From Miriam’s, Peter went back to Room 427. It was Nell’s idea that Nelse Ackerman would not lose a minute next morning; and sure enough, Peter found a note on the dressing-table: “Wait for me, I want to see you.” Peter waited, and before long McGivney came in and sat down in front of him, and began very solemnly: “Now Peter Gudge, you know I’m your friend.”
“Yes, of course.”
“I’ve stood by you,” said McGivney. “If it hadn’t been for me, the boss would have had you in the hole right now, trying to sweat you into confessing you planted that dynamite. I want you to know that, and I want you to know that I’m going to stand by you, and I expect you to stand by me and give me a square deal.”
“Why, sure!” said Peter. “What is it?” Then McGivney proceeded to explain: Old Nelse Ackerman had got the idea that the police were holding back something from him. He was scared out of his wits about this case, of course. He had himself shut up in a cupboard at night, and made his wife pull down the curtains of her limousine when she went driving. And now he was insisting that he must have a talk with the man who had discovered this plot against him. McGivney hated to take the risk of having Peter become acquainted with anybody, but Nelse Ackerman was a man whose word was law. Really, he was Peter’s employer; he had put up a lot of the money for the secret service work which Guffey was conducting, and neither Guffey or any of the city authorities dared try to fool him.
“Well, that’s all right,” said Peter; “it won’t hurt for me to see him.”
“He’s going to question you about this case,” said McGivney. “He’s going to try to find out everything he can. So you got to protect us; you got to make him understand that we’ve done everything possible. You got to put us right with him.”
Peter promised solemnly he would do so; but McGivney wasn’t satisfied. He was in a state of trepidation, and proceeded to hammer and hammer at Peter, impressing upon him the importance of solidarity, of keeping faith with his fellows. It sounded exactly like some of the I. W. W.‘s talking among themselves!
“You may think, here’s a chance to jump on us and climb out on top, but don’t you forget it, Peter Gudge, we’ve got a machine, and in the long run it’s the machine that wins. We’ve broken many a fellow th............