The repairs needed at the mills were soon made.  Steam was gotten up and the whistle called the hands to work.  Only O’Hara and Hansell came forward.  They explained that all would be glad to take their places if the superintendent would allow them a slight increase of pay for overwork.  They had held a meeting and talked over the matter, and now abated a part of their first demand; they were willing to accept one-half rate for overtime.

The superintendent would not yield a jot.  The most that he would consent to do was to wait until noon for them to go to work.  The two men went away muttering threats; not one of the hands answered the second call to work.

Quite sure that such would be the result, Harvey had telegraphed to Carville, fifty miles away, for sixty men, to take the place of those who had quit work.  He asked only for men, since it would have been unwise to bring women and children to become involved in difficulties.

By some means this step became known, and, as is always the case, it added fuel to the flames.  Warning notices were sent to the superintendent that if the new hands went to work they would be attacked; Bradley himself was told to keep out of sight unless ready to come to the terms of the strikers.  Even in his own home, he could not be guaranteed safety.  His house as well as the mills would be burnt.

Harvey felt no special alarm because of these threats; he did not believe that those who made them dare carry them out.  But that night the mills escaped destruction only by the vigilance of the extra watchmen.  The same evening Aunt Maria was stopped on the village street and told that it was best she should lose no time in moving away with her little niece Dollie, since it was more than likely the innocent would suffer with the guilty.  For the first time, Harvey understood the earnestness of the men; but he clung to his resolution all the same.

You can see how easily the trouble could have been ended.  The employes had abated their first demand and were willing to compromise.  Had Harvey spoken his honest thoughts, he would have said the men were right, or at any rate he ought to have agreed to their proposal to submit the dispute to arbitration; but he was too proud to yield.

“They will take it for weakness on my part,” was his thought; “it will make an end of all system and open the way for demands that in the end will destroy the business.”

The sixty new hands reached Bardstown and were about as numerous as the men who wrought in the mills before the strike.  They looked like a determined band, who would be able to take care of themselves in the troubles that impended.

The arrivals were received with scowls by the old employes, who hooted and jeered them as they marched grimly to the mills.  No blows were struck, though more than once an outbreak was imminent.  It was too late in the day to begin work, but the new hands were shown through the establishment, with a view of familiarizing them to some extent with their new duties.  Most of them had had some experience in the same kind of work, but there was enough ignorance to insure much vexation and loss.