what longworry had done in knuckle-jawing a businessman cum hoodlum outside the mayors office was to find out how deep the roots of rotten fruit really went descended into the office , and how quick the city rags were to sing the tunes blowing from that direction , and he suddenly found his career gathering dust , like one of those boxes in archives ; so it seemed to defy comprehension how he could have got back enough clout to reform his crew and put them back out to work .