'And if you'll do the square thing we'll cough up; If not, we'll go and find the mine ourselves.'
You don't mean 'twas the boy that found the log!
Well, well, well! H-u-rrah! Hurrah, I say!
(_Throws his hat into the air. Harry Egerton comes through the darkness rear right_)
If I could call the men, Call up the men, my son, who've spent their lives Tryin' to get a peep of that there trunk-- You hear that, boys, you up there in the air?
He'd come to terms, all right, you bet your life.
Good evening, men. I'm turned around a bit, Or seem to be. Just where is Foreston?
(_He walks back, left. Harry Egerton joins him, going across rear_)
(_He walks back a little way, then stops and looks off up the valley. Harvey Anderson comes forward and begins to break some brush to replenish the fire_)
That's it, that's it! 'Two X's and a spade, then dig nine feet.' There's two bits, son. How did it happen, dad?
It came up into the mill with the other logs, Lookin' just like 'em, but Willie spied the sign--
And shouted to Chris Knudson. Chris shut down; There was a crowd; and then Aug. Jergens come And had it hauled away.
If you and me Had been out here, son, when all these were trees And you'd a-spied that sign, I tell you what, I'd hung some nuggets round this little neck.
You'd better wait until the moon comes out. It's a rough road back there.
(_Coming forward, notices the casts upon the ground_)
Cap and I here. These men are from the mill.
From the mill down in Foreston, you mean?
Are things so bad Down at the mill, my friends, that you must leave? Are others leaving? Have the men gone back?
They'll have to soon, they say; their grub's give out.
The Company has given them till to-morrow night To come to work or be shut out for good.
I do not see, friends, what you hope to gain By leaving Foreston and wandering off In search of work. In the first place I know, As you perhaps do not, that Egerton Has given orders to the neighboring plants To take on no more men until this strike Is settled, till it's won. And, as you know, For forty miles around the mills are his, The camps are his. And where his power ends, Others begin that work in harmony With Egerton and Company. They are one, And have an understanding in some things Far more than you suspect.