Chapter 3

by Upton Sinclair

　　A few days after these incidents, Montague was waiting for a friendwho was to come to dinner at his hotel. He was sitting in the lobbyreading a paper, and he noticed an elderly gentleman with a greygoatee and rather florid complexion who passed down the corridorbefore him. A minute or two later he happened to glance up, and hecaught this gentleman's eye.

　　The latter started, and a look of amazement came over his face. Hecame forward, saying, "I beg pardon, but is not this AllanMontague?"

　　"It is," said Montague, looking at him in perplexity.

　　"You don't remember me, do you?" said the other.

　　"I must confess that I do not," was the answer.

　　"I am Colonel Cole."

　　But Montague only knitted his brows in greater perplexity. "ColonelCole?" he repeated.

　　"You were too young to remember me," the other said. "I have been atyour house a dozen times. I was in your father's brigade."

　　"Indeed!" exclaimed Montague. "I beg your pardon."

　　"Don't mention it, don't mention it," said the other, taking a seatbeside him. "It was really extraordinary that I should recall you.And how is your brother? Is he in New York?"

　　"He is," said Montague.

　　"And your mother? She is still living, I trust?"

　　"Oh, yes," said he. "She is in this hotel."

　　"It is really an extraordinary pleasure!" exclaimed the other. "Idid not think I knew a soul in New York."

　　"You are visiting here?" asked Montague.

　　"From the West," said the Colonel.

　　"It is curious how things follow out," he continued, after a pause."I was thinking about your father only this very day. I had aproposal from someone who wanted to buy some stock that I have--inthe Northern Mississippi Railroad."

　　Montague gave a start. "You don't mean it!" he said.

　　"Yes," said the other. "Your father persuaded me to take some of thestock, away back in the old days. And I have had it ever since. Ihad forgotten all about it."

　　Montague smiled. "When you have disposed of yours," he said, "youmight refer your party to me. I know of some more that is for sale."

　　"I have no doubt," said the Colonel. "But I fancy it won't fetchmuch now. I don't remember receiving any dividends."

　　There was a pause. "It is a curious coincidence," said the other."I, too, have been thinking about the railroad. My friend, Mrs.Taylor, has just come up from New Orleans. She used to be LucyDupree."

　　The Colonel strove to recall. "Dupree?" he said.

　　"Judge Dupree's daughter," said Montague. "His brother, John Dupree,was the first president of the road."

　　"Oh, yes," said the Colonel. "Of course, of course! I remember theJudge now. Your father told me he had taken quite a lot of thestock."

　　"Yes, he was the prime mover in the enterprise."

　　"And who was that other gentleman?" said the Colonel, racking hisbrains. "The one who used to be so much in his house, and was somuch interested in him--"

　　"You mean Mr. Lee Gordon?" said Montague.

　　"Yes, I think that was the name," the other replied.

　　"He was my father's cousin," said Montague. "He put so much moneyinto the road that the family has been poor ever since."

　　"It was an unfortunate venture," said the Colonel. "It is too badsome of our big capitalists don't take it up and do something withit."

　　"That was my idea," said Montague. "I have broached it to one."

　　"Indeed?" said the Colonel. "Possibly that is where my offer camefrom. Who was it?"

　　"It was Jim Hegan," said Montague.

　　"Oh!" said the Colonel. "But of course," he added, "Hegan would dohis negotiating through an agent."

　　"Let me give you my card," said the Colonel, after a pause. "It ispossible that I may be able to interest someone in the mattermyself. I have friends who believe in the future of the South. Howmany shares do you suppose you could get me, and what do you supposethey would cost?"

　　Montague got out a pencil and paper, and proceeded to recall as wellas he could the location of the various holdings of NorthernMississippi. He and his new acquaintance became quite engrossed inthe subject, and they talked it out from many points of view. By thetime that Montague's friend arrived, the Colonel was in possessionof all the facts, and he promised that he would write in a very fewdays.

　　And then, after dinner, Montague went upstairs and joined hismother. "I met an old friend of father's this evening," he said.

　　"Who was it?" she asked.

