The motion was carried, as Drew, head in the air, and features inscrutably calm behind his dark, rough skin, marched from the room, followed by several of the reporters.
"As there are two lawyers on the committee," said Roberts, "it seems to me we had better make no more experiments with outside counsel."
The others murmured assent. "Let Mr. Reed do the questioning," suggested Mulholland. It was agreed, and Reed took the chair which Drew had occupied, as it was conveniently opposite to that in which Armstrong was seated. The reporters who had pursued Drew now returned; one of them said in an audible undertone to his fellow—"He wouldn't talk—not a word," and they all laughed.
"Now—Mr. Armstrong," said Reed, in a sharp, businesslike voice.
"I was summoned," began Armstrong, "as the first witness, I assume. I should like to preface my examination with a brief statement."
"Certainly," said Reed. Roberts nodded. He had his pistol-barrel eyes trained upon Armstrong. It was evident that Armstrong's exposure of Drew, far from lessening Roberts's conviction that he was a bandit, had strengthened it, had made him feel that here was an even wilier, more resourceful, more dangerous man than he had anticipated.
"For the past year and a half, gentlemen," said Armstrong, "I have been engaged in rooting out a system of graft which had so infected the O.A.D. that it had ceased to be an insurance company and had become, like most of our great corporations, a device for enabling a few insiders to gather in the money of millions of people, to keep permanently a large part of it, to take that part which could not be appropriated and use it in gambling operations in which the gamblers got most of the profits and the people whose money supplied the stakes bore all the losses. As the inevitable result of my effort to snatch the O.A.D. from these parasites and dependents, who filled all the positions, high and low, far and near, there has been a determined and exceedingly plausible campaign to oust me. Latterly, instead of fighting these plotters and those whom they misled, I have been silent, have awaited this moment—when a committee of the policy holders would appear. Naturally, I took every precaution to prevent that committee from becoming the unconscious tool of the enemies of the O.A.D."
Armstrong's eyes now rested upon the fifth member of the committee, De Brett, of Ohio. De Brett's eyes slowly lowered until they were studying the dark leather veneer of the top of the table.
"I think," continued Armstrong, "that I have gone far enough in protecting the O.A.D. and myself and my staff which has aided me in the big task of expelling the grafters. I have here——"
Armstrong lifted a large bundle of typewritten manuscript and let it fall with a slight crash. De Brett jumped.