“What object could Sartwell have in buying me?”
“Oh, that’s too self-evident. If he controls you he controls the action of the Union.”
“Please explain how. No action can be taken without a majority vote.”
“That’s it exactly. That’s why you are begging for our confidence and support, so that when the time comes you can deliver to Sartwell what he pays for.”
“I see. Did Sartwell ever offer to buy you?”
“He never did. He knew better.”
“Did you ever offer to sell yourself to Sartwell?”
“What’s that? What do you mean?”
“I’ll put the question in another way. Did you write a private letter to Sartwell a few days before the strike ended?”
Gibbons rose to his feet in such evident confusion that several of the crowd laughed, and all were in a state of tense excitement. This was the kind of thing they liked. Marsten was carrying the war into Africa.