White Rivers by Rowena Summers & Summers Rowena

Author:Rowena Summers & Summers, Rowena
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Sagas, Romance, Historical, General, Women, Family Life, Marriage & Divorce, Small Town & Rural
ISBN: 9781788634724
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 1999-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Theo faced an angry barrage of clayworkers the moment he stepped out of his motor car at Clay One. He felt his skin bristle, knowing they would have seen him coming up the hill towards Killigrew Clay, and had quickly gathered into a formidable mob.

He also knew what it was all about, of course. It was the influx of the small group of German workers. But he was the boss, damn their no-good eyes, and it was his decision who he had working for him, and it had seemed a good idea at the time when Hans Kauffmann had proposed it. He had dismissed querying Skye about the decision with as much indifference as brushing away a cobweb.

‘What’s all this, then?’ he bellowed now, as he saw the mob of clayworkers moving towards him like a surging tide. ‘If you buggers ain’t got enough work to do, and can stand about idling, I’ll have to be docking your wage packets.’

‘We ain’t idling, Tremayne, and no fat-assed clay boss ever accused we of doing so,’ came a mutinous yell from the back of the crowd, echoed by the rest.

He couldn’t see who had begun the uproar, and the others wouldn’t be telling. He scowled, feeling his blood boil. They were bloody sheep, the lot of them. They were paid to do a day’s work for a day’s pay, and there was an end to it in his opinion. He couldn’t be doing with strikes and minor complaints, and that should all be left to the pit captain to sort out. Where was the bugger?

He saw the hard-hatted man come out of his little hut, hurriedly stubbing out a cigarette and waving the smoke away, and his face darkened even more. When his father, Walter, had been in charge here, no pit captain would have been tardy in coming to meet the boss. He’d have bet it never happened in old Hal Tremayne’s day, either. Things had got sloppy, and it was high time that changed.

‘What’s going on here, Yardley? Can’t you control these buggers no more? It’s what I pay you for.’

‘What’s going on, Mr Tremayne, sir, is summat you should’ve seen coming a while back,’ the older man said insolently, standing his ground. ‘In case you’m too blind to see what’s under your nose, and want it explaining, they’m objecting to the new workers you’ve put among ’em, and insisting they’m sent back where they belong. Mr Walter would never have stood for the insult, and he’d have listened to his clayers. He’d not have spent his time in other pursuits. He’d have seen what was happening here and put a quick stop to it afore it all got out of hand.’

Tom wasn’t normally given to making long speeches, but he’d be damned if he’d be spoken to like this in front of the men by any blustering womaniser, boss or no boss. The inference didn’t go unnoticed by any of them, and Theo’s eyes narrowed as the men muttered noisily among themselves now, and one or two of them sniggered and made crude gestures.

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