Explore "The Bat" by Stephen Vincent Benet on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"You've _got_ to get him, boys-get him or bust! " said a tired police / chief, pounding a heavy fist on a table. The detectives he bellowed the / words at looked at the floor. They had done their best and failed. / Failure meant "resignation" for the police chief, return to the hated / work of pounding the pavements for them-they knew it, and, knowing it, / could summon no gesture of bravado to answer their chief's. Gunmen, / thugs, hi-jackers, loft-robbers, murderers, they could get them all in / time-but they could not get the man he wanted.
"Get him-to hell with expense-I'll give you carte blanche-but get him! " / said a haggard millionaire in the sedate inner offices of the best / private detective firm in the country. The man on the other side of the / desk, man hunter extraordinary, old servant of Government and State, / sleuthhound without a peer, threw up his hands in a gesture of odd / hopelessness. "It isn't the money, Mr. De Courcy-I'd give every cent / I've made to get the man you want-but I can't promise you results-for / the first time in my life. " The conversation was ended.