e a chance to blacken Luzerne County
with the charred ruins of the breakers! They'll be sacking our homes
next. Already their attitude is almost insufferable. People beyond these
hills do not understand the reign of terror under which these
foreign-born men hold the Wyoming Valley!

"It has come a time when _we_ must shoot first, if there is to be any
shooting! I've had a talk to-day with Sheriff Marlin. It is fortunate
that we have a sheriff who has the grit to stand his ground. He says a
telegram or telephone message will summon him to Harleigh or Hazleton at
a moment's notice, and he will swear our Coal and Iron Policemen in as
deputies.

"Whatever they do then will be legal--_Understand?_"

Trueman looks straight at Purdy several seconds before he replies.

"No," he says, flushing, "not every thing they do. I do not set my
judgment against yours, but I do counsel great caution in placing
Sheriff Marlin in command of the Coal and Iron Police. While you may be
correct in saying we must administer a quick and salutary lesson to the
miners, as deputy sheriffs your men might be tempted to shoot too soon."

"Shoot too soon? If these men gather on mischief bent, we can't shoot
too soon!"

Purdy in turn flushes, as he carefully scrutinizes Trueman's serious
face, which has grown suddenly pale. It is the first time his talented
young protege has ever shown the white feather.

"Oh, yes, yes, Mr. Purdy--they--they can shoot too soon. Even deputy
sheriffs cannot commit murder with impunity. Fight these men with the
law. It's all in your favor! Sheriff Marlin could not step out there in
the street and shoot my fox terrier unless he could show someone's life
was in danger."

With a show of impatience Gorman Purdy arises from his chair. He is
displeased beyond measure with the attitude assumed by Trueman.

"Well, sir!" he says, "you should know there is a difference between
Harvey Trueman's fox terrier, so long as you are general counsel for the
Paradise Coal Company, and a man who marches along the highway with a
revolver in one hand and a torch in the other, his cowardly heart filled
with murder and arson! I am greatly disappointed with your views.
Perhaps it were better that I place the injunction proceedings in other
hands!"

A sharp retort is on Trueman's lips, words not sarcastic, but stinging
in their earnest truthfulness, and wise beyond the years of the man
about to utter them. Each man has discovered that whi