The man on the box had a blackboard hung on a pole, on which he
drew figures estimating the value of the power in the river, and as he
talked he grew more and more excited, waving his arms and inveighing
against certain leasing clauses in the bond proposal. He declared himself
a follower of Karl Marx and delighted the old carpenter who danced up and
down in the road and rubbed his hands.
"It will come to something--this will--you'll see," he declared to Sam.
One day Ed appeared, riding in a buggy, at the job where Sam worked, and
called the old man into the road. He sat pounding one hand upon the other
and talking in a low voice. Sam thought the old man had perhaps been
indiscreet in the distribution of the socialistic pamphlets. He seemed
nervous, dancing up and down beside the buggy and shaking his head. Then
hurrying back to where the men worked he pointed over his shoulder with
his thumb.
"Ed wants you," he said, and Sam noticed that his voice trembled and his
hand shook.
In the buggy Ed and Sam rode in silence. Again Ed chewed at an unlighted
cigar.
"I want to talk with you," he had said as Sam climbed into the buggy.
At the hotel the two men got out of the buggy and went into the office.
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