They met next day in the park. No one was following them, and they found a solitary place, and Nell let him kiss her several times, and in between the kisses she unfolded to him a terrifying plan. Peter had thought that he was something of an intriguer, but his self-esteem shriveled to nothingness in the presence of the superb conception which had come to ripeness in the s.p.a.ce of twenty-four hours in the brain of Nell Doolin, alias Edythe Eustace.
Peter had been doing the hard work, and these big fellows had been using him, handing him a tip now and then, and making fortunes out of the information he brought them. McGivney had let the cat out of the bag in this case of Lackman; you might be sure they had been making money, big money, out of all the other cases. What Peter must do was to work up something of his own, and get the real money, and make himself one of the big fellows. Peter had the facts, he knew the people; he had watched in the Goober case exactly how a "frame-up" was made, and now he must make one for himself, and one that would pay. It was a matter of duty to rid the country of all these Reds; but why should he not have the money as well?
Nell had spent the night figuring over it, trying to pick out the right person. She had hit on old "Nelse" Ackerman, the banker.
Ackerman was enormously and incredibly wealthy; he was called the financial king of American City. Also he was old, and Nell happened to know he was a coward; he was sick in bed just now, and when a man is sick he is still more of a coward. What Peter must do was to discover some kind of a bomb-plot against old "Nelse" Ackerman.
Peter might talk up the idea among some of his Reds and get them interested in it, or he might frame up some letters to be found upon them, and hide some dynamite in their rooms. When the plot was discovered, it would make a frightful uproar, needless to say; the king would hear of it, and of Peter"s part as the discoverer of it, and he would unquestionably reward Peter. Perhaps Peter might arrange to be retained as a secret agent to protect the king from the Reds. Thus Peter would be in touch with real money, and might hire Guffey and McGivney, instead of their hiring him.
If Peter had stood alone, would he have dared so perilous a dream as this? Or was he a "piker"; a little fellow, the victim of his own fears and vanities? Anyhow, Peter was not alone; he had Nell, and it was necessary that he should pose before Nell as a bold and desperate blade. Just as in the old days in the Temple, it was necessary that Peter should get plenty of money, in order to take Nell away from another man. So he said all right, he would go in on that plan; and proceeded to discuss with Nell the various personalities he might use.
The most likely was Pat McCormick. "Mac," with his grim, set face and his silent, secretive habits, fitted perfectly to Peter"s conception of a dynamiter. Also "Mac" was Peter"s personal enemy; "Mac" had just returned from his organizing trip in the oil fields, and had been denouncing Peter and gossiping about him in the various radical groups. "Mac" was the most dangerous Red of them all! He must surely be one of the dynamiters!
Another likely one was Joe Angell, whom Peter had met at a recent gathering of Ada Ruth"s "Anti-conscription League." People made jokes about this chap"s name because he looked the part, with his bright blue eyes that seemed to have come out of heaven, and his bright golden hair, and even the memory of dimples in his cheeks.
But when Joe opened his lips, you discovered that he was an angel from the nether regions. He was the boldest and most defiant of all the Reds that Peter had yet come upon. He had laughed at Ada Ruth and her sentimental literary att.i.tude toward the subject of the draft. It wasn"t writing poems and pa.s.sing resolutions that was wanted; it wasn"t even men who would refuse to put on the uniform, but men who would take the guns that were offered to them, and drill themselves, and at the proper time face about and use the guns in the other direction. Agitating and organizing were all right in their place, but now, when the government dared challenge the workers and force them into the army, it was men of action that were needed in the radical movement.
Joe Angell had been up in the lumber country, and could tell what was the mood of the real workers, the "huskies" of the timberlands.
Those fellows weren"t doing any more talking; they had their secret committees that were ready to take charge of things as soon as they had put the capitalists and their governments out of business.
Meantime, if there was a sheriff or prosecuting attorney that got too gay, they would "b.u.mp him off." This was a favorite phrase of "Blue-eyed Angell." He would use it every half hour or so as he told about his adventures. "Yes," he would say; "he got gay, but we b.u.mped him off all right."
Section 41
So Nell and Peter settled down to work out the details of their "frame-up" on Joe Angell and Pat McCormick. Peter must get a bunch of them together and get them to talking about bombs and killing people; and then he must slip a note into the pockets of all who showed interest, calling them to meet for a real conspiracy. Nell would write the notes, so that no one could fasten the job onto Peter. She pulled out a pencil and a little pad from her handbag, and began: "If you really believe in a bold stroke for the workers"
rights, meet me--" And then she stopped. "Where?"
"In the studios," put in Peter.
And Nell wrote, "In the studios. Is that enough?"
"Room 17." Peter knew that this was the room of Nikitin, a Russian painter who called himself an Anarchist.
So Nell wrote "Room 17," and after further discussion she added: "Tomorrow morning at eight o"clock. No names and no talk. Action!"
This time was set because Peter recollected that there was to be a gathering of the "wobblies" in their headquarters this very evening.
It was to be a business meeting, but of course these fellows never got together very long without starting the subject of "tactics."
