tical loyalty is such a fickle thing. A
number of aldermen with curious names--Horback, Fogarty, McGrane,
Sumulsky--showed signs of being tampered with. He hurried at once to
Messrs. Hand, Schryhart, and Arneel with this disconcerting
information. They had been congratulating themselves that the recent
victory, if it resulted in nothing else, would at least produce a
blanket 'L' road franchise, and that this would be sufficient to bring
Cowperwood to his knees.

Upon receiving MacDonald's message Hand sent at once for Gilgan. When
he inquired as to how soon a vote on the General Electric
franchise--which had been introduced by Mr. Klemm--could reasonably be
expected, Gilgan declared himself much grieved to admit that in one
direction or other considerable opposition seemed to have developed to
the measure.

"What's that?" said Hand, a little savagely. "Didn't we make a plain
bargain in regard to this? You had all the money you asked for, didn't
you? You said you could give me twenty-six aldermen who would vote as
we agreed. You're not going to go back on your bargain, are you?"

"Bargain! bargain!" retorted Gilgan, irritated because of the spirit of
the assault. "I agreed to elect twenty-six Republican aldermen, and
that I did. I don't own 'em body and soul. I didn't name 'em in every
case. I made deals with the men in the different wards that had the
best chance, and that the people wanted. I'm not responsible for any
crooked work that's going on behind my back, am I? I'm not responsible
for men's not being straight if they're not?"

Mr. Gilgan's face was an aggrieved question-mark.

"But you had the picking of these men," insisted Mr. Hand,
aggressively. "Every one of them had your personal indorsement. You
made the deals with them. You don't mean to say they're going back on
their sacred agreement to fight Cowperwood tooth and nail? There can't
be any misunderstanding on their part as to what they were elected to
do. The newspapers have been full of the fact that nothing favorable
to Cowperwood was to be put through."

"That's all true enough," replied Mr. Gilgan; "but I can't be held
responsible for the private honesty of everybody. Sure I selected
these men. Sure I did! But I selected them with the help of the rest
of the Republicans and some of the Democrats. I had to make the best
terms I could--to pick the men that could win. As far as I can find
out most of 'em are satisfied not to do any