Bannon rode to Manistogee on the first wagon. The barge was there, so the
work of loading the cribbing into her began at once. There were numerous
interruptions at first, but later in the day the stream of wagons became
almost continuous. Farmers living on other than the Manistogee roads came
into Ledyard and hurried back to tell their neighbors of the chance to get
ahead of the railroad for once. Dennis, who was in charge at the yard, had
hard work to keep up with the supply of empty wagons.

Sloan disappeared early in the morning, but at five o'clock Bannon had a
telephone message from him. "I'm here at Blake City," he said, "raising
hell. The general manager gets here at nine o'clock tonight to talk with
me. They're feeling nervous about your getting that message. I think you'd
better come up here and talk to him."

So a little after nine that night the three men, Sloan, Bannon, and the
manager, sat down to talk it over. And the fact that in the first place an
attempt to boycott could be proved, and in the second that Page & Company
were getting what they wanted anyway--while they talked a long procession
of cribbing was creaking along by lantern light to Manistogee--finally
convinced the manager that the time had come to yield as gracefully as
possible.

"He means it this time," said Sloan, when he and Bannon were left alone at
the Blake City hotel to talk things over.

"Yes, I think he does. If he don't, I'll come up here again and have a
short session with him."