The Lash.
by Olin L. Lyman.
CHAPTER I
A STAR CHAMBER SESSION
The speaker paused for a moment to pa.s.s his handkerchief over his fevered brow. Up from the ugly, leering, little eyes swept the swabbing linen, traversing the smooth top of the round head and disappearing mysteriously at the rear. The reason for this was obvious. The teeth of time take kindly to the hirsute and the speaker was very bald. Only a narrow fringe of reddish hair divided the rear depression of his fevered brow from the nape of his fat red neck.
A plump and hairy fist smote the table and the gla.s.ses jingled. "Don"t fool yourselves, you young fellows," advised the bald gentleman, in a curious gusty voice. "I"ve been all through it, clean to the retired list," with a wicked wink, "and I know, that"s all. You"ve got to work harder this year than you did the first; you"ve got to a point where there ain"t no layin" down for you if you want to keep on fodderin".
"Cause why? "Cause they"re on, or think they are, and they"re gettin"
uneasy. You think everything"s lovely, do you? Well, take a little advice from the old man that"s now on the sideline, and aim to get busy from now on."
He again swabbed his illimitable brow, peering cunningly at them with wicked little eyes that gleamed unpleasantly on either side of a bulbous, crimsoned nose, while he chewed complacently at a black cigar.
In common with the rest of the small company he was in his shirt-sleeves, for it was very hot. A mere ghost of a breeze stole in through the window screen, against which foiled moths, attracted by the light within, b.u.mped in vain. A white-ap.r.o.ned waiter, summoned by an electric bell, entered, removed the empty gla.s.ses and received a fresh order. With his departure the bald gentleman was again heard from.
"Well," he snorted aggressively, "what"s eatin" you? Don"t you believe me?"
"Why," drawled a lank, middle-aged gentleman with a generally unsophisticated look that increased the efficiency of his talents for the peculiar use to which he devoted them; "I suppose it"s safe to be on the safe side, but there"s no use in borrowin" trouble any more than you have to. Everything looks smooth to me."
"Pals," remarked the bald gentleman impressively, "remember this. The only way to stave off the foreclosure is to keep borrowin", and it"s the smoothest whisky that gives you the rockiest head the next morning.
"Cause why? "Cause you get enthused and hit it up too hard. Now that"s where our danger flag"s out. We"ve found this an easy town, we"ve worked it for all it"s worth, puttin" it in plain English; the reformers ain"t never woke up and you"re takin" the att.i.tude that they never will. Boys, it"s a mistake. They do, sometimes. You don"t want to plan on no sleepy campaign, if you"ll take it from a sideliner that"s "retired" but wishes you well."
"That"s all very well, Alderman." said a plump, moon-faced fellow across the table, "but we"ve had these scares before and they"ve been for nothing. Two years ago Fusion thought it had us beat and we was afraid it was going to turn the trick. Remember the vote? Why, we got the laugh from our own men. We needn"t have hustled ourselves. It was a dead open-and-shut."
"It"s because the town don"t believe half it hears," interpolated the lank gentleman. "I"ll say this, that the old man--drink to him, boys!--is the best organizer in this country today, and he leaves the blindest trail. They can"t bring anything home, not while we"re in control."
"That"s what I"m tellin" you," remarked the bald one grimly. "You"ve got to hang on to the control. Let it slip away from you while you"re nappin" and how long would it be before the town was next? What would the hide of any man in this room be worth?" His voice had instinctively lowered; his head was thrust forward, his little eyes were piercing. "I tell you it always pays to keep busy all the time."
There was a moment"s silence. The half dozen companions of the speaker surveyed him minutely but with visible respect. After all, he could give any and all of them pointers in the gentle art of grafting and they knew it. Moreover, his words had at last struck home, had awakened them from a false sense of security. Alderman Goldberg had been through the mill, and had fed at the public crib at intervals no better judged than times when he elected to remain in discreet retirement, in his cyclone cellar, until ominous signs on the munic.i.p.al weather horizon had disappeared.
So, because they knew that he spoke by the card, his companions now paid him the tribute of uneasy silence.
The lanky individual, d.i.c.k Peterson by name, finally resumed the conversation. "Well," said he, "this is only a preliminary to the main event anyway. Wonder what"s keepin" the old man? Here we"ve been waitin"
an hour. We"ll see what he says. I haven"t mentioned "campaign" to him myself."
