'Tain't fair! 'Tain't fair!

(The walls are heard sighing)

Voice.

(From above)

Who will go down
 Where all is sorrow, woe, and strife,
 Where unshaped things are jostling into life?
 Who will go down?

Harry Egerton.

I will.

Voice of Mrs. Egerton.

(Full of anguish)

Harry! Harry!

(There is a thundering and crashing in the darkness)

Harry Egerton.

(Quickly staggering to his knees, then to his feet)

Here! here! Mother! mother!

(Instantly the darkness disappears. Morning is breaking over the mountains)

Harry Egerton.

(Looks about. Clasps his head in his hands)

Horrible! horrible!

(Sees the ashes of the fire. Recalls the incidents of the early night)

And went away.

(Notices that the boulder is gone. Looks down the slope, left)

The boulder thundering down the steep.
 I must have slept upon the ground.
 Ah, what is this?

(Gets down on his knees where the boulder lay)

The Mine! The Mine! The Mine!

ACT II

THE MILL

Scene: A street showing, right, the great lumber plant of the Egerton Company. Centre, occupying the greater part of the space between left and right, a sort of common, overstrewn, as such places usually are, with sawdust and waste sawings of the mill, extends back a hundred yards or so to where the river sweeps in from behind a rising slope on the left and disappears behind the high fence of the mill-yard on the right. Across the river, right, the same denuded mountains as were seen in the preceding Act, and, centre, the alluvial stretches of the valley widening out into the plains. Left rear, on this side of the river, a sort of hill comes in and upon its rather steep slope are rows of roughly built plank houses which have evidently been standing many years. They are all of one design and rest in the rear upon the ground, the front being propped up on posts, in some cases six or eight feet high. Of two or three of these shacks it would seem that the occupants had tried to have a garden, for here and there are small green patches as of late turnips, also tall stakes with withered bean vines clinging to them. From the numerous footpaths that come down toward the mill-gate it is evident that these shacks are the homes of the employees of the Egerton Company. The mill-yard on the right is surrounded by a high board-fence. New planks have recently been put in here and there, and on top of the fence, apparently just strung, are several rows of bright new barbed wire. Over the top of the fence and through the open gates of the driveway which is in the corner, a portion of the latter having been cut off for this purpose, are seen countless lumber stacks, and beyond these, far back and facing left, a section of an enormous mill. Along the comb of the roof, doubtless running its full length, is a large red sign with white letters of which one sees only: RTON AND CO.

Before the entrance to the mill-yard two of the State militia with rifles upon their shoulders patrol the property, one of them pacing right and left along the street in the foreground, the other backwards and forwards in the open space that goes toward the river. About twenty feet from the entrance stands a large red automobile, under which, stretched upon his back, lies the chauffeur, with his hands up fixing something.

As the Scene opens, the two sentries, one of them rolling a cigarette, the other with his gun behind his head and with his arms hanging over it, stand listening back toward the mill, where a number of voices are singing, 'There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town To-night.' When the song is finished a cheer goes up.

Time: The afternoon of the next day about four o'clock.

First Sentry.

All I say is, keep your tobacco dry
 And don't go wiring the folks at home
 To have your supper warm to-morrow night.

Chauffeur.

They'll be to work, all right, you take my word.

First Sentry.

There's such a thing as eating words until
 Your belly cries for something solider.

Chauffeur.

(Pointing toward the mill)

You see that smoke back there.

First Sentry.

That's all right, too.
 A kid can start a fire.

Chauffeur.

Wait and see.

A Militiaman.

(Who, half way back toward the mill, has climbed upon a lumber stack)

I nominate J. D. for Governor.

A Voice.

(Farther back, commandingly)

Shut up your mouth up there!

Second Voice.

Will you be good?

(The militiaman gets down from the stack)

Second Sentry.

How large a force is it they're counting on?

Chauffeur.

