Patience Wins | Page 9

his
sleeves rolled up nearly to the shoulder.
They came forward, looking very fierce and as if they were going to
attack us, headed by the fellow with the squint, who was no sooner at
liberty than he snatched up a rough piece of iron bar and rolled up his
right sleeve ready for a fresh attack.
"Give me that stick, Cob," said Uncle Dick quickly; and I handed him
the light Malacca cane I carried.
He had just seized it when the man raised the iron bar, and I felt sick as
I saw the blow that was aimed at my uncle's head.
I need not have felt troubled though, for, big as he was, he jumped

aside, avoided the bar with the greatest ease, and almost at the same
moment there was a whizz and a cut like lightning delivered by Uncle
Dick with my light cane.
It struck the assailant on the tendons of the leg beneath the knee, and
he uttered a yell and went down as if killed.
"Coom on, lads!" cried one of the others; and they rushed towards us,
headed by a heavy thick-set fellow; but no one flinched, and they
hesitated as they came close up.
"Take that fellow away," said Uncle Jack sternly; "and look here, while
you stay, if any gentleman comes to the gate don't send a surly dog like
that."
"Who are yow? What d'ye want? Happen yow'll get some'at if yo' stay."
"I want to go round the place. I am one of the proprietors who have
taken it."
"Eh, you be--be you? Here, lads, this is one o' chaps as is turning us
out. We've got the wheels ti' Saturday, and we wean't hev no one here."
"No, no," rose in chorus. "Open gate, lads, and hev 'em out."
"Keep back!" said Uncle Dick, stepping forward; "keep back, unless
you want to be hurt. No one is going to interfere with your rights,
which end on Saturday night."
"Eh! But if it hedn't been for yow we could ha kep' on."
"Well, you'll have to get some other place," said Uncle Dick; "we want
this."
He turned his back on them and spoke to his brothers, who both,
knowing their great strength, which they cultivated by muscular
exercise, had stood quite calm and patient, but watchful, and ready to
go to their brother's aid in an instant should he need assistance.

"Come on and look round," said Uncle Dick coolly; and he did not
even glance at the squinting man, who had tried to get up, but sank
down again and sat grinning with pain and holding his injured leg.
The calm indifference with which my three uncles towered above the
undersized, pallid-looking fellows, and walked by them to the entrance
to the stone building had more effect than a score of blows, and the
men stopped clustered round their companion, and talked to him in a
low voice. But I was not six feet two like Uncle Bob, nor six feet one
like Uncle Jack, nor six feet three like Uncle Dick. I was only an
ordinary lad of sixteen, and much easier prey for their hate, and this
they saw and showed.
For as I followed last, and was about to enter the door, a shower of
stones and pieces of iron came whizzing about me, and falling with a
rattle and clangour upon the cobble stones with which the place was
paved.
Unfortunately, one piece, stone or iron, struck me on the shoulder, a
heavy blow that made me feel sick, and I needed all the fortitude I
could call up to hide my pain, for I was afraid to say or do anything
that would cause fresh trouble.
So I followed my uncles into the spacious ground-floor of the works, all
wet and dripping with the water from the grindstones which had just
been left by the men, and were still whizzing round waiting to be used.
"Plenty of room here," said Uncle Dick, "and plenty of power, you see,"
he continued, pointing to the shaft and wheels above our heads.
"Ugly-looking place this," he went on, pointing to a trap-door at the
end, which he lifted; and I looked down with a shudder to see a great
shaft turning slowly round; and there was a slimy set of rotten wooden
steps going right down into the blackness, where the water was falling
with a curiously hollow echoing sound.
As I turned from looking down I saw that the men had followed us, and
the fellow with the squint seemed to have one of his unpleasant eyes
fixed upon me, and he gave me a peculiar look and grin that I had good

reason to remember.
"This is the way to the big wheel," said