"You'll have to drop that," he said. "There's no smoking on this job."
The match had gone out, and Grady lighted another.
"So that's one of your rules, too?" he said, in the same loud voice. "It's a wonder you let a man eat."
Peterson was growing angry. His voice rose as he talked.
"I ain't got time to talk to you," he said. "The insurance company says there can't be no smoking here. If you want to know why, you'd better ask them."
Grady blew out the match and returned the cigar to his pocket, with an air of satisfaction that Peterson could not make out.
"That's all right, Mr. Peterson. I didn't come here to make trouble. I come here as a representative of these men"—he waved again toward the laborers—"and I say right here, that if you'd treated them right in the first place, I wouldn't be here at all. I've wanted you to have a fair show. I've put up with your mean tricks and threats and insults ever since you begun—and why? Because I wouldn't delay you and hurt the work. It's the industries of today, the elevators and railroads, and the work of strong men like these that's the bulwark of America's greatness. But what do I get in return, Mister Peterson? I come up here as a gentleman and talk to you. I treat you as a gentleman. I overlook what you've showed yourself to be. And how do you return it? By talking like the blackguard you are—you knock an innocent cigar—"
"Your time's up!" said Pete, drawing a step nearer. "Come to business, or clear out. That's all I've got to say to you."
"All right, Mister Peterson—all right. I'll put up with your insults. I can afford to forget myself when I look about me at the heavier burdens these men have to bear, day and night. Look at that—look at it, and then try to talk to me."
He pointed back toward the stairs where a gang of eight laborers were carrying a heavy timber across the shadowy floor.