Reilly started to reply, but his companion checked him. "That's all right," he said. "I know your side of it. Wait for me up by the car line."
When Reilly had gone Bannon repeated his invitation to sit down.
"You probably know why I've come," the delegate began. "Mr. Reilly has charged you with treating him unjustly and with drawing a revolver on him. Of course, in a case like this, we try to get at both sides before we take any action. Would you give me your account of it?"
Bannon told in twenty words just how it had happened. The agent said cautiously: "Reilly told another story."
"I suppose so. Now, I don't ask you to take my word against his. If you'd like to investigate the business, I'll give you all the opportunity you want."
"If we find that he did drop the hammer by accident, would you be willing to take him back?"
Bannon smiled. "There's no use in my telling you what I'll do till you tell me what you want me to do, is there?"
Bannon held out his hand when the man rose to go.
"Any time you think there's something wrong out here, or anything you don't understand, come out and we'll talk it over. I treat a man as well as I can, if he's square with me."
He walked to the door with the agent and closed it after him. As he turned back to the draughting table, he found Hilda's eyes on him. "They're very clean chaps, mostly, those walking delegates," he said. "If you treat 'em half as well as you'd treat a yellow dog, they're likely to be very reasonable. If one of 'em does happen to be a rascal, though, he's meaner to handle than frozen dynamite. I expect to be white-headed before I'm through with that man Grady."