“I begin to see,” said Martin.  “Warrington must be side-tracked before the convention.  Good.  That’ll be simple.”

“Not very,” McQuade admitted.  “It’s going to be a devilish hard job.  You, Bolles, pack up and go to New York.  I want some information regarding this young fellow’s past in New York.  It’s up to you to get it.  No faking, mind you; good substantial evidence that can be backed up by affidavits.  Get the idea?  Five hundred and expenses, if you succeed; your expenses anyhow.  Five hundred is a lot of money these days.  But if you go on a bat, I’ll drop you like a hot brick, for good and all.  Think it over.  Pack up to-night, if you want to.  Here’s a hundred to start with.  Remember this, now, there must be a woman.”

“A woman?”

“Yes.  A man has no past, if there isn’t a woman in it.”

“I can land that five hundred,” Bolles declared confidently.  “I can find the woman.  I’ll write you every other day.”

“Well, then, that’s all.  Good luck.  No boozing while you’re on the job Afterward I don’t care what you do.  By-by.”

Bolles took his dismissal smilingly.  Five hundred.  It was easy.

“If it’s possible, he’ll do it,” said Martin.  “But what’s your campaign?”

“Donnelly must remain another term.  After that, oblivion.  There’ll be bids this fall.  If Henderson’s man wins, there’ll be new aldermen.  These bids of mine must go through and gas must be kept at a dollar-fifty.  I’m a rich man, but at present I’m up to my neck in southern contracts that aren’t paying ten cents on the dollar.  Herculaneum’s got to foot the bill.”

“How’d you find out about Henderson’s coup?”

“One of the waiters at his club said he had some information.  I gave him ten dollars for something I’d have given ten hundred for just as quickly.  If Henderson had sprung Warrington in September, we’d have been swamped.  Now we have a good chance to hang on.”

“Force him to back down and withdraw?”

McQuade nodded.

“It’s simply got to be done.  I didn’t give Henderson credit for so clever a move as this.  A new man, famous and wealthy, under no obligations to his party; the voters would follow him just for the novelty of the thing.  Besides, there are other reasons, but I’m keeping them to myself.  How about that pavement deal in John Street?”

John Street possessed but three or four houses.  The paving would be a ten-thousand-dollar job.  As a witty political speaker once said, they paved Herculaneum in the concrete and in the abstract.

“It will go through Monday night, smooth as butter.”

“Canvassed the boys?”

“More than three-fourths vote.  Sure.”

“I’m depending upon you.”

“Will you turn down Donnelly at the convention?”

“I tell you he’s got to run again.  I’ll bring him to order, after a little heart-to-heart talk.  He’s the only man in sight.”