　　"Colonel Cole," he said, and Mrs. Montague looked blank.

　　"Colonel Cole?" she repeated.

　　"Yes, that was the name," said Montague. "Here is his card," and hetook it out. "Henry W. Cole, Seattle, Washington," it read.

　　"But I never heard of him," said Mrs. Montague.

　　"Never heard of him!" exclaimed Montague. "Why, he has been at thehouse a dozen times, and he knew father and Cousin Lee and JudgeDupree and everyone."

　　But Mrs. Montague only shook her head. "He may have been at thehouse," she said, "but I am sure that I was never introduced tohim."

　　Montague thought that it was strange, but he would never have givenfurther thought to the matter, had it not been for something whichoccurred the next morning. He went to the office rather early, onaccount of important work which he had to get ready. He was thefirst to arrive, and he found the scrub-woman who cleaned the officejust taking her departure.

　　It had never occurred to Montague before that such a person existed;and he turned in some surprise when she spoke to him.

　　"I beg pardon, sir," she said. "But there is something I have totell you."

　　"What is it?" said he.

　　"There is someone trying to find out about you," said the woman.

　　"What do you mean?" he asked, in perplexity.

　　"Begging your pardon, sir," said the woman, "but there was a mancame here this morning, very early, and he offered me money, sir,and he wanted me to save him all the papers that I took out of yourscrap basket, sir."

　　Montague caught his breath. "Papers out of my scrap basket!" hegasped.

　　"Yes, sir," said the woman. "It is done now and then, sir,--we learnof such things, you know. And we are poor women,--they don't pay usvery well. But you are a gentleman, sir, and I told him I would havenothing to do with it."

　　"What sort of a looking man was he?" Montague demanded.

　　"He was a dark chap, sir," said the other, "a sort of Jew like. Hewill maybe come back again."

　　Montague took out his purse and gave the woman a bill; and shestammered her thanks and went off with her pail and broom.

　　He shut the door and went and sat down at his desk, and stared infront of him, gasping, "My God!"

　　Then suddenly he struck his knee with an exclamation of rage. "Itold him everything that I knew! Everything! He hardly had to ask mea question!"

　　But then again, wonder drowned every other emotion in him. "What inthe world can he have wanted to know? And who sent him? What can itmean?"

　　He went back over his talk with the old gentleman from Seattle,trying to recall exactly what he had told, and what use the othercould have made of the information. But he could not think verysteadily, for his mind kept jumping back to the thought of JimHegan.

　　There could be but one explanation of all this. Jim Hegan had setdetectives upon him! Nobody else knew anything about the NorthernMississippi Railroad, or wanted to know about it.

　　Jim Hegan! And Montague had met him socially at an entertainment--atMrs. de Graffenried's! He had met him as one gentleman meetsanother, had shaken hands with him, had gone and talked with himfreely and frankly! And then Hegan had sent a detective to worm hissecrets from him, and had even tried to get at the contents of histrash basket!

　　There was only one resort that Montague could think of, in a case soperplexing. He sat down and wrote a note to his friend MajorVenable, at the Millionaires' Club, saying that he was coming thereto dinner, and would like to have the Major's company. And two orthree hours later, when sufficient time had elapsed for the Major tohave had his shave and his coffee and his morning newspaper, he rangfor a messenger and sent the note.

　　The Major's reply was prompt. He had no engagement, and his storesof information and advice were at Montague's service. But his goutwas bad, and his temper atrocious, and Montague must be warned inadvance that his doctors permitted him neither mushrooms nor meat.

　　It always seemed to Montague that it could not be possible for ahuman face to wear a brighter shade of purple than the Major's; yetevery time he met him, it seemed to him that the purple was a shadebrighter. And it spread farther with every step the Major took. Hegrowled and grumbled, and swore tremendous oaths under his breath,and the way the headwaiter and all his assistants scurried about thedining-room of the Club was a joy to the beholder.

　　Montague waited until the old gentleman had obtained his usual dryMartini, and until he had solved the problem of satisfying hisappetite and his doctor. And then he told of his extraordinaryexperience.

