Part 6 (1/2)

”It only takes three words to say that,” said Pig Iron. ”But how?”

”Fire him out!” Tom was leaning forward in his chair, his elbows on his knees, his big, red hands interlocked. There was determination in his square face, in the set of his powerful red neck, in the hunch of his big shoulders. He gazed steadily at the two men for a brief s.p.a.ce.

”Boys, my mind's made up. I'm going to fight him.”

Pete and Barry looked at him in amazement.

”You're goin' to fight Buck Foley!” cried Barry.

”You're jokin'!” said Pig Iron.

”I'm in dead earnest.”

”You know what'll happen to you if you lose?” queried Barry.

”Yes. And I know Foley may not even give me a chance to lose,” Tom added grimly.

”You've got nerve to burn, Tom,” said Pig Iron. ”It's not an easy proposition. Myself, I'd as soon put on the gloves an' mix it up with the devil. An' to spit it right out on the carpet, Tom, I think Buck's done the union a lot o' good.”

”You're right there, Pete. No one knows that better than I do. As you fellows know, I left town eight years ago and was bridging in the West four years. I was pretty much of a kid when I went away, but I was old enough to see the union didn't have enough energy left to die. When I came back and saw what Foley'd done, I thought he was the greatest thing that ever happened. If he'd quit right then the union'd 'a' papered the hall with his pictures. But you know how he's changed since then. The public knows it, too. Look how the newspapers have been shooting it into him. I'm not fighting Foley as he was four or five years ago, Pete, but Foley as he is now.”

”There's no denyin' he's so crooked now he can't lay straight in bed,”

Pete admitted.

”We've got to get rid of him some time, haven't we?” Tom went on.

”Yes,” the two men conceded.

”Or sooner or later he'll smash the union. That's certain. Now there's only one way to get rid of him. That's to go out after him, and go after him hard.”

”But it's an awful risk for you, Tom,” said Barry.

”Someone's got to take it if we ever get rid of Foley.”

”One thing's straight, anyhow,” declared Pete. ”You're the best man in the union to go against Foley.”

”Of course,” said Barry.

Tom did not deny it.

There was a moment's silence. Then Pete asked: ”What's your plan?”

”Election comes the first meeting in March. I'm going to run against him for walking delegate.”

”If you care anything for my opinion,” said Pete, ”here it is: You've got about as much chance as a s...o...b..ll in h.e.l.l.”

”You're away off, Pig Iron. You know as well as I do that five-sixths of the men in the union are against Foley. Why do they stand for him?

Because they're unorganized, and he's got them bluffed out. If those men got together, Foley'd be the s...o...b..ll. That's what I'm going to try to do,--get those men in line.”

A door opened, and Mrs. Barry looked in. ”I left my gla.s.ses somewhere in there. Will I bother you men much if I look for 'em?”