This is the intimation that was
made to me: wasn't it made to you?"
Gantry did not reply directly to the direct demand. On the other hand,
he very carefully refrained from answering it in any degree whatsoever.
"You have your job to hold down and I have mine," he rejoined. "What
you say goes as it lies, of course; but just the same, I shouldn't be
too righteously hard on the little brothers, if I were you."
"If by the 'little brothers' you mean the pie-eaters, I'm going to fire
them out, neck and crop, Richard. They make me excessively weary."
Gantry's playful mood fell away from him like a cast-off garment.
"I don't quite believe I'd do that, if I were you, Evan. There are
pie-eaters on both sides in every political contest, and while they
can't do any cause any great amount of good, they can often do a good
bit of harm. I wouldn't be too hard on them, if I were you."
"What would you do?--or, rather, what did you do when you were managing
the State campaign two years ago?" inquired Blount pointedly.
"I cut the pie," said the traffic manager simply.
"In other words, you let this riffraff blackmail you and, incidentally,
put a big black mark against the company's good name."
"Oh, no; I wouldn't put it quite that strong. Not many of these little
fellows ask for money, or expect it. A free ride now and then in the
varnished cars is about all they look for.
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