It took two weeks to recover. Milo lost his job at the Belgrade mine. He lost his spot at the boarding house, not that he wanted it back. Ana Zalar, with Danko in tow, returned to Torelli's to retrieve Milo's possessions. A sporting girl directed her, with a bored gesture, upstairs to where Milo had slept. His bed was occupied by one of several snoring miners who were gearing up for the night shift. Milo's rucksack was lying empty in the corner. The other boarders had taken his canteen, his overalls, his candles, his knife. His guitar, however, was still there. Ana grabbed it and walked out of the tavern.
Moose Jackson had broken four of Milo's ribs in the one-sided bar fight. After two weeks, Milo could see out of both eyes, but he still had trouble breathing. He loathed the idea of going back to work underground. Nonetheless, he applied for and immediately got hired at the St. James mine a few miles away.
As he recovered, Milo read in the Industrial Worker that the United States would soon enter the mighty war raging in Europe. Never before had there been a greater need for the iron produced on the Mesabi Range, and never before had there been so few workers to dig it out of the ground. The government had enacted immigration quotas, which stopped the flow of unskilled workers to northern Minnesota. An injured man was preferable to no worker at all. The foreman who hired Milo even offered him an advance on his first month's wages to pay for his work clothes, candles and matches. Two days later, he got word from Mr. Anton Kovich that there was an opening at his boarding house. It was outside of town and had a reputation for being peaceful.
But not long after his arrival, things would change. A girl would arrive from the old country. A skinny girl with big, dark eyes like a deer. Within months, trouble would barge through the door of the Slovenski Dom. Once again, Milo would not be able to walk away.