　　"I felt sure that you could explain it, if anybody could," said he.

　　"But what is there to explain?" asked the other. "It simply meansthat Jim Hegan is interested in your railroad. What more could youwant?"

　　"But he sent a detective after me!" gasped Montague.

　　"But that's all right," said the Major. "It is done every day. Thereare a half dozen big agencies that do nothing else. You are lucky ifhe hasn't had your telephone tapped, and read your telegrams andmail before you saw them."

　　Montague stared at him aghast. "A man like Jim Hegan!" he exclaimed."And to a friend."

　　"A friend?" said the Major. "Pshaw! A man doesn't do business withfriends. And, besides, Jim Hegan probably never knew anything aboutit. He turned the whole matter over to some subordinate, and toldhim to look it up, and he'll never give another thought to it untilthe facts are laid upon his desk. Some one of his men set to work,and he was a little clumsy about it--that's all."

　　"But why did he want to know about all my family affairs?"

　　"Why, he wanted to know how you were situated," said the other--"howbadly you wanted to sell the stock. So when he came to do businesswith you, he'd have you where he wanted you, and he'd probably getfifty per cent off the price because of it. You'll be lucky if hedoesn't have a few loans called on you at your bank."

　　The Major sat watching Montague, smiling at his naivete. "Where didyou say this road was?" he asked. "In Mississippi?"

　　"Yes," said Montague.

　　"I was wondering about it," said the other. "It is not likely thatit's Jim Hegan at all. I don't believe anybody could get him to takean interest in Southern railroads. He has probably mentioned it tosomeone else. What's your road good for, anyway?"

　　"We had a plan to extend it," said Montague.

　　"It would take but one or two millions to carry it to the main worksof the Mississippi Steel Company."

　　The Major gave a start. "The Mississippi Steel Company!" heexclaimed.

　　"Yes," said Montague.

　　"Oh, my God!" cried the other.

　　"What is the matter?"

　　"Why in the world did you take a matter like that to Jim Hegan?"demanded Major Venable.

　　"I took it to him because I knew him," said Montague.

　　"But one doesn't take things to people because one knows them," saidthe Major. "One takes them to the right people. If Jim Hegan couldhave his way, he would wipe the Mississippi Steel Company off themap of the United States."

　　"What do you mean?"

　　"Don't you know," said the Major, "that Mississippi Steel is thechief competitor of the Trust? And old Dan Waterman organised theSteel Trust, and watches it all the time."

　　"But what's that got to do with Hegan?"

　　"Simply that Jim Hegan works with Waterman in everything."

　　Montague stared in dismay. "I see," he said.

　　"Of course!" said the Major. "My dear fellow, why don't you come tome before you do things like that? You should have gone to theMississippi Steel people; and you should have gone quietly, and tothe men at the top. For all you can tell, you may have a really bigproposition that's been overlooked in the shuffle. What was that yousaid about the survey?"

　　And Montague told in detail the story of the aborted plan for anextension, and of his hunting trip, and what he had learned on it.

　　"Of course," said the Major, "you are in the heart of the thingright now. The Steel people balked your plan."

　　"How do you mean?" asked the other.

　　"They bought up the survey. And they've probably controlled yourrailroad ever since, and kept it down."

　　"But that's impossible! They've had nothing to do with it."

　　"Bah!" said the Major. "How could you know?"

　　"I know the president," said Montague. "He's an old friend of thefamily's."

　　"Yes," was the reply. "But suppose they have a mortgage on hisbusiness?"

　　"But why not buy the road and be done with it?" added Montague, inperplexity.

　　The other laughed. "I am reminded of a famous saying ofWyman's,--'Why should I buy stock when I can buy directors?'"

　　"It's those same people who are watching you now," he continued,after a pause. "Probably they think it is some move of the otherside, and they are trying to run the thing down."

　　"Who owns the Mississippi Steel Company?" asked Montague.

　　"I don't know," said the Major. "I fancy that Wyman must have comeinto it somehow. Didn't you notice in the papers the other day thatthe contracts for furnishing rails for all his three transcontinentalrailroads had gone to the Mississippi Steel Company?"

