The answer came with solemn portent. "You have killed the wrong man."
The agitator was stunned. His mouth opened as if he would speak, but no word came from his trembling lips. He drew back as if to escape.
The old man in the wheel chair continued, sadly, "I am the one you should have killed—I am the cause of your failure to gain the support of the Mill workers' union."
The strike leader recovered himself with a shrug of his heavy shoulders.
"So that is it," he sneered; "you would accuse me of shooting your
Captain Charlie, heh?"
"You have accused yourself, sir."
"But how?"
"By the use you are making of Captain Charlie's death. If you did not know who committed the crime—if you did not feel sure that the identity of the assassin would remain a mystery to the people—you would not dare risk charging the employers with it."
With an oath the other returned, "I tell you that McIver or his hired gunmen did it so they could lay the blame on the strikers and so turn the Mill workers' union against us. That is what the Mill men believe."
"That is what you want them to believe. It is an old trick, Vodell. You have used it before."