"Why midnight?"
"That was about the time when I made up my mind definitely to stay in
the fight."
"Then you are still meaning to go ahead on the lines you laid down this
morning?"
"If I wasn't, I shouldn't be here to take the train for the rally at
Angora to-morrow night."
Gantry smoked in silence for a little time. Then he said: "You can't do
it, Evan. It's fine and glorious and heart-breaking, and all that; but
you can't do it."
"I can, and I will!"
"I say you can't. I know a good bit more now than I knew this morning!"
"Catalogue it," said Blount tersely.
"Mr. McVickar came in on the noon train to-day, and I had an interview
with him."
"That doesn't tell me anything."
Again the traffic manager took time to smoke and to reflect.
"You made some pretty savage threats this morning, Evan; about shoving
this thing to the point where the grand juries, Federal and State, could
take hold of it. As a lawyer, you know even better than I do what that
would mean."
"I told you what it would mean. In the present state of public sentiment
it would mean prison sentences for every man of you caught with the
goods."
"Yes, for every man of us," said Gantry slowly; "for the railroad man
who has given, and for the other man who has taken. Evan, the jails of
this State wouldn't be big enough to hold us all.
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