CHAPTER XV
The Great Money Trick
During the next four weeks the usual reign of terror continued at 'The Cave'; the men slaved like so many convicts under the vigilant surveillance of Crass and Rushton, not to mention Misery, who had lately adopted the plan of crawling up one of the ladders and entering the house by an upper window. Even if he never caught any one, he accomplished the useful purpose of making the men afraid to stop working for an instant. The consequence was the job at 'The Cave' rapidly neared completion, and though the hands cursed and grumbled at their mates for 'tearing into it' they each tore into it themselves, for already there were dozens of men 'walking about' and little chance of obtaining employment elsewhere.
Sweater paid frequent visits to 'The Cave' while Owen was painting the drawing room, being interested in the progress of the work. On these occasions Crass always managed to be present and did most of the talking, an arrangement which suited Owen very well, for he was always ill at ease when conversing with a man like Sweater, who spoke in an offensively patronising way, and expected common people to kow-tow to and 'Sir' him at every second word. Crass, however, seemed to enjoy doing that kind of thing, and though he did not exactly grovel on the floor when Sweater spoke to him, he contrived to convey the impression that he was willing to do so if desired.
Outside the house Bundy and his mates had dug deep trenches in the damp ground for the new drains. It was a miserable job. Owing to the fact that there had been a spell of bad weather the ground was sodden with rain and there was mud everywhere, the men's clothing and boots were caked with it. But the worst thing about the job was the smell. For years the old drain-pipes had been defective and
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