It's not the force. It's the effect 'twill have.
 You let a dog run for another's bone,
 You'll see the last dog do some running too.

First Sentry.

And do some fighting, maybe.

Chauffeur.

That's up to you.
 The law protects men in their right to work.

(The sentries whisper together)

Chauffeur.

The old man knows his business. All he says
 Is simply this, 'I'm bringing in the men.
 It's up to you to get them to the mill.'
 You see you don't know everything, my boy.

First Sentry.

You work for Egerton, and I don't blame you,
 But when you come right down to solid facts—
 And if you'll clear your eye a bit you'll see it—
 He's got his match in this man Williams.

Chauffeur.

What!

Second Sentry.

He's got his match in this man Williams.

Chauffeur.

C-h-rist!

First Sentry.

Figure it out yourself.

(He sees Wes Dicey who, with Jim King and Rome Masters, has just come in, right)

What do you want?

Dicey.

He knows me.

Chauffeur.

He's all right.

(Careful to keep out of sight of the shacks on the slope, Dicey and his companions whisper together near the fence. The Second Sentry, as though he had been neglecting his duty, goes out right, patrolling his beat)

First Sentry.

It's easy enough
 To figure it out, I say. There's thirteen men
 Returned to work in five weeks. In an hour
 You calculate four hundred will return.
 You fellows couldn't count nine pins for me.

(Dicey and his companions pull their hats down over their eyes, their collars up about their necks, and make briskly for the gate)

First Sentry.

(Starts back on his beat)

Talk of a man like that running the State.
 He'd better learn to run his business first.

(George Egerton, looking spick and span, comes out of the mill-yard, putting on one of his gloves. He glances at Dicey and his companions as they pass in. Suddenly he turns and whistles after them and saunters back into the mill-yard as if to speak with them)

George Egerton.

(Coming out a little later)

O Jack, will you tell mother——

Chauffeur.

Yes, sir.

George Egerton.

(Provoked)

What?
 Why do you put it that way? Now I've forgot.

(Continues putting on his glove)

Tell mother I've inquired of the men
 And they've seen nothing of him.

Chauffeur.

Yes, sir.

George Egerton.

What?

Chauffeur.

Nothing of Harry, sir.

George Egerton.

(Walks left, then comes back)

Jack.

Chauffeur.

Yes, sir.

George Egerton.

Jack.

(Looks over in the car)

Did you find any hair-pins in the car
 This morning?

Chauffeur.

Not this morning.

George Egerton.

(Takes a coin from his pocket and hands it to the chauffeur)

You'll take care.

(He goes out left, examining his face in a small mirror which he has taken out with the coin. The Second Sentry has come in right and stands reading a notice which is tacked on the fence)

Chauffeur.

By sun-down, don't it?

Second Sentry.

Something of the sort.

Chauffeur.

And the wind sharpening up across the plains.
 They'll think twice, won't they, before they stay out?

Second Sentry.

Who signed this name here?

Chauffeur.

Eg—the boss himself.

Second Sentry.

Hell of a hand he writes.

Chauffeur.

Your partner there
 Knows about as much of the situation here
 As a sea-turtle knows of sassafras.
 Talks of a match. There's been no match at all.
 The old man's never tried to start the mill.
 But let a thing like that go up some day.

(Buck Bentley with an empty nail keg in his hand comes from the mill-yard and sits down with his back to the farther gate-post and begins to fill his pipe)

Chauffeur.

If you've heard thunder, one of those loud claps
 That ends the winter, and if you'd lived here
 And knew the old man's power, then you'd know
 I'm shooting low when I say they'll be here,
 If they don't all fall dead upon the way.
 They've got to make hay now. Days don't stand still
 When the old man is moving to and fro.

(Goes about oiling the machine)

First Sentry.

