THE SPIDER'S WEB

Early that morning, Luke Huber stood before the Pennsylvania Railroad

Station at Americus and fancied himself a latter-day crusader setting out to

reconquer from the infidels the modern Holy City of God. He had

graduated from the Harvard Law-School in the previous June. Now the

Republican brother-in-law of one of his classmates, having been elected

District-Attorney of corruptly Democratic New York, offered a place on his

staff to Luke as soon as Huber should meet successfully the necessary

formalities. This new public-prosecutor was to "clean up" the largest city in

the country, and Luke, as his assistant, was to aid in restoring to the

metropolis the ideals of the framers of the Constitution.

A slim young man, with a smooth face too rugged to be handsome, and

gray eyes too keen to be always dreaming, Huber stood erect, the wide

collar of his woolen overcoat turned up, for the spring lingered that year in

the valleys of Virginia, and the brim of his Alpine hat pulled over his nose.

He disregarded the group of boys waiting for the "up-train" that would

bring the Philadelphia morning newspapers to his native Pennsylvania

town, disregarded the grimy station-buildings, and looked toward the

river, where the morning mists were lifting and the cold sunshine was

creeping through to light the Susquehanna hills.