“Boys,” he cried, “they've kidnapped our committee. They think they'll break our strike that way—but they'll find they've made a mistake!”
“They will! Right you are!” roared a score of voices.
“Hurrah! Hurrah!” The cry echoed to the canyon-walls.
“And hurrah for the big union that will back us—the United Mine-Workers of America!”
Again the yell rang out; again and again. “Hurrah for the union! Hurrah for the United Mine-Workers!” A big American miner, Ferris, was in the front of the throng2, and his voice beat in Hal's ears like a steam-siren.
“Boys,” Hal resumed, when at last he could be heard, “use your brains a moment. I warned you they would try to provoke you! They would like nothing better than to start a scrap3 here, and get a chance to smash our union! Don't forget that, boys, if they can make you fight, they'll smash the union, and the union is our only hope!”
Again came the cry: “Hurrah for the union!” Hal let them shout it in twenty languages, until they were satisfied.
“Now, boys,” he went on, at last, “they've shipped out our committee. They may ship me out in the same way—”
“No, they won't!” shouted voices in the crowd. And there was a bellow4 of rage from Ferris. “Let them try it! We'll burn them in their beds!”
“But they can ship me out!” argued Hal. “You know they can beat us at that game! They can call on the sheriff, they can get the soldiers, if necessary! We can't oppose them by force—they can turn out every man, woman and child in the village, if they choose. What we have to get clear is that even that won't crush our union! Nor the big union outside, that will be backing us! We can hold out, and make them take us back in the end!”
Some of Hal's friends, seeing what he was trying to do, came to his support. “No fighting! No violence! Stand by the union!” And he went on to drive the lesson home; even though the company might evict5 them, the big union of the four hundred and fifty thousand mine-workers of the country would feed them, it would call out the rest of the workers in the district in sympathy. So the bosses, who thought to starve and cow them into submission6, would find their mines lying permanently7 idle. They would be forced to give way, and the tactics of solidarity8 would triumph.
So Hal went on, recalling the things Olson had told him, and putting them into practice. He saw hope in their faces again, dispelling9 the mood of resentment10 and rage.
“Now, boys,” said he, “I'm going in to see the superintendent11 for you. I'll be your committee, since they've shipped out the rest.”
“All right, men—now mind what I say! I'll see the super, and then I'll go down to Pedro, where there'll be some officers of the United Mine-workers this morning. I'll tell them the situation, and ask them to back you. That's what you want, is it?”
That was what they wanted. “Big union!”
“All right. I'll do the best I can for you, and I'll find some way to get word to you. And meantime you stand firm. The bosses will tell you lies, they'll try to deceive you, they'll send spies and trouble-makers among you—but you hold fast, and wait for the big union.”
Hal stood looking at the cheering crowd. He had time to note some of the faces upturned to him. Pitiful, toil-worn faces they were, each making its separate appeal, telling its individual story of deprivation13 and defeat. Once more they were transfigured, shining with that wonderful new light which he had seen for the first time the previous evening. It had been crushed for a moment, but it flamed up again; it would never die in the hearts of men—once they had learned the power it gave. Nothing Hal had yet seen moved him so much as this new birth of enthusiasm. A beautiful, a terrible thing it was!
Hal looked at his brother, to see how he had been moved. What he saw on his brother's face was satisfaction, boundless14 relief. The matter had turned out all right! Hal was coming away!
Hal turned again to the men; somehow, after his glance at Edward, they seemed more pitiful than ever. For Edward typified the power they were facing—the unseeing, uncomprehending power that meant to crush them. The possibility of failure was revealed to Hal in a flash of emotion, overwhelming him. He saw them as they would be, when no leader was at hand to make speeches to them. He saw them waiting, their life-long habit of obedience15 striving to reassert itself; a thousand fears besetting16 them, a thousand rumours17 preying18 upon them—wild beasts set on them by their cunning enemies. They would suffer, not merely for themselves, but for their wives and children—the very same pangs20 of dread21 that Hal suffered when he thought of one old man up in Western City, whose doctors had warned him to avoid excitement.
If they stood firm, if they kept their bargain with their leader, they would be evicted22 from their homes, they would face the cold of the coming winter, they would face hunger and the black-list. And he, meantime—what would he be doing? What was his part of the bargain? He would interview the superintendent for them, he would turn them over to the “big union”—and then he would go off to his own life of ease and pleasure. To eat grilled23 steaks and hot rolls in a perfectly24 appointed club, with suave25 and softly-moving servitors at his beck! To dance at the country club with exquisite26 creatures of chiffon and satin, of perfume and sweet smiles and careless, happy charms! No, it was too easy! He might call that his duty to his father and brother, but he would know in his heart that it was treason to life; it was the devil, taking him onto a high mountain and showing him all the kingdoms of the earth!
Moved by a sudden impulse, Hal raised his hands once more. “Boys,” he said, “we understand each other now. You'll not go back to work till the big union tells you. And I, for my part, will stand by you. Your cause is my cause, I'll go on fighting for you till you have your rights, till you can live and work as men! Is that right?”
“That's right! That's right!”
“Very good, then—we'll swear to it!” And Hal raised his hands, and the men raised theirs, and amid a storm of shouts, and a frantic27 waving of caps, he made them the pledge which he knew would bind28 his own conscience. He made it deliberately29, there in his brother's presence. This was no mere19 charge on a trench30, it was enlisting31 for a war! But even in that moment of fervour, Hal would have been frightened had he realised the period of that enlistment32, the years of weary and desperate conflict to which he was pledging his life.
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1
hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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4
bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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evict
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| vt.驱逐，赶出，撵走 | |
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6
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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solidarity
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| n.团结；休戚相关 | |
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dispelling
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的现在分词 ) | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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deprivation
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| n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困 | |
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boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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16
besetting
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| adj.不断攻击的v.困扰( beset的现在分词 )；不断围攻；镶；嵌 | |
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17
rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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18
preying
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| v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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22
evicted
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| v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
grilled
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| adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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28
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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31
enlisting
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| v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的现在分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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32
enlistment
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| n.应征入伍，获得，取得 | |
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