(Coming forward)

If Williams comes, I'll tell you what he'll do.
 With the big force he'll have behind his back,
 He'll lock these gates and coop the old man up
 With Jergens and the Chief and all the rest.
 Then say, 'Now take me home.' You know the way.
 You'll take him to the big house on the hill.

(The Chauffeur turns and looks at him half in anger, half in contempt)

First Sentry.

You won't dare look at him that way.

Second Sentry.

Dan's right.
 You fellows, you that shove those things about,
 You have a way of knowing who's the lord.

First Sentry.

Exactly. And this man Williams up and down
 Is big as Egerton. And the old man's 'spike'
 Will touch him where the tailors say it should.
 And if it's lined with silk Williams won't care.
 He'll steer the big blow-out this afternoon
 And they won't know the difference. It's the front
 And the big planet here that people see;
 And Williams is as broad as Egerton.

(A militiaman comes hurrying from the mill-yard)

Militiaman.

Who's got a cigarette to trade for news?
 You couldn't guess it in a thousand years.

Second Sentry.

We're going home.

Militiaman.

Guess high; guess something great.

First Sentry.

The boys have met the strikers at the station
 And we're all going into action.

Militiaman.

Nope.
 Something the old man's done.

Second Sentry.

What?

Militiaman.

Put her there.

(The Sentry gives him a cigarette)

Ordered us down a big red tub of punch,
 With six or eight kegs of the foaming stuff.

(The Sentries stare comically at one another)

Militiaman.

Well, my tin soldiers? Under a shot like that
 To stand as cold as you do!

(Shouts in the ear of the First Sentry)

Punch, old man!

(To himself)

The wind of liquor and they've gone dead drunk!

First Sentry.

(Starts for the mill-gate, then turns)

Who said 'shut up' when some man back there cried
 'Hurrah for Egerton'?

Militiaman.

Cap. Haskell.

First Sentry.

(To the Second Sentry)

Eh?

Second Sentry.

Haskell to hell.

First Sentry.

(Shouting toward the mill)

Hurrah for Egerton
 For Governor!

Second Sentry.

Hip hurrah!

First Sentry.

Up with you, Buck!
 We'll have no traitors in the camp, by God.
 Up on your pins and shout 'Hurrah!' three times.

(He seizes Bentley and they wrestle into the mill-yard)

Second Sentry.

Eight kegs, you say?

Militiaman.

(Slapping him on the back)

And punch, old man, and punch!
 Reception punch!

(He hurries out toward the mill. Bentley enters, followed by the First Sentry)

Second Sentry.

What do you think of that?

First Sentry.

(To the Chauffeur, with affected disdain)

Talk about Williams downing such a man!

First Sentry.

(Nodding toward the Chauffeur)

And he, too, in the employ of Egerton!

Chauffeur.

Fine pair of knaves! You'll drink his wine all right.

Second Sentry.

(On his way out, points to the notice)

Look what a damn fine hand the old man writes.

(Goes out right)

First Sentry.

(On his way back, to the Chauffeur)

It's a good thing that some men never tell.

(Walks slowly, rifle up; then from rear)

Hurrah for Egerton for Governor!

Voice of Second Sentry.

(Out right)

Halt!

(A pause)

Halt!

(Buck Bentley rises from the keg and comes forward)

Do You Hear!

(The Chauffeur leaps from the car and hurries forward. There is a shot)

First Sentry.

(Running forward)

Who is it?

Militiaman.

(Hurrying from the mill-yard)

What was that?

(Voices are heard right. A moment later the Second Sentry enters with Harvey Anderson, who carries in his arms fragments of the cast that has been broken by the shot)

Second Sentry.

Where in the hell have you been living
 That you don't know enough to stop when——

Harvey Anderson.

Pard,
 If I'd stop every time some man said stop,
 I'd still be standing somewhere.

(He walks left, away from the others, who exchange glances as if amazed at the man's audacity. He lays the largest of the pieces upon the ground, then looks among the others in his arms. Donald Egerton and General Chadbourne, both evidently dressed for a function, the latter being in full military uniform, brand new, come quickly from the mill-yard, followed by Jergens and the Chief of Police)

Chadbourne.

