The Slaughter During the afternoon, Rushton and Sweater visited the house, the latter having an appointment to meet there a gardener to whom be wished to give instructions concerning the laying out of the grounds, which had been torn up for the purpose of putting in the new drains.
Sweater had already arranged with the head gardener of the public park to steal some of the best plants from that place and have them sent up to `The Cave'.These plants had been arriving in small lots for about a week.They must have been brought there either in the evening after the men left off or very early in the morning before they came.The two gentlemen remained at the house for about half an hour and as they went away the mournful sound of the Town Hall bell - which was always tolled to summon meetings of the Council - was heard in the distance, and the hands remarked to each other that another robbery was about to be perpetrated.
Hunter did not come to the job again that day: he had been sent by Rushton to price some work for which the firm was going to tender an estimate.There was only one person who felt any regret at his absence, and that was Mrs White - Bert's mother, who had been working at `The Cave' for several days, scrubbing the floors.As a rule, Hunter paid her wages every night, and on this occasion she happened to need the money even more than usual.As leaving off time drew near, she mentioned the matter to Crass, who advised her to call at the office on her way home and ask the young lady clerk for the money.
As Hunter did not appear, she followed the foreman's advice.
When she reached the shop Rushton was just coming out.She explained to him what she wanted and he instructed Mr Budd to tell Miss Wade to pay her.The shopman accordingly escorted her to the office at the back of the shop, and the young lady book-keeper - after referring to former entries to make quite certain of the amount, paid her the sum that Hunter had represented as her wages, the same amount that Miss Wade had on the previous occasions given him to pay the charwoman.
When Mrs White got outside she found that she held in her hand half a crown instead of the two shillings she usually received from Mr Hunter.At first she felt inclined to take it back, but after some hesitation she thought it better to wait until she saw Hunter, when she could tell him about it; but the next morning when she saw the disciple at `The Cave' he broached the subject first, and told her that Miss Wade had made a mistake.And that evening when he paid her, he deducted the sixpence from the usual two shillings.
The lecture announced by Philpot was not delivered.Anxiously awaiting the impending slaughter the men kept tearing into it as usual, for they generally keep working in the usual way, each one trying to outdo the others so as not to lose his chance of being one of the lucky one...
Misery now went round and informed all the men with the exception of Crass, Owen, Slyme and Sawkins - that they would have to stand off that night.He told them that the firm had several jobs in view -work they had tendered for and hoped to get, and said they could look round after Christmas and he might - possibly - be able to start some of them again.They would be paid at the office tomorrow - Saturday -at one o'clock as usual, but if any of them wished they could have their money tonight.The men thanked him, and most of them said they would come for their wages at the usual pay-time, and would call round as he suggested, after the holidays, to see if there was anything to do.
In all, fifteen men - including Philpot, Harlow, Easton and Ned Dawson, were to `stand off' that night.They took their dismissal stolidly, without any remark, some of them even with an affectation of indifference, but there were few attempts at conversation afterwards.
The little work that remained to be done they did in silence, every man oppressed by the same terror - the dread of the impending want, the privation and unhappiness that they knew they and their families would have to suffer during the next few months.
Bundy and his mate Dawson were working in the kitchen fixing the new range in place of the old one which they had taken out.They had been engaged on this job all day, and their hands and faces and clothes were covered with soot, which they had also contrived to smear and dab all over the surfaces of the doors and other woodwork in the room, much to the indignation of Crass and Slyme, who had to wash it all off before they could put on the final coat of paint.
`You can't help makin' a little mess on a job of this kind, you know,'
remarked Bundy, as he was giving the finishing touches to the work, making good the broken parts of the wall with cement, whilst his mate was clearing away the debris.
`Yes; but there's no need to claw 'old of the bloody doors every time you goes in and out,' snarled Crass, `and you could 'ave put yer tools on the floor instead of makin' a bench of the dresser.'
`You can 'ave the bloody place all to yerself in about five minutes,'
replied Bundy, as he assisted to lift a sack of cement weighing about two hundredweight on to Dawson's buck.`We're finished now.'
When they had cleared away all the dirt and fragments of bricks and mortar, while Crass and Slyme proceeded with the painting, Bundy and Dawson loaded up their hand-cart with the old range and the bags of unused cement and plaster, which they took back to the yard.
