Peter, somewhat disappointed, went back and reported
to McGivney this rather tame outcome. But McGivney
said that was all right, he had something that would
fix them; and he revealed to Peter a startling bit
of news. Peter had been reading in the papers
about German spies, but he had only half taken it
seriously; the war was a long way off, and Peter had
never seen any of that German gold that they talked
so much about—in fact, the Reds were in
a state of perpetual poverty, one and all of them
stinting himself eternally to put up some portion
of his scant earnings to pay for pamphlets and circulars
and postage and defence funds, and all the expenses
of an active propaganda organization. But now,
McGivney declared, there was a real, sure-enough agent
of the Kaiser in American City! The government
had pretty nearly got him in his nets, and one of the
things McGivney wanted to do before the fellow was
arrested was to get him to contribute some money to
the radical cause.
It wasn’t necessary to point out to Peter the
importance of this. If the authorities could
show that the agitation on behalf of McCormick and
the rest had been financed by German money, the public
would justify any measures taken to bring it to an
end. Could Peter suggest to McGivney the name
of a German Socialist who might be persuaded to approach
this agent of the Kaiser, and get him to contribute
money for the purpose of having a general strike called
in American City? Several of the city’s
big manufacturing plants were being made over for
war purposes, and obviously the enemy had much to
gain by strikes and labor discontent. Guffey’s
men had been trying for a long time to get Germans
to contribute to the Goober Defense fund, but here
was an even better opportunity.
Peter thought of Comrade Apfel, who was one of the
extreme Socialists, and a temporary Pacifist like
most Germans. Apfel worked in a bakery, and his
face was as pasty as the dough he kneaded, but it
would show a tinge of color when be rose in the local
to denounce the “social patriots,” those
party members who were lending their aid to British
plans for world domination. McGivney said he would
send somebody to Apfel at once, and give him the name
of the Kaiser’s agent as one who might be induced
to contribute to the radical defense fund. Apfel
would, of course, have no idea that the man was a
German agent; he would go to see him, and ask him for
money, and McGivney and his fellow-sleuths would do
the rest. Peter said that was fine, and offered
to go to Apfel himself; but the rat-faced man answered
no, Peter was too precious, and no chance must be
taken of directing Apfel’s suspicions against
him.
Section 56
Copyrights
100%: the Story of a Patriot from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
