worse than the city council almost, and that's about as bad as
it can be. You can't do anything without money where these little
fellows are concerned. I don't like to be too hard on men, but these
fellows--" He shook his head.

"I understand," commented Cowperwood. "They're not very pleasing, even
after you make all allowances."

"Most of them," went on the General, "won't stay put when you think you
have them. They sell out. They're just as apt as not to run to this
North Side Gas Company and tell them all about the whole thing before
you get well under way. Then you have to pay them more money, rival
bills will be introduced, and all that." The old General pulled a long
face. "Still, there are one or two of them that are all right," he
added, "if you can once get them interested--Mr. Duniway and Mr.
Gerecht."

"I'm not so much concerned with how it has to be done, General,"
suggested Cowperwood, amiably, "but I want to be sure that it will be
done quickly and quietly. I don't want to be bothered with details.
Can it be done without too much publicity, and about what do you think
it is going to cost?"

"Well, that's pretty hard to say until I look into the matter," said
the General, thoughtfully. "It might cost only four and it might cost
all of forty thousand dollars--even more. I can't tell. I'd like to
take a little time and look into it." The old gentleman was wondering
how much Cowperwood was prepared to spend.

"Well, we won't bother about that now. I'm willing to be as liberal as
necessary. I've sent for Mr. Sippens, the president of the Lake View
Gas and Fuel Company, and he'll be here in a little while. You will
want to work with him as closely as you can." The energetic Sippens
came after a few moments, and he and Van Sickle, after being instructed
to be mutually helpful and to keep Cowperwood's name out of all matters
relating to this work, departed together. They were an odd pair--the
dusty old General phlegmatic, disillusioned, useful, but not inclined
to feel so; and the smart, chipper Sippens, determined to wreak a kind
of poetic vengeance on his old-time enemy, the South Side Gas Company,
via this seemingly remote Northside conspiracy. In ten minutes they
were hand in glove, the General describing to Sippens the penurious and
unscrupulous brand of Councilman Duniway's politics and the friendly
but expensive character of Jacob Gerecht. Such is life.

In the organization of the Hy