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Towards the end of April as a warm spring reached the valley and the Granite River was a
raging torrent and O'Grady was becoming nervous. He sent for Carl and Vincent. 'Don't you think it's about time we stopped all this hunting and stuff now, boys? I mean, any day now Mr. Bluemud'll be back. He's not going to like it.' 'What's wrong O'Grady?' Carl spoke very confidently. He stood in O'Grady's office looking out of the window, not addressing O'Grady directly. By now he had acquired himself a foreman's red arm band and better clothing, although strictly speaking he not formally been appointed since only Bluemud could approve his nomination. 'Don't you like your meat?' 'I do, I do.' O'Grady sat uneasily at his desk, playing with a pencil. 'But is it worth the chance I'm taking? I mean, you say one thing, Relyt, but others say another. Johnson thinks we should send the men back into the mine.' 'I thought you had Johnson under control. You said he wouldn't be a problem.' 'And so he won't. He's getting stronger like the rest of us and he'll be grateful, so long as Mr. Bluemud finds out nothing. But, he says, plenty of the men don't bother to come to work at all.' 'And why should they? Most of them are like you O'Grady. They've been too weak. And there's not that much work for them anyway. You're not having any trouble keeping up with Bluemud's quota. If you send the hunters back we'll all starve again. Do you want that?' 'Damn it, there has to be more food now!' O'Grady banged his fist on his desk then got up and began to pace the floor. 'Muriel says it'll be weeks yet,' said Vincent. 'Anyway she won't give us more without orders. She can't understand how it is that we're not all dying down here.' The mention of Muriel increased O'Grady's agitation. 'Vincent you keep your mouth shut when you speak to her,' he hissed. 'Now you know who your friends are, O'Grady,' Carl turned to face the Chief Foreman, 'and who Bluemud values most. Muriel won't save you the next time, either.' 'Do you think that woman knows anything?' said O'Grady with some anguish. Muriel had always been a woman O'Grady held in considerable awe. Her firm hand against him when she personally refused to allow him extra food, even when he got down on his hands and knees and begged her to give him some, was burned into his memory: 'Your wife, yes, if she comes to stay in the village. But you can starve O'Grady, along with all your men. You're no concern of mine.' 'If she suspects, so what? So long as she knows nothing definite, why should you care? It'd be sensible if we could send meat up to the village in return for food.' 'She'd never agree, damn accursed woman!' Carl scowled. 'The village has been badly managed.' 'Between her and Miss Elizabeth,' said Vincent triumphantly, 'they don't know how to keep the books, either!' 'Those books.' O'Grady regarded Vincent with more than a little fear. 'That's something else I'm not too sure Mr. Bluemud's going to like.' 'I told you Mr. O'Grady,' Vincent sidled up to the Chief Foreman and to Carl's annoyance put an arm about his shoulder. 'Mr. Bluemud never looks at the books. Just so long as everything comes out right and he doesn't have to pay.' 'Yes, but this deal you've got of paying hunters more than miners...' 'After this winter even Mr. Bluemud would agree that a hunter's work is more valuable than a miner's,' said Carl, wishing Vincent would keep his mouth shut. 'In the same way that the men must pay extra to get their meat allowance.' 'And we get a cut of everything!' Vincent went on, smiling broadly. 'You, me, and Carl, O'Grady! Just think! In a few years we'll be able to pay off what we owe on our cottages and then they'll be ours. We'll be free men!' 'Well, I don't know anything about that,' muttered O'Grady sullenly. 'The only things that bothers me is to have a full stomach. And the men, too, of course.' he added hastily. 'Then, that's settled!' Carl intervened between Vincent and O'Grady, in turn putting his arm about the old man's shoulders and leading him back to his seat. 'As long as the production quotas allow it the hunters will do their own work and the rest will have to work a little harder to make up. There will be no complaints now that they have the seventh day off to go fishing.' 'What that?' Now O'Grady was amazed. 'You never told me about that.' 'The men must have a day of rest. They can sell anything they catch and earn extra money. Don't you like fish, O'Grady? Don't worry, they have been given strict orders that they can only fish well downstream beyond the railroad where Bluemud will never see them. It's the same rule as for their rest periods. Each man will be able to leave the barracks for four hours each day but he must keep away from the village, the road and other restricted areas. We are posting guards to make sure they comply.' O'Grady could hardly believe his ears. He stared up at Carl. 'Mr. Bluemud never said nothing about things like this.' 'Bluemud said many things. I heard him myself. He understands a great deal but, as Vincent says, neither he nor Miss Elizabeth have any idea of what our people really need. Nothing I have done will affect coal production.' 'And suppose we have to produce more?' 'The men will have to work harder, that's all. Happy men with full stomachs work better. If Mr. Bluemud finds out I'm sure that he'll approve.' 'I just want to make sure he doesn't find out.' 'Then you'll have to make sure that Johnson and those others keep their mouths shut.' 'Don't worry about them.' O'Grady eased a little, glad to have something he could contribute. 'They may grumble but they'll do as they're told. Never have got to be foremen, otherwise. Anyway, Mr. Bluemud would never speak to none of them. He'll only speak to me. It's a way he has. Don't like to waste his time, I reckon.' At this thought O'Grady cheered considerably. 'Well, is that all, Relyt, or do you have any more shocks for me?' 'There is one other thing,' said Carl. 'To earn Mr. Bluemud's approval we are going to clean up the barracks and educate the men so that they will keep them clean.' 'Now there you ARE wasting your time.' 'A prize of fresh meat will be awarded each week to the cleanest dormitory.' 'You boys think of everything.' O'Grady was overwhelmed. 'I suppose then, we'll just have to wait and see what happens. The worst he can do is throw me out.' After Carl and Vincent left, O'Grady stared out of the window of his office. Everywhere a hint of spring was in the hills. That very afternoon he and his wife Edna were moving back to their pleasant little cottage in the woods. Edna had some recuperating to do. O'Grady found it difficult to be pessimistic. He had survived a difficult situation, coming through with nearly all his men still alive. Surely Mr. Bluemud would be pleased? |
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