He dragged a chair toward Luke’s desk, turned it about, and sat down astride of it with his arms folded across its back.
"What way-station do you want to get off at?" he inquired.
"I don’t want you to make a monkey out of the League," said Yeates. "I’ve been reading over your letters and interviews and things, and I think you ought to realize that this is a reform organization and not a bunch of Anarchists."
"You’re a slow reader, Yeates. Haven’t you been hearing these things talked over, too?"
"Well, what if I have? The people I’ve heard talking are the people you’ve been slamming, and I want to tell you that those people are the backbone of this country."
"Oh, don’t think I’m a fool, Huber, and don’t think these people are fools, either. Everybody knows. What do you do it for? It won’t catch any votes, if that’s what you want."
"Good? Good?" Yeates laughed angrily. "What are you talking about? You’re talking as if these men were pirates. You’re talking like one of those fellows that make speeches on a soap-box on the corner. It’s all right to fight police-graft, and it’s all right to run the crooks out of town—that’s what the League’s for and why I’m for the League—but I’m not going to keep on with an organization that’s mixing up the biggest men in America with that sort of cattle. I won’t stand for having my personal friends called thieves. I can’t stand for it, and I won’t!"
"I have to be uptown in half a hour," he said.
"But see here——" Yeates’s chair clattered to the floor as Yeates sprang up.
"When this nomination was offered to me," said Luke, "you were present. Do you remember something you said—something about outside influences and so on?"
"Oh, rot! Who’s talking about outside influences?"
"I am. The nomination was given me along with certain promises. I’ve accepted it. I mean to act on the strength of those promises."
"Then, the League’s going crazy, too. As the only sane man in it, I’m afraid you won’t find yourself in congenial company, Yeates. You’d better get out."
"Get out?" Yeates could scarcely credit his ears.
"I like that!" shouted Yeates. "This is a nice reform party, this is! Anti-boss! Why, you’re more of a boss than Tim Heney ever dreamed of being."
Luke had not looked at the matter that way. He saw now that he was indeed using boss-methods, but he also saw that boss-methods were unavoidable.