Bannon closed his watch with a snap.

“No,” he said, “and we won’t throw away any good time trying.  You’d better round up the committee that’s supposed to run this lodge and send them here.  That young Murphy’s one of them—­he can put you straight.  Bring Pete back with you, and the new man, James.”

Max lingered, with a look of awe and admiration.

“Are you going to stand out, Mr. Bannon?” he asked.

Bannon dropped his feet to the floor, and turned toward the table.

“Yes,” he said.  “We’re going to stand out.”

Since Bannon’s talk with President Carver a little drama had been going on in the local lodge, a drama that neither Bannon, Max, nor Peterson knew about.  James had been selected by Carver for this work because of proved ability and shrewdness.  He had no sooner attached himself to the lodge, and made himself known as an active member, than his personality, without any noticeable effort on his part, began to make itself felt.  Up to this time Grady had had full swing, for there had been no one among the laborers with force enough to oppose him.

The first collision took place at an early meeting after Grady’s last talk with Bannon.  The delegate, in the course of the meeting, bitterly attacked Bannon, accusing him, at the climax of his oration, of an attempt to buy off the honest representative of the working classes for five thousand dollars.  This had a tremendous effect on the excitable minds before him.  He finished his speech with an impassioned tirade against the corrupt influences of the money power, and was mopping his flushed face, listening with elation to the hum of anger that resulted, confident that he had made his point, when James arose.  The new man was as familiar with the tone of the meetings of laborers as Grady himself.  At the beginning he had no wish further than to get at the truth.  Grady had not stated his case well.  It had convinced the laborers, but to James it had weak points.  He asked Grady a few pointed questions, that, had the delegate felt the truth behind him, should not have been hard to answer.  But Grady was still under the spell of his own oratory, and in attempting to get his feet back on the ground, he bungled.  James did not carry the discussion beyond the point where Grady, in the bewilderment of recognizing this new element in the lodge, lost his temper, but when he sat down, the sentiment of the meeting had changed.  Few of those men could have explained their feelings; it was simply that the new man was stronger than they were, perhaps as strong as Grady, and they were influenced accordingly.

There was no decision for a strike at that meeting.  Grady, cunning at the business, immediately dropped open discussion, and, smarting under the sense of lost prestige, set about regaining his position by well-planned talk with individual laborers.  This went on, largely without James’ knowledge, until Grady felt sure that a majority of the men were back in his control.  This time he was determined to carry through the strike without the preliminary vote of the men.  It was a bold stroke, but boldness was needed to defeat Charlie Bannon; and nobody knew better than Grady that a dashing show of authority would be hard for James or any one else to resist.