"Metz, I have given you my final answer. The mines and breakers close on
the day I stated."

Carl Metz is the foreman of the largest of the Paradise Company's Coal
shafts, the "Big Horn." He is in consultation with Mr. Gorman Purdy, the
president of the company. Their closing remarks as just quoted are
uttered as they stand on the steps leading to the street from the
offices on the main square of Wilkes-Barre.

The men nod to each other, and separate.

"What did he say?" a man demands of Metz, in a weak voice. The
questioner is a typical miner. Death has placed its irrevocable stamp
upon him; he has served his three years in the pits; has been
transferred to the breakers when the signs of failing strength are
perceived by the mine overseer. In another year he will be in the hands
of the mortuary vulture; his last week's earnings will go to pay for the
hard earned grave that is grudgingly given "A Miner."

"He says the mines will close."

"Yes, and we will starve. Well, you can tell him that we won't."

"I told him that the men were desperate."

"And he laughed at you. Why wouldn't he? We have threatened to strike
for three years. It's getting to be an old story. This time it's our
turn to laugh."

"What do you mean, Eric?" is the anxious query of Metz. He detects a