62 GALA DAY BOOKS.

“What do you mean?”

The man had evidently a covert mean-
ing which he would not explain. He had
been drinking liquor or he would have
been more careful than he was of ex-
pressing himself. He chuckled and
looked so foxlike that the boy was dis-
gusted and went away.

Some of the strikers were losing con-
fidence in their leader. One man went
so far as to say that he thought that
Luke had been a bad adviser. To tell
the truth the strikers were growing
tired of being fed upon oratory. There
was a rumor afloat about Cottonville
that Luke had been discharged from the
mills for bad behavior, and that he had
not left because of his alleged dissatis-
faction with his pay. One or two of the
men were bold enough to say that the
proprietor of the Kelsey mills had not