CHAPTER XLI 
STRIKE AT GORDON’S MINE 
FRANK GORDON owned a coal mine about six 
miles west of the village of Exeter, and four 
miles from Four Oaks. A village called Gordon- 
ville had sprung up at the mouth of the mine. 
It was the home of the three hundred miners 
and their families, — mostly Huns, but with a 
sprinkling of Cornishmen. 
The houses were built by the owner of the 
mine, and were leased to the miners at a small 
yearly rental. They were modest in structure, 
but they could be made inviting and neat if the 
occupants were thrifty. No one was allowed to 
sell liquor on the property owned by the Gordons, 
but outside of this limit was a fringe of low 
saloons which did a thriving business off the im- 
provident miners. 
There had never been a strike at Gordonville, 
and such a thing seemed improbable, for Gordon 
~ was a kind master, who paid his men promptly 
and looked after their interests more than is 
usual for a capitalist. 
It was, therefore, a distinct surprise when the 
foreman of the mine telephoned to Gordon one 
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