"Yes," said the latter, coming forwards, "and I fear we shall not be able to hold our own against all this uproar. The arrest of the three miners is their sole motive or pretext at present; if that were taken from them"...
"They would find another," interrupted Arthur, "and the weakness we should have betrayed would remove from them the last restraint. We must show neither hesitation nor fear now, or we shall lose the game at the last moment. I foresaw what would happen when I had those mischievous fellows arrested, but in the face of such a criminal attempt as that there was no choice but to proceed with the utmost severity. The prisoners will remain in custody until the troops arrive."
The Director beat a retreat, and Schäffer shrugged his shoulders. They had learnt to know that this tone of his would brook no contradiction.
"I do not see Hartmann in the crowd," continued Arthur, turning to the chief-engineer; "he is generally first wherever there are noise and tumult. To-day he seems only to have urged the others on, and then to have left them. He is nowhere visible."
"I have missed him for the last quarter of an hour," answered the other gravely. "I hope he is not up to fresh mischief elsewhere. You ordered back the men posted about the engine-houses, Herr Berkow?"
"Certainly. The few men we can dispose of are even more necessary here in the house, and, since the descent has been effected, the shafts and engines must be perfectly safe. They could not meddle with them without endangering their comrades down below."
"With such a leader, they may even be meaning that," said the official reflectively.
Arthur's brow grew dark, "Nonsense! Hartmann is an unruly fellow, a furious madman even, when he is irritated, but he is not a scoundrel, and that would be a scoundrelly act. He would have injured the engines to prevent the descent being made, but when he found he could no longer prevent it, why do you suppose he rushed off to the sheds? Certainly not to see that his father and comrades were given up to destruction; he wanted to recall his former orders, and it was only when he saw we had been beforehand with him that he broke out against us in his wrath at the failure of his plans. The engines are secured to us by the fact of the men being below. Not a hand will be raised to injure them while the Manager and the rest are in the mine, and so the storm is now turned against the house. I shall go out and make an attempt to calm them."
During the last few weeks the officials had been accustomed to see their leader act on similar occasions with resolute boldness and without regard to his own personal safety, but this time entreaties and remonstrances resounded on all sides; even the chief-engineer joined in to dissuade him, and Schäffer, knowing from what quarter opposition would alone avail, turned to Eugénie, still standing at her husband's side.
"Do not allow it, your ladyship. Not to-day, it is much more dangerous to-day than it has ever been before. The men are horribly excited, and Hartmann is staking his last throw. Keep Herr Berkow back."