"Look here," he said, "tell me of this matter. I was a business man before
I came here and I may be able to help you fellows get what you want."
Getting up, Jake took Sam's arm and they walked down the ravine, Jake
explaining the situation in the town.
"The game," he said, "is to make the taxpayers pay for a millrace to be
built for the development of the water power in the river and then, by a
trick, to turn it over to a private company. Bill and Ed are both in the
deal and they are working for a Chicago man named Crofts. He's been up
here at the hotel with Bill talking to Ed. I've figured out what they are
up to." Sam sat down upon a log and laughed heartily.
"Crofts, eh?" he exclaimed. "Say, we will fight this thing. If Crofts has
been up here you can depend upon it there is some size to the deal. We
will just smash the whole crooked gang for the good of the town."
"How would you do that?" asked Jake.
Sam sat down on a log and looked at the river flowing past the mouth of
the ravine.
"Just fight," he said. "Let me show you something."
He took a pencil and slip of paper from his pocket, and, with the voices
of the men about the beer kegs in his ears and the red-haired man peering
over his shoulder, began writing his first political pamphlet.
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