She reached up her lips and kissed him--for he was much the taller--and
then he hurried back to the shop with a heavy heart.

As he entered the yard, he noticed a knot of the workmen near the
entrance, holding what appeared to be a very secret conference.


CHAPTER III.

Larry in a Quandary.

What lent the air of secrecy to the conference of the workmen was the
fact that they suddenly dispersed with significant winks and nods as
Larry approached.

Another suspicious circumstance was the fact that all, or nearly all,
were hands who had been employed in the works only a few months.

Early in the previous spring fifty or sixty of the Tioga Iron Company's
hands had gone out on a strike, and were promptly discharged, and a new
gang that appeared in town rather opportunely, as it seemed, were hired
to take their places.

The most of those who were talking together so secretly were members of
this gang; and quite prominent among them was Steve Croly.

Joe Cuttle was firing up, the red glare from the glowing furnaces
lighting up his homely face.

"What were those men talking about out by the entrance just now?" Larry