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THE WALKING DELEGATE




[Illustration: THE WALKING DELEGATE]




  The
  Walking Delegate


  By

  Leroy Scott


  _With Frontispiece_


  New York
  Doubleday, Page & Company
  1905




  Copyright, 1905, by
  Doubleday, Page & Company
  Published May, 1905


_All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign
languages, including the Scandinavian_




To My Wife




CONTENTS


CHAPTER                            PAGE

     I. ON THE ST. ETIENNE HOTEL      3

    II. THE WALKING DELEGATE      14

   III. THE RISE OF BUCK FOLEY      30

    IV. A COUNCIL OF WAR      9

     V. TOM SEEKS HELP FROM THE ENEMY      50

    VI. IN WHICH FOLEY PLAYS WITH TWO MICE      59

   VII. GETTING THE MEN IN LINE      72

  VIII. THE COWARD      85

    IX. RUTH ARNOLD      98

     X. LAST DAYS OF THE CAMPAIGN      111

    XI. IN FOLEY'S "OFFICE"      120

   XII. THE ELECTION      129

  XIII. THE DAY AFTER      145

   XIV. NEW COURAGE AND NEW PLANS      153

    XV. MR. BAXTER HAS A FEW CONFERENCES      166

   XVI. BLOWS      177

  XVII. THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE      187

 XVIII. THE STOLEN STRIKE      203

   XIX. FOLEY TASTES REVENGE     210

    XX. TOM HAS A CALLER      224

   XXI. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN      236

  XXII. THE PROGRESS OF THE STRIKE      250

 XXIII. THE TRIUMPH OF BUSINESS SENSE      257

  XXIV. BUSINESS IS BUSINESS      267

   XXV. IN WHICH FOLEY BOWS TO DEFEAT      279

  XXVI. PETERSEN'S SIN      290

 XXVII. THE THOUSANDTH CHANCE      304

XXVIII. THE EXPOSURE      313

  XXIX. IN WHICH MR. BAXTER SHOWS HIMSELF A MAN OF RESOURCES      331

   XXX. THE LAST OF BUCK FOLEY      338

  XXXI. TOM'S LEVEE      348

 XXXII. THE THORN OF THE ROSE      364




LIST OF CHARACTERS


  BUCK FOLEY, a walking delegate.
  TOM KEATING, a foreman.
  MAGGIE KEATING, his wife.
  MR. BAXTER, President of Iron Employers' Ass'n.
  MRS. BAXTER.
  MR. DRISCOLL, a contractor.
  RUTH ARNOLD, his secretary.
  MR. BERMAN, junior partner of Mr. Driscoll.
  MR. MURPHY, a contractor.
  MR. BOBBS, a contractor.
  MR. ISAACS, a contractor.
  CONNELLY, Secretary of Iron Workers' Union.
  NELS PETERSEN, a "scab."
  ANNA PETERSEN, his wife.
  PIG IRON PETE, a workman
  JOHNSON, a workman.
  BARRY, a workman.
  MRS. BARRY.
  JAKE HENDERSON       }
  ARKANSAS NUMBER TWO  }      Members of
  KAFFIR BILL          }  "The Entertainment
  SMOKEY               }      Committee."
  HICKEY               }




THE WALKING DELEGATE




Chapter I

ON THE ST. ETIENNE HOTEL


The St. Etienne Hotel would some day be as bulky and as garishly
magnificent as four million dollars could make it. Now it was only a
steel framework rearing itself into the center of the overhead
grayness--a black pier supporting the grimy arch of heaven.

Up on its loosely-planked twenty-first story stood Mr. Driscoll,
watching his men at work. A raw February wind scraped slowly under the
dirty clouds, which soiled the whole sky, and with a leisurely content
thrust itself into his office-tendered flesh. He shivered, and at times,
to throw off the chill, he paced across the pine boards, carefully going
around the gaps his men were wont to leap. And now and then his eyes
wandered from his lofty platform. On his right, below, there were roofs;
beyond, a dull bar of water; beyond, more roofs: on his left there were
roofs; a dull bar of water; more roofs: and all around the jagged
wilderness of house-tops reached away and away till it faded into the
complete envelopment of a smudgy haze. Once Mr. Driscoll caught hold of
the head of a column and leaned out above the street; over its dizzy
bottom erratically shifted dark specks--hats. He drew back with a
shiver with which the February wind had nothing to do.

It was a principle with Mr. Driscoll, of Driscoll & Co., contractors for
steel bridges and steel frames of buildings, that you should not show
approval of your workmen's work. "Give 'em a smile and they'll do ten
per cent. less and ask ten per cent. more." So as he now watched his
men, one hand in his overcoat pocket, one on his soft felt hat, he did
not smile. It was singularly easy for him not to smile. Balanced on his
short, round body he had a round head with a rim of reddish-gray hair,
and with a purplish face that had protruding lips which sagged at each
corner, and protruding eyes whose lids blinked so sharply you seemed to
hear their click. So much nature had done to help him adhere to his
principle. And he, in turn, had added to his natural endowment by
growing mutton-chops. Long ago someone had probably expressed to him a
detestation of side-whiskers, and he of course had begun forthwith to
shave only his chin.

His men were setting twenty-five foot steel columns into place,--the
gang his eyes were now on, moving actively about a great crane, and the
gang about the great crane at the building's other end. Their coats were
buttoned to their chins to keep out the February wind; their hands were
in big, shiny gloves; their blue and brown overalls, from the handling
of painted iron, had the surface and polish of leather. They were all in
the freshness of their manhood--lean, and keen, and full of
spirit--vividly fit. Their work explained their fitness; it was a
natural civil service examination that barred all but the active and the
daring.

And yet, though he did not smile, Mr. Driscoll was cuddled by
satisfaction as he stood on the great platform just under the sky and
watched the brown men at work. He had had a deal of trouble during the
past three years--accidents, poor workmen, delays due to strikes over
inconsequential matters--all of which had severely taxed his profits and
his profanity. So the smoothness