Several other men who heard the hobo’s appeal looked curiously at the tattered figure and laughed.
“You just stick in here, an’ Powers dasen’t come in after yuh,” one of them said.
“But them gents out front will give me the bum’s rush,” the hobo complained.
Anderson grinned good-naturedly. “I’ve been down on my luck myself. Tom Powers can’t touch you, if you have a job.”
The hobo drew back suspiciously.
“I ain’t very strong, mister.”
Again the others laughed, and the political boss smiled.
“I wasn’t thinking of anything that would hurt your health,” he said. “How about doing odd jobs about the Red Queen?”
Anderson went over to the Toad and talked to him for a moment. The Toad grinned and assented. Allen had known there was no love lost between Anderson and Tom Powers, but, even so, things had worked out better than he had hoped. Now he was hired as handy man about the Red Queen.
He took up his new duties on the spot. And between errands he kept his ears open.