do, but he decided to look about for a few
minutes and size up the situation. No one paid any attention to him,
and he felt it would be a good plan to see if he could pick
Sullivan out from among the throng.

With this end in view Larry walked from one end of the room to the
other. He did not know that the man he sought was in his private
office, closeted with some of his henchmen. As Larry passed one
group he heard one man in it say:

"Well, Sullivan's made up his mind at last."

"He has, eh?" asked another. "Who is it?"

Larry was all attention at once. This seemed to be the very thing he
had been sent to find out.

"Don't let it get out," went on the man who had first spoken, "but I
understand Tommy has got to wait a while yet."

"Then Billy can probably deliver the goods," the second man added.
"I thought he could. Well, it means a good thing for the district
when they build the new line. If only Potter doesn't go back on his
promise. He's so rich you can't touch him with money, and he's as
foxy as they make 'em. If Billy can work him I don't blame Sullivan
for swinging his way. Now----"

But at that moment one of the men turned and saw Larry. He at once
knew him for a stranger, and quickly inquired:

"What do you want, young man?"

"I want to see Mr. Sullivan."

Larry didn't announce himself as a reporter, for that, he felt,
would have brought him only a polite refusal, on Sullivan's part, to
receive him.

"What for?" went on the man.

"I have a message for him," Larry said.

"You can tell me, I'll see that he gets it."

"It is for him personally," Larry said, for a bold plan had come
into his mind and he determined to try it.

CHAPTER VIII

AN INTERVIEW WITH SULLIVAN

For a moment the man who had questioned Larry stood gazing at him.
Suspicion was in the look, but the reporter never quailed. He was
playing a bold game and he was running a risk, but he was not going
to give up so soon.

"What's your name?" the man asked him.

"Larry Dexter."

That conveyed nothing to his questioner, for Larry had not been long
enough on the _Leader_ to become known in the field of politics.
There were some men in the newspaper business with whom the
politicians were so familiar that they sent for them whenever they
had any news they were desirous of making public. But Larry was not
yet one of these.

"Sam, tell Mr. Sullivan a young man wants to see him personally,"
went on the man who had int