SECTION 26.
Hal kept his eye upon his new acquaintance, and perceived that he was
talking with others. Before long the man tackled Old Mike; and Mike of
course could not refuse an invitation to grumble, though it came from
the devil himself. Hal decided that something must be done about it.
He consulted his friend Jerry, who, being a radical, might have some
touch-stone by which to test the stranger. Jerry sought him out at
noon-time, and came back and reported that he was as much in the dark as
Hal. Either the man was an agitator, seeking to "start something," or
else he was a detective sent in by the company. There was only one way
to find out--which was for some one to talk freely with him, and see
what happened to that person!
After some hesitation, Hal decided that he would be the victim. It
rewakened his love of adventure, which digging in a coal-mine had
subdued in him. The mysterious stranger was a new sort of miner, digging
into the souls of men; Hal would countermine him, and perhaps blow him
up. He could afford the experiment better than some others--better, for
example, than little Mrs. David, who had already taken the stranger into
her home, and revealed to him the fact that her husband had been a
member of the most revolutionary of all miners' organisations, the South
Wales Federation.
So next Sunday Hal invited the stranger for another walk. The man showed
reluctance--until Hal said that he wanted to talk to him. As they walked
up the canyon, Hal began, "I've been thinking about what you said of
conditions in these camps, and I've concluded it would be a good thing
if we had a little shaking up here in North Valley."
"Is that so?" said the other.
"When I first came here, I used to think the men were grouchy. But now
I've had a chance to see for myself, and I don't believe anybody gets a
square deal. For one thing, nobody gets full weight in these mines--at
least not unless he's some favourite of the boss. I'm sure of it, for
I've tried all sorts of experiments with my partner. We've loaded a car
extra light, and got eighteen hundredweight, and then we've loaded one
high and solid, so that we'd know it had twice as much in it--but all we
ever got was twenty-two and twenty-three. There's just no way you can
get over that--though everybody knows those big cars can be made to hold
two or three tons."
"Yes, I suppose they might," said the other.
"And if you get the smallest piece of rock in, you get a 'double-O,'
sure as fate; and sometimes they say you got rock in when you didn't.
There's no law to make them prove it."
"No, I suppose not."
"What it comes to is simply this--they make you think they are paying
fifty-five a ton, but they've secretly cut you down to thirty-five. And
yesterday at the company-store I paid a dollar and a half for a pair of
blue overalls that I'd priced in Pedro for sixty cents."
"Well," said the other, "the company has to haul them up here, you
know!"
So, gradually, Hal made the discovery that the tables were turned--the
mysterious personage was now occupied in holding _him_ at arm's length!
For some reason, Hal's sudden interest in industrial justice had failed
to make an impression.
So his career as a detective came to an inglorious end. "Say, man!" he
exclaimed "What's your game, anyhow?"
"Game?" said the other, quietly. "How do you mean?"
"I mean, what are you here for?"
"I'm here for two dollars a day--the same as you, I guess."
Hal began to laugh. "You and I are like a couple of submarines, trying
to find each other under water. I think we'd better come to the surface
to do our fighting."
The other considered the simile, and seemed to like it. "You come
first," said he. But he did not smile. His quiet blue eyes were fixed on
Hal with deadly seriousness.
"All right," said Hal; "my story isn't very thrilling. I'm not an
escaped convict, I'm not a company spy, as you may be thinking. Nor am I
a 'natural born' coal-miner. I happen to have a brother and some friends
at home who think they know about the coal-industry, and it got on my
nerves, and I came to see for myself. That's all, except that I've found
things interesting, and want to stay on a while, so I hope you aren't a
'dick'!"
The other walked in silence, weighing Hal's words. "That's not exactly
what you'd call a usual story," he remarked, at last.
"I know," replied Hal. "The best I can say for it is that it's true."
"Well," said the stranger, "I'll take a chance on it. I have to trust
somebody, if I'm ever to get anywhere. I picked you out because I liked
your face." He gave Hal another searching look as he walked. "Your smile
isn't that of a cheat. But you're young--so let me remind you of the
importance of secrecy in this place."
"I'll keep mum," said Hal; and the stranger opened a flap inside his
shirt, and drew out a letter which certified him to be Thomas Olson, an
organiser for the United Mine-Workers, the great national union of the
coal-miners!
