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Rinehart, Mary Roberts, 1876-1958

"Dangerous Days"

"
And in fifteen minutes to the dot the great railroad warehouses
near the city wharf had burst into flames. Herman had watched
without comment, while Rudolph talked incessantly, boasting of
his share in the enterprise.
"About a million dollars' worth of fireworks there," he said, as
the glare dyed their faces red. "All stuff for the Allies." And
he boasted, "When the cat sits on the pickhandle, brass buttons
must go."
By that time Herman knew that the "cat" meant sabotage. He had
nodded slowly.
"But it is dangerous," was his later comment. "Sometimes they
will learn, and then?"
His caution had exasperated Rudolph almost to frenzy. And as
time went on, and one man after another of the organization was
ferreted out at the new plant and dismissed, the sole remaining
hope of the organization was Herman. With his reinstatement their
hopes had risen again, but to every suggestion so far he had been
deaf. He would listen approvingly, but at the end, when he found
the talk veering his way, and a circle of intent faces watching
him, he would say:
"It is too dangerous.


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