spot! Then they finished'--he lowered his voice cautiously--'by talking
about "The People." And then Bluthner he had to sit up all night in
charge of the circuits because he couldn't trust his men to keep
'em shut.'

'It was trying 'em too high,' the Chief of Police broke in. 'But we
couldn't hold the Crowd ground-circuited for ever. I gathered in all the
Serviles on charge of Crowd-making, and put 'em in the water-tower, and
then I let things cut loose. I had to! The District lit like a sparked
gas-tank!'

'The news was out over seven degrees of country,' the Mayor continued;
'and when once it's a question of invasion of privacy, good-bye to right
and reason in Illinois! They began turning out traffic-lights and
locking up landing-towers on Thursday night. Friday, they stopped all
traffic and asked for the Board to take over. Then they wanted to clean
Chicago off the side of the Lake and rebuild elsewhere--just for a
souvenir of "The People" that the Serviles talked about. I suggested
that they should slag the Old Market where the meeting was held, while I
turned in a call to you all on the Board. That kept 'em quiet till you
came along. And--and now _you_ can take hold of the situation.'

'Any chance of their quieting down?' De Forest asked.

'You can try,' said the Mayor.

De Forest raised his voice in the face of the reviving Crowd that had
edged in towards us. Day was come.

'Don't you think this business can be arranged?' he began. But there was