reat place for a girl, isn't it, Mr. Bannon," said Max. "I was
coming over here and Hilda made me bring her along. She said she thought
it must look pretty at night."

"Doesn't it?" she asked. "Don't you think it does, Mr. Bannon?"

He had been staring at it for half an hour. Now for the first time he
looked at it. For ninety feet up into the air the large mass was one
unrelieved, unbroken shadow, barely distinguishable from the night sky
that enveloped it. Above was the skeleton of the cupola, made brilliant,
fairly dazzling, in contrast, by scores of arc lamps. At that distance and
in that confused tangle of light and shadow the great timbers of the frame
looked spidery. The effect was that of a luminous crown upon a gigantic,
sphinx-like head.

"I guess you are right," he said slowly. "But I never thought of it that
way before. And I've done more or less night work, too."

A moment later Peterson came up. "Having a tea party out here?" he asked;
then turning to Bannon: "Was there something special you wanted, Charlie?
I've got to go over to the main house pretty soon."

"It's our friend Grady. He's come down to business at last. He wants
money."

Hilda was quietly signalling Max to come away, and Bannon, observing it,
broke off to speak to them. "Don't go," he said. "We'll have a brief
council of war right here." So Hilda was seated on the nail keg, while
Bannon, resting his elbows on the top of a spile which projected waist
high through the floor of the wharf, expounded the situation.

"You understand his proposition," he said, addressing Hilda, rather than
either of the men. "It's just plain blackmail. He says, 'If you don't want
your laborers to strike, you'll have to pay my price.'"

"Not much," Pete broke in. "I'd let the elevator rot before I'd pay a cent
of blackmail."

"Page wouldn't," said Bannon, shortly, "or MacBride, neither. They'd be
glad to pay five thousand or so for protection. But they'd want protection
that would protect. Grady's trying to sell us a gold brick. He hated us to
begin with, and when he'd struck us for about all he thought we'd stand,
he'd call the men off just the same, and leave us to waltz the timbers
around all by ourselves."

"How much did he want?"

"All he could get. I think he'd have been satisfied with a thousand, but
he'd come 'round next week for a thousand more."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that a five-cent cigar was a bigger investment than I care