Upton Sinclair

“ When you looked at that car, the crowd in it and the airs they wore, you'd think they'd been running the world since the time of William the Conqueror. And Old Peter came into this country with a pedlar's pack on his shoulders!"
"We're hustlers here," put in MacKellar.
"We'll hustle all the way to hell in a generation more," said the reporter. Then, after a minute, "Say, but there's one girl in that bunch that was the real thing! She sure did get me! You know all those fluffy things they do themselves up in--soft and fuzzy, makes you think of spring-time orchards. ”

“ If he left North Valley at this time, it was for something serious, you may be sure."
"What does he mean to do?"
"There's no telling. He may have you slugged; he may have you run out of town and dumped out in the desert; he may just have you arrested." ”

“ MacKellar wanted to get in half a dozen friends and keep guard over Hal during the night; and Hal had about agreed to this idea, when the discussion was given a new turn by a chance remark of Keating's. "Somebody else is tied up by the railroad accident. The Coal King's son!"
"The Coal King's son?" echoed Hal.
"Young Percy Harrigan. He's got a private car here--or rather a whole train. Think of it--dining-car, drawing-room car, two whole cars with sleeping apartments! Wouldn't you like to be a son of the Coal King?" ”