Page:The council of seven.djvu/248

 *abouts. And don't forget this, Murrell, if it comes to a showdown the U. P. can afford to lose on the swings and on the roundabouts, because the cocoanuts, my boy, will get them home every time. And why, Murrell?" A touch of forensic passion had begun to work in the veins of Blackhampton's first citizen. "Because Mugs like you and me are the cocoanuts. We are being milked dry, my boy—we, the Middle Classes, the folk who have a bit to lose and haven't learnt to defend it. The Charwomen's Conference is up-to-date Communism, my boy, with a certain newspaper Boss behind it all. He and his Ring, who have corralled the country's power, are keeping the workers quiet by showing them how to dip their hands in the pockets of you and me."