Later, one of the men who had been with Voorhees at the Northern asked to see the receiver and told him:
“The chief won’t believe that I saw Miss Chester in the dance-hall last night, but she was there with Glenister. She must have put him wise to our game or he wouldn’t have known we were after him.”
His hearer made no comment, but, when alone, rose and paced the floor with heavy tread while his face grew savage and brutal.
“So that’s the game, eh? It’s man to man from now on. Very well, Glenister, I’ll have your life for that, and then—you’ll pay, Miss Helen.” He considered carefully. A plot for a plot. If he could not swap intrigue with these miners and beat them badly, he deserved to lose. Now that the girl gave herself to their cause he would use her again and see how well she answered. Public opinion would not stand too great a strain, and, although he had acted within his rights last night, he dared not go much further. Diplomacy, therefore, must serve. He must force his enemies beyond the law and into his trap. She had passed the word once; she would do so again.
He hurried to Stillman’s house and stormed into the presence of the Judge. He told the story so artfully that the Judge’s astonished unbelief yielded to rage and cowardice, and he sent for his niece. She came down, white and silent, having heard the loud voices. The old man berated her with shrewish fury, while McNamara stood silent. The girl listened with entire self-control until her uncle made a reference to Glenister that she found intolerable.
“Hush! I will not listen!” she cried, passionately. “I warned him because you would have sacrificed him after he had saved our lives. That is all. He is an honest man, and I am grateful to him. That is the only foundation for your insult.”
McNamara, with apparent candor, broke in:
“You thought you were doing right, of course, but your action will have terrible consequences. Now we’ll have riot, bloodshed, and Heaven knows what. It was to save all this that I wanted to break up their organization. A week’s imprisonment would have done it, but now they’re armed and belligerent and we’ll have a battle to-night.”
“No, no!” she cried. “There mustn’t be any violence.”
“There is no use trying to check them. They are rushing to their own destruction. I have learned that they plan to attack the Midas to-night, and I’ll have fifty soldiers waiting for them there. It is a shame, for they are decent fellows, blinded by ignorance and misled by that young miner. This will be the blackest night the North has ever seen.”