I won't have to
say who it is--he'll take my word for that. Do you suppose Mr.
Callahan would talk about it?"
The bartender thought for a moment. "You wait here," he said. "The
boss has only stepped round the corner; and perhaps I can get the
doctor what he wants."
So Samuel sat down and waited; and in a few
minutes John Callahan came in. He was a thick-set and red-faced
Irishman, good-natured and pleasant looking-not at all like the
desperado Samuel had imagined.
"Say, John," said Finnegan. "This boy here used to work for Bertie
Lockman; and he's got a girl works for the Wygants."
"So!" said Callahan.
"And what do you think," went on the other, "He heard old Henry
Hickman talking--he says you fellows held him up on that water bill."
"Go on!" said Callahan. "Did he say that?"
"He did," said Finnegan, without giving Samuel a chance to reply.
"Well," said the other, "he's a damned liar, and he knows it. It was a
dead straight proposition, and we hadn't a thing to do with it. There
was an independent water company that wanted a franchise--and it would
have given the city its water for just half. Every time I pay my water
bill I am sorry I didn't hold out. It would have been cheaper for me
in the end."
"He says it cost him sixty thousand," remarked Finnegan.
"Maybe," said the other. "You can't tell what the organization got.
All I know is that ten of us fellows in the council got two thousand
apiece out of it.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184