They'll blow in relay, pards, from sea to sea.

(Harry Egerton stands and watches the militiamen depart. As Bentley goes down the stairs he turns and looks at Harry Egerton, who lifts his hand to his head in a sort of military salute)

Chris Knudson.

That's what they say about us, Wes, you know
 That when the thing we've fought is taken away
 We'll fight among ourselves.

Wes Dicey.

(To Harry Egerton)

I ain't a man,
 And never have been one, to set my views
 Against the boys' views. If they're satisfied
 And think the new way's better than the old,
 And if they'll vote for it, Wes and his friends
 Will have no grouch.

Several.

That's all right.

A Voice.

Then come on.

Harry Egerton.

To get along together, as Sam says,
 That's what we seek, my friend. The rest will come.

Wes Dicey.

It's for the boys I took the stand I did.

(The workmen go back into the mill. Harry Egerton watches Dicey until he is lost among the men that pass out rear)

Harvey Anderson.

(Who has been watching him)

Partner.

Harry Egerton.

(Who has started to follow the men)

What is it, Harvey?

Harvey Anderson.

What's this mean?

Harry Egerton.

We cannot be too patient with these men.
 It's a free mill we're trying to build, Harvey.

Harvey Anderson.

'Tain't that I mean.

(Takes the will from his pocket)

Why did you give me this?

Harry Egerton.

As a precaution, Harvey.

Harvey Anderson.

(To Jim King, who lingers about beyond the railing)

We'll be there.

Harry Egerton.

If anything should happen to me, you know,
 My father would inherit everything.

Harvey Anderson.

Yes.

Harry Egerton.

And God meant the mine for other things.
 And as administrators you and Sam
 And Buck I knew would carry on the work.

Harvey Anderson.

But why just now? Come on and tell me, partner.
 There's something up. You ain't been like yourself.
 There's something on your heart. What is it, partner?
 It ain't the faction?

Harry Egerton.

No.

Harvey Anderson.

About the mine—
 That lie they told is eating in your heart.

Harry Egerton.

Have I done anything that you know, Harvey,
 That could have wronged the men or any of them?

Harvey Anderson.

You wronged them? What you mean?

Harry Egerton.

In any way?

Harvey Anderson.

Why they'd die for you, partner. What you mean?

Harry Egerton.

Come here to-night when we can be alone.
 There are some things I want to tell you, Harvey,
 That you and Sam and Buck must carry out.

Harvey Anderson.

(Looks at him a long while, then lays his hands upon his shoulders)

We're on the eve of seeing things come true
 And there ain't nothing that can stop it, partner.

Harry Egerton.

I don't know what I'd do without you, Harvey.

(They go back through the gate in the railing and out through the great door, left, whence the crowd has passed. Rome Masters comes furtively up the stairs and looks about. He then comes past the sash to the door, forward left, and begins to pull off the strip that is nailed across it. He has just loosened it when Jim King appears upon the stairs and gives a low whistle. Rome Masters quickly joins him and together they hurry back through the mill and out the great door, left. A moment later the First Guard comes up the stairs, followed by Ralph Ardsley and Bishop Hardbrooke)

First Guard.

I'll find him.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

If you please.

(The Guard goes back through the mill)

Bishop Hardbrooke.

I don't like this.
 The atmosphere's too charged with victory.

Ralph Ardsley.

I don't believe they even know it's cold.

(Looks about)

It's wonderful the way he's handled things.
 It's that, I think, as much as anything
 That's won the confidence of the citizens.
 I was just sure they'd have a riot here.

(He gets up on one of the stools before the desk and takes from his overcoat pocket a newspaper which he spreads out before him)

I've thought about it, Bishop; don't you think
 That that injunction Egerton got out
 Against the mine, considering everything,
 The public feeling—if he has good grounds
 For claiming that his own men found the mine—
 Aside from the reflection on his son—
 A tactical mistake, don't you think so?

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Best not allude to that.

Ralph Ardsley.

I think so too.

(He reads the paper. The Bishop stands listening to the indistinct noises that come from the crowd outside)

Ralph Ardsley.

And yet you can't blame Jergens very much.
 Something has got to happen pretty soon.
 Amalgamated's off again, I see.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Who is this Harvey Anderson?

Ralph Ardsley.

He's the rough
 That kept the men from going back that day.
 Drew his revolver. Big man here now. You see
 He'd been out on the mountains with a cast,
 One of the men the Company had out.
 So it's quite possible, as Jergens claims,
 That Anderson found the mine. For gold these days—
 To get possession of a mine like that—
 Men have been killed for less.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

But Harry——

Ralph Ardsley.

That,
 That's what I can't get down me, his collusion——

(Cheers outside)

It's probably Anderson haranguing them.
 I don't myself believe that Harry'd do it.

(Tremendous cheering)

There's certainly enthusiasm there.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

What is it, Editor Ardsley?

