"Didn't you have some sort of an accident out there? An overloaded hoist?
And you hurt a man, I believe."
"Yes."
"And I think one of your foremen drew a revolver on a man."
"I did, myself."
The president let a significant pause intervene before his next question.
"What do you want with me?"
"I want you to help me out. It looks as though we might get into trouble with our laborers."
"You've come to the wrong man. Mr. Grady is the man for you to talk with.
He's their representative."
"We haven't got on very well with Mr. Grady. The first time he came on the job he didn't know our rule that visitors must apply at the office, and we weren't very polite to him. He's been down on us ever since. We can't make any satisfactory agreement with him."
Carver turned away impatiently. "You'll have to," he said, "if you want to avoid trouble with your men. It's no business of mine. He's acting on their instructions."
"No, he isn't," said Bannon, sharply. "What they want, I guess, is to be treated square and paid a fair price. What he wants is blackmail."