“Don’t talk that way when you see the Standishes again,” counseled Caine, “Mrs. Standish looks on Block Island as part of her religion. She—”
“Yes,” grinned Caleb. “I s’pose so. I can see the old lady doin’ saint-poses on the sand there.”
“All her attitudes are beatitudes,” agreed Caine. But as far as concerned Conover’s comprehension, he might as well have said it in Greek.
“By the way,” went on Amzi, “I have some fairly sure information from our political reporter that ought to interest both of us. It’s about Blacarda.”
“If you mean Blacarda’s got next to the Gov’nor and arranged a special session of Legislature in September,” interposed Caleb, “I knew that a week ago. The Starke bill’s to be flashed on ’em in a new form, without our gettin’ wind of it, an’ it’s to be rushed through, with an idea of knockin’ our Steeloid combine flatter’n a pancake.”
“You knew all this a week ago? Why didn’t you—?”
“It’s my business to know things,” replied Conover, “If I didn’t, I’d be takin’ orders still, instead of givin’ ’em. As for not tellin’ you, what was the use? You’d a’ found it out soon enough; an’ I’ve been too busy to run an inf’mation bureau. I’ll be ready for Friend Blacarda an’ his crowd when the time comes; same’s I was before. Just because I don’t hire a brass band to p’rade the streets carryin’ a placard of my plans, you mustn’t run away with the idee that I’m overlookin’ any bets. I’ve got everything in line. We’ll win out, same as we did last Spring; an’ by a bigger margin.”
“But you may be detained as you were before. And next time you may not get back soon enough. Blacarda will move heaven and earth to keep you away. He knows by now,—as we all do,—that you weren’t boasting when you said your presence in the lobby meant all the difference between defeat and victory.”
“That’s right,” said Caleb, gently flattered, “But I’ll be on deck. It’s a way I’ve got. There’s always a bunch of weak-spined chaps in our crowd in the Assembly that’s so scared at reform threats an’ all such rot that they’re ready to stampede if I’m not on hand to hammer the fear of the Lord into ’em. An’ that same crowd’s still big enough to turn the vote if they bolt to cover. But they won’t. I’ll be there. Blacarda ain’t likely to play the same game twice. Apart from its bein’ useless, he’s too scared. An’ there’s not another trick in all the pack that can get past my handy little bunch of secret service men.”
“But if the bill should pass—”