about, uncertain what
to do. There was no Stock Exchange business being transacted, simply
because there were no buyers. At the Mansion House they found a few
'buses running, and managed to board one which was going westwards. It
set them down in New Oxford Street, not far from Russell Square. Here
there were denser crowds than ever. The entrance to the square itself
was almost blocked.

"What's going on here?" Maraton asked a loiterer.

They heard a loud, hoarse yell, repeated several times. The man pointed
with his finger.

"They are round. Maraton's house," he answered. "They have broken in
all his windows. He's not there or they'd have had him out and flayed
him alive."

A brief silence ensued. There seemed something ominous in this message,
delivered apparently from one typical of his class, a worker out of
work, a pipe in his mouth, a generally aimless air about his movements.

"But forgive me," Selingman remarked, "I am a stranger in this country.
I have been told that Maraton is a friend of the people."

The man nodded gloomily.

"There's plenty that calls him so in other parts of the country," he
assented. "I belong to a Working Man's Club and what we can't see is
what's the bally use of a job like this? He's bitten off more than he
can chew--that's what Maraton's done. He's stopped the railways and the
coal, and even you can tell what that means, I suppose, sir? Pretty
well every factory in the country is shutting down or has shut down.
Well, supposing the Government make terms, which they say they can't.
The miners and railway men may get a bit more. What about all the rest
of us? We're more likely to get a bit less. Then what if the Germans
get over here? There's all sorts of rumours about this morning. They
say that three-quarters of the fleet is hung up for want of coal. . . .
My! Look there, they've fired his house! I wouldn't be in his shoes
for something! They say he's hiding up in Northumberland."

The man passed on. Maraton was the first to speak.

"Come," he said quietly, "there is nothing here to be discouraged at.
We knew very well that for the first few months--years, perhaps--this
thing had to be faced. We must get rooms somewhere. I have to meet the
railway men to-night. Young Ernshaw rode up from Derby on a motor-cycle
to make the appointment. As for you, Selingman," Maraton went on, as
they turned back towards New Oxford Street, "why do you stay here? Your
coming has been splendid.