That Coggswell had summoned him to the club in order to express his admiration of Owen’s independence in refusing to buy the ticket to the outing seemed absurd. It had sounded almost plausible when the boss had said it in his smooth, convincing voice, but when he came to think over it afterward, Owen could see how preposterous the thing was. Imagine any political leader going into raptures over a young man who had called him a blackmailer. Imagine him being anxious to help a young man to promotion, just because he liked his way of talking.
“No,” said the carrier to himself, “that offer of a postal inspector’s job was made to tempt me to do Coggswell’s crooked work, and now that I’ve refused, I’ll wager that he won’t move a finger to help me. But I don’t care about that,” he added confidently; “I’ll get there, all right, without his help.”
Something happened the following morning which greatly strengthened the suspicions of the carrier, and[{42}] made him certain that Boss Coggswell had sinister designs upon the mail of some person on his route.
When he reported for work, Owen was informed by Henderson, the superintendent of Branch X Y, that, beginning that morning, he was to cover a new territory. Instead of route forty-eight, he would henceforth, and until further notice, cover route sixteen.
Now, in post-office work it is a great advantage, naturally, to have the carriers familiar with the territory which they have to cover. It stands to reason that a postman cannot make as quick deliveries over strange ground as on a route in which he knows the names in the house letter boxes almost by heart. For this reason the men are not changed around any more than can be avoided.
Therefore, Owen knew, as soon as Henderson told him that his route was to be changed, that this must be due to Coggswell’s influence. The politician wanted to get him out of the way, and have him replaced by a man who would not refuse to do his bidding.
Owen inquired who was to succeed him on route forty-eight, and learned that it was a carrier named Greene, a man whom Owen liked less than any other employee of Branch X Y.
Greene, who was a pale-faced, shifty-eyed fellow, was a member of the Samuel J. Coggswell Association, Owen learned, and on friendly terms with Jake Hines. The fact that he had been selected for route forty-eight certainly looked significant.
To be taken away from his old territory was a great blow to Owen; for, be it remembered, the real-estate office of Walter K. Sammis was located in that section, and his transfer meant that he no longer would be able to exchange a few words each morning with Dallas Worthington.
And, besides this, the new route was a much less pleasant one. Carrier Greene, who had covered it for two years, had certain reasons of his own for being satisfied with it, but Owen found the new territory very disagreeable.