Langdon's revolt would bring unpleasant newspaper publicity to their
operations.

"There's only one course to pursue, Stevens," snapped Peabody as they
took off their overcoats. "That is to be prepared as best we can for
the very worst and meet it in some way yet to be determined. But first
we must try to figure out what Langdon is going to do--what it can be
that he says he will tell us to-morrow at 12:30 if we appear. He must
have something very startling up his sleeve if he makes good his
assertions. I can't see how--"

"Nor I," frowned Stevens, "and my political eyesight is far better
than that fool Langdon's. Under ordinary circumstances we could let
him go ahead with his minority report for Gulf City, but as things
stand he'll have every newspaper reporter in Washington buzzing around
and asking impertinent questions--"

"Yes, and you and I would have to go to Paris to live with our life
insurance friends from New York, wouldn't we?" laughed Peabody
sarcastically. "I'm going to send for Jake Steinert," he added.

"Steinert?" Stevens ejaculated. "What--"

"Oh, that's all right. Maybe he can suggest something," said Peabody,
going to the telephone. "We've too much at stake to make a mistake,
and Jake may see a point that we've overlooked. Luckily I saw him
downstairs in the grill-room as we came through to the elevator."

"Steinert is all right himself," continued Stevens, "but his
methods--"

"Can't be too particular now about his methods--or ours, Stevens, when
a bull like Langdon breaks loose in the political china shop. Fortune
and reputation are both fragile."

A ring of a bell announced the arrival of Jake Steinert, whose
reputation as a lobbyist of advanced ability had spread wide in the
twenty years he had spent in Washington. Of medium height, sallow
complexion, dark hair and dark eyes, his broad shoulders filled the
doorway as he entered. An illy kept mustache almost hid a thin-lipped,
forceful mouth, almost as forceful as some of the language he used.
His eyes darted first to Peabody and then to Stevens, waiting for
either of them to open the conversation.

The highest class lobbyists, those who "swing" the "biggest deals,"
concern themselves only with men who can "handle" or who control
lawmakers. They get regular reports and outline the campaign. Like
crafty spiders they hide in the center of a great web, a web of
bribery, threat, cajolery and intrigue, intent on every victim that is
lured