"Can you make out who's there?"
"Dembriki's one. Faggi's another. And Heinric von Lertz!"
"Von Lertz! Then it means——"
"They're bringing out parcels of something. Laying them on the platform so that they can easily be reached. Hurry——" Grant turned, his face white. "Get the constabulary—quick! It's dynamite!"
In a flash Dixie Mason was pressing every muscle to the utmost as she ran through the lots and back toward the mines that she might summon the members of the mounted police. Grant remained a minute longer at the window, then suddenly dropped to the ground and again began to skirt the building.
Here, there, everywhere, he searched, at last finding a back room to the building, that was separated from the main hall. He pressed against the door. The lock sagged—but did not open. Carefully he brought forth his skeleton keys, and tried them, one after another. At last, a rusty creaking of the lock, a slight snap, and the door opened. Grant hesitated a moment, listening for some sign that he had been overheard from within. But none came. Then he entered.
Within the back room, he stopped again to listen. From the other side of the door that separated him from the main room of the meeting hall, he could hear the thick, heavy voice of Heinric von Lertz, apparently giving the last of a long series of orders:
"Imperial Germany expects every man of you to do his duty and to see that Union Labor is driven from Old Forge," he was saying. "We have here enough dynamite to blow up every miner's house and every coal mine in the district—and I want to see every bit of it used. As soon as we receive the word that everything is all right we will proceed——"
"Here I am sir!" At the sound of the voice, Grant opened the door ever so slightly, to see the form of the spy he had trailed, hurrying up the aisle. "The constabulary is all at the coal dumps, and they have their hands full. If we work quickly——"
"All right. Line up, everybody. You will pass the platform, one at a time and receive your dynamite. Then, each man will cause one explosion—and the result will be that the whole city will be wrecked! Hurry there, line up, line up!"