"Dakin set out guards?" Mac asked.
"Yeah."
"He's a good man. I knew he was a good man, cool-headed man."
They stopped by a big, peaked troop tent. "Guess I'll turn in," Doc said. "Here's where my bodyguard sleeps."
"Good idea," Mac agreed. "You'll probably have some bandaging to do tomorrow."
When Doc had disappeared inside the tent, Mac turned to Jim. "No reason why you shouldn't get some sleep too."
"What are you going to do, Mac?"
"Me? Oh, I thought I'd take a look around, see if everything's all right."
"I want to go with you. I just follow you around."
"Sh-h, don't talk so loud." Mac walked slowly toward the line of cars. "You do help me, Jim. It may be sloppy as an old woman, but you keep me from being scared."
"I don't do anything but pad around after you," said Jim.
"I know. I guess I'm getting soft. I'm scared something might happen to you. I shouldn't have brought you down, Jim. I'm getting to depend on you."
"Well, what're we going to do now, Mac?"
"I wish you'd go to bed. I'm going to try to have a talk with those cops in the road."
"What for?"
"Listen, Jim, you didn't get bothered by what Doc said, did you?"
"No. I didn't listen."
"Well, it's a bunch of bunk; but here's something that isn't bunk. You win a strike two ways, because the men put up a steady fight, and because public sentiment comes over to your side. Now most of this valley belongs to a few guys. That means the rest of the people don't own much of anything. The few owners either have to pay 'em or lie to 'em. Those cops out in the road are special deputies, just working stiffs with a star and a gun and a two-weeks' job. I thought I'd try and sound 'em out; try and find out how they feel about the strike. I guess how they feel is how the bosses told 'em to feel. But I might get a line on 'em, anyway."
"Well, how about it if they arrest you? Remember what that man said in the road last night."
"They're just deputies, Jim. They won't recognize me the way a regular cop would."
"Well, I want to go with you."
"O.K., but if anything looks funny, you cut for the camp and yell like hell."
In a tent behind them a man started shouting in his sleep. A soft chorus of voices awakened him and stopped his dreaming. Mac and Jim wedged their way silently between two cars and approached the little group of glowing cigarettes. The sparks died down and shifted as they approached.
Mac called, "Hey, you guys, can we come out there?"
From the group a voice, "How many of you?"
"Two."
"Come on, then." As they drew near a flashlight glanced out and touched their faces for a second, and then went off. The deputies stood up. "What do you want?" their spokesman demanded.
Mac replied, "We just couldn't sleep; thought we'd come out and talk."
The man laughed. "We been having lots of company tonight."
In the dark Mac pulled out his Bull Durham bag. "Any of you guys want to smoke?"
"We got smokes. What is it you want?"
"Well, I'll tell you. A lot of the guys want to know how you fellows feel about the strike. They sent us out to ask. They know you're just working men, the same as them. They want to know if you maybe won't help your own kind of guys."
Silence met his words. Mac looked uneasily around.
A voice said softly, "All right, you chickens. Get 'em up. Let out a squawk and we plug you."
"Say, what the hell is this? What's the idea?"
"Get behind 'em, Jack, and you, Ed, get your guns in their backs. If they move, let 'em have it. Now, march!"
The rifles pushed into their backs and punched them along through the darkness. The leader's voice said, "Thought you was God-damn smart, didn't you? You didn't know those day-cops pointed you two guys out." They marched across the road, and in among the trees on the other side. "Thought you was darn smart, getting the men out of here before daylight; thought you'd leave us holding the sack. Hell, we knew that gag ten minutes after you decided it."
"Who told you, mister?"
"Don't you wish you knew?" Their feet pounded along. The rifles jabbed into their backs.
"You takin' us to jail, mister?"
"Jail, hell, we're takin' you God-damn reds to the Vigilance Committee. If you're lucky they'll beat the crap out of you and dump you over the county line; if you ain't lucky, they'll string you up to a tree. We got no use for radicals in this valley."
"But you guys are cops, you got to take us to jail."
"That what you think. There's a nice little house a little ways from here. That's where we're taking you."
Under the orchard trees even the little light from the stars was shut off. "Now be quiet, you guys."
