"What will I eat?" growled the man, scowling hard.
"You seem to be hungry--go and get a good meal somewhere."
Ralph extended half a dollar. The man stared at it, then at Ralph.
"Crackey!" he said breathlessly--"do you mean it?"
"You had better go somewhere and wash the blood off your face first," continued Ralph. "Here," and he took out the little surgical case that all locomotive men carry with them. "Put a piece of that sticking plaster on that cut across your cheekbone. It was a pretty bad blow that fellow gave you."
"Did you see him strike me?" inquired the man.
"Yes, and it appeared to be a brutal and uncalled for assault."
"Say, that's just what it was," declared the man, getting excited. "I trained with that crowd and did their dirty work, and because I got a drop too much and blowed about the things we were going to do up to the factory, they dropped me."
"I was just going up there," said Ralph. "It's somewhere in this direction, isn't it?"
"You'll see the smokestack when you turn the next corner. Say," demanded the fellow with a stare of interest at Ralph, "what you going there for? Looking for a job?"
"No," replied Ralph, "I wanted to see it, that's all. I am a friend of the man who owns it."
"Oh, that's it?" observed the man thoughtfully. "Well, he won't own it tomorrow."
"Dorsett is going to get him, that's why."
"You mean seize on the factory, don't you?" inquired Ralph.
The man stared at Ralph fixedly. He was silent for nearly two minutes. He seemed to be turning something over in his mind. He gazed at the coin Ralph had given him. Then he glanced over his shoulder to see if any lurker was watching them.
"See here," he asked in a low tone, "you're on Glidden's side, of course?"
"You've been good to me. Saved me from starving. I'll do something for you. Between twelve and one o'clock tomorrow morning, Dorsett and his men are going to pull that factory up yonder to pieces."
Ralph was a good deal startled at the statement of the man whom he had helped to some advantage, it seemed. He did not, however, show it. The man was grateful to him, and Ralph counted on his relating something further.
"I would be glad to have you tell me a little more about this business," he said. "As I told you, I am a good deal interested in the welfare of Mr. Glidden."