There was a considerable element among them who were dissatisfied with what they called the "supine att.i.tude" of the organization, and were always arguing for action. Peter was sure he would be able to get some of them interested in the idea of a dynamite conspiracy.
As it turned out, Peter had no trouble at all; the subject was started without his having to put in a word. Were the workers to be driven like sheep to the slaughter, and the "wobblies" not to make one move? So asked the "Blue-eyed Angell," vehemently, and added that if they were going to move, American City was as good a place as any. He had talked with enough of the rank and file to realize that they were ready for action; all they needed was a battle-cry and an organization to guide them.
Henderson, the big lumber-jack, spoke up. That was just the trouble; you couldn"t get an organization for such a purpose. The authorities would get spies among you, they would find out what you were doing, and drive you underground.
"Well," cried Joe, "we"ll go underground!"
"Yes," agreed the other, "but then your organization goes bust.
n.o.body knows who to trust, everybody"s accusing the rest of being a spy."
"h.e.l.l!" said Joe Angell. "I"ve been in jail for the movement, I"ll take my chances of anybody"s calling me a spy. What I"m not going to do is to sit down and see the workers driven to h.e.l.l, because I"m so d.a.m.n careful about my precious organization."
When others objected, Angell rushed on still more vehemently.
Suppose they did fail in a ma.s.s-uprising, suppose they were driven to a.s.sa.s.sination and terrorism? At least they would teach the exploiters a lesson, and take a little of the joy out of their lives.
Peter thought it would be a good idea for him to pose as a conservative just now. "Do you really think the capitalists would give up from fear?" he asked.
And the other answered: "You bet I do! I tell you if we"d made it understood that every congressman who voted this country into war would be sent to the front trenches, our country would still be at peace."
"But," put in Peter, deftly, "it ain"t the congressmen. It"s people higher up than them."
"You bet," put in Gus, the Swedish sailor. "You bet you! I name you one dozen big fellows in dis country--you make it clear if we don"t get peace dey all get killed--we get peace all right!"
So Peter had things where he wanted them. "Who are those fellows?"
he asked, and got the crowd arguing over names. Of course they didn"t argue very long before somebody mentioned "Nelse" Ackerman, who was venomously hated by the Reds because he had put up a hundred thousand dollars of the Anti-Goober fund. Peter pretended not to know about Nelse; and Jerry Rudd, a "blanket-stiff" whose head was still sore from being cracked open in a recent harvesters" strike, remarked that by Jesus, if they"d put a few fellows like that in the trenches, there"d be some pacifists in Ameriky sure enough all right.
It seemed almost as if Joe Angell had come there to back up Peter"s purpose. "What we want," said he, "is a few fellows to fight as hard for themselves as they fight for the capitalists."
"Yes," a.s.sented Henderson, grimly. "We"re all so good--we wait till our masters tell us we can kill."
That was the end of the discussion; but it seemed quite enough to Peter. He watched his chance, and one by one he managed to slip his little notes into the coat-pockets of Joe Angell, Jerry Rudd, Henderson, and Gus, the sailor. And then Peter made his escape, trembling with excitement. The great dynamite conspiracy was on!
"They must be got rid of!" he was whispering to himself. "They must be got rid of by any means! It"s my duty I"m doing."
Section 42
Peter had an appointment to meet Nell on a street corner at eleven o"clock that same night, and when she stepped off the street-car, Peter saw that she was carrying a suit-case. "Did you get your job done?" she asked quickly, and when Peter answered in the affirmative, she added: "Here"s your bomb!"
Peter"s jaw fell. He looked so frightened that she hastened to rea.s.sure him. It wouldn"t go off; it was only the makings of a bomb, three sticks of dynamite and some fuses and part of a clock. The dynamite was wrapped carefully, and there was no chance of its exploding--if he didn"t drop it! But Peter wasn"t much consoled. He had had no idea that Nell would go so far, or that he would actually have to handle dynamite. He wondered where and how she had got it, and wished to G.o.d he was out of this thing.
But it was too late now, of course. Said Nell: "You"ve got to get this suit-case into the headquarters, and you"ve got to get it there without anybody seeing you. They"ll be shut up pretty soon, won"t they?"
"We locked up when we left," said Peter.
"And who has the key?"
"Grady, the secretary."
"There"s no way you can get it?"
"I can get into the room," said Peter, quickly. "There"s a fire escape, and the window isn"t tight. Some of us that know about it have got in that way when the place was locked."
"All right," said Nell. "We"ll wait a bit; we mustn"t take chances of anyone coming back."
They started to stroll along the street, Nell still carrying the suit-case, as if distrusting the state of Peter"s nerves, Meantime she explained, "I"ve got two pieces of paper that we"ve got to plant in the room. One"s to be torn up and thrown into the trash-basket.
It"s supposed to be part of a letter about some big plan that"s to be pulled off, and it"s signed "Mac." That"s for McCormick, of course. I had to type it, not having any sample of his handwriting.
The other piece is a drawing; there"s no marks to show what it is, but of course the police"ll soon find out. It"s a plan of old Ackerman"s home, and there"s a cross mark showing his sleeping-porch. Now, what we want to do is to fix this on McCormick.
Is there anything in the room that belongs to him?"