Ralph Ardsley.

I don't know.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

What's it all mean? What's underneath it all?

Ralph Ardsley.

We're neither of us, Bishop, what we were.
 We've lost our power. Something's happening
 That we don't understand.

(A pause)

And done by men
 That live right here and walk the streets and talk,
 Buy vegetables and pass the time of day.
 I tell you, Bishop Hardbrooke, you can't tell.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

(Half to himself)

As though they had the Ark of the Covenant.

Ralph Ardsley.

If any one had said to me last week
 That that despondent crowd of shabby men,
 After six weeks of battle against odds,
 And beaten into silence, starved and cold,
 Had in them the capacity for this—
 Who was it said we're always in a flux,
 That nothing's fixed? We don't know anything.
 It's like a case of type; to-day it spells
 Egerton and to-morrow M-o-b.
 To think of Donald Egerton at bay!
 Egad!

Bishop Hardbrooke.

These shouts once rose about the Church,
 But somehow we don't hear them any more.

Ralph Ardsley.

Don't think for a moment, Bishop, that you're alone.
 We never had the tumult and the shout
 That you had in old days, but it's all the same.
 The 'Power of the Press'! It makes me laugh.
 If I could find a little farm somewhere,
 I'd sell my stock to Egerton and get out
 And let the world go hang. I'm tired of it.

(Cheers outside)

Yes, there's a ring about it you don't hear
 Even in Conventions.

(The Guard enters the mill, back left, and comes through the gate in the railing)

Guard.

In a moment.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Thank you.

(The Guard goes out down the stairs)

Ralph Ardsley.

What's your opinion of the trouble, Bishop?

(To himself)

To think of Donald Egerton at bay!

Bishop Hardbrooke.

We've had the matter up in Conference
 Several times.

Ralph Ardsley.

Yes.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

But I somehow feel
 We don't get hold of it. The lower classes—
 They're going off. I don't believe it's Christ.
 You say they're leaving you; and General Chadbourne—
 Two thirds, I think you said, of his command.

Ralph Ardsley.

Facing State's prison, too

(Cheers outside. The two men remain silent)

Ralph Ardsley.

And Egerton—
 They certainly have left him. I thought last night
 As I sat looking up toward that new home—

(Cheers outside)

They'll never light it up again that way,
 The way it was that day. Did you ever see
 Anything to equal that reception hall?

Bishop Hardbrooke.

What's in the boy that these men follow him,
 And all his life so quiet, almost timid?

Ralph Ardsley.

'What go ye out into the wilderness for to see?'

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Yes, if his cause were better.

Ralph Ardsley.

There you are.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

But this audacious, this deliberate
 Stealing—though I hate to use the word—
 This seizing of the mill——

Ralph Ardsley.

Here he comes now.

(He gets down from the stool)

You do the talking, Bishop, the heavy part.

(Harry Egerton enters)

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Harry.

Harry Egerton.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Ralph Ardsley.

You don't seem
 To mind the cold or anything down here.

Harry Egerton.

We have been busy.

Ralph Ardsley.

I should think so. Yes
 It's wonderful the way you've plunged right in
 To business.

Harry Egerton.

Yes.

Ralph Ardsley.

Things going pretty well?

Harry Egerton.

Yes.

Ralph Ardsley.

I'm glad.

Harry Egerton.

You sent for me.

Ralph Ardsley.

Yes.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Harry,
 We've come to see if something can't be done
 To end this controversy and bring peace,
 An honorable peace to all concerned.
 A permanent state of strife is far from pleasant.
 There's nothing sadder in the life of man
 Than to see towns disrupted, classes arrayed
 Against each other, to say nothing, Harry,
 Of this far dearer tie that's straining here,
 That pains us all far more than we can tell.
 We've often had these troubles in the Church,
 Mostly in the past, of course, men differing
 Upon some point of doctrine or government.
 And my experience is that at the bottom
 There's something that at first was overlooked,
 Then, in the strife that followed, overwhelmed.
 There's common ground, there must be in these things.
 Look at the world; we pass along the street.
 We don't confront each other and block the way.
 Each yields a bit and so we all pass on.
 And in relationships it must be the same.
 We're one, my brother.

Ralph Ardsley.

Like our fingers here.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

And when we're not, when interests seem to clash,
 It's just as sure as Death or anything
 Some law of God is being tampered with.
 And so we thought we'd come——

Ralph Ardsley.

And now's the time.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

For, as you know, in town the feeling's growing
 That there's a sword impending over us
 Which the least breath will bring down on our heads.

Ralph Ardsley.

And not in the town alone, but the whole State—
 They seem to have their eyes upon us here.
 You've seen the papers how the strikes are spreading.
 The mills at Upton and the plant at Sawyer,
 And down the State there's Smith and Balding Brothers,
 Heacox and Knight, twelve hundred men gone out,
 Demanding unconditionally the mills.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Think of it, Harry, think of what this means!