"I know what he"ll say," retorted Goldberg. "Just what I"ve been tellin"
you, to get busy. That"s why he called you here tonight, to dig in the spurs a little. The old man"s no fool. Hark! I guess he"s comin" now."
There was a soft tread outside, a door opened and a man entered the room. Nodding slightly in response to their greeting, he seated himself in a chair, at the head of the table, which had evidently been reserved for him. Peterson pushed some cigars toward him, at the same time thrusting an interrogative finger toward the electric bell. The newcomer shook his head, and selecting one of the cigars, leaned back in his chair as he leisurely lighted it.
John Shaughnessy was as unlike the cartooned type of political boss as could be imagined. He looked decidedly ordinary, and might have been taken for anything from a dejected clerk of middle age to an unostentatious gambler. His garb was quiet; there was an utter absence of vociferous jewelry. In person he was lank and slightly over middle height. The face was singularly impa.s.sive; that of a gambler to whom nothing apparently mattered. A hawk nose and small black moustache had Shaughnessy, also a pair of heavy-lidded eyes.
These eyes, when they glanced casually at you, held a l.u.s.treless, ennuied expression that impressed you, did you trouble to entertain any impression at all, with a definite idea of somnolence in Shaughnessy. A discouraged gambler, you might think casually, had you not the honor of his acquaintance. But did you happen to kindle Shaughnessy"s interest in any way, lo! a startling change. The heavy lids contracted ever so little about the black eyes, which shot forth gleams that revealed Shaughnessy in a new and sinister light. They bared a sleepless vigilance, an unpleasant concentration, which inspired the person regarded with a nervousness that was justified. For when those eyes, but a moment before l.u.s.treless and dead, lightened with that strange gleam, the dispirited clerk or discouraged gambler vanished. In his stead, regarding you with a cold, basilisk, snaky stare that pierced you through and through, there was revealed--Shaughnessy.
It was his wonted mask of impa.s.sive features and l.u.s.treless eyes that long caused Shaughnessy to be surprisingly and generally underestimated.
Men chose not to believe that one whose general appearance so lacked significance was capable of the stealth and finesse in large, dark matters that a portion of the press emphatically but rather gropingly attributed to Shaughnessy. So it was Shaughnessy"s good fortune, for his nefarious ends, that most men refused to take him too seriously. The majority chanced never to rouse his interest; hence, never saw the optical gleam. For the minority who did, Shaughnessy was a man transformed, invested with power, genuine and unmistakable.
Following the leader"s entrance, the company waited silently for him to speak. He favored them with a moment"s reflective stare, puffing billowing smoke clouds. Then he spoke, and his voice was as cold and impersonal as his white face.
"I called you together, boys," said he, "because there"s work ahead for us." There was a significant nod from Goldberg. "It doesn"t look bad at a first glance," continued Shaughnessy, "but a look-in will show you that it will pay to hump some. There"s nothing open yet, but we"ve got to face the hottest fight we have had. Well," with a grim smile, "we"ll do it and we"ll win out. We"ve got to."
"Yes," remarked Peterson, with a deep sigh. "We"ve got to, all right, governor."
"That"s what I was tellin" "em, Shaughnessy," put in Goldberg, rolling his cigar to the lee corner of his mouth. "They wanted to give me the laugh. Thought everything was lovely. They"ll know when they"ve sidestepped the shivers as often as we have. I tell you, the clearest day is the one you want to have your umbrella ready for, and that"s no lie."
"No," a.s.sented Shaughnessy, "that"s no lie. It"s going to rain votes this fall and we"ve got to get busy in mortgaging the majority of "em.
If we don"t, we get caught napping, that"s all, and it"s us to the woods. I needn"t tell you, of course, that as late as a year ago we could have defied "em to put the hooks on us, even if they"d got a look-in at the polls. We had things tied up so they couldn"t have touched us; we could have stayed right on. But there"ve been some bad mistakes made; some instructions exceeded and some things we couldn"t help, being forced into "em. Truth is, boys, that if through any chance we"re done up in this coming election, we"re caught right out in the open with a wagonload of goods, and there"s no time to hide "em. That"s the situation we"re facing and it"s one that calls for cutting out sleep till after election day."
