"I am," said Armstrong. "I'll make it plain that I'm not fighting to get any office in Consolidated; I want none. My stock will give me control, and that's all I want—unless I have to turn over that stock. But that stock is tied up for another three months in the voting trust, Macgowan must be blocked somehow."
"Humph!" grunted Dorns, the hard eyes boring into him. "D'you know that you're up against a real fight? You are, me lad; no mistake about it. This bird Macgowan, now—I know him. He's hand in fist with Tammany, and likewise with Albany; any lad who can play both ends o' that game is a slick one! What've ye got to fight him with?"
"The trust that sixteen thousand people have in me," said Armstrong simply.
The bitter eyes stared at him, a slow wonder stirring in their depths. Then came a startling and incredible speech.
"Either you're a damned fool—or you're somethin' big. And you're no fool, me lad. I'm with you, win, lose or draw. If we lose, I'll take no fee; you're the first man in years who has come for my help in an unselfish cause. I'm with you, and I'm damned proud to be with you, me lad!"
Armstrong had not expected such a speech. The unsuspected quality he had evoked from this man left him wordless, unable to respond.
"Now," said Dorns with his incisive crispness, "are you going into this thing alone?"
"Not if I can help it." Armstrong smiled faintly. "I've learned my lesson. I'll need all the assistance I can get."
"You'll want the best lawyer in the city. Got anybody?"
Armstrong shook his head. "I'm a lawyer, but not in Macgowan's class."