“Are you one of the workmen?”
“No. I’m a lawyer and represent them in this controversy. By your favor therefore let us proceed. You’ve come to persuade them to resume work, and that is well. But there are conditions to be agreed upon before they return, which with your permission I shall state––first, no harsh driving of the workmen by foremen; second, full wages for the days they have been idle; third, no Sunday work.”
The engineer regarded the speaker without change of countenance.
“Have you finished?” he asked.
“Yes. There are minor matters, but they can be adjusted later. These are the important points.”
“Very well, this is my reply: I, not the workmen, make the terms for work on this job––I, not these men, name the conditions on which they may return. And they are as follows: no pay for the idle days; if the workmen return they agree to work as ordered by superintendent and foremen; and last, they must start for the dam within an hour or not at all.”
Incredulity, amazement rested on the Mexican spokesman’s face as he listened to this curt rejoinder.
“Preposterous, impossible, absurd!” he exclaimed. Then revolving on his heels so as to face the crowd he swiftly repeated in Spanish what Weir had said.
An angry stir followed, murmurs, sullen looks, a number of oaths and jeers. The lawyer turned again to the engineer, spreading his hands in a wide gesture and lifting his brows with exaggerated significance.