of Grady's eloquence the work had not actually
been interrupted. The big boom bearing its load of timber swept in over
the distributing floor with unbroken regularity; but the men had worked
with only half their minds and had given as close attention as they dared
to the delegate's fervid utterances. But from the moment Bannon appeared
there had been a marked change in the attitude of the little audience;
they steered the hoist and canted the timbers about with a sudden
enthusiasm which made Bannon smile a little as he stood watching them.

Grady could not pump up a word to say. He cleared his throat loudly once
or twice, but the men ignored him utterly. He kept casting his shifty
little sidewise glances at the boss, wondering why he didn't go away, but
Bannon continued to stand there, giving an occasional direction, and
watching the progress of the work with much satisfaction. The little
delegate shifted his weight from one foot to the other and cleared his
throat again. Then he saw that two or three of the men were grinning. That
was too much.

"Well, I'll go with you," he snapped.

Bannon could not be sure how much of an impression Grady's big words and
his ridiculous assumption of importance had made upon the men, but he
determined to counteract it as thoroughly as possible, then and there. It
was a sort of gallery play that he had decided on, but he felt sure it
would prove effective.

Grady turned to go down as he had come up, by the ladders, but Bannon
caught him by the shoulder, saying with a laugh: "Oh, don't waste your
time walking. Take the elevator." His tone was friendly but his grip was
like a man-t