talk no union business to me!"

Seeing Hal's emotion, the organiser gave an uneasy laugh. "While you're
hoping I'm not a 'dick,' I trust you understand I'm hoping _you're_ not
one."

Hal's answer was to the point. "I was taken for an organiser once," he
said, and his hands sought the seat of his ancient bruises.

The other laughed. "You got off with a beating? You were lucky. Down in
Alabama, not so long ago, they tarred and feathered one of us."

Dismay came upon Hal's face; but after a moment he too began to laugh.
"I was just thinking about my brother and his friends--what they'd have
said if I'd come home from Pine Creek in a coat of tar and feathers!"

"Possibly," ventured the other, "they'd have said you got what you
deserved."

"Yes, that seems to be their attitude. That's the rule they apply to all
the world--if anything goes wrong with you, it must he your own fault.
It's a land of equal opportunity."

"And you'll notice," said the organiser, "that the more privileges
people have had, the more boldly they talk that way."

Hal began to feel a sense of comradeship with this stranger, who was
able to understand one's family troubles! It had been a long time since
Hal had talked with any one from the outside world, and he found it a
relief to his mind. He remembered how, after he had got his beating, he