“He’s doing what I asked him to do, too damn well,” said Hazelrigg. “I’ll have to choke him off.”
Sayler, however, was resolved to give his clients of the plutocracy a thoroughgoing scare. Said he:
“Oh, why not let him alone for the present, Hazelrigg?” Sayler was one of those who give orders in the form of interrogative suggestions.
“But he makes me nervous,” objected the Democratic boss. “He’s spreading like wildfire. I may have to nominate him for governor.”
“Why not?” said Sayler. A sentimental smile; he was thinking of the “match.”
“But—damn it, he’d likely be elected.”
“Well—a good beating might do my party a world of good. We’ve been in too long.”
“But—I’m afraid I can’t get any hold on him.”
Sayler deigned no answer but a satirical smile.
“He’d probably make four years of merry hell. A governor can do a lot in this state. He can do; so he doesn’t dare talk without doing, like most governors.”