"
"All right; then I'll tell you flat that we are out for blood. We hold
no brief for any living man. There are no strings tied to us, and we
wear nobody's brass collar."
"Then you are fighting the machine as well as the railroad?" Blount put
in quickly.
The editor sat back in his chair, and the two furrows which deepened
upon either side of his hard-bitted mouth answered for a smile.
"When you find a machine that hasn't got 'T-C.R.' lettered on it
somewhere, you let us know about it," was his rather cryptic reply.
"That is not the point," said Blount dryly. "Here is the question I
wanted to ask: There are only five days intervening before the election.
How wide a swath could you cut if the evidence of wholesale corruption
could be placed in your hands within twenty-four hours?"
Again the editor took time to consider. When he spoke it was to say: "I
can't quite believe that you are going to be disloyal to your salt at
this late stage of the game, Blount. Do you mean that you are going to
show your own company up for what it really is?"
"Never mind about that. I asked a question, and you haven't answered
it."
"It was a question of time, wasn't it? There's time enough to tip the
skillet over and spill all the grease into the fire, if that's what you
mean; always time enough, up to the last issue before the polls open.
Pages:
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269