"
"Ask the Interpreter!"
She nodded, smiling as if she had put a puzzling conundrum to him.
"You mean for me to ask that paralyzed old basket maker's advice? You
mean, ask him if I should retire from business?"
Again she nodded with a little laugh; but under her laughter there was
a note of earnestness.
"And don't you know," he said, "that it is the Interpreter who is at
the bottom of all my trouble?"
"Father!"
"The Interpreter, I tell you, is back of the whole thing. He is the
brains of the labor organizations in Millsburgh and has been for years.
Why, it was the Interpreter who organized the first union in this
district. He has done more to build them up than all the others put
together. Pete Martin and Charlie, the ringleaders of the Mill workers'
union, are only his active lieutenants. I haven't a doubt but that he
is responsible for this agitator Jake Vodell's coming to Millsburgh.
That miserable shack on the cliff is the real headquarters of labor in
this part of the country. Your Interpreter is a fine one for _me_ to go
to for advice. His hut is a fine place for your brother to spend his
spare time. It would be a fine thing, right now, with this man Vodell
in town, for me to resign and leave the Mill in the hands of John, who
is already in the hands of the Interpreter and the Martins and their
Mill workers' union!"
As Adam finished, the deep sonorous tones of the great Mill whistle
sounded over the community.
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