"What always happens? He lingered along for a time, stubborn to the last, then--" Turning abruptly to Dr. Gray, she asked, "Who is this man Linn, and what is he doing?"
"He"s an emissary of Curtis Gordon and he"s hiring our men away from us," snapped the physician.
"Why, Dan tells me Mr. O"Neil pays higher wages than anybody!"
"So he does, but Linn offers a raise. We didn"t know what the trouble was till over a hundred men had quit. The town is full of them, now, and it"s becoming a stampede."
"Can"t you meet the raise?"
"That wouldn"t do any good."
Tom agreed. "Gordon don"t want these fellows. He"s doing it to get even with Murray for those wo--" He bit his words in two at a glance from Gray. "What happened to the man that chewed gum?" he demanded abruptly.
"Oh yes! Poor fellow! We warned him time and again, but he was a sullen brute, he wouldn"t heed advice. Why don"t you bounce this man Linn? Why don"t you run him out of camp?"
"Fine counsel from a champion of equal rights!" smiled Gray. "You forget we have laws and Gordon has a press bureau. It would antagonize the men and cause a lot of trouble in the end. What O"Neil could do personally, he can"t do as the president of the S. R. & N. It would give us a black eye.
"We"ve go to do something dam" quick," said Slater, "or else the work will be tied up. That would "crab" Murray"s deal. I"ve got a pick-handle that"s itching for Linn"s head." The speaker coughed hollowly and complained: "I"ve got a bad cold on my chest--feels like pneumonia, to me. Wouldn"t that just be my luck?"
"Do you have pains in your chest?" inquired the girl, solicitously.
"Terrible! But I"m so full of pains that I get used to "em".
"It isn"t pneumonia."
Slater flared up at this, for he was jealous of his sufferings.
"It"s gumbago!" Eliza declared.
Dr. Gray"s troubled countenance relaxed into a grin as he said:
"I"ll give you something to rub on those leather lungs--harness-oil, perhaps."
"Is this labor trouble really serious?" asked the girl.
"Serious! It may knock us out completely. Go away now and let me think.
Pardon my rudeness, Miss Appleton, but--"
Slater paused at the door.
"Don"t think too long, Doc," he admonished him, "for there"s a ship due in three days, and by that time there won"t be a "rough-neck" left on the job. It"ll take a month to get a new crew from the States, and then it wouldn"t be any good till it was broke in."
When he was alone the doctor sat down to weigh the news "Happy Tom" had brought, but the more squarely he considered the matter the more alarming it appeared. Thus far the S. R. & N. had been remarkably free from labor troubles. To permit them to creep in at this stage would be extremely perilous: the briefest cessation of work might, and probably would, have a serious bearing upon O"Neil"s efforts to raise money.
Gray felt the responsibility of his position with extraordinary force, for his chief"s fortunes had never suffered in his hands and he could not permit them to do so now. But how to meet this move of Gordon"s he did not know; he could think of no means of keeping these men at Omar.
As he had to Eliza, to meet the raise would be useless, and a new scale of wages once adopted would be hard to reduce. Successful or unsuccessful in its effect, it would run into many thousands of dollars. The physician acknowledged himself dreadfully perplexed; he racked his brain uselessly, yearning meanwhile for the autocratic power to compel obedience among his men. He would have forced them back to their jobs had there been a way, and the fact that they were duped only added to his anger.
It occurred to him to quarantine the town, a thing he could easily do as port physician in case of an epidemic, but Omar was unusually healthy, and beyond a few surgical cases his hospital was empty.
His meditations were interrupted by Tom Slater, who returned to say:
"Give me that dope, Doc; I"m coughing like a switch engine." Gray rose and went to the shelves upon which his drugs were arranged, while the fat man continued, "That Appleton girl has got me worried with her foolishness. Maybe I AM sick; anyhow, I feel rotten. What I need is a good rest and a nurse to wait on me."
The physician"s eyes in running along the rows of bottles encountered one labeled "Oleum Tiglii," and paused there. "You need a rest, eh?" he inquired, mechanically.
"If I don"t get one I"ll wing my way to realms eternal. I ain"t been dried off for three months." Gray turned to regard his caller with a speculative stare, his fingers toyed with the bottle. "If it wasn"t for this man Linn I"d lay off--I"d go to jail for him. But I can"t do anything, with one foot always in the grave."
The doctor"s face lightened with determination.
"Tom, you"ve been sent from heaven!"
"D"you mean I"ve been sent for, from heaven?" The invalid"s red cheeks blanched, into his mournful eyes leaped a look of quick concern. "Say!
Am I as sick as all that?"
"This will make you feel better." Gray uncorked the bottle and said, shortly, "Take off your shirt."
"What for?"
"I"m going to rub your chest and arms."
Slater obeyed, with some reluctance, pausing to inquire, doubtfully:
"You ain"t stripping me down so you can operate?"
"Nonsense!"
"I"m feeling pretty good again."
"It"s well to take these things early. They all look alike at the beginning."
"What things?"
"Grippe, gumbago, smallpox--"
"G.o.d"lmighty!" exclaimed Slater with a start. "I haven"t got anything but a light cold."
"Then this liniment ought to be just the thing."
"Humph! It don"t smell like liniment," Tom declared, after a moment, but the doctor had fallen to work on him and he submitted with resignation.
Perhaps an hour later Dr. Gray appeared at the Appleton bungalow and surprised Eliza by saying:
"I"ve come to you for some help. You"re the only soul in Omar that I can trust."
"Have you gone raving mad?" she inquired.
"No. I must put an end to Linn"s activity or we"ll be ruined. These workmen must be held in Omar, and you must help me do it."
"They have the right to go where they please."