　　"Sure enough!" exclaimed Montague.

　　"You see!" said the Major, with a chuckle. "You have jumped rightinto the middle of the frog pond, and the Lord only knows what aruction you have stirred up! Just think of the situation for amoment. The Steel Trust is over-capitalised two hundred per cent.Because of the tariff it is able to sell its product at home forfifty per cent more than it charges abroad; and even so, it has tokeep cutting its dividends! Its common stock is down to ten. It iscutting expenses on every hand, and of course it's turning out arotten product. And now along comes Wyman, the one man in WallStreet who dares to shake his fist at old Dan Waterman; and he givesthe newspapers all the facts about the bad steel rails that arecausing smash-ups on his roads; and he turns all his contracts overto the Mississippi Steel Company, which is under-selling the Trust.The company is swamped with orders, and its plants are running dayand night. And then along comes a guileless young fool with a littledinky railroad which he wants to run into the Company's backdoor-yard; and he takes the proposition to Jim Hegan!"

　　The Major arrived at his climax in a state of suppressed emotion,which culminated in a chuckle, which shook his rubicund visage andbrought a series of twitches to his aching toe. As for Montague, hewas duly humbled.

　　"What would you do now?" he asked, after a pause.

　　"I don't see that there's anything to do," said the Major, "exceptto hold on tight to your stock. Perhaps if you go on talking outloud about your extension, some of the Steel people will buy you outat your own price."

　　"I gave them a scare, anyhow," said Montague, laughing.

　　"I can wager one thing," said the other. "There has been a fineshaking up in somebody's office down town! There's a man who comeshere every night, who's probably heard of it. That's Will Roberts."

　　And the Major looked about the dining-room. "Here he comes now," hesaid.

　　At the farther end of the room there had entered a tall, dark-hairedman, with a keen expression and a brisk step. "Roberts the Silent,"said the Major. "Let's have a try at him." And as the man passednear, he hailed him. "Hello! Roberts, where are you going? Let meintroduce my friend, Mr. Allan Montague."

　　The man looked at Montague. "Good evening, sir," he said. "How areyou, Venable?"

　　"Couldn't be worse, thank you," said the Major. "How are things withyou on the Street?"

　　"Dull, very dull," said Roberts, as he passed on. "Matters look bad,I'm afraid. Too many people making money rapidly."

　　The Major chuckled. "A fine sentiment," he said, when Roberts hadpassed out of hearing--"from a man who has made sixty millions inthe last ten years!"

　　"It did not appear that he had ever heard of me," said Montague.

　　"Oh, trust him for that!" said the Major. "He might have beenplanning to have your throat cut to-night, but you wouldn't haveseen him turn an eyelid. He is that sort; he's made of steelhimself, I believe."

　　He paused, and then went on, in a reminiscent mood, "You've read ofthe great strike, I suppose? It was Roberts put that job through. Hemade himself the worst-hated man in the country--Gad! how thenewspapers and the politicians used to rage at him! But he stood hisground--he would win that strike or die in the attempt. And he verynearly did both, you know. An Anarchist came to his office and shothim twice; but he got the fellow down and nearly choked the life outof him, and he ran the strike on his sick-bed, and two weeks laterhe was back in his office again."

　　And now the Major's store-rooms of gossip were unlocked. He toldMontague about the kings of Steel, and about the men they had hatedand the women they had loved, and about the inmost affairs andsecrets of their lives. William H. Roberts had begun his career inthe service of the great iron-master, whose deadly rival he hadafterwards become; and now he lived but to dispute that rival'sclaims to glory. Let the rival build a library, Roberts would buildtwo. Let the rival put up a great office building, Roberts would buyall the land about it, and put up half a dozen, and completely shutout its light. And day and night "Roberts the Silent" was plottingand planning, and some day he would be the master of the SteelTrust, and his rival would be nowhere.

　　"They are lively chaps, the Steel crowd," said the Major, chuckling."You will have to keep your eyes open when you do business withthem."

　　"What would you advise me to do?" asked the other, smiling. "Setdetectives after them?"

