down the street.

He did not know just who would be shadowing him, but Peter wanted to be
sleuth. Also he had a bit of genuine anxiety. He had told the truth when he said to Guffey
that he didnt know what a Red was; but since then he had been making in quiries, and
now he knew. A Red was a fellow who sympathized with labor unions and with strikes;
who wanted to murder the rich and divide their property, and believed that the quickest way
to do the dividing was by means of dynamite. AllReds made bombs, and carried concealed
weapons, and perhaps secret poisonswho could tell? And now Peter was going among them,
he was going to become one of them! It was almost too interesting, for a fellow who aimed
above everything to be comfortable. Something in him whispered, Why not skip; get out of
town and be done with it? But then he thought of the rewards and honors that Guffey had
promised him. Also there was the spirit of curiosity; he might skip at any time, but first he
would like to know a bit more about being a dick. He came to the number which had been
given him, a tiny bungalow in a poor neighborhood, and rang the doorbell. It was answered
by a girl, and at a glance Peter saw that it was the girl who had spoken to him. She did not
wait for him to announce himself, but cried impulsively, Mr. Gudge! Oh, Im so glad youve
come! She added, Comrade!just as if Peter were a well-known friend. And then,But are
you a comrade? How do you mean? asked Peter. Youre not a Socialist? Well, well make
one of you. She brought him in and showed him to a chair, saying, I know what they did to
you; and you stood out against them! Oh, you were wonderful! Wonderful! Peter was at a
loss what to say. There was in this girls voice a note of affection, as well as of admiration;
and Peter in his hard life had had little experience with emotions of this sort. Peter had
watched the gushings and excitements of girls who were seeking flirtations; but this girls
attitude he felt at once was not flirtatious. Her voice the soft, was just a trifle too solemn for
a young girl; her deep-set, wistful grey eyes rested on Peter with the solicitude of a mother
whose child has just escaped a danger. She called: Sadie, heres Mr. Gudge. And there
entered another girl, older, taller, but thin and pale like her sister. Jennie and Sadie Todd
were their names, Peter learned; the older was a stenographer, and supported the family.
The two girls were in a state of intense concern. They started to question Peter about his
experiences, but he had only talked for a minute or two before the older went to the
telephone. There were various people who must see Peter at once, important people who
were to be notified as soon as he turned up. She spent some time at the phone, and the
people she talked with must have phoned to others, because for the next hour or two there
was a constant stream of visitors coming in, and Peter had to tell his story over and over
again. The first to come was a giant of a man with tight-set mouth and so powerful a voice
that it frightened Peter. He was not surprised to learn that this man was the leader of one of
the most radical of the citys big labor unions, the seamens. Yes, he was a Red, all right;
he corresponded to Peters imaginingsa grim, dangerous man, to be pictured like Samson,
seizing the pillars of society and pulling them down upon his head. Theyve got you scared,
my boy, he said, nothing Peters hesitating answers to his questions. Well, theyve had me
scared for forty-five years, but Ive never let them know it yet. Then, in order to cheer
Peter up and strengthen his nerves, he told how he, a runaway seaman, had been hunted
thru the Everglades of Florida with bloodhounds, and tied to a tree and beaten into
insensibility. Then came David Andrews, whom Peter had heard of as one of the lawyers in
the Goober case, a tall, distinguished-looking man with keen, alert features. What was such
a man doing among these outcasts? Peter decided that he must be one of the shrewd ones
who made money out of inciting the discontented. Then came a young girl, frail and

sensitive, slightly crippled. As she crossed the room to shake his hand tears rolled down her
cheeks, and Peter stood embarrassed, wondering if she had just lost a near relative, and
what was he to say