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The strike began at 7:30 the next morning when the duty Foreman Pryor arrived at the
second floor dormitory, throwing back the heavy door and blowing his whistle. 'Second
shift, assemble in fifteen minutes.' 'Get out, Pryor, you ain't welcome any more!' Came a thin voice from down the line of bunks. Breaking a rule, Pryor advanced into the dormitory. 'Which man spoke? Come out here you rat, wherever you are and I'll show you what we...' As he passed the first row of bunks Pryor was seized. A ragged cheer went up. 'Tie that man up! Barricade that door!' shouted Ursus. The rest of the second shift Foremen arrived soon afterwards and, being unable to force their way into the dormitory gathered in small groups outside while the men jeered at them through the windows. At mid-day the third shift returned to the barracks from the mine for their brief rest-period. No orders had been issued to prevent their entry, neither did any of the second shift Foremen attempt to prevent their going in. As soon as they were in they too barricaded their doors. There was no sign of O'Grady. By two o'clock, as they settled in for a siege, many of the Marshals and Foremen took advantage of the welcome break to catch some extra sleep, leaving just a few others on guard inside the building. A little later these heard the sound of the barricades being removed and the men inside emerged en masse to overwhelm them and expel them entirely from the barracks and the mess hall. By this time, in the mine, the first shift was running rampant. At four o'clock there was still no sign of O'Grady but some among the Foremen were becoming organized and brandishing their weapons at the men inside. 'Stay in their as long as you like. But you'll have trouble getting food!' shouted Johnson. Hardly had these words been uttered when a train of wagons arrived from the village and drew up outside the mess hall. In the lead wagon sat Vincent and Muriel. 'Stand aside you men!' shouted Vincent. 'These women have orders to deliver food. Those men inside must eat.' The Foremen prepared to resist. A ragged line of Marshals and Foremen formed in from of the entrance door to the mess-hall. Then O'Grady appeared, as if from nowhere. 'Now just a minute, boys,' he said in his most authoritative voice. 'I'll handle this. ' He addressed himself to Muriel. 'Now listen to me, woman...' 'You get away from me you murderer!' she screamed. 'You really mean to go on with this, then?' 'I do. It's about time people around here stood up for themselves, O'Grady. We're not all lap dogs like you.' 'Very well, then. It's on your head.' O'Grady adopted his most authoritative voice and indicated to his men to stand aside. 'Leave them be men. Let them do what they will.' 'Boss, they'll stay in there forever if they can eat,' pleaded Johnson. 'I know, Johnson,' said O'Grady, 'But remember this: we've got no quarrel with them women. They've got their job to do. They've got a right to bring the food down and take it in to feed the men. Mr. Bluemud ordered it. He didn't say they shouldn't. Besides, if we quarrel with them how will we eat? Don't you want to eat, man?' And O'Grady retreated humbly in the direction of his cottage without another word. And so it came to pass that the next morning Mr. O'Grady stood before the assembled miners, the Foremen and all the Marshals in the Station yard. For the first time in weeks he appeared relaxed and many of the men too were already feeling much better for a good nights sleep. He made only a short speech. 'Boys, we've got to change the way we do things around here. Well, I guess you can tell we have already. The thing is, in view of the troubles we've had it's been decided there'll be a new man in charge. Mr. Bluemud fully approves of this and he will confirm it to you all when he gets back. In the meantime we're going to get new quotas that will take a little of the pressure off us all. And everything that's happened will be forgiven on all sides, alright?' The men were very happy with that arrangement. 'So Carl was right about O'Grady,' said Vincent to Muriel. 'All he needed was a little push.' |
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