"Do you belong?"
Chunkey hesitated an instant as if ashamed of the fact, and then replied:
"It don't pay to keep out, 'cause they run things to suit therselves, an' a feller can't hold his job very long when they're down on him."
"According to that I shan't be here a great while unless this command is obeyed?"
"That's what I'm afraid of. Why not come up with a little treat, an' settle the whole thing that way? You can't do anything by fightin', for there are so many."
Fred hesitated an instant as if considering the matter, and then replied angrily:
"I won't be forced into anything of the kind! If you belong to the gang tell them that I shall protect myself the best I know how, and somebody will get hurt when there's another row."
Chunky had an opportunity to repeat the message at once, for Fred had but just ceased speaking when Skip beckoned for him to come to the other side of the building, and a command from the chief of the regulators was not to be disobeyed with impunity.
Fred was watching the movements of his enemies narrowly when Donovan approached on his way to the water casks.
"Have the boys been tryin' to make you pay your footing?" the breaker boss asked.