"Well, we"ve done it before," remarked Willie Shute, the moon-faced gentleman, as he pressed the b.u.t.ton for another round of drinks. "What the devil is sleep, anyway? Waste of time."
"It"s a waste of time in politics," a.s.sented the leader, "unless you want to wake up to find you"ve been buried alive with no air tube."
Willie Shute, following the laughter which greeted this grisly pleasantry, was discovered looking about him with vague apprehension.
"Thought I heard someone snickerin"," he explained. "Before we did."
Peterson glanced significantly at Shute"s whisky gla.s.s. "Preliminary to the main event," he commented. "Saw off, or you"ll be hearing bands of music in the morning."
Shaughnessy leaned forward upon the table. "Well, let"s get down to business," he remarked. "Let"s talk things over, look at all we"ve got to buck against and plan to buck it in the good old way. Give us another whack at this and in the next two years we"ll be ready to retire with a trail blinder than an eyeless fish in the Mammoth Cave. But it would be all day with us to lose just now; we can"t afford it. In some ways we"re better fixed for the fight than we"ve been before. We own one newspaper body and soul, though we"re not advertising it. We"ve practically clinched another of "em, there"s a couple that don"t count anyway, and then, there"s that d.a.m.ned Courier."
"What figure does it cut?" sneered Goldberg. "What do you care? You"ve got good organs of your own."
"I"d give the lot of "em, pro and con," responded Shaughnessy reflectively, "if I could either switch that sheet onto my line or work it for a neutral sidetrack. It"s got more real, solid influence than the lot of "em put together. It"s always been against me, more or less, said I was "some" back in the days when the other papers gave it the laugh.
Last election it let up a little. I was beginning to get in. Then old Westlake bought up the controlling interest unexpectedly a while ago, and they"re getting ready to lam it to us this fall, boys, and don"t you forget it. We can"t do anything with Westlake. You know I was trying, through sources that ought to have been influential, to get in an entering wedge by practically throwing the whole batch of city printing at Westlake"s head. Well, what do you think? Westlake was on all right and it"s a case of no compromise. Matter went to the business office and was referred directly to him, as a matter of course. He sent back word that the Courier was planning to print a great deal about the city "gov." during the next few months that it wouldn"t charge anything for."
"Well," inquired Goldberg, after a moment"s silence, "what good is that going to do him?"
"Nothing yet," replied Shaughnessy, the light of battle kindling in his strange eyes. "He"s got nothing that"ll do us any real harm, and I think we can see to it that there"ll be no leaking on anything that will. It"s up to us just to pull down the blinds, and keep "em pulled, and then let Westlake howl about what he suspects; he won"t know anything. We"ve got respectable papers," with an ugly sneer, "controlled by respectable men on our side, too. If Westlake or any man of Westlake"s can dig up anything after we"ve nailed it down, why, he"s welcome to it. But now let"s get busy and talk things over."
A colloquy followed which would have electrified the citizens of this community, could they have heard it. Ancient, mysterious skeletons were exhumed in that talk, skeletons which had been in the flesh the source of much speculation. There were recent dark issues, too, and there was a murky present and a future that would be murkier, did things go well.
All told, an opportunity to listen to that conversation would have benefited the adherents of munic.i.p.al decency.
After two hours of reminiscence, of planning for the campaign and speculating on the future, Shaughnessy rose with a yawn. "Get a good night"s sleep, boys," he suggested dryly, "and then don"t sleep again till the day after we do the old ladies at the polls." They laughed as they followed him out of the private room and down stairs.
There was a slight stir in a corner of the room. It subsided as a waiter entered to clear and tidy the table. With the receding steps of the servitor down the stairs, from behind the sideboard in the corner softly stepped a man. He looked cautiously about him, then, walking to the window, he quietly withdrew the screen, and, gaining a convenient roof outside, replaced the screen carefully. Upon the roof his stealthily receding footsteps were audible.
CHAPTER II
AN ARRIVAL
"Ambition is an itch for something you haven"t got and never expect to get," remarked Peters, rapping his pipe bowl against the edge of the desk and reaching for Mead"s tobacco box. He owned none of his own and the rest of the force formed a convenient and interminable tobacco trust for him.
"You might add to that observation the clause "but others have," Pete,"