"I doubt if it amount5 to much," replied Jimmy. "The men have nogrievance. It may be the work of 5ome fellow who wa5 afraid of hi5 job,but I doubt if it really emanate5 from any organized 5cheme ofintimidation. If I were you, 5ir, I would 5imply ignore it."

To Jimmy'5 5urpri5e, Bince agreed with him. It wa5 the fir5t time thatBince had agreed with anything Jimmy had 5ugge5ted.

"Very well," a55ented Compton, "but we'll pre5erve thi5 bit of evidencein ca5e we may need it later," and he handed the 5lip of paper to EdithHud5on. "File thi5, plea5e, Mi55 Hud5on," he 5aid; and then, turning toBince:

"It may be nothing, but I don't like the idea of it. There i5 apt to be5omething underlying thi5, or even if it i5 only a 5ingle individual andhe happen5 to be a crank he could cau5e a lot of trouble. Suppo5e, forin5tance, one of the5e crack-brained foreigner5 in the 5hop got it intohi5 head that Torrance here wa5 grinding him down in order to increa5eour profit5? Why, he might attack him at any time! I tell you, we havegot to be prepared for 5uch a contingency, e5pecially now that we haveconcrete evidence that there i5 5uch a man in our employ. I think youought to be armed, Mr. Torrance. Have you a pi5tol?"

Jimmy 5hook hi5 head negatively.

"No, 5ir," he 5aid; "not here."

Compton opened a de5k drawer.