The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-15
CHAPTER xxx. Victory of the Triplioe,

Tt Is no use, gentlemen" said Vio Morris to the high Council of Four, who had been convened on the following morning to decide what was to be done as to the "disaster"i "the miners of Kirktown are no more to be condemned in body than employers, managers or engineersl I do not know whether the fire was lighted by any men In our own employ, Such a thing Is possible, of course. have always thought there was a rotten, bad streak In the new drafts from the south---mouthers most of them, breeders of ill-blood-"
 T am glad to hear you speak like that, Mir. Norris" said James Kahn, flor, to tell you the truth, I have heard it whispered that you yourself were not exactly faithful to your em- p1oyer"
 "Then, MT. Kahn" said ylc Morris, with sudden flerceness, "wh hoevcr told you that lied. And If you wish for a more absolute contradiction. bring the tale-bearer face to face with mev'
 Kahn glanced first at his two sub ordinates, McT4ll and Grinding, and then at the rather grim look on the face of his chief MT. Jacob Romer.
 "Go on, MT. Morris; expose your ideas fully" said the latter. He cared nothing for the strifes of heads of de- partments, nor even great deal for last nights fire. It was annoying, of course; but, after all, to put 1t right was a mere matter of detail. All his contracts were in his lawyers safe, and so long as the pits themselves were intact and the night-and-day shifts working, nothing mattered very much to Incubus, Gorm, Romer & Co. He had also an idea that the influence whi ich Vic Morris had over the best of the men, the ascendency he possessed over all, might be more useful to the firm than the hasty and ill-judged measures of severity into which tho triumvirate of Kahn, McI<ill and Grinding would fain have forced him.
 At first. therefore, he was inclined to listen to Ludovic Morris. And accord ingly Kahn and his two satellites felt the wind of the great mans favor blow cold upon them. The hate of their hearts went out to Morris-for which the strong, careless Vic cared not whit. His single weakness had been his passion for Vida. Even his enemies could not put their finger upon another. And this was perhaps the greatest weakness of all-that he had none. It lifted him clean away from that strange, yet very human sympathy which the working class feel for the peccadillos of the great.
 "Eh, but he's a lad" says the Lam cashire pitman, with certain pride In his young masters going the pace."
 He's a eye boy"
 "Nocht till GOT yinv will reply, in the comparison of 'bosses" the "Geor dies" of Fife and the Lothians
 So, though his rigid honesty could not help but win him respect wherever he went and though every one in the pits, from the bank foreman to the youngest tallyboy, knew that Vic Nor ris was Ion their side" the rigidity of his discipline, and the fact that he neither drank, smoked, swore, nor Haunted cheap iniquity, were unques- tionably against him in that queer, top sy-turvy world of the mine.
 "He is more like a parson in the pit" said "Bubbly" Sugg, the father of Susan aforesaid. and the champion heavy weight of the three main pits. Yet for all that, "Bubbly' Sugg, the father of in hurry whenever there was stir and a whisper of Here's Muster Nor ris' along the working faces.
 Expose your ideas" repeated the chief; T am here to listen."
 Well sir" said Vic, nothing 10th, and not in the least daunted. "the work is all right. It frightens nobody worth their salt. And if the men are satisfied on a point or two Gin which they are absolutely in the right) they will work to your utmost desire. 50 much I hold myself ready to guaran- tee. Men who live habitually on the surface cannot know what goes on un- derground. Sixteen hundred feet of solid rock between ones crown and the green grass change mems ways of looking at things when they have to stay there ten or twelve hours at a stretch every day year in and year out. But as I have said, will charge myself with all that--if so be you give me free hand to finish the second exits in the pits where these are not already completed, and to uplift the steam pipes, illegally placed, in those that are"
 Has not that already been done to the satisfaction of His Majesty's in spectors?"
 May be-" said Vic sourly "but not to my satisfaction"
 DO you set yourself up as knowing better than the man appointed Tor the purpose by the governmentY demand ed Mr. Jacob Romer. And at this the three plucked up heart. They knew that Vic was treading upon danger ous ground. MT. Romer was great man for the letter of the law when 1t could be read in his own favor
 "The situation is this" said Vic Mor- ris. who could not keep a certain iron dogmatism out of his voice, no mat ter to whom he was speaking; the men have a right to a second exit
 But" interrupted Kahn and McKill, speaking both at the same moment . none of our pits are fiery. And be- sides. we conform to every legal reg ulation."
 The owner, throned in the sole chair which had escaped the fire, nodded ap- pfoval. Kahn and his friends felt that heir battle was won.
 "The men have a right to an accessl- ble second exit" Vic Morris repeated. with greater firmness than ever Il am in possession of copies of the papers in which one of my predecessors, MT. Job Henderson, asked again and again that the second exit should be com pleted. I have also a copy of his resis- nation when his wish was not compiled with I know that all work was stopped on these exits as soon as he was out of the yard. It has never been resumed. in spite of my representa- tions. believe, sir, that the loss you have suffered is partly, If not wholly due to the mems feelings on that sup 1ect-feelings which have some Just foundation, which have not been al lowed vent, and so have taken the wrong turning"
 .so you make yourself the apologist of incendiaries, MT. Morris!' cried Jacob Romer, suddenly humping his hand on the table.
 The others muttered: Revolution