uldn't I speak up for 'em, I'd like to
know? You won't find no better blood in the United States than the
Champneys'."

Aileen made no reply; she was looking up the street to Poggi's fruit
stall, where beneath a street light she saw a crowd of men from the
quarries.

"Romanzo said there was some trouble in the sheds--do you know what it
is?" she asked.

"No, I can't get at the rights of it; they didn't get paid off last
week, so Romanzo told me last night, but he said Champney telegraphed
he'd fix it all right in another week. He says dollars are scarce just
at this time--crops moving, you know, and market dull."

She laughed a little scornfully. "You seem to think Mr. Googe can fix
everything all right, Tave."

"Champney's no fool; he's 'bout as interested in this home work as
anybody, and if he says it'll be all right, you may bet your life it
will be--There's Jo Quimber coming; p'raps he's heard something and can
tell us."

"What's that crowd up to, Uncle Jo?" said Aileen, linking her arm in the
old man's and making him right about face to walk on with them.

"Talkin' a strike. I heerd 'em usin' Champ's name mighty free, Tave,
just now--guess he'd better come home an' calm 'em down some, or
there'll be music in the air thet this town never danced to yet. By A.
J., it riles me clear through to hear 'em!"

"You can't blame them for wanting their pay, Uncle Jo." There was a
challenge in the girl's voice which Uncle Jo immediately accepted.

"So ye've j'ined the majority in this town, hev ye, Aileen? I don't say
ez I'm blamin' anybody fer wantin' his pay; I'm jest sayin' it don't set
well on me the way they go at it to get it. How's the quickest way to
git up a war, eh? Jest keep talkin' it up--talkin' it up, an' it's sure
to come. They don't give a man like Champ a chance--talkin' behind his
back and usin' a good old Flamsted name ez ef 't wuz a mop rag!" Joel's
indignation got the better of his discretion; his voice was so loud that
it began to attract the attention of some men who were leaving Poggi's;
the crowd was rapidly dispersing.

"Sh--Joel! they'll hear you. You've been standing up for everything
foreign that's come into this town for the last seven years--what's come
over you that you're going back on all your preaching?"

"I ain't goin' back on nothin'," the old man replied testily; "but a
man's a man, I don't keer whether he's a Polack or a 'Merican--I don't
keer nothin' 'bout thet; but ef he's