"Yes."
"How many of the company's men are on guard at the slope?"
"About a dozen."
"Who are they?"
Sam repeated the names, and Brace said musingly:
"There are one or two that I'm doubtful of. They've been too thick lately with Billings."
"It can't be helped now, for Mr. Wright wouldn't dare show himself long enough to make any change."
At this moment a loud cry from the street caused the boys to run quickly down the stairs, and Brace ventured to look out from between the folds of the curtain.
The mob, in a spirit of bravado and to gain recruits, were parading the streets before making their demands, and had halted in front of the company's store that Billings might harangue those near by. He was dilating upon the wrongs inflicted on honest workingmen, and calling for everyone to join in the struggle for their rights, when, to the astonishment of all, Mr. Wright appeared, coming from the direction of the slope.
The superintendent would have passed the mob and entered the store, but that the men barred his way, forcing him to halt directly in front of Mrs. Byram's home.