Jim cried, "Go, Mac!" and at the same instant he dropped. His guard toppled over him. Jim rolled around the trunk of a tree, stood up and bolted. At the second row he climbed up into an apple tree, far up, among the leaves. He heard a scuffle and a grunt of pain. The flashlight darted about and then fell to the ground and aimlessly lighted a rotten apple. There came a rip of cloth, and then steady pounding of footsteps. A hand reached down and picked up the flashlight and switched it off. Muffled, arguing voices came from the place of the scuffle.
Jim eased himself gently out of the tree, panting with apprehension every time the leaves quivered. He moved quietly along, came to the road and crossed it. At the line of cars a guard stopped him. "This is the second time tonight, kid. Why'n't you go to bed?"
Jim said, "Listen, did Mac come through?"
"Yeah, goin' like a bat out of hell. He's in Dakin's tent."
Jim hurried on, lifted the brown tent-flap and went in. Dakin and Mac and Burke were there. Mac was talking excitedly. He stopped on a word and stared as Jim came in. "Jesus, I'm glad," he said. "We was just goin' to send out a party to try and get you. What a damn fool I was! What a damn fool! You know, Dakin, they was marchin' us along, had guns right in our backs. I didn't think they'd shoot, but they might of. Jim, what in hell did you do?"
"I just dropped, and the guy fell over me, and his gun dug in the dirt. We used to do that trick in the school yard."
Mac laughed uneasily. "Soon's the guns wasn't touching us, I guess they was afraid they'd kill each other. I jumped sideways and kicked my guy in the stomach."
Burke was standing behind Mac. Jim saw Mac wink at Dakin. The cold eyes almost disappeared behind pale-lashed lids. Dakin said, "Burke, you'd better make the rounds, and see if the guards are all awake."
Burke hesitated. "I think they're O.K."
"Well, you better see, anyway. We don't want no more raids. What they got in their hands, Burke?"
"They got nice clubs."
"Well, go take a look around."
Burke went out of the tent. Mac stepped close to Dakin. "Tent walls is thin," he said quietly. "I'd like to talk to you alone. Want to take a little walk?"
Dakin nodded his head with two jerks. The three of them strolled out into the darkness, going in the direction Dr. Burton had taken earlier. A guard looked them over as they passed.
Mac said, "Somebody's double-crossin' us already. Them deputies knew we was goin' to shove off before daylight."
Dakin asked coldly, "D'you think it's Burke? He wasn't there, even."
"I don't know who it was. Anybody hanging around could of heard through the tent."
"Well, what are we goin' to do about it? You seem to know all about this stuff." The cold voice went on, "I got an idea you reds ain't goin' to do us no good. A guy come in tonight and says if we kick you out, maybe the bosses '11 talk business."
"And you think they will? They cut the wages before we showed up, don't forget that. Hell, you'd think we started this strike, and you know damn well we didn't.
We're just helpin' it to go straight instead of shootin' its wad."
Dakin's monotone cut him off. "What you gettin' out of this?"
Mac retorted hotly, "We ain't gettin' nothin'."
"How do I know that?"
"You don't know it unless you believe it. They ain't no way to prove it."
Dakin's voice became a little warmer. "I don't know that I'd trust you guys if that was so. If a man's gettin' somethin' you know he's only goin' to do one or two things, he's goin' to take orders, or he's goin' to double-cross. But if a guy ain't gettin' nothin', you can't tell what he'll do."
"All right," Mac said irritably. "Let's lay off that junk. When the guys want to kick us out, let 'em take a vote on us. And let us argue our case. But there ain't no good of us fighting each other."
"Well, what we goin' to do, then. No good sneakin' the guys out tomorrow mornin' if the cops know we're goin' to do it."
"Sure not. Let's just march along the road and take our chances. When we see the scabs, and see how they act, we'll know whether we got to fight or talk."
Dakin stopped and moved his foot sideways against the dirt. "What do you want me out here for?"
"I just wanted to tell you we're bein' double-crossed. If you get somethin' you don't want the cops to know, don't tell nobody."
"All right, I got that. Long as everybody's goin' to know, we might as well let 'em know. I'm goin' to bed. You guys see if you can keep out of a mess till morning."