What's the trouble?

Second Sentry.

This man came through the line. I called three times.

Chadbourne.

(To Harvey Anderson)

Don't you know better than do such a thing?

Captain Haskell.

(Comes from the mill-yard, then turns and calls back)

Stay where you are. We'll attend to this affair.

Egerton.

What business have you here?

Harvey Anderson.

I just came down
 To look about a bit.

Jergens.

To look about!
 You think we're running a menagerie?
 Didn't you see these soldiers? What do you mean?

Harvey Anderson.

(To the Chief of Police)

Just step back, pard. I'm neither dog nor bear.

(Back in the mill-yard militiamen are seen climbing on top of lumber piles to see what the trouble is)

Egerton.

Came down from where?

Harvey Anderson.

From up there on the mountains.

Jergens.

To look about for what?

Harvey Anderson.

Just anything—
 Just anything that's 'round to see.

(He gets down and begins to fit the pieces together. The men watch him. Suddenly he stops and looks about him)

Did I——

(He rises and goes right to where a piece of the cast lies upon the ground)

Chief of Police.

Shall I take charge of him, Mr. Egerton?
 I'll lock him up if you say so.

Chadbourne.

(As Anderson returns)

Don't you know
 That when a sentry challenges a man
 He's got the right to shoot him in his tracks?

Harvey Anderson.

The risk's on me, pard.

Chadbourne.

Eh!

Harvey Anderson.

The risk's on me.

Chadbourne.

You take care, sir, how you're addressing me.

(Jergens walks rear, takes from his pocket some field glasses, which he polishes with a handkerchief. The Chauffeur joins him. Chadbourne turns and says something vicious to the Second Sentry)

Egerton.

How came you by this thing?

Harvey Anderson.

I'm of the men
 That Egerton sent out.

Egerton.

Jergens, is he
 One of our men?

Harvey Anderson.

(Glancing up)

You Egerton?

Chief of Police.

He is.

Jergens.

There's many of them that I never saw;
 But he's got that, so I suppose he is.

(He searches the mountains with his glasses. The rest contemplate him in silence. In Anderson's eyes, as he watches them, there is a strange, glad light. Indeed throughout the Scene his manner is that of a man who is hiding a tremendous triumph)

Haskell.

He's out here with his glasses every day.

Chadbourne.

One of the richest mines in all the West——

Egerton.

Very rich mine.

Chadbourne.

So I have been informed.

Chief of Police.

Been lost for fifty years.

Chadbourne.

But with this thing——

(Indicating the cast)

You're almost sure to find it.

Second Sentry.

(To First Sentry, evidently meaning Chadbourne)

A damn fool.

Egerton.

Yes, we expect the signal any day.

(Dicey, King, and Masters appear just inside the mill-yard and, catching the eye of the Chauffeur, point to Jergens, who, later, hands the glasses to the Chauffeur and goes to Dicey in the mill-yard)

Chief of Police.

The citizens had arranged a demonstration.
 Flags were to go up that day and cannon boom,
 And Colonel Egerton was to make a speech.

Egerton.

Yes, Clayton, and I'll tell them something, too.

Chief of Police.

I guess they'll be ashamed to have it now.

Egerton.

Why didn't you stay out on the mountains?

Harvey Anderson.

Well——

Egerton.

Get tired?

Jergens.

Chief!

Harvey Anderson.

Can't say——

Egerton.

Then what's the trouble?

(The Chief of Police joins Jergens and with the three men they disappear in the mill-yard)

Harvey Anderson.

Well, you see, Mr. Egerton, it's this way:
 A man can piece together things like this,
 But somehow you can't get hold of that in here
 That goes to pieces when your faith breaks up.

Egerton.

What do you mean?

Harvey Anderson.