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O'Grady was a changed man; his life had some luster in it but now that was gone. He was
miserable but he intended to do his job and to that end he now stalked the corridors of the
mine with three Marshals armed with Bluemud's guns in their belts. And, when a wag in
the darkness with a residue of cheerfulness, having known O'Grady in better days as the
sort to whom one could shout, 'O'Grady, what for you're working us so hard? Is Mr.
Bluemud trying to feed the Devil's fires?', and receive an amicable reply now made the
same remark O'Grady's reply was different than it might have been: 'It's Mr. O'Grady to
you, boy. And I'll tolerate no impertinence from any one of you. You boys'll work your
sixteen hours a day and like it and I'll hear no excuses of any kind.' A man called Katz had worked with Willis for several months on the seam Willis had always worked, now called Number One. 'People come and people go,' said Willis, 'but I stay here all the same.' 'You're like a rough diamond stuck in the ground, Willis,' said Katz. 'One of these days someone's going to dig you up and discover what a gem you are.' Katz had been Willis' partner longer than most. He was a good-natured man who made a lot of jokes. 'Call me pussy,' said Katz, ' and I'll have a little bit.' 'Not down here, you won't,' said Willis. 'It ain't allowed.' Katz was one of Bluemud's originals; a slight weak man with a rather sickly constitution. He had always found work in the mine difficult and exhausting. He was almost universally liked however, not least by O'Grady, and if he did not work as hard as others in the past they always covered up for him. Now, however, O'Grady accepted no excuses and each man's work was as much as he alone could bear. One night Katz developed a fever. He could neither eat nor sleep and lay moaning in his bunk. Later his friends left for the mine without him but, within an hour, O'Grady sent Marshals to drag him to his place. 'We don't allow slackers any more, Katz,' they shouted. 'Get to work and make sure you work the extra hour!' The next day Katz was weaker though he could still stand up. O'Grady came and screamed at him. 'Katz, you're slacking off! You produced nothing yesterday at all and I won't tolerate it, Katz. Have you seen that pile of coal beside the railroad. You know what? It's not enough, Katz! What d'you think Mr. Bluemud's going to say when he gets back?' O'Grady ranted on for some time, becoming incoherent. Finally he left, shouting 'See to that one, boys!' over his shoulder. To O'Grady's later great dismay the Marshals assumed that he had given them an order to beat Katz up, which they continued to do until he lay senseless. No other dared to go to his aid until the shift ended ten hours later and by then Katz was dead. |
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