into the glistening meshes.

Only the small fry mingle freely with the legislators in the open, in
the hotels and cafes and in the Capitol corridors.

Jake Steinert did not belong in either of these classes; he ranked
somewhere between the biggest and the smallest. He coupled colossal
boldness with the most expert knowledge of all the intricate workings
of the congressional mechanism. Given money to spend among members to
secure the defeat of a bill, he would frequently put most of the money
in his own pocket and for a comparatively small sum defeat it by
influencing the employees through whose hands it must pass.

"Sit down, Jake. Something to drink?" asked Peabody, reaching for a
decanter.

"No," grunted the lobbyist; "don't drink durin' business hours; only
durin' the day."

"Well, Jake," said the Pennsylvanian, "you probably know something of
what's going on in the naval affairs committee."

"You mean the biggest job of the session?"

"Yes."

"Sure thing, Senator. It's the work of an artist."

"The boss of the Senate" smiled grimly.

"Now, suppose a committeeman named Langdon absolutely refused to be
taken care of, and insisted on handing in a minority report to-morrow,
with a speech that read like the Declaration of Independence?"

Steinert jerked his head forward quickly.

"You mean what would I do if I was--er--if I was runnin' the job?"

"Yes."

Steinert leaned toward Peabody.

"Where do I come in on this?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Come, come, man," was the irritable retort. "I never let a few
dollars stand between myself and my friends."

"All right, Senator."

The lobbyist thrust himself down in his chair, puffed slowly at a
cigar, and gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"Few years ago," he began, after a minute or two, "there was a feller
who was goin' to squeal about a bond issue. He had his speech all
really to warn the country that he thought a crowd of the plutocracy
was goin' to get the bonds to resell to the public at advanced rates.
Well, sir, I arranged to have a carriage, a closed carriage, call that
night to take him to see the President, for he was told the President
sent the carriage for him. When he got out he was at the insane
asylum, an' I can tell you he was bundled into a padded cell in jig
time, where he stayed for three days. 'He thinks he's a member of
Congress,' I told the two huskies that handled him, an' gave 'em each
a twenty-case note. The doctor that signed