　　"Why not?" asked the Major, seriously. "Why not find out who sentthat Colonel Cole to see you? And find out how badly he needs yourlittle railroad, and make him pay for it accordingly."

　　"That is not QUITE in my line," said Montague.

　　"It's time you were learning," said the Major. "I can start you. Iknow a detective whom you can trust.--At any rate," he addedcautiously, "I don't know that he's ever played me false."

　　Montague sat for a while in thought. "You said something about theirgetting after one's telephone," he observed. "Did you really meanthat?"

　　"Of course," said the other.

　　"Do you mean to tell me that they could find out what goes over my'phone?"

　　"I mean to tell you," was the reply, "that for two hundred and fiftydollars, I can get you a stenographic report of every word that yousay over your 'phone for twenty-four hours, and of every word thatanybody says to you."

　　"That sounds incredible!" said Montague. "Who does it?"

　　"Wire tappers. It's dangerous work, but the pay is big. I have afriend who once upon a time was putting through a deal in which thetelephone company was interested, and they transferred his wire toanother branch, and he finished up his business before the otherside got on to the trick. To this day you'll notice that histelephone is 'Spring,' though every other 'phone in theneighbourhood is 'John.'"

　　"And mail, too?" asked Montague.

　　"Mail!" echoed the Major. "What's easier than that? You can hold upa man's mail for twenty-four hours and take a photograph of everyletter. You can do the same with every letter that he mails, unlesshe is very careful. He can be followed, you understand, and everytime he drops a letter, a blue or yellow envelope is dropped ontop--for a signal to the post-office people."

　　"But then, so many persons would have to know about that!"

　　"Nothing of the kind. That's a regular branch of the post-officework. There are Secret Service men who are watching criminals thatway all the time. And what could be easier than to pay one of them,and to have your enemy listed with the suspects?"

　　The Major smiled in amusement. It always gave him delight to witnessMontague's consternation over his pictures of the city's corruption.

　　"There are things even stranger than that," he said. "I canintroduce you to a man who's in this room now, who was fighting theShip-building swindle, and he got hold of a lot of importantpapers, and he took them to his office, and sat by while his clerksmade thirty-two copies of them. And he put the originals andthirty-one of the copies in thirty-two different safe-deposit vaultsin the city, and took the other copy to his home in a valise. Andthat night burglars broke in, and the valise was missing. The nextday he wrote to the people he was fighting, 'I was going to send youa copy of the papers which have come into my possession, but as youalready have a copy, I will simply proceed to outline myproposition.' And that was all. They settled for a million or two."

　　The Major paused a moment and looked across the dining-room. "Theregoes Dick Sanderson," he said, pointing to a dapper young man with ahandsome, smooth-shaven face. "He represents the New Jersey SouthernRailroad. And one day another lawyer who met him at dinner remarked,'I am going to bring a stockholders' suit against your roadto-morrow.' He went on to outline the case, which was a big one.Sanderson said nothing, but he went out and telephoned to theiragent in Trenton, and the next morning a bill went through bothhouses of the Legislature providing a statute of limitations thatoutlawed the case. The man who was the victim of that trick is nowthe Governor of New York State, and if you ever meet him, you canask him about it."

　　There was a pause for a while; then suddenly the Major remarked,"Oh, by the way, this beautiful widow you have brought up fromMississippi--Mrs. Taylor--is that the name?"

　　"That's it," said Montague.

　　"I hear that Stanley Ryder has taken quite a fancy to her," said theother.

　　A grave look came upon Montague's face. "I am sorry, indeed, thatyou have heard it," he said.

　　"Why," said the other, "that's all right. He will give her a goodtime."

　　"Lucy is new to New York," said Montague. "I don't think she quiterealises the sort of man that Ryder is."

　　The Major thought for a moment, then suddenly began to laugh. "Itmight be just as well for her to be careful," he said. "I happenedto think of it--they say that Mrs. Stanley is getting ready to freeherself from the matrimonial bond; and if your fascinating widowdoesn't want to get into the newspapers, she had better be a littlecareful with her favours."