After that the cruise of the _Comet_ was a sort of preliminary
honeymoon; and never did a gayer, happier party sail upon the rolling
deep, nor was there ever a happier bridegroom-to-be than Robbie. All day
long he fed his eyes upon the radiant vision, and whispered to himself
that she was his. And so they steamed down the Florida coast, and at
last came to Palm Beach, and went ashore; there he found a telegram
awaiting him, signed by the superintendent of the Hungerville Mills.
"MR. R. VAN RENSSELAER,
"Palm Beach, Florida.
"The trouble is over and the strike broken. Damage has been
repaired, and the mills are moving as usual. Have retained chiefly
non-union men. Newspapers virulent.
"GRINDER."
And Mr. van Rensselaer folded the telegram, and put it in his pocket,
and smiled. "Damn the newspapers," he said meditatively, and sent his
valet to procure some. When he got them he sat on the deck and read them
while the cool sea breeze fanned his forehead.
There had been quite a time at Hungerville, so it appeared. The strikers
had held meetings; the whole town had been in an uproar. Strange as it
might seem, a considerable part of the press had taken the side of the
men. There had been no violence, however, until strange faces began to
appear in the town, and some old abandoned freight cars outside the
mills were burned. Then a force of five hundred detectives were rushed
into the mills, and a high fence was put up, with loopholes. On the
third day the Company sent up a car load of non-union men--men who had
been out of work for a year, since the closing of the mills the
Hungerville Company had beaten down. Instantly the town was in an
uproar, and in spite of all precautions the "scabs" were stoned and
beaten. The detectives fired upon the mob, killing three men, a woman,
and two children, and wounding a dozen more; and that same night, the
sheriff having appealed to the governor, the first companies of militia
arrived.
Following that were three days of furious excitement; on several
occasions a pitched battle all but occurred. Twice the soldiers fired on
the mob, killing several, and one militiaman was stabbed in the dark.
But the Company insisted upon starting the mills; and the strikers being
without money, and many of them half-dead with starvation, they gave up
in scores. At last reports the union had been on the point of abandoning
the strike, so that its members might secure what few places were left.
Then Mr. Robert van Rensselaer read his telegram again, and smiled.
"Tell me, dearest," said Miss Paragon, "what good news have you heard?"
"That you will soon be mine," he answered her.