Rod continued to read. There was nothing unusual in men from the camps coming to Hawk's Nest with complaints or for instructions. Disputes between men and logging bosses had been threshed out times without number in that pleasant, book-lined room. The Norquay policy had always been patriarchal.
Stagg ushered in Jim Handy and two men. One was Andy Hall. He nodded to Rod with a genial grin. Handy looked fretful. His short, white mustache stood out at the aggressive angle it always took when things went wrong. All three had shed their calked boots and working garments. They wore their town clothes. Above clean white collars their faces were burned to the brown of weathered oak by summer sun and hot winds.
"I got a strike on my hands," Handy announced to Phil. "They want fifty cents a day raise all round. They want bathtubs. I expect maybe they want regular hotel waiters to sling hash for 'em, too," Handy permitted himself a logger's witticism. "These two guys represent the crew."
Phil turned to the loggers.
"Striking is rather a new kink in the logging business," he said casually. "If you don't like the job, why don't you quit?"
"Quitting wouldn't change things," Andy Hall replied. "You want to get out timber because it is profitable. We want to work because we have to work for somebody. But we would like better working conditions. Seems more reasonable to ask for 'em on the job than to quit the job."
"Are you two a self-appointed committee?" Phil inquired.
"No," Hall assured him. "We were picked by the crowd to act as spokesmen. A hundred and forty men can't all talk to a boss at once. You can take it for granted we speak for the entire crew."
"All right, we'll take it for granted," Phil returned. "Just step out into the hall for a minute or two. After I've had a word with Handy you can state your case."
"You're foolish to waste time discussing anything whatever with these fellows," Grove remarked, as the door closed on them. "I'd pay off the works and have a new crew sent up. The bird that spoke is too smooth-tongued for a logger. He's got agitator written all over him."