Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-10
Continued From Yesterday
CHAPTER VIII.


CHAPTER WIN.
Ii was o'clock in the morning; the
chill of the April night was yielding
before the coming day The stars
were paling, and the purple of dawn
frightened the east.
Stephen walked along the Van
dame road He had passed six weeks
in the hospital at Montsou. Very
thin and wasted still, he had felt him
self able to leave, and he did so. The
company. afraid for its pits, had sent
away one dangerous person after an
other, and he had been warned of his
dismissal They offered him a gratui-
ty of hundred francs, with pa
ternal counsel that work in the mines
would henceforth be too hard for him
He refused the hundred francs. He
had already received a letter from
Pluchart, summoning him to Paris and
inclosing money for the 1ourney-hls
old dream was realized.
on the previous night he had slep.
at the Jolly Good Fellow When he
rose he had wish to go and say
farewell to his comrades before TAX
ing the s O'Clock train at Morchiennes.
AS the first rose tints of sunrise
struck the plain stephen paused,
breathing with pleasure the pure air
of early spring.
He had seen no one, Mother Maheu
had been once at the hospital, but
probably had not been able to come a
second time Stephen knew that the
village OF "The Two Hundred and
Forty" had resumed work AT Jean
Bart, Mother Maheu as wen as the
rest
Little by little the deserted roads
began to fill with the miners, who
talked with Stephen in passing. They
said the company abused its success.
After two months and a half of the
strike, the men, conquered by hunger,
had returned to the pit and had been
forced TO accept the tariff this dis
guised abatement in wages, horrible
at present because red with the blood
of their comrades
An hours work had been stolen
from them, and they had been made
TO break their oath never to sur
render Work had recommended ev-
erywhere. at Mron, the Madelaine,
Crevecoeur and the Victory
Again along the roads the troops
of miners passed like herd of cat
tie, and they shiyered as of old in
their thin clothing, their heads bowed,
their hearts bitter with a desire for
vengeance.
When Stephen reached Jean Bart
the descent had begun the cages
were being drawn up. He stood
motionless for moment in the midst
of the noise and hurry. watching the
monster as it swallowed its rations
of human flesh The sight Of the
cages disappearing filled him with a
horrible dread-he had to turn his
back
In the great i'll Lighted shed he did
not see the countenanCe of a single
friend, The miners, waiting lamp in
hand, glanced toward him, then drew
back in a shame faced way. They
recognized him, and felt no bitterness
any longer; indeed they seemed to
dread his presence as if afraid he
would reproach them for their
cowardice
Presently, as new band came up,
die saw one of his lieutenants during
the strike
You, also Stephen murmured.
The other grew pale, and his lips
trembled as he said:
What could ! do?-I have a wife!"
And now stephen recognized others
and cried:
"You too--and you-and you'll"
They all shuddered. stammering
simultaneously;
Il have a mother,-I have chill
dren, We must have bread"
The cage delayed TO appear and
they all stood afraid to look at one
another in the shame Of their de-
feat.
"And Mother Maheu?' asked Ste
phen.
gesture warned him that she was
about to appear. The silence con-
tinued, and when stephen held out
his hand TO each in turn it was tight
~ grasped with a pressure which eN-
pressed the general rage at having
yielded the universal desire for re-
venge.
Pierron came in; during the last
eight days he had been the head of
the gang; the woTkmen drew back:
for his advancement had made him
proud. The sight of stephen annoyed
him, hut he was relieved when the
young man announced his Immediate
departure, and they began to talk.
La Pierronne now kept the Progress
Tavern, thanks to the directors. who
had been very kind to her Then he
stopped to abuse Daddy Mouque for
not clearing out his stable al the
regulation hour Mouque listened
lmeekly, then, before descending, gave
his hand to stephen. and the latter
knew that the old man had par
doned him the deaths of his children.
and was so moved he could not speak
they parted without a word on ell
Their side
Mother Maheu isn't coming this
morning stephen presently asked
Plerron
The other affected not to hear bus.
Aller iitue, he moved away under