"Down cellar. I can't get out. I think there must be a trap somewhere, if you can find it."

"We'll find it. Olsen, he's down below us. If we don't find the cellar opening I'll let you try your hand at breaking a hole in the floor,"

proposed Bob.

Both began searching for the opening. Bob found it, but there was no ring in the trap and Olsen solved the problem of getting the place open by kicking a hole in the trap, then finally demolishing it altogether.

"Where's the stairs?" cried Jarvis.

"Pull stairs up," answered the Icelander.

Sure enough, such was the case. A short flight of clumsily constructed stairs had been pulled up to the floor and secured by a rope that ran off to another part of the cellar. Upon investigation they found that this rope led up to another trap in the dining room, from where the food that Steve had found must in all probability have been lowered.

Olsen did not wait for the stairs to be lowered but squeezed down into the hole, dropping to the cellar bottom. Steve ran to him and the big fellow hugged the boy delightedly.

"I get. I smash big boss."

"What does he mean, Bob?"

"He means that he gave Cavard an awful beating. But it was a dandy fight, Steve. How I wish you could have seen it!"

Steve Rush heard all about the events that had occurred since he had been taken prisoner the night before. In turn he related what had happened to himself. There was no direct evidence by which they could connect Cavard with Rush's capture, but the circ.u.mstantial evidence was strong. Later in the day Steve went to see the superintendent, and the two had a long talk.

Nothing of moment occurred for several days after that. Cavard did not appear on the street for nearly a week after the battle, though his lieutenants were in conference with him at his home every day. The leader had had a beating that he was not likely to forget during the rest of his life. His rage was deep and murderous, and as he paced the floor of his room he swore vengeance on the Iron Boys as well as on Segunder Olsen.

An extremely cold winter was setting in. It was developing into one of the most severe seasons ever known on the iron range, and the suffering of the families of the miners who were out of work had reached a serious stage.

The miners themselves were growing bitter against the bosses and more turbulent. It had come to a point where it was not safe for a non-union man to appear upon the street. He was in danger of his life if he did so.

Steve believed that the men's turbulence was as much due to the subtle influence of Cavard as because of their families' sufferings. The armed guard about the mine shafts had been trebled, as it was feared that the strikers might wreck some of the company's property. What seemed to enrage the men more than ever was the sight of the long trains of cars that were carrying the ore from the dump pile and transferring it to the furnaces in Ohio and in the east. The lakes being frozen over, the ore was conveyed all the way to the mills by rail, as is always the case in the winter.

Matters were approaching a crisis, as the officials of the mining company well realized. Mr. Penton believed, however, that he had enough loyal men to hold the others in check and to protect the company's property. Steve took a different view of the matter, but he said nothing, as it was not fitting for him to suggest what should and what should not be done.

Since the boy's capture he had set himself upon Cavard's trail with the firm purpose of running the man down and exposing his perfidity. He knew a weak spot would sooner or later develop in the leader's defence, and when it did develop Steve Rush proposed to be on hand to break through the defence at that particular point.

As soon as Cavard was able to be out he began meeting the men at the hall, encouraging them and goading them on in his subtle way by pointing out that the sufferings of their families were due to the grasping avarice of the bosses. A day or so after he got out Cavard made a trip to the Blair, an independent mine some ten miles up the valley. There he spent the day and part of the night.

Steve did not learn of this until late in the evening. The information caused him to wonder what was going on up the valley. He had no doubt that something would develop from that visit.

"I ought to go up there and find out what is going on," he confided to Bob.

"Why don't you?"

"I cannot leave here. Every loyal man is needed right here every minute of the day and night. There is no telling at what moment trouble will break loose, and when it comes it is going to come thick and fast, if I am any judge of men. The miners are getting desperate. They are going to break out, and with our handful of helpers we shall be powerless to stem the tide."

"I reckon you're right. When do you think it is coming?"

"It is likely to occur at any minute now--to-night, to-morrow, any time.

I believe it is a part of Cavard's game to have something like that occur."

"I wish I'd let Segunder finish the fellow while he was about it. He would have killed the leader in a minute more."

"Bob, how _can_ you say such a thing?" chided Rush.

"Yes; I suppose it is rather a strong statement, but I don't love that man Cavard one little bit."

"Neither do I, but that is no excuse for wanting to see him killed. We will beat him at his own game, and with his own weapons if we can. If not the company will have to get out of its present situation as best it can."

"I guess that will be the answer."

On the following day Steve set an inquiry going in another direction, having enlisted the services of a man whom he and Bob had sent for from the city at their own expense. This man belonged to a private detective agency, and Steve had known him before coming to the mines.

There was a long conference, that night, at the house of one of the loyal miners, where the detective, Steve and Bob had gone that they might not be observed. To have met in the boarding house would have been to arouse suspicion, for the strikers had spies in every place of the sort. Cavard saw to it that he was kept well-posted as to all that was going on.

The conference broke up at a late hour and the boys made their way home through back yards and across open lots in order to avoid meeting with strikers. It was not that they were afraid, but they were acting the part of prudence. They had set out to achieve by their own efforts what the company, with all its resources and money, had not been able to accomplish, and that was to break the backbone of the strike.

It was a giant's task, it seemed, for two youngsters to attempt, but the Iron Boys were determined that it should be done.

The next day dawned raw and bl.u.s.tering. The weather, however, did not keep the strikers within doors. Groups were gathered on every corner, where, while stamping about to keep from freezing, they discussed the situation. Shortly before noon there was a meeting at Liberty Hall. Of course the Iron Boys were not present.

When the men came away from that meeting a change had stolen over them.

They had ceased their noisy threats. Their faces were sullen and their words were few.

"Look out for trouble!" nodded Steve, as he observed the men from the window of a house across the way.

"Yes; they are loaded for bear," agreed Bob.

"Something has stirred them up. Probably Cavard has been talking to them. That man is a fiend in human form. He handles them, makes them his playthings, all to serve his own selfish purposes."

The boys came up with Mr. Penton, who was on his way to the mines from his office. Steve stepped up to him, touching his hat.

"How are you, boys? I have just closed down the shafts for the rest of the day. I don't like the looks of things."

"Neither do I, sir," answered Steve.

"What is it that you have observed?" questioned the superintendent.

"The men are loaded for trouble. Practically we are standing in a drift ready to be fired, and when the powder goes off the roof of the drift is likely to fall down on our heads and finish us."

"You are right, Rush. I have found your advice good. What would you do to cope with the situation, were you the superintendent?"

The superintendent's eyes twinkled.

"What would I do? Why, I'd take the situation by the nape of the neck and shake all the fight out of it. In the first place, if I did not have enough men to give the strikers all the fight they wanted, I would ask the authorities for protection. I believe our property will be destroyed if you don't place guards about the mines."

"I am glad to hear you say what you have said," nodded Mr. Penton. "I have urged the sheriff to wire the governor to rush a company of militia here, and the mining company has backed me up in the request. I dislike to do it, but I must protect our property. I presume it will excite the men to violence, and----"

"The men cannot be much more excited than they already are, sir. Cavard has worked them up to the exploding point. With an honest man at its head, a miner's union might be made of real benefit to the men. It's too bad that they have fallen into the hands of Cavard."