out
it from the first day of its discussion before the board. Those who were
inside the ring had decided then that he would be the best man to haul
the stone. The "steal," they knew, could best be arranged in the tally
of the carts--the final check on the scow measurement. They knew that
McGaw's accounts could be controlled, and the total result easily
"fixed." The stone itself had been purchased of the manufacturers the
year before, but there were not funds enough to put it on the roads at
that time.

Here, then, was McGaw's chance. His triumph at obtaining the brewery
contract was but short-lived. Schwartz had given him the work, but at
Tom's price, not at his own. McGaw had accepted it, hoping for profits
that would help him with his chattel mortgage. After he had been at work
for a month, however, he found that he ran behind. He began to see that,
in spite of its boastings, the Union had really done nothing for him,
except indirectly with its threatened strike. The Union, on the other
hand, insisted that it had been McGaw's business to arrange his
own terms with Schwartz. What it had done was to kill Grogan as a
competitor, and knock her non-union men out of the job. This ended its
duty.

While they said this much to McGaw; so far as outsiders could know, the
Union claimed that they had scored a brilliant victory. The Brooklyn and
New York branches duly paraded it as another triumph over capital,
and their bank accounts were accordingly increased with new dues and
collections.

With this new contract in his possession, McGaw felt certain he could
cancel his debt with Crane and get even with the world. He began his
arrangements at once. Police-Justice Rowan, the prospective candidate
for the Assembly, who had acquired some landed property by the purchase
of expired tax titles, agreed to furnish the certified check for five
hundred dollars and to sign McGaw's bond for a consideration to be
subsequently agreed upon. A brother of Rowan's, a contractor, who was
finishing some grading at Quarantine Landing, had also consented, for a
consideration, to loan McGaw what extra teams he required.

The size of the contract was so great, and the deposit check and bond
were so large, that McGaw concluded at once that the competition would
be narrowed down between himself and Rowan's brother, with Justice Rowan
as backer, and perhaps one other firm from across the island, near New
Brighton. His own advantage over other bidders