Ralph Ardsley.

Not satisfied with wages any more.

Harry Egerton.

Pardon me.

(Walks rear and listens)

Bishop Hardbrooke.

He doesn't listen to what I say.

Ralph Ardsley.

Not that you are to blame for it, we don't say that.
 But probably without your knowing it
 A fire or something's going out of you
 That's kindling this industrial upheaval;
 For it's your name they've made the war-cry, Harry.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

He even smiled when you spoke of the mills
 Closing.

Ralph Ardsley.

I don't think he meant it so.
 His heart's out there, though, that's as plain as day.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Harry, if these shouts mean a final step,
 A closing up of things which if once closed
 Will render of no use any labor of ours,
 I beg of you to call this meeting off,
 At least until we see what we can do.

Ralph Ardsley.

Postpone it, Harry, say till Monday morning.
 You know yourself how dangerous it is
 To wake men's hopes to a wild dream of power.
 They're never afterwards content with less
 Than that wild something that could never be.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Yes, brother, let the Lord's day with its peace
 Breathe on this quarrel. Why do you say too late?

Harry Egerton.

(Who has come forward)

Because it's up there, Bishop, it's up there
 Above mere bread.

Ralph Ardsley.

What does he mean by that?

Bishop Hardbrooke.

I trust, my brother, that it is up there.

Ralph Ardsley.

We don't just see what it is you are trying to do.

Harry Egerton.

The statement I gave out last Saturday——

Ralph Ardsley.

That was a week ago.

Harry Egerton.

Yes.

Ralph Ardsley.

And since then
 Reports have come out that there's a move on foot
 To organize—I know not what to call it——

Harry Egerton.

A Commonwealth of Workers.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Then it's true!

Ralph Ardsley.

Your purpose then is to retain the mill?

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Purchase it?

Harry Egerton.

I don't know. We'll do what's fair.
 We've had to think first of supplying bread.
 That's left but little time for other things.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

But if the Company shouldn't choose to sell?

Harry Egerton.

That is with them.

Ralph Ardsley.

You mean you'll still hold on?

Harry Egerton.

That will be my advice, yes.

Ralph Ardsley.

But the Law.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

'Thou shalt not steal.'

(Harry Egerton walks rear and listens)

Ralph Ardsley.

Doesn't that beat the world!

Bishop Hardbrooke.

It's his association with these roughs.

Ralph Ardsley.

And they'll never dare lay hands upon them, Bishop.
 I tell you the Commonwealth's afraid to move.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Has God no place in business, my young brother?

Harry Egerton.

(Returning)

Yes, Bishop Hardbrooke, and it's very strange
 You've never thought of that until to-day.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

A hidden meaning couched in that, I think.

Harry Egerton.

This is the first time you've been in this mill
 Or near these workingmen in all these years.
 And now you come to plead my father's cause.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

I come for peace.

Harry Egerton.

Then why not weeks ago
 When there was strife? You heard the cry of the poor
 For six weeks, Bishop, and you never came.
 Why wait until the starving time is past?

Bishop Hardbrooke.

I've rather arduous duties, my young brother.
 Besides my Church work there are Boards and Boards
 And meetings of this Charity and that
 That you in business know but little of.
 My interest in the poor is not unknown.

Harry Egerton.

You've been in father's confidence for years.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

I'm proud to say I have.

Harry Egerton.

There's seldom passed
 A Sunday that he's not been in his pew.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

A creditable record.

Ralph Ardsley.

I should say.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

And one that any son might emulate
 With profit, I should think.

Harry Egerton.

It's very strange
 My father doesn't know some things are wrong.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

You mean he doesn't see things as you do.

Harry Egerton.

Yes, all my life I've wondered when I've seen
 Check after check go out with father's name
 To help along some Mission over sea
 Or roof some rising Charity at home,
 I've often wondered that he's never seen
 Those little shacks upon the hill out there
 Nor heard the cry of widows from these saws.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

I would suggest, my brother, that we leave
 The deeper things of God for quiet times
 And turn our minds to something nearer home.

Harry Egerton.

I know of nothing nearer home than this,
 The cry of men for justice at our doors.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Suppose we get the Company to agree
 To let bygones be bygones with the men,
 And to restore conditions as they were——

Ralph Ardsley.

In other words to meet the men's demands.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

And put the guards they ask about the saws.
 That would remove the causes, would it not,
 Of the misunderstanding?

Ralph Ardsley.

Every one.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Would there be any valid reason then
 Why Peace should not return and all be friends
 As formerly?

Harry Egerton.

For weeks they waited for it.

(Listens back)

Bishop Hardbrooke.

What's time to do with right and wrong, my brother?

Harry Egerton.

But men in misery often have a vision
 Beyond the eye of prosperous days to see.

Bishop Hardbrooke.