"
Montague was staring at his friend, almost speechless with
amazement.
"Mr. Bates," he said, "it happens that I was very recently connected
with Price and the Mississippi Steel Company in a very intimate way;
and I know most positively that what you say is not true."
"It's very hard to answer a statement like that," Bates responded.
"I'd have to know just what your facts are. But they'd have to be
very convincing indeed to make an impression upon me, for I ran that
story down pretty thoroughly. I got it straight from the inside, and
I got all the details of it. I nailed Price down, right in his own
office. The only trouble was that my people wouldn't print the
facts."
It was some time before Montague spoke again. He was groping around
in his own mind, trying to grasp the significance of what Bates had
said.
"But Price was fighting Waterman!" he whispered. "The whole crowd
were fighting him! That was the whole purpose of what they were
doing. It had no sense otherwise."
"But are you sure?" asked the other. "Think it over.
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