The boy had saved more than two hundred dollars over his clothes in
the last two years.

It was Rafferty who helped me turn this over in a real estate deal in
which he was interested. I made six hundred dollars by that.
Everything Rafferty touched now seemed to turn to money. One reason
was that he was thrown in contact with money-makers all of whom were
anxious to help him. He received any number of tips from those eager
to win his favor. Among the tips were many that were legitimate enough
like the one he shared with me but there were also many that were not
quite so above-board. But to Dan all was fair in business and
politics. Yet I don't know a man I'd sooner trust upon his honor in a
purely personal matter. He wouldn't graft from his friends however
much he might from the city. In fact his whole code as far as I could
see was based upon this unswerving loyalty to his friends and
scrupulous honesty in dealing with them. It was only when honesty
became abstract that he couldn't see it. You could put a thousand
dollars in gold in his keeping without security and come back twenty
years later and find it safe. But he'd scheme a week to frame up a
deal to cheat the city out of a hundred dollars. And he'd do it with
his head in the air and a grin on his face. I've seen the same thing
done by educated men who knew better. I wouldn't trust the latter with
a ten cent piece without first consulting a lawyer.

The money I had saved didn't represent all my capital. I had as my
chief asset the gang of men I had drilled. Everything else being equal
they stood ready to work for me in preference to any other man in the
city. In fact their value as a machine depended on me. If I had been
discharged and another man put in my place the gang would have
resolved itself again into merely one hundred day laborers. Nor was
this my only other asset. I had established myself as a reliable man
in the eyes of a large group of business men. This meant credit. Nor
must I leave out Dan and his influence. He stood ready to back me not
only financially but personally. And he knew me well enough to know
this would not involve anything but a business obligation on my part.

With these things in mind then I felt ready to take a radical
departure from the routine of my life when the opportunity came. But I
made up my mind I would wait for the opportunity. I must have a chance
which would not involve too much capital and in which my chief asset
wou