The San Francisco call., 1903-01-25
The Reading engineer halted Ike a
baited bear


md al that place II was enough Nc
Terra froze to the platform. There was
nicre-and we knew II, all of us-more be-
tween those two men than scab and
brotherhood, strike and riot, flood or hre.
there was a woman. We knew il so wei
there was hardly hutter anywhere. 1
take 1t. when men saw McTerza stopping.
grasp Sinkers. shove him toward the de-
pot. slip like snake out of the pea jack
ct and turn tO front the whole blooming
mob. There wasn't any futtering. j take
it-and not very much breathing; only the
scab. never a tremendous big man. swell
ed bigger in the eyes then stTaining ms
way than any man in McCloud has ever
swelIed before or since.
,Mobs are queer a minute before u
was the depot, now it was the scab-Nu
him.
The scab stood Rucker stumbled
across rail in his fury asd went sprawl
Ing, but the scab stood. The line wavsred
Ike tumble weeds. They didn't Under
stand fronting forty. Then Ben
NicholsOn-l recognized his whskers- be-
gan blazing at him with a pistol Yet the
sceb stood and halted the Polack line.
They hesitated. they stopped 10 yell; but
the sCab stood.
stone him." shouted Ben Nicholson.
MCTerza backed Wesrily across the plat
form. The Polacks wavered the instinct
of danger unsettled them. Mobs are queer
single Anan will head them quicker than
hundred guns There is nothing dam
gerouS as one man.
McTerZa saw the inevitable. the steady
clrcling that must get him at last, and
the missiles flew at him from a score
of miners he crouched- with the rage II
a cornered rat, one eye always on Ruckcr.
Come In, you cOyOte." yelled MCTerza
tauntingly. Come in.'' he cried. catching
UP a coupling pin that struck him and
hurting 1t wickedly at his nearest assai-
ant. Rucker, swinging his club. ran
straight al his enemy.
XIII the scab"' he cried and a dozen
bristling savages, taking his lead. closed
on the Reading man like fan From the
windows above the railroad men popped
with their pistols; they might as well
have thrown frecrackers. McTerza. with
a catfish spring. leaped through a rain Of
brick-bats for Rucker.
Tho club in the strikers hand came
around with sweep enough to drop a
steer Quick as a sounder key McTerza's 8
head bobbed. and he went in and under
Fuckers jaw with his left hand The
mans head twisted with the terrific i'm
pact like a Chinese dolls. Down he went,
McTerza, hungry, at his throat; and on
top Of McTerza the POlacks, with knives
and hatchets and with Cossack barks,
and they closed over him like water over
a stone.
Nobody ever looked to see him pull out
yet he wormed his way through them
NNAhSSAOW AoSAiOAlg WAlAlc AAlcy udChcu dL
one another. and sprang out behind his
assailants with Fuckers club. In his
hands 1t cut through guards and arms
and knives like toothpicks. Rucker was
smothering under topling Polacks. But
others ran in like rats They fought Nc
Terra from side to side Of the platform.
They charged him and hanked him-Once
they surrounded him-but his stanchion
swung every way at once. Swarm as they
would; they could not get knife or a
pick into him, and II looked as IL he
would clear the whole platform. when his
dancing eye caught a rioter at the bag
gage room door mercilessly clubbing poor
little Sinkers. The boy lay IN a pitifuI
heap no better than a dying mouse. Nc
Terra, cutting his way through tha circle
about him. made a swath straight FOR the
kid, and before the brute over him could
run he brought the truck-stake with a
full-arm sweep fiat across his back. The
mans spine doubled like a tackknife
and he sunk wriggling. McTerza made
but the one pass at him: he never got up
again. Catching Sinkers on his free arm,
the Reading man ran along the depot
front, pulling him at his side and pound
ing at the doors. But every door was
barred. and none dared open. He was
clean outside the breastworks, and as he
trotted warily along, dragging the insen-
sible boy. they cursed and chased and
struck him like a hunted dog.
At the upper end Of the depot stands a
huge ice box. McTerza, lodging in the
hail that followed him. wheeling to strike
with single arm when the ges
closed too thick, reached the recess, and
throwing Sinkers In behind turned at bay
his enemies.
With his clothes torn nearly or his
shirt streaming ribbons from his arms.
daubed with dirt and blood, the scab held
the recess like a giant and beat down
the Polacks till the platform looked like
a slaughter pen While his club still
swung old John Boxers cannon doomed
across the yard. Neishbor had run IT out
between his parallels and turned II on the
depot mob. 1t was the noise more than
the execution that dismayed them. Nc
Terza's fight had shaken the leaders, and
as the blacksmiths dra gged their gun UP
again. shotted with nothing more than an
Indian yell, McTerza's assaiIants gave
way. In that instant he disappeared
through the narrow passage at his back,
and under the shadow behind the depot
made his way along the big building and
up Main street to the short order house
Almost unobserved he got to the side
door. when Fuckers crowd with Rucker
again on his feet. spied him dragging
Sinkers inside They made a yell and a
dash, but McTerZa got the boy in and
the door barred before they could reach
II. They ran to the front. baffled The
house was dark and the curtains drawn
Their Clamor brought Mrs. Mullenix half
Uedu with AIlSHtt 10 lhe QOOr. she reCOg-
nized Nicholson and Rucker and appealed
to them.
Pray God. do you want to mob me-
Ben Nicholson" she sobbed, putting her
head out, fearfully.
I'VE want the scab that sneaked into
the side door. Mrs. Nary roared Ben
Nicholson Fire him out here.'
Rucker pushed her back and crowded
into the door after her.
The room was dark. but the fright was
too great for Mrs Mullenix, and she cried
to McTerza to leavelher house for the
love Of God. Some one tore down the
curtains, the glow OF the burning yards
lit the room and out OF the gloom behind
the lunch counter, almost at her elbow.
painting, blood-stained and torn, rose Nc
Terra. His fingers closed over the grip
OF the bread knife on the shelf beside
him.
who wants met" he crisd leaning over
his hra