“Mum's the word, old man.” And the plumber took the dirty scrap of paper and read. “By God!” said he. “That's kind o' funny.”
“How do you mean?”
“Why, that don't sound like them fellers were backing the Kaiser, does it?” And the plumber scratched his head. “Say, that sounds all right to me!”
“Me too!” said Jimmie. “Didn't know they had that much sense.”
“It's just what the German people ought to have, by God,” said the plumber. “Seems to me we ought to hire fellows to give out things like that.”
“I think so, too,” said Jimmie, enraptured.
The plumber reflected again. “I suppose,” said he, “the trouble is they wouldn't give it to the Germans only; they'd want to give it to both sides.”
“Exactly!” said Jimmie, enraptured still more.
“And, of course, that wouldn't do,” said the plumber; “that would interfere with discipline.” So Jimmie's hopes were dashed.
But the upshot of the interview was that the plumber said he would like to keep the paper and show it to a couple of other fellows. He promised again that he wouldn't mention Jimmie, so Jimmie said all right, and went his way, feeling one seed was lodged in good soil.