Mac and Jim shared a little pup-tent with no floor cloth. They crawled into the little cave and curled up in their old comforters. Mac whispered, "I think Dakin's straight, but he isn't taking orders."
"You don't think he'll try to get us out of here, do you, Mac?"
"He might. I don't think he will. By tomorrow night enough guys will be bruised up and mad so they'll be meat for us. Jesus, Jim, we can't let this thing peter out. It's too good."
"Mac?"
"Yeah?"
"Why don't the cops just come and take us out of here, you and me?"
"Scared to. They're scared the men might go haywire. It might be like when old Dan fell off the ladder. Cops know pretty well when they've got to leave the stiffs alone. We better go to sleep."
"I just want to ask, Mac, how'd you get loose over in the orchard? You had a battle, didn't you?"
"Sure, but it was so dark they couldn't see who they were socking. I knew I could sock anybody."
Jim lay quiet for a while. "Were you scared, Mac, when they had the guns in our backs?"
"Damn right. I've been up against vigilantes before; so's poor old Joy. Ten or fifteen of 'em gang up on you and beat you to a pulp. Oh, they're brave guys, all right. Mostly they wear masks. Damn right I was scared, weren't you?"
"Sure, I guess so. At first I was. And then they started marching us, and I got cold all over. I could see just what would happen if I dropped. I really saw that guy fall over me, saw it before it happened. I was mostly scared they'd plug you."
Mac said, "It's a funny thing, Jim, how the worse danger you get in, the less it scares you. Once the fuss started, I wasn't scared. I still don't like the way that gun felt."
Jim looked out through the tent opening. The night seemed grey in contrast with the blackness inside the tent. Footsteps went by, crushing the little clods. "D'you think we'll win this strike, Mac?"
"We ought to go to sleep; but you know, Jim, I wouldn't have told you this before tonight: No, I don't think we have a chance to win it. This valley's organized. They'll start shooting, and they'll get away with it. We haven't a chance. I figure these guys here'll probably start deserting as soon as much trouble starts. But you don't want to worry about that, Jim. The thing will carry on and on. It'll spread, and some day--it'll work. Some day we'll win. We've got to believe that." He raised up on one elbow. "If we didn't believe that, we wouldn't be here. Doc was right about infection, but that infection is invested capital. We've got to believe we can throw it off, before it gets into our hearts and kills us. You never change, Jim. You're always here. You give me strength."
Jim said, "Harry told me right at first what to expect. Everybody hates us, Mac."
"That's the hardest part," Mac agreed. "Everybody hates us; our own side and the enemy. And if we won, Jim, if we put it over, our own side would kill us. I wonder why we do it. Oh, go to sleep!"
9
BEFORE the night had broken at all the voice of awakening men sounded through the camp. There were axe-strokes on wood, and the rattling of the rusty stoves. In a few moments the sweet smell of burning pine and apple wood filled the camp. The cooks' detail was busy. Near the roaring stoves the buckets of coffee were set. The wash boilers of beans began to warm. Out of the tents the people crept, and went to stand near the stoves where they crowded so closely that the cooks had no room to work.
Dakin's truck drove off to Anderson's house and came back with three barrels of water. The word passed, "Dakin wants to see the squad leaders. He wants to talk to 'em right away." The leaders walked importantly toward Dakin's tent.
Now the line of orchard top grew sharp against the eastern sky and the parked cars were greyly visible. The buckets of coffee began to boil, and a rank, nourishing smell came from the bean kettles. The cooks ladled out beans into anything the people brought, pans, jars, cans and tin plates. Many sat on the ground, and with their pocket-knives carved little wooden paddles with which to eat their beans. The coffee was black and bitter, but men and women who had been silent and uncomfortable were warmed by it so that they began to talk, to laugh, to call greetings to one another. The daylight came over the trees and the ground turned greyish-blue. Three great bands of geese flew over, high in the light.
Meanwhile Dakin, flanked by Burke and London, stood in front of his tent. Before Dakin the squad leaders stood and waited, and Mac and Jim stood among them, for Mac had explained to Jim, "We've got to go pretty slow for a while. We don't want the guys to throw us out now."
