“All right,” he said, swallowing his indignation. “Wait till I get my clothes on.” And he proceeded to dress as quickly as possible; he rolled up his blanket and spare clothing, and started for the door. “Remember,” said the marshal, “straight down the canyon with you, and if you show your face round here again, you’ll get a bullet through you.” So Hal went out into the sunshine, with a guard on each side of him as an escort. He was on the same mountain road, but in the midst of the company-village. In the distance he saw the great building of the breaker, and heard the incessant roar of machinery and falling coal. He marched past a double lane of company houses and shanties, where slattern women in doorways and dirty children digging in the dust of the roadside paused and grinned at him--for he limped as he walked, and it was evident enough what had happened to him. Hal had come with love and curiosity. The love was greatly diminished--evidently this was not the force which kept the wheels of industry a-roll. But the curiosity was greater than ever. What was there so carefully hidden inside this coal-camp stockade? Hal turned and looked at Bill, who had showed signs of humour the day before. “See here,” said he, “you fellows have got my money, and you’ve blacked my eye and kicked me blue, so you ought to be satisfied. Before I go, tell me about it, won’t you?” “Tell you what?” growled Bill. “Why did I get this?” “Because you’re too gay, kid. Didn’t you know you had no business trying to sneak in here?” “Yes,” said Hal; “but that’s not what I mean. Why didn’t you let me in at first?” “If you wanted a job in a mine,” demanded the man, “why didn’t you go at it in the regular way?” “I didn’t know the regular way.” “That’s just it. And we wasn’t takin’ chances with you. You didn’t look straight.” “But what did you think I was? What are you afraid of?” “Go on!” said the man. “You can’t work me!” Hal walked a few steps in silence, pondering how to break through. “I see you’re suspicious of me,” he said. “I’ll tell you the truth, if you’ll let me.” Then, as the other did not forbid him, “I’m a college boy, and I wanted to see life and shift for myself a while. I thought it would be a lark to come here.” “Well,” said Bill, “this ain’t no foot-ball field. It’s a coal-mine.” Hal saw that his story had been accepted. “Tell me straight,” he said, “what did you think I was?” “Well, I don’t mind telling,” growled Bill. “There’s union agitators trying to organise these here camps, and we ain’t taking no chances with ’em. This company gets its men through agencies, and if you’d went and satisfied them, you’d ’a been passed in the regular way. Or if you’d went to the office down in Pedro and got a pass, you’d ’a been all right. But when a guy turns up at the gate, and looks like a dude and talks like a college perfessor, he don’t get by, see?”