Chapter IV: A Warning

The more Owen thought over his interview with Boss Coggswell, the more convinced he became that the sole reason the politician had sent for him had been to try to bribe him to hold out the mail of a certain person on his route.

That Coggswell had summoned him to the club in order to express his admiration of Owen’s independence in refusing to buy the ticket to the outing seemed absurd. It had sounded almost plausible when the boss had said it in his smooth, convincing voice, but when he came to think over it afterward, Owen could see how preposterous the thing was. Imagine any political leader going into raptures over a young man who had called him a blackmailer. Imagine him being anxious to help a young man to promotion, just because he liked his way of talking.

“No,” said the carrier to himself, “that offer of a postal inspector’s job was made to tempt me to do Coggswell’s crooked work, and now that I’ve refused, I’ll wager that he won’t move a finger to help me. But I don’t care about that,” he added confidently; “I’ll get there, all right, without his help.”

Something happened the following morning which greatly strengthened the suspicions of the carrier, and made him certain that Boss Coggswell had sinister designs upon the mail of some person on his route.

When he reported for work, Owen was informed by Henderson, the superintendent of Branch X Y, that, beginning that morning, he was to cover a new territory. Instead of route forty-eight, he would henceforth, and until further notice, cover route sixteen.

Now, in post-office work it is a great advantage, naturally, to have the carriers familiar with the territory which they have to cover. It stands to reason that a postman cannot make as quick deliveries over strange ground as on a route in which he knows the names in the house letter boxes almost by heart. For this reason the men are not changed around any more than can be avoided.

Therefore, Owen knew, as soon as Henderson told him that his route was to be changed, that this must be due to Coggswell’s influence. The politician wanted to get him out of the way, and have him replaced by a man who would not refuse to do his bidding.

Owen inquired who was to succeed him on route forty-eight, and learned that it was a carrier named Greene, a man whom Owen liked less than any other employee of Branch X Y.

Greene, who was a pale-faced, shifty-eyed fellow, was a member of the Samuel J. Coggswell Association, Owen learned, and on friendly terms with Jake Hines. The fact that he had been selected for route forty-eight certainly looked significant.

To be taken away from his old territory was a great blow to Owen; for, be it remembered, the real-estate office of Walter K. Sammis was located in that section, and his transfer meant that he no longer would be able to exchange a few words each morning with Dallas Worthington.

And, besides this, the new route was a much less pleasant one. Carrier Greene, who had covered it for two years, had certain reasons of his own for being satisfied with it, but Owen found the new territory very disagreeable.

It comprised the very poorest and most squalid section of the district. The inhabitants were mostly foreigners, and the handwriting on letters they received was hard to decipher. They were in the habit of changing their addresses frequently, too, and this entailed extra clerical work; for each carrier has to enter all such removals in his “log book.” Then, again, many of the tenants of the tenements were too shiftless or ignorant to post their names in the vestibules, and this made deliveries very difficult, and consumed a lot of time.

Nevertheless, Owen did not make any protest. He accepted the situation philosophically, and started out to cover his new route as cheerfully as if he really relished the change. But inwardly he registered a vow that he was going to find out the identity of the person whose mail Boss Coggswell wanted to get hold of, and check that politician’s sinister plans.

First he went to the three carriers responsible for route forty-eight--for every route is covered by three men--and warned them of what he purposed to do.

The two other carriers who took turns at covering that territory were named Gordon and Smithers. They had both had route forty-eight for several years. The fact that they were not now taken off gave Owen reason to suppose that they must be satisfactory to Boss Coggswell, and willing to do his dirty work. For he reasoned that, in order to carry out his crooked scheme, the politician must have the coöperation of all three carriers who covered that route. Otherwise the particular letters which Coggswell wanted to get hold of might go through when Greene was not on duty.

Owen was on friendly terms with both Gordon and Smithers--in fact, the latter and he roomed in the same boarding house. The former was a good-natured, pleasant sort of fellow, but of a weak character. He was always heavily in debt, and he was a hard drinker. More than once he had been caught under the influence of liquor while on duty, and these lapses would have resulted in his dismissal from the department if it had not been for the intercession of Samuel J. Coggswell, who was a friend of his wife’s father.

Smithers, like Greene, was a member of the Samuel J. Coggswell Association, and a crony of Jake Hines. He was a tall, sharp-featured young man, of about Owen’s age, taciturn and very shrewd.

Owen felt sure that these men were all in the plot to tamper with the mails. As he didn’t want to see them disgraced and sent to prison, he decided to give them due warning. Of course, they indignantly denied that any such proposition had been made to them by Boss Coggswell, or that they knew anything about a scheme to hold up anybody’s mail on route forty-eight.

Smithers told Owen that he must be raving mad to suspect anything like that; Gordon laughed and declared that it was the best joke he had heard in many a day; Greene growled that Owen was sore at having been transferred, and was trying to besmirch his character in order to get square.

“Very well,” retorted Owen grimly; “I’ve given you fellows notice; now, if you go ahead and get caught, you’ve got only yourselves to blame. I know that there is such a crooked scheme afoot, and I’m going to find out the name of the victim and put him on his guard.”