Dakin had put on a short denim jacket and a tweed cap. His pale eyes darted about over the faces of the men. He said, "I'm goin' to tell you guys what's on, and then you can pull out of it if you want to. I don't want nobody to come that don't want to come. There's a trainload of scabs comin' in. We figure to go in town an' try to stop 'em. We'll talk to 'em some, and then we might have to fight 'em. How's that sound to you?"
A murmur of assent arose.
"All right, then. We'll march in. Keep your guys in hand. Keep 'em quiet, and on the side of the road." He grinned coldly. "If any of 'em want to pick up a few rocks an' shove 'em in their pockets, I can't see no harm in that."
The men laughed appreciatively.
"O.K. If you got that, go talk to your men. I want to get all the kicks in before we start. I'm goin' to leave about a hundred guys to look after the camp. Go get some breakfast."
The men broke and hurried back to the stoves. Mac and Jim moved up to where the leaders stood. London was saying, "I wouldn't trust 'em to put up much of a scrap. They don't look none too mean to me."
"Too early in the morning," Mac assured him. "They ain't had their coffee yet. Guys are different before they've ate."
Dakin demanded, "You guys goin' along?"
"Damn right," said Mac. "But look, Dakin, we got men out gettin' food and supplies together. Fix it so some cars can go in for the stuff when they send the word."
"O.K. We'll need it by tonight, too. Them beans'll be all gone. It takes a hell of a lot to feed a bunch like this."
Burke said, "I'm for startin' a mix soon's the scabs get off the train. Scare hell out of 'em."
"Better talk first," Mac said. "I seen half a trainload of scabs go over to the strike if they was talked to first. You jump on 'em and you'll scare some, and make some mad."
Dakin watched him suspiciously while he talked. "Well, let's be movin'," he said. "I got to pick the guys to stay. Doc and his men can clean up the camp. I'm goin' in my truck; London an' Burke can ride with me. We better leave these damn old cans here."
The sun was just coming up when the long, ragged column started out. The squad leaders kept their men to one side of the road. Jim hear
d a man say, "Don't bother with clods. Wait till we get to the railroad right-of-way. There's nice granite rocks in the roadbed."
Singing broke out, the tuneless, uneven singing of untrained men. Dakin's green Chevrolet truck led off, idling in low gear. The column of men followed it, and the crowd left in camp with the women howled goodbyes after them.
They had hardly started when ten motorcycle policemen rode up and spaced themselves along the line of march. When they had gone half a mile along the road a big open car, jammed with men, dashed to the head of the column and parked across the road. All of the men carried rifles in their hands, and all wore deputies' badges. The driver stood up on the seat. "You men are going to keep order, and don't forget it," he shouted. "You can march as long as you don't block traffic, but you're not going to interfere with anybody. Get that?" He sat down, moved his car in front of Dakin's truck and led the whole march.
Jim and Mac marched fifty feet behind Dakin's truck. Mac said, "They got a reception committee for us. Ain't that kind of 'em?" The men about him tittered. Mac continued, "They say 'you got a right to strike, but you can't picket,' an' they know a strike won't work without picketin'." There was no laughter this time. The men growled, but there was little anger in the tone. Mac glanced nervously at Jim. "I don't like it," he said softly. "This bunch of bums isn't keyed up. I hope to Christ something happens to make 'em mad before long. This 's going to fizzle out if something don't happen."
The straggling parade moved into town and took to the sidewalks. The men were quiet now, and most of them looked shamefaced. As they came into the town, householders watched through the windows, and children stood on the lawns and looked at them until the parents dragged them into the houses and shut the doors. Very few citizens moved about in the streets. The motorcycles of the police idled along so slowly that the riders had to put out their feet and touch the ground occasionally to keep upright. Led by the sheriff's car, the procession moved along back streets until it came at last to the railroad yard. The men stopped along the edge of the right-of-way, for the line was guarded by twenty men armed with shotguns and tear gas bombs.
Dakin parked his truck at the curb. The men silently spread out and faced the line of special policemen. Dakin and London walked up and down the dense front, giving instructions. The men must not start any trouble with the cops if they could help it. There was to be talk first, and that was all.