Blow the Man Down - A Romance of the Coast

His protégé, removing disconsolate gaze from the dusty chromos on the

office walls, did not require verbal report; Captain Wass's demeanor

told all.

"And you couldn't expect much of anything else," declared the old

man. "I made the best talk I could for you after you had finished your

testimony and had gone out. But it was no use, son! The department has

been laying for a victim. Both of us have known that right along. They

have soaked it to you good and proper."

"How long am I suspended for?" faltered Mayo.

"That's the point! Indefinitely. You were meat. Everybody watching the

case. They trimmed you."

Mayo set his hands into his thick hair, propped his head, and stared at

the floor.

"Indefinitely doesn't mean forever, but there ain't much comfort in

that. I'll tell you what it does mean, boy. It means that if there has

been crooked work we've got to show it up in order to reinstate you.

And now get a good brace on yourself. I've taken a peek in at the United

States court."

The young man, without lifting his head, gave the veteran a piteous

side-glance.

"Fletcher Fogg is buzzing around the outside of that hive. He has

Burkett along for an understrapper. They are marshaling in witnesses

before the grand jury--those men from the Warren, and you know what

they'll say, of course! Your mates and quartermasters, too! Mayo,

they're going to railroad you to Atlanta penitentiary. They have put

something over on you because you are young and they figured that you'd

be a little green. It seemed queer to me when Fogg was so mighty nice to

you all of a sudden. But they don't lay off a man like Jacobs and put in

a new man just to be nice. They either felt they couldn't work Jacobs,

or else they felt a green man would give 'em a good excuse for what

happened."

"But they couldn't arrange to have a schooner--"

"That was probably more than they figured on. But as long as it has

happened they're going to use it to best advantage. You're going to have

both tin cans tied to you, son. Every cussed bit of influence is going

to be used against you. Poor devils on the outside, like you and I,

don't understand just how slick the ways can be greased. Mayo, I'm going

to give you good advice. Duck out!"

"Run away like a confessed criminal? That's the advice Fogg gave me. I

don't think your advice is good, Captain Wass. I won't run away."