“All right,” said Bannon, patiently; “no hurry.”

During the full torrent of Grady’s eloquence the work had not actually been interrupted.  The big boom bearing its load of timber swept in over the distributing floor with unbroken regularity; but the men had worked with only half their minds and had given as close attention as they dared to the delegate’s fervid utterances.  But from the moment Bannon appeared there had been a marked change in the attitude of the little audience; they steered the hoist and canted the timbers about with a sudden enthusiasm which made Bannon smile a little as he stood watching them.

Grady could not pump up a word to say.  He cleared his throat loudly once or twice, but the men ignored him utterly.  He kept casting his shifty little sidewise glances at the boss, wondering why he didn’t go away, but Bannon continued to stand there, giving an occasional direction, and watching the progress of the work with much satisfaction.  The little delegate shifted his weight from one foot to the other and cleared his throat again.  Then he saw that two or three of the men were grinning.  That was too much.

“Well, I’ll go with you,” he snapped.

Bannon could not be sure how much of an impression Grady’s big words and his ridiculous assumption of importance had made upon the men, but he determined to counteract it as thoroughly as possible, then and there.  It was a sort of gallery play that he had decided on, but he felt sure it would prove effective.

Grady turned to go down as he had come up, by the ladders, but Bannon caught him by the shoulder, saying with a laugh:  “Oh, don’t waste your time walking.  Take the elevator.”  His tone was friendly but his grip was like a man-trap, and he was propelling Grady straight toward the edge of the building.  Four big timbers had just come up and Bannon caught the released rope as it came trailing by.  “Here,” he said; “put your foot in the hook and hang on, and you’ll come down in no time.”

Grady laughed nervously.  “No you don’t.  I suppose you’d be glad to get rid of me that way.  You don’t come that on me.”

The men were watching with interest; Bannon raised his voice a little.  “All right,” he said, thrusting his foot into the great hook, “if you feel that way about it.  We’ll have a regular passenger elevator in here by and by, with an electric bell and sliding door, for the capitalist crowd that are going to own the place.  But we workingmen get along all right on this.  Swing off, boys.”

He waited for Grady down below.  It mattered very little to him now whether the walking delegate chose to follow him down the hoist or to walk down on the ladders, for every one had seen that Grady was afraid.  Bannon had seen all the men grinning broadly as he began his descent, and that was all he wanted.

Evidently Grady’s fear of the rope was less than his dread of the ridicule of the men, for Bannon saw him preparing to come down after the next load.  He took a long time getting ready, but at last they started him.  He was the color of a handful of waste when he reached the ground, and he staggered as he walked with Bannon over to the office.  He dropped into a chair and rubbed his forehead with his coat-sleeve.