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- Стр. 1272/1581
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And
yet
there
were
men
—
and
she
knew
it
—
who
were
able
to
obtain
transportation
whenever
they
wished
,
as
by
a
mystic
secret
,
as
by
the
grace
of
some
power
which
one
was
not
to
question
or
explain
.
They
were
the
men
whose
dealings
with
Cuffy
Meigs
were
regarded
by
people
as
that
unknowable
of
mystic
creeds
which
smites
the
observer
for
the
sin
of
looking
,
so
people
kept
their
eyes
closed
,
dreading
,
not
ignorance
,
but
knowledge
.
She
knew
that
deals
were
made
whereby
those
men
sold
a
commodity
known
as
"
transportation
pull
"
—
a
term
which
all
understood
,
but
none
would
dare
define
.
She
knew
that
these
were
the
men
of
the
emergency
specials
,
the
men
who
could
cancel
her
scheduled
trains
and
send
them
to
any
random
spot
of
the
continent
which
they
chose
to
strike
with
their
voodoo
stamp
,
the
stamp
superseding
contract
,
property
,
justice
,
reason
and
lives
,
the
stamp
stating
that
"
the
public
welfare
"
required
the
immediate
salvation
of
that
spot
.
These
were
the
men
who
sent
trains
to
the
relief
of
the
Smather
Brothers
and
their
grapefruit
in
Arizona
—
to
the
relief
of
a
factory
in
Florida
engaged
in
the
production
of
pin
-
ball
machines
—
to
the
relief
of
a
horse
farm
in
Kentucky
—
to
the
relief
of
Orren
Boyle
’
s
Associated
Steel
.
These
were
the
men
who
made
deals
with
desperate
industrialists
to
provide
transportation
for
the
goods
stalled
in
their
warehouses
—
or
,
failing
to
obtain
the
percentage
demanded
,
made
deals
to
purchase
the
goods
,
when
the
factory
closed
,
at
the
bankruptcy
sale
,
at
ten
cents
on
the
dollar
,
and
to
speed
the
goods
away
in
freight
cars
suddenly
available
,
away
to
markets
where
dealers
of
the
same
kind
were
ready
for
the
kill
.
These
were
the
men
who
hovered
over
factories
,
waiting
for
the
last
breath
of
a
furnace
,
to
pounce
upon
the
equipment
—
and
over
desolate
sidings
,
to
pounce
upon
the
freight
cars
of
undelivered
goods
—
these
were
a
new
biological
species
,
the
hit
-
and
-
run
businessmen
,
who
did
not
stay
in
any
line
of
business
longer
than
the
span
of
one
deal
,
who
had
no
payrolls
to
meet
,
no
overhead
to
carry
,
no
real
estate
to
own
,
no
equipment
to
build
,
whose
only
asset
and
sole
investment
consisted
of
an
item
known
as
"
friendship
.
"
These
were
the
men
whom
official
speeches
described
as
"
the
progressive
businessmen
of
our
dynamic
age
,
"
but
whom
people
called
"
the
pull
peddlers
"
—
the
species
included
many
breeds
,
those
of
"
transportation
pull
,
"
and
of
"
steel
pull
"
and
"
oil
pull
"
and
"
wage
-
raise
pull
"
and
"
suspended
sentence
pull
"
—
men
who
were
dynamic
,
who
kept
darting
all
over
the
country
while
no
one
else
could
move
,
men
who
were
active
and
mindless
,
active
,
not
like
animals
,
but
like
that
which
breeds
,
feeds
and
moves
upon
the
stillness
of
a
corpse
.
She
knew
that
there
was
money
to
be
had
out
of
the
railroad
business
and
she
knew
who
was
now
obtaining
it
.
Cuffy
Meigs
was
selling
trains
as
he
was
selling
the
last
of
the
railroad
’
s
supplies
,
whenever
he
could
rig
a
setup
which
would
not
let
it
be
discovered
or
proved
—
selling
rail
to
roads
in
Guatemala
or
to
trolley
companies
in
Canada
,
selling
wire
to
manufacturers
of
juke
boxes
,
selling
crossties
for
fuel
in
resort
hotels
.
Did
it
matter
—
she
thought
,
looking
at
the
map
—
which
part
of
the
corpse
had
been
consumed
by
which
type
of
maggot
,
by
those
who
gorged
themselves
or
by
those
who
gave
the
food
to
other
maggots
?
So
long
as
living
flesh
was
prey
to
be
devoured
,
did
it
matter
whose
stomachs
it
had
gone
to
fill
?
There
was
no
way
to
tell
which
devastation
had
been
accomplished
by
the
humanitarians
and
which
by
undisguised
gangsters
.
There
was
no
way
to
tell
which
acts
of
plunder
had
been
prompted
by
the
charity
-
lust
of
the
Lawsons
and
which
by
the
gluttony
of
Cuffy
Meigs
—
no
way
to
tell
which
communities
had
been
immolated
to
feed
another
community
one
week
closer
to
starvation
and
which
to
provide
yachts
for
the
pull
-
peddlers
.
Did
it
matter
?
Both
were
alike
in
fact
as
they
were
alike
in
spirit
,
both
were
in
need
and
need
was
regarded
as
sole
title
to
property
,
both
were
acting
in
strictest
accordance
with
the
same
code
of
morality
.
Both
held
the
immolation
of
men
as
proper
and
both
were
achieving
it
.
There
wasn
’
t
even
any
way
to
tell
who
were
the
cannibals
and
who
the
victims
—
the
communities
that
accepted
as
their
rightful
due
the
confiscated
clothing
or
fuel
of
a
town
to
the
east
of
them
,
found
,
next
week
,
their
granaries
confiscated
to
feed
a
town
to
the
west
—
men
had
achieved
the
ideal
of
the
centuries
,
they
were
practicing
it
in
unobstructed
perfection
,
they
were
serving
need
as
their
highest
ruler
,
need
as
first
claim
upon
them
,
need
as
their
standard
of
value
,
as
the
coin
of
their
realm
,
as
more
sacred
than
right
and
life
.
Men
had
been
pushed
into
a
pit
where
,
shouting
that
man
is
his
brother
’
s
keeper
,
each
was
devouring
his
neighbor
and
was
being
devoured
by
his
neighbor
’
s
brother
,
each
was
proclaiming
the
righteousness
of
the
unearned
and
wondering
who
was
stripping
the
skin
off
his
back
,
each
was
devouring
himself
,
while
screaming
in
terror
that
some
unknowable
evil
was
destroying
the
earth
.
"
What
complaint
do
they
now
have
to
make
?
"
she
heard
Hugh
Akston
’
s
voice
in
her
mind
.
"
That
the
universe
is
irrational
?
Is
it
?
"
She
sat
looking
at
the
map
,
her
glance
dispassionately
solemn
,
as
if
no
emotion
save
respect
were
permissible
when
observing
the
awesome
power
of
logic
.
She
was
seeing
—
in
the
chaos
of
a
perishing
continent
—
the
precise
,
mathematical
execution
of
all
the
ideas
men
had
held
.
