Espionage, German -- United States -- Fiction; Germans -- United States -- Fiction; Spy stories
The German dock foreman, upon whom Von Rintelen had called the night
before, was rushing his inexperienced crew. The work of loading the
_Arsulus_ had gone forward with a rush. Burly laborers, ignorant of
the crime in which they were being used as tools, loaded crates and
boxes of produce into the hold of the _Arsulus_. Reinforced here and
there by men with whom the foreman was familiar, and who were well
aware of their share in the crime, driven and roared and cursed at by
the foreman, the laborers bent to their task. And the cargo of the
_Arsulus_ piled high against the hold on the water-side of the vessel.
Her hawsers were pulling at their moorings. She creaked and rattled
with the wash of the current, and listed slightly in her slip. But in
the seething maelstrom of activity these things passed unnoticed.
Toward the end of the afternoon, Grant picked up the word that the men
at Union Headquarters had taken up the question of a strike with the
shipowners once more. That they were seeking to convince them that
there should be one more conference before the strike was called. And
at last word came that the shipowners had consented to their pleas and
would confer with them.
The quitting bell clanged and the men of the day shift dropped their
trucks. For a brief space comparative quiet reigned where all had been
noise, clatter, ear-splitting crashes, combined with shouts of men in a
fever heat of excitement.
Grant, Cavanaugh, Sisson and Stewart of the Criminology Club joined
the hurrying ranks and wedged themselves into the hall where the Union
meetings were held, amid a crowd of perspiring, cursing, excited
'longshoremen.
The chairman of the Shipowners Committee was speaking. As his voice was
raised a silence fell upon the crowd.
"Men, we want to be fair. You say that the 'longshoremen did not sink
our lighter. We will grant that there may be some mistake here. We
received your letter of last night and acted as we saw best. Your
chairman and others here assure us that they sent no letter; if this is
the case we will listen to you. Now talk quickly. State your demands."
Instantly the hall was a bedlam of noise. Men shouted, trying to make
themselves heard. Grant saw the men who had been foremost in spreading
agitation among the groups on the docks now striving to add to the
confusion and clamor by hurling epithets at the Shipowners Committee
and urging the men at their sides to increase their demands.
Disgusted, and seeing no solutions here to the problem that absorbed
their minds, Grant signalled to Cavanaugh.
"Get Stewart and Sisson and get out of here. We'll get back to the
docks. This is likely to last all night and then not amount to
anything."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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