“Grievances?  Yes, of course you have grievances—­heaps of ’em.  Who hasn’t.  And you’ve a right to try for better conditions.  But in heaven’s name, don’t strike for them!  Don’t turn the whole world upside down because you want something you can’t get!  Be sportsmen and play a decent game!  Stick to the rules and you may win!  I tell you I’m fighting for you—­I’m fighting hard.  And I shan’t rest so long as I have a decent crowd to fight for.  But if you’re going to follow the rotten example of the fellows who sacrifice the whole community to their own beastly greed—­who strike like a herd of sheep because a few damned traitors urge ’em to it—­who fling duty and honour to the winds on the chance of grabbing a little worldly advantage—­in short, if you’re not going to observe the rules of the game, I’ve done with the whole show.

“That’s the position, men, and I want you to get hold of it, see it as it really is.  Nothing on this earth worth having was ever gained by disloyalty.  Think it out for yourselves!  Don’t be led by the nose by a parcel of agitators!  Give the matter your own sane and deliberate thought!  Form your own conclusions!  Throw off this tyranny of other men’s notions, and be free!  If only every man in the kingdom would take this line and think for himself instead of giving his blind allegiance to a power that is out to ruin the nation, there would pretty soon be such a strike against strikes as would kill ’em outright.  They’re a hindrance to civilization and a curse to the world at large.  They are selfishness incarnate and a stumbling-block to all national progress.  And if there’s any pride of race in you, any sense of an Englishman’s honour, any desire for the nation’s welfare (which is at a pretty low ebb just now) join with me and do your level best to cast out this evil thing!”

He ended as he had begun with clear and spontaneous appeal to the higher instincts of his hearers.  He knew them well, knew their weakness and their strength; and he knew his own power over them and wielded it with unfailing confidence.

The hard-breathing silence that succeeded his words dismayed him not at all.  He waited quite calmly for the question he had checked at the outset.

It came very gruffly from a burly miner immediately in front of him.  “It’s all very well,” the man said.  “But how are we to get our rights any other way?”

“Oh, you’ll get ’em all right,” Dick made answer.  “This isn’t an age of serfdom.  You won’t be downtrodden to that extent.  You stick to your guns and have a little patience!  Things are not standing still.  State your grievances—­if they’re bad enough—­and then give the owners a chance!  But don’t forget that there’s got to be give and take between you!  If you want fair play and consideration from the owners, you must give them the same.  Don’t forget that you sink or swim together!  If you ruin them you ruin yourselves.  Disloyalty means disruption, all the